Politics
During his years of internment at Heart Mountain, Jimi Yamaichi mastered living in a frozen world. He insulated his barrack with ice. He substituted cold cow dung for cement. He grew summer vegetables in below-zero temperatures. He stood perfectly still when guards at the Heart Mountain War Relocation Camp ordered him to pack his belongings and prepare to be transferred to Tule Lake War Relocation Center. At least, he thought, it would be warmer. “I kept my street clothes on…
While the East Bay Municipal Utility District is suffering the worst drought since its founding in 1923, its 1.3 million users face no danger of going dry anytime soon. That was the message from EBMUD board members and operations staff at their Tuesday public meeting. Infrastructure investments, conservation, and transfers–buying water from the Sacramento River–together mean the East Bay is weathering this Stage 4 drought better than most of California. According to the state’s own data, the EBMUD staff are…
During Wednesday night’s Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Board of Education meeting, the CFO presented a new web tool which would make the district’s annual budget more accessible to the public, special education staffers explained a service plan that’s being implemented in stages over the next three years, and the district’s civic engagement coordinator delivered an explanation of a proposed ethnic studies curriculum.
Activists are promoting Mobile Justice CA, an app created by the ACLU of California which enables users to record and report police actions in their community.
It’s hard for immigrants to be away from their home countries. It’s even harder when they learn that there’s been a coup back home where their friends and families still live. On September 16, military guards in Burkina Faso took over the airwaves, announcing that they were now in charge. Burkinabes living in the Bay Area say they are concerned about the safety of their friends and relatives back home.
On Saturday at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, panels at least ten feet tall displayed pictures of Oakland immigrants, artists and business owners of different ethnic backgrounds. As Latin music played, visitors strolled by and read the biographies of those featured in the exhibit. “Alla en el Rancho Grande,” referring to a traditional Mexican song, was the first of a series of upcoming events related to the public programming initiative called Latino Americans: 500 Years of History. The National Endowment of…
Grinning at his colleagues clustered nearby and draping one arm across the shoulders of executive director Amana Harris, artist Justin Metoyer-Mullon cut a red ribbon. The ribbon stretched across the opening to the courtyard of the Marcus Foster Education Center to the right of a large, bright mural depicting the center’s namesake. “We’re really using our art to transform our environment,” said Metoyer-Mullon, gesturing to the space behind him. The five murals contrast sharply with the fence to which they…
An unconventional anti-jail protest argued the mentally ill need “Care not Cages,” and provided roadside alternative health services.
According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, a government agency that provides grants to local and state public agencies for programs to help them enforce traffic laws, Oakland has consistently had the highest rate of hit-and-run crashes of any large city in the state. “In 2014, there were 7,000 traffic collisions, of which 4,000 were hit and runs,” said Officer Glenn Hara, who works in the traffic investigation unit at the Oakland Police Department. Out of those cases, which include incidents with injuries and fatalities as well as more minor cases, such as damage to a parked car, OPD has solved fewer than 2 percent.