Safety

Guardian Gym is a free, non-profit sports facility for boys and girls ages 10 to 24. Its founders opened the gym in Oakland after they realized the profound effect that having a safe recreational space and healthy goals had brought to their own lives. They want to bring those same opportunities to young men and women and help them learn that you can be successful on and off the mat by showing up every day.

As Oakland takes steps toward becoming an “age-friendly city,” District 3 residents shared how issues like high housing costs and access to transportation affect local seniors.

Watch how residents of The Village, a homeless encampment in East Oakland, are recovering after a fire displaced 37 people. And see how a fire is the least of residents’ worries in the coming months.

BART officials face pushback by privacy and civil rights group after proposing new security measures in response to crime at stations, including the death of Nia Wilson this past summer.

Emergency responders say they need to practice real-world scenarios in order to be prepared for whatever comes their way. However, the community is on edge about some of the tactics police use and want the exercises to end.

A new study released this month suggests that Ceasefire, Oakland’s primary violent crime reduction strategy, is working.

Bay Area women make a strong case for ride-sharing app changes, informed by harrowing personal experience.

Notary fraud is a common set-up in which notaries unlawfully give legal advice to immigrants, and in many cases, pretend to be immigration attorneys. The scam often involves the notary reviewing a victim’s case, choosing which legal documents are appropriate for their case, helping complete these documents, and submitting them to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Office—all acts only lawyers have the authority to do.

Immigration experts and advocates say that notary fraud is one of the biggest issues facing the undocumented community. “It is also a big problem in the East Bay and surrounding areas in Northern California,” said Barbara Pinto, an immigration senior staff attorney at the Centro Legal de la Raza, a legal service agency for immigrants’ rights, located in Oakland.

Monday night local and international support groups gathered to discuss decriminalizing sex work and protecting workers’ rights.