Politics
Early Thursday morning, Oakland teachers went on strike, calling for a pay raise and a reduction in class sizes. As early as 6 am, teachers gathered—equipped with coffee, jackets, and beanies to withstand the chilly morning weather—and started to picket in front of their schools. The strike follows two years of failed negotiations between the Oakland Education Association, which represents teachers as well as school nurses, counselors and other staff, and the Oakland Unified School District. The teachers have been working…
Oakland city council voted in an emergency moratorium to temporarily protect duplex renters from rent control exemptions. These exemptions apply to housing units where a landlord lives within the duplex or triplex with the renters.
Two weeks ago, a business advocacy group sued the city of Oakland over its certification of Measure AA, a tax initiative from the November election that would create a fund for more early childhood education programs. The lawsuit—filed by the Jobs and Housing Coalition, along with a group of property owners—argues that the city council thwarted the will of Oakland voters by certifying the measure even though it failed to earn support from two-thirds of the voters. The measure, also…
The Oakland City Council meeting ended in confusion and shouts of anger Tuesday night after a legal issue delayed a vote on an ordinance that would have extended rent control protections to tenants living in own-occupied duplexes and triplexes. “What’s the issue?” shouted attendee Reisa Jaffe at new Council President Rebecca Kaplan (at-large). “I’d like to know what happened?” demanded another atttendee, standing up with his hands in the air. “These issues were just brought to our attention tonight,” said…
Senator Kamala Harris leaned into her East Bay roots as she held the first official rally of her presidential campaign in Oakland on Sunday. Stepping onto a podium in the shade of a flag-draped Oakland City Hall, Harris waved at the largest crowd ever gathered in her support, unable to contain a broad, excited smile. An estimated 20,000 people poured into Frank H. Ogawa Plaza and overflowed into the streets surrounding Oakland City Hall. Cheers and chants drawing out the…
2018 brought a new group of student reporters to Oakland North from across the country and the globe. They covered an incredibly busy year in Oakland politics, as the city geared up for the mayoral and city council races, as well as the national midterms, while reacting to the often-divisive new policies on immigration, health and environment being enacted by Donald Trump’s presidential administration. But they also covered stories emanating from Oakland’s own city issues: The increasing urgency of finding places…
Cyclists hoping to bike from Oakland to San Francisco might finally have an option someday.
Incarceration doesn’t just affect the incarcerated, it alters the lives of their loved ones as well. Families struggle to maintain these relationships because of the financial and emotional burdens that the prison system places on them.
The city of Oakland implemented a new food vending program in 2017. But, how accessible is the industry to immigrant communities? And how does one family go about creating community through a food truck business?