Health
As BART accommodates more bicycles on its trains than ever before—more than 8,000 on weekdays in 2010—riders, bicyclists and transit planners are eyeing the transit system’s bike policy closely.
As Gov. Jerry Brown decides whether he will sign the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (AB 889), reactions to the bill and the prospect of monitoring and enforcing its stipulations —which include overtime pay, mandatory rest and meal breaks, and fair sleeping conditions for workers—remain mixed.
Should California end up following the guidelines used for the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York, the only other state in the country to adopt such a law, then private employers of full-time babysitters and caretakers will need to follow some new rules.
A growing number of food stamp recipients are using their benefits at Oakland farmers’ markets. But profits from such transactions could decline if a proposed $16.5 billion cut to the federal food stamp program passes in Congress.
The chants and whistles pierced the Saturday afternoon air, alerting the entire neighborhood that a mass of people waving signs was not far behind.
“I like how this plant feels,” said Devynn Meleg, 7, as she paused to investigate a silver bush during her morning walk. “It feels so weird!” Her mother Brett, watching with a smile, wore a bright yellow vest with reflective strips and a “Safe Routes to School” logo printed on its front. Along their walk, they pointed out spiders spinning webs, a cat sitting in a window and a yard where chickens used to live. The two had set off…
Perry Parsons, an 8th grader at St. Mark’s Episcopal School in Oakland, discovered a spring, a shoe and a part of a black plastic wall socket that “looks like a face” in the Damon Slough waterway in East Oakland while volunteering on Saturday at the city’s Creek to Bay community service day. The 17th annual such service day in Oakland coincided with the world’s 27th International Coastal Cleanup Day, and the State of California’s 28th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day. From 9 until…
Last week Dana Harvey, the executive director of Mandela Marketplace, a West Oakland-based nonprofit that helps residents create businesses that sell produce grown by local farmers, received a White House award for her efforts to make healthy foods accessible in Oakland.
At Children’s Fairyland on Saturday, a three-tiered yellow and pink birthday cake stood towering several feet in height, papered with handwritten messages like, “Thank you for our son,” “Thanks for helping our daughter live a healthy life, ” and “1969 – Thank You. My Heart is Yours 4Ever. Saving My Life.”