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Neighborhood Sports Club turns empty lot into community hub
Some people walk past an empty Oakland lot and think nothing of it. But best friends Max Ornstil and Dylan Autran saw something special as they surveyed a desolate street corner in Jack London Square. It was...
Oakland budget reduces police overtime after Measure E fails
Oakland’s newly approved midcycle budget reduces police overtime and patrol funding after voters rejected Measure E, a parcel tax city leaders said would have helped close the budget deficit.
The roughly $4 billion budget, approved June 12 in...
East Bay volunteers transform discarded Chromebooks into community resources
In 2023, John Janosko and other members of the Wood Street Commons encampment lost the land they were living on and, with it, the majority of their belongings.
West Oakland’s Wood Street Commons was once the largest homeless...
New citizenship test challenges immigrants preparing for naturalization
On Sept. 17, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted a Federal Register notice announcing the implementation of the 2025 naturalization civics test. The new test, made effective Oct. 10, now contains double the number of...
No Coal says ‘Bring it on’
To anyone not keeping up with the bumpy road of the fight over the proposed coal terminal in Oakland, it might seem recent news is uniformly bad for the “no coal” movement. Court rulings have gone against...
Victims’ families seek justice
On Thursday, May 21, California Assembly Bill 1902 (AB 1902) was passed by the State Assembly with a resounding 58 yeas to 20 nays, in a huge show of bipartisan support. The bill calls for changes in...
When it rains, it pollutes
It’s rained a lot in Contra Costa County in 2026. According to Contra Costa County Flood Control District stats, by mid-May parts of the county had received 18–39 inches of rainfall. Of course the rain is welcome—but...
