Health

Timing of Medicare and Covered California enrollment collide, causing confusion among seniors

When Barbara Witney, a 65-year-old marriage and family therapist, tried to sign up for Medicare last week, she was dismayed to find herself baffled. “I’m a pretty educated person and it was confusing for me,” she said. Witney, whose existing health insurance premium is expected to double this January, had the misfortune of turning 65 during the debut of Covered California, the state’s online healthcare marketplace – which for the first time will overlap with the annual enrollment window for…

Food stamp cuts mean a nearly $6 million loss for Oakland’s poor

Despite an increased demand for food assistance in Oakland and other cities across the US, food stamp benefits have been cut as the federal economic stimulus came to an end this month, marking the end of a four-year period that brought additional funding to social welfare programs. Marcshea White, an East Oakland resident who became permanently disabled with two herniated discs in her back, and her family are just one of the 30,000 households in Oakland that receive benefits from…

EPA pulls tugboat from depths of Oakland Estuary

There’s something in the water in Oakland.

But thanks to several local, state and federal agencies, it’s being cleaned up. On Monday, a 105-foot tugboat, nicknamed “Captain Al,” emerged from the depths of the Oakland Estuary where it had been resting – and rusting – for over a decade.