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In 2015, a measles outbreak spread across California, sickening hundreds of people. The outbreak spread across the West Coast as well as Mexico and Canada, and led the California legislature to outlaw vaccine exemptions based on personal beliefs. Removing the exemption has caused vaccination rates across the state to increase dramatically, including in the Bay Area. But some Bay Area residents worry current outbreaks in Washington and Oregon may soon jump state lines into California.
Today is the first day of the Oakland teachers’ strike. Public school teachers and staff gathered outside their schools to form picket lines, chanting and rallying support in their quest for smaller class sizes, higher wages, more student support services and a promise from the district that there will be no more school closures. Earlier this week, we followed Alejandro Estrada, a 4th grade teacher at International Community School and the union representative for his school, as he prepared to…
Local bicycle shops are dying off in the East Bay. In the last two months, five of them have closed their doors in Alameda County. One of them is Oakland’s Manifesto Bicycles. Owners Sam Cunningham and Mackay Gibbs explain how a decline in bicycle commuting and competition from online retailers affected their business and led to them having to shut it down.
Each year, thousands of monarch butterflies from across the west make their way to the California coast where they spend their winter, including making migratory stops at East Bay parks. For the past two decades, volunteer citizen scientists have been counting them during the Annual Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count, organized by the Xerces Society. Christina Garcia, a naturalist at the East Bay Regional Park District, has been counting butterflies at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont for over 20 years. This…
Cyclists hoping to bike from Oakland to San Francisco might finally have an option someday.
Animal Biome makes poop pills. Reporter Sarah Trent and her cat, Kafka, investigate how they work—and how they’re made.
Cat Town held a cabaret fundraiser at East Bay Community Space, featuring musical pair Katzenduo.
Craftspeople all over the country are busy preparing for holiday sales. Many will make half their annual income in these final two months of the year. Hopefully, it’s enough to make it through the slow months that follow—or at least to justify pressing on.
Oaklanders can take in neon art on display at Transmission Gallery now through March.