Safety

Peer mediators serve as “Mr. Kyle” McClerkins’ eyes and ears around school. They listen to fellow students, help them take responsibility for their actions and decide on appropriate consequences. McClerkins’ peer mediator program is part of a larger framework called the Restorative Justice Whole School Model, implemented in Oakland since 2005, and existing in various forms around the country, from Chicago to New Orleans.

In a tightly-moderated discussion Thursday evening at Temple Sinai in Oakland, mayoral candidates took questions from journalists, querying one another and making closing statements. Many aimed shots at Mayor Jean Quan, but most refrained from taking jabs at one another.

More than 90 percent of needle-drug users in Oakland have been exposed to Hepatitis C, according to literature distributed by Oasis Clinic, but the disease is not exclusive to one group.

In the future, the EOSC plans to expand by adding an outdoor competition swimming pool, a two-court basketball gymnasium with an elevated running track, three soccer fields and additional parking.

The East Bay Bike Coalition is currently in the planning stages of a potential bike lane for Telegraph Avenue. As they consider several designs to help keep cyclists safer, however, they are finding themselves running up against opposition from businesses that may have their on-street parking removed to make way for the bike lane.

Oakland District Attorney Nancy O’Malley announced Thursday morning the launch of a billboard campaign aimed at combating human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of minors in the Bay Area.

Oakland rang in the New Year with a pair of unauthorized protests; one organized by Occupy Oakland and the other by the Oscar Grant Foundation.

Bike thefts at BART stations spiked dramatically this summer, according to the latest BART Quarterly Report, as thieves have targeted vulnerable cable lock devices.