Video

Formerly incarcerated people rebound into job market

For Carmen Garcia, the end of a prison sentence was the beginning of a new set of problems.

“The biggest obstacle for me was continuing to stay in school, because the halfway house wanted me to get a job right away, a full-time job,” she said. “And I remember a case manager said to me, ‘You need to take this job, whatever job they offer you, because now you have a criminal record and you’re not going to be able to get another job. Don’t worry about education, because that’s not going to help you.’”

Sandra Johnson needs a job: Finding work after incarceration

Sandra Johnson needs a job, desperately. The formerly incarcerated 59-year-old Oakland woman is now a City College of San Francisco student, but needs to find work as well.

In June, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of establishing a new re-entry hiring program that aims to create 1,400 county job opportunities for the formerly incarcerated.

An RV, needles, Narcan: Street-level services in an opioid epidemic

O’Neil is using the training device that comes with each set of Evizo auto-injectors, which deliver a potentially life-saving dose of naloxone, a drug that counteracts the effects of opioid drugs. This includes both prescription drugs like hydromorphone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, and street drugs like heroin and fentanyl.

Oakland Ghost Ship fire death toll rises to 33; city prepares to release names

Speaking at a late afternoon press conference near the site of Friday’s Oakland Ghost Ship fire, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced that the death toll has officially reached 33, and that city officials have positively identified seven of the victims. Their names will be released via the city’s website and social media feeds later on Sunday. “At this time we have delivered the unacceptable and horrific news of losing a loved one to seven of our families. We will be releasing…

Oakland’s own video game archive, the M.A.D.E.

The Museum of Digital Art and Entertainment, or the M.A.D.E.,  is a gateway to, and an archive for, video game history, showcasing consoles and games from gaming’s early days in the 1970’s to the present day. Not only does it showcase video game history, the museum also holds free classes such as beginner coding and game designing for participants of all ages. Other museums have shown limited video game exhibits, while Stanford University has its own private video game archive. The M.A.D.E.,…

Oakland students debate proposed tax on sugary beverages

Two weeks before November’s national election, two Bay Area Urban Debate League members debated a hot local ballot measure in downtown Oakland. Megan Ma and Aiden Koontz, both Oakland Tech High School students, took the podium to present and argue opposing sides of Measure HH, a proposed tax on soda. Measure HH has become one of the Bay Area’s most widely debated issues on this year’s ballot. It would impose a 1-cent per ounce tax on sugary beverages, such as…