Housing

Valentine’s Day Special at Oakland Animal Services encourages cat and dog adoption

OAS is an open admission shelter that takes in all animals brought in by the public or an animal control officer. “We’ve seen a significant uptake in the number of owner surrenders,” said Rebecca Katz, director of the shelter. “Gentrification has been good for Oakland’s economy, but there are people who are impacted by it negatively and there are people losing their homes.”

Introducing the Tales of Two Cities Podcast, radio stories from Richmond and Oakland

Dear Readers/Listeners, The combined staff of Oakland North and Richmond Confidential is excited to announce a new bi-weekly podcast featuring radio stories from Richmond and Oakland, as well as interviews with our reporters, community leaders and other news-worthy characters. Every two weeks until June, we will bring you radio stories focused on a theme or issue affecting these two cities. You will also hear from our reporters to get a behind the scenes look at our news room. Every other Thursday, check our sites for new…

Oakland North’s 2015 year in review — our top stories

2015 brought another group of student reporters to Oakland North, and they covered the daily news of a changing city: The rising cost of rent and concerns about gentrification, the debate over raising the minimum wage, a controversial plan to ship coal through the Port of Oakland, efforts to stem crime and the lives of those lost to gun violence, the fate of refugees who have resettled here. But they also dug deep into stories about the people, places and ideas that…

Sixty, sober, and starting over

Text by Melissa Batchelor Warnke. Photos by Luisa Conlon. It’s 6 am on a Sunday, and a group of men are sitting in a parking lot in the dark. They’re half of the Teen Challenge Choir—two dozen men and women in treatment for “life controlling issues.” They’re about to get in a big white van and head to the Cavalry Temple Church in Concord, California, about an hour north of the men’s home base in Oakland. It’s always cold this…