Animal Rescue Group Needs Help Caring for 89 Baby Birds
An animal rescue group is asking for help caring for 89 baby snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons left homeless last week after a tree fell in downtown Oakland.
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Oakland
Founder of Warehouse Living Space Testifies on Deadly Fire
The founder of a communal living space in a San Francisco Bay Area warehouse where a fire killed 36 people more than two years ago took to the stand in his trial Monday, teary-eyed and subdued as he talked about his feelings but also animated and rambling when asked about his art and clashes with the landlord.
Read moreMinimum Wage
A federal judge dismissed the California Hotels and Lodging Association’s lawsuit against Oakland challenging voter-approved Measure Z, which forces hotels in Oakland to pay employees at least $15 per hour or $20 per hour without benefits and comply with workplace safety requirements regulated by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Read moreJudge Rejects Challenge to Oakland Hotel Worker Protections
An Oakland, California, ordinance that sets higher standards for hotel employees’ pay and working conditions is not unconstitutionally vague or pre-empted by U.S. and state laws, a federal judge declared in court Wednesday.
Read moreGhost Ship Fire Defendant Denies Central Role in Warehouse
Dressed in a charcoal blazer, orange button-down and brown-striped tie accented by a green-checkered pocket square, Ghost Ship warehouse fire defendant Max Harris calmly waited for his attorney’s next question at the involuntary manslaughter trial in Oakland state court Monday.
Read moreCranky Oakland City Council Can’t Agree on Budget
During a fraught Oakland City Council meeting Monday night, residents angry with Mayor Libby Schaaf’s eleventh-hour bid to torpedo a budget proposal promising more services for low-income and homeless people in the Bay Area city chastised the mayor as a “bully” and a figurehead for Oakland’s rich.
Read moreVictim of Fatal Police Shooting Honored in Oakland
On Saturday, a little over ten years since police fatally shot her son Oscar at an East Oakland Bay Area Rapid Transit station, Wanda Johnson stood next to a new blue and gold mural of him on its exterior wall and quoted from 1 Corinthians 10:24.
Read moreNorCal City of Oakland Decriminalizes Psilocybin
Oakland, California, on Tuesday became the second U.S. city to effectively decriminalize magic mushrooms, telling police to look the other way and restricting enforcement of state and federal laws against psychoactive plants.
Read moreOakland Suit
Former Oakland City Council Member Desley Brooks filed a lawsuit Friday in Alameda County Superior Court against the city and former city attorneys, claiming that they failed to properly represent her in a case where she was found liable for $1.2 million for assaulting an elderly woman.
Read moreWitnesses Recount Escapes From Ghost Ship Fire
When Robert Mule saw flames snaking across the back wall of the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland during a December 2016 dance party, he screamed “Fire!” and ran to find a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.
Read moreGhost Ship Trial Testimony Appears to Give One Defendant an Out
A fire marshal’s testimony in the involuntary manslaughter trial involving the Ghost Ship warehouse fire that killed dozens of people in Oakland two and a half years ago appeared to help one one of the men held responsible for the deaths Wednesday, while leaving a second defendant on the hook.
Read moreGhost Ship Witness Rejects Defense’s Arson Claims
A witness working the door the night of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire that killed 36 people in Oakland two and a half years ago rejected during his testimony in state court Tuesday defense attorneys’ suggestion that the fire was caused by people throwing Molotov cocktails.
Read moreEmotional Last Words Open Ghost Ship Fire Trial
The Oakland judge presiding over the trial of two men blamed for the deaths of 36 people in the 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire threatened to ban all but the victims’ families and the media from the proceedings after learning that unidentified people contacted jurors during a court break Tuesday in an apparent effort to influence them.
Read moreMinimum Wage
The California Hotel & Lodging Association brought a federal complaint challenging Oakland’s voter-approved Measure Z of 2018, which, among other things, sets a minimum hourly wage of $15 with benefits or $20 without benefits, increasing annually with inflation, for employees of city hotels with 50 or more guest rooms.
Read moreOakland Teachers End Week-Long Strike With Raises
Teachers in Oakland, California, reached a tentative agreement with the school district Friday, ending a week-long walkout with an 11 percent raise and 3 percent bonus.
Read moreOakland Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Aiding Terrorists
A 23-year-old man who bragged about plotting terror attacks in the Bay Area will spend more than 15 years behind bars, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, despite arguments that he was just a naive young man saying outlandish things to shock people.
Read moreOakland Teachers Strike for Higher Wages, More Staff
Oakland teachers were exuberant as they protested working conditions flanked by supporters and an impromptu marching band at a downtown rally Thursday afternoon.
Read moreOakland Teachers Strike, Demanding Better Pay
Teachers in Oakland, California, planned to raise picket signs Thursday in the country’s latest strike by educators over classroom conditions and pay.
Read moreOakland Arena
The city of Oakland, California, asked a state court judge Monday to confirm an arbitration award requiring the Golden State Warriors basketball team to continue paying its share of stadium debt through 2027, even though the team is moving to a new arena in San Francisco next season.
Read moreJudge OKs Gag Order in Ghost Ship Fire Case
Alameda County prosecutors on Friday outmaneuvered lawyers for two men facing involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire, convincing a state judge to bar the defendants and their attorneys from speaking with the press just before delivering controversial arguments apparently aimed at swaying potential jurors.
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