Labor

City of Oakland Economic Development Manager Aliza Gallo explains the Small Business Administration's emergency loan program to John McLeod of Acme Fire Extinguishers Company. Photograph by Abner Hauge

Oakland offers emergency loans to those affected by Ghost Ship fire

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The city and the Federal Small Business Administration (SBA) are offering low-interest loans and technical assistance to business owners, nonprofits, homeowners and tenants in the vicinity of the fire. According to Economic Development Manager Aliza...
A glimpse to an aisle at the Video Room in Piedmont Ave. on Friday December 2, 2016. (Yesica Prado/Oakland North)

Video rental, antiques, shoe repair: Old-fashioned shops struggle to hang on

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A big red house stands in the middle of Telegraph Avenue, two blocks from the Berkeley border with Oakland. It resembles Santa’s workshop: fun, colorful and packed with a massive amount of “stuff.” The building...
Oakland workers adapt to long commutes despite negative affects on their health and personal lives.

Some Bay Area workers commute for hours for the sake of affordable rent

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Cindy Wood spends her weeknights in a vacant apartment at the Pacifica Senior Living facility in Oakland Heights, a long commute away from her husband and children in Santa Rosa. She works as the executive...
Sandra Johnson, an Oakland resident, needs a job to sustain herself, but faces obstacles with a conviction on her record.

Sandra Johnson needs a job: Finding work after incarceration

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Sandra Johnson needs a job, desperately. The formerly incarcerated 59-year-old Oakland woman is now a City College of San Francisco student, but needs to find work as well. In June, the Alameda County Board of...
Cannabis plants used at Oaksterdam University to give students hands-on cultivation training. Oaksterdam is preparing to offer new classes to teach businesses and physicians about the new regulations. Photo by Nate Sheidlower.

Cannabis industry in limbo as California ends pot prohibition

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With the passage of Proposition 64 on the November 8 ballot, and new statewide medical cannabis regulations about to be implemented, California state regulators get to spend the next 13 months establishing all the rules...

From junk to jackets: Oakland retailer upcycles vintage car seats

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A brown building with tall doors opened to the ringing sound of sewing machines. Inside were racks of red-and-white leather jackets with pieces of the Cadillac logo, multicolored wrist wallets and leather bags. It was...
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf delivers her annual State of the City Address on Friday at City Hall. Photo by Andrew Beale.

Schaaf talks Oakland ‘moon shot’ at State of City

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Schaaf opened her State of the City speech with a clip of President John F. Kennedy’s famous “moon shot” speech at Rice University in 1962, during which he promised Americans that the United States would...
Data gathered from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the California Department of Economic Development

U.S. has modest job gains in September, East Bay economy is still growing

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 5 percent in September. Meanwhile, the most recent data for the Bay Area shows Alameda County’s unemployment rate at...
Demonstrators outside Oakland City Hall took part in the national Renter's Day of Action.

Renters’ rights, landlord responsibilities core of Oakland’s Measure JJ

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Demonstrator's outside of Oakland City Hall participated in the national Renter's Day of Action on September 22, highlighting the Oakland City Measure JJ that would introduce stricter regulations on landlords.