Safety
Christopher Evans, convicted this summer of a pair of 2001 East Oakland killings, will undoubtedly end his days in prison. What jurors must now decide is whether that end will come via capital punishment or of natural causes at the end of a life-without-parole sentence.
On 64 year-old Karen Smulevitz’s stretch of 73d Avenue, just trying to cross the street is “an adventure,” she says. A new national report says that although Alameda County scores comparatively well in California pedestrian safety, streets like this are a danger to too many people and American cities.
A Wednesday shooting that injured one person is just the latest incident on a troubled corner, according to people who work in the neighborhood.
Three months ago on Tuesday, a search began for Fremont boy Hassani Campbell. Community activists marked the occasion at an evening vigil at College Avenue Presbyterian Church.
Oakland, like some other cities, requires right-to-life protesters to keep a certain distance from women entering or leaving abortion clinics. But clinic escorts–those who accompany women past the sidewalk protesters–face no such restriction. A lawsuit has pushed the issue into federal court.
New Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts, at the first of a series of town hall meetings, told a West Oakland audience last night that he understood why some urban residents view police officers as “an occupying army.” Among the proposals he said he’s considered in the past: a citywide curfew aimed at bringing down youth violence.
Defense attorneys called on witnesses Monday to paint a sympathetic portrait of convicted double-murderer Christopher Evans, hoping to convince a jury to save the Oakland native from capital punishment.
Police dogs will be better protected after a local fund raising effort allowed the OPD to purchase bulletproof vests for the K-9 unit.
County D.A Nancy O’Malley and Assemblymember Sandre Swanson, who wrote the legislation, joined other officials yesterday to explain a new state law quadrupling penalties for sex trafficking of young people.