News stories that East Bay progressives and environmentalists shouldn’t miss:

1. Rent prices jumped 14.8 percent in Oakland during the first quarter of this year, as the average price of an apartment rental in the city reached $1,947 a month, the Chron$ reports, citing a new report from RealFacts. Rent increases in Oakland even outpaced the red-hot San Francisco housing market, where rents rose by 4.8 percent in the same period — although the average rent price in SF is now $2,790.