Public Policy
The Republican and Democratic candidates for California Secretary of State faced off in Berkeley last week, less than a month before the pair faces off again at the polls in a tight race for the job of the state’s top election officer.
It’s easy. It’s convenient. These two reasons repeatedly cited by voters, county election officials, voter advocacy groups and other organizations may account for the growing number of Oakland residents planning to vote early this year, by mail, instead of going to the polls on Election Day. Jamie Israel, 26, a server who works late shifts at a restaurant in Berkeley, is giving early voting a try for the first time this fall, after eight years living and voting in Oakland….
The number of uninsured California residents has dropped from 22 percent to 11 percent. But challenges remain for the Affordable Care Act, especially for families with mixed immigration status.
The campaigners were part of a fall neighborhood-by-neighborhood effort, organized by the volunteer organization that calls itself the Lift Up Oakland Coalition, to persuade voters to approve Measure FF, which would raise the minimum wage in Oakland to $12.25 per hour as of March 2, 2015.
Oakland mayoral candidate Libby Schaaf spent an evening in a downtown Oakland restaurant last week, re-explaining the ranked-choice system to a group of voters.
Covered California will end health insurance plans for thousands of Bay Area immigrants who didn’t submit residency forms by September 30, 2014.
Oakland residents showed support at last night’s City Council meeting for an ordinance that limits the construction of new crematoria. Councilmembers also voted on a Jack London Square redevelopment and recognized community volunteers and organizations.
In conjunction with climate change rallies worldwide, activists gathered at Lake Merritt on Sunday for the Northern California People’s Climate Rally.
Amid signs that e-cigarette use is rising among Oakland students, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is preparing to vote within the next two months on policy that would likely extend the ban on smoking to cover the battery-powered nicotine delivery systems just as it does conventional cigarettes.