At a mulching party, East Bay residents learn how to convert lawns to gardens

Volunteers gather at the Memorial Tabernacle Church for a lawn party to restore the church's garden on Saturday, May 6, 2017. (Yesica Prado/Oakland North)

On a warm Saturday morning, people began to slowly stroll into the Memorial Tabernacle in Oakland’s Bushrod neighborhood. They were gathered not for a morning service, but for a special kind of lawn party. Trail mix, cookies, apples, and fresh-cut pieces of banana were laid out on colorful bowls on a table, but nothing smelled more fresh than the two 4-foot piles of compost and wood mulch laid out on the road in front of the church.

StopWaste, a public agency dedicated to reducing waste in Alameda County, hosted the lawn party to revitalize the Memorial Tabernacle’s community garden, using this hands-on project to educate volunteers on how to convert a water-thirsty lawn into a fruitful garden.

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AXIS: A dance company for every body

Axis dancers practicing for an upcoming show.

Oakland is home to many diverse dance companies that travel the world performing unique choreography for all to see, but one group stands out from the rest: AXIS. Nearing their 30th anniversary, this physically-integrated repertory company has both disabled and non-disabled dancers. With their performing season rapidly approaching, AXIS welcomes a new company member to the dance floor.…

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At Eve’s Waterfront, a new chef takes charge of the ship

Brandon Peacock is now captain of a ship. That ship is actually a restaurant—Eve’s Waterfront, the newest establishment to inhabit the waterfront property on the edge of Jack London Square. Peacock isn’t known for any particular style of food—whatever he does, he does well, whether it’s ramen from scratch, decadent mac and cheese, short ribs…

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Preventing accidental overdoses by taking back old medications

A National Drug Take-back day poster it's taped to a street pole outside of the Alameda County Family Justice building, where DA inspectors collected old prescriptions drugs on Saturday, April 29, 2017. (Yesica Prado/Oakland North)

Last weekend was the 12th National Drug Take Back Day, held at locations across the country, including Oakland. The Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement groups collect unused prescription drugs on this day as part of an effort to fight the opioid overdose crisis. The agency encourages those who buy prescription medications to return old and unused…

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San Pablo Avenue fire victims struggle to get help

A pile of items donated to victims of the San Pablo fire sits in a warehouse in West Oakland. Photo by Abner Hauge.

The residential building at 2551 San Pablo Avenue caught fire in the early-morning hours of March 27, killing four people and displacing more than 100. That day Strauss started a crowdfunding page to collect donations for displaced residents. It wasn’t the first time he’d done this—as a founding member of the Oakland Warehouse Coalition, Jonah Strauss had collected donations for survivors of the Ghost Ship fire and their next of kin.

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