Nearly a year to the day after receiving an award from the League of Women Voters for “making democracy work,” local news blog A Better Oakland has apparently ceased to exist. Citizen journalist Echa Schneider, who made a name for herself by indefatigably reporting on local news, business, redevelopment, and politics under the handle VSmoothe, quietly stopped blogging in the fall — her last entry, dated November 7, 2011, was written by a guest commentator. The site stayed up for several months after that, allowing readers to continue using the comment boards. Now anyone who clicks on the url will get an error page.
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