Politics
Opponents of Proposition 8 Rally outside federal court on Monday. Oakland North asks same-sex marriage supporters about their hopes for the federal trial.
Testimony in Perry v. Schwarzenegger featured vivid personal testimony about struggles with discrimination based on sexual orientation. The team defending Proposition 8, meanwhile, argued that the state has a compelling interest to allow voters to define marriage.
In a San Francisco courtroom packed to overflowing, attorneys on both sides of Proposition 8 argued this morning about whether the same-sex marriage ban is discriminatory or a justifiable expression of California voters’ will.
Oakland’s new police chief Anthony Batts told a community meeting that he wants to try curfews and other methods from his tenure in Long Beach, but doesn’t know if Oakland’s progressive political community will accept them.
Los Angeles Judge Robert Perry announced that the trial of Johannes Mehserle, the BART officer accused of murdering Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009, could begin in mid-May.
With Oakland facing a projected $25 million deficit for 2010, the city’s Community Police Advisory Board voiced concern Wednesday that the 13 civilian staff members in the police department’s community policing program might be dismissed.
With new changes to the city’s election law, an Oakland voter could cast his ballot for Ron Dellums, Don Perata AND Jean Quan for mayor next year—and then rank each candidate in order of preference. This may sound confusing at first, but a majority of Oakland voters in 2006 said they preferred this system.
Mickey Martin is about to go to prison. The charge was something both he and the State of California say is not a crime: selling medicinal marijuana.
The health reform bill the House of Representatives approved last month prints out at 2,014 pages, Oakland North asked a health policy expert to haul the whole pile to her office recently and examine it to see what practical impact its provisions might have on four local residents who face different health insurance situations.