SF News Oakland Firefighters Sound the Alarm Over Oakland Fire Station Closures in the Wake of LA Fires You might say Oakland firefighters have their hair on fire over the recent closures of two city fire stations, with four more closures potentially looming, as response times have more than doubled, and the risk of SoCal-style wildfire outbreaks has ballooned.
SF News Ayesha Curry Closing Her Home Goods Store Sweet July In Oakland, Citing Safety Concerns After a four-year run in Uptown Oakland, Ayesha Curry’s kitchen furnishings shop and cafe Sweet July is closing down permanently Sunday, with ownership citing “the safety of our patrons and staff” as the reason.
Arts & Entertainment Historic Oakland Music Landmark Vandalized, GoFundMe Campaign Launched Thieves recently stole 40 plaques from Oakland’s Walk of Fame, erasing tributes to music legends like B.B. King and Aretha Franklin. A GoFundMe aims to raise $150K to replace them and restore the landmark.
SF News Oakland Police Arrest More Youngsters for Fatal Shooting After They Stole a Scooter When three deplorable teens stole a scooter the day after Christmas, a father confronted them, and they shot and killed him. Now Oakland Police have arrested an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old for their involvement.
SF News Two Men Face Charges for Oakland Murder of Man Whose Body Was Found Wrapped in Plastic Garbage Bag Seven weeks ago, Oakland Police found a dead body abandoned and wrapped in a garbage bag in West Oakland. Now they’re naming two suspects, one of whom has been arrested, and the other is still at large.
SF News Oakland Police Chief Wants to Loosen Rules Around Police Car Chases After Gavin Newsom started haranguing the Oakland PD to engage in more car chases of suspects, new Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell agreed, and laid out his proposal for more car chases at higher speeds.
SF Politics Feds’ Sheng Thao Indictment Says She Actually Tried to Solicit $3 Million Bribe When the Department of Justice announced their indictment of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao last week, they said her live-in boyfriend was bribed to the tune of $95,000. But the full indictment says Thao actually asked for $3 million, though didn’t get it.
SF News Sheng Thao (and Her Boyfriend) Indicted on Eight Federal Counts of Bribery and Corruption The hammer finally came down on former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao seven months after the FBI raided her home, and she now faces charges that she received kickbacks from major political donors, including the offer of a $95,000 no-show job for her romantic partner.
SF Politics Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Is, Indeed, Getting Indicted Less than 24 hours after the FBI raided the home of another East Bay politician in connection with an apparently broad-ranging corruption scandal, we learn that former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is getting federally indicted.
SF News Oakland 15-Year-Old Charged With Killing Neighborhood Father After Stealing His Son’s Scooter A 15-year-old East Oakland teen allegedly shot and killed a father who confronted him for stealing his son’s scooter on the day after Christmas, and Oakland Police arrested and charged that 15-year-old on Monday.
SF News UC Berkeley Custodian Takes Plea Deal In Oakland Gay Hookup Murder A former janitor at UC Berkeley has opted not to stand trial for the March 2023 killing of a beloved Oakland Gay Men's Chorus member and sometime drag performer, who died in his own apartment after what appeared to be an early morning hookup.
SF Politics Barbara Lee Takes a Formal Step Toward a Running For Mayor of Oakland Recently retired Congresswoman Barbara Lee has just opened a campaign account for a run for Oakland mayor, and she's reportedly close to making a final decision about whether she will seek the job.
SF News Oakland, Facing a Budget Crisis, Will Temporarily Close Two Fire Stations Oakland will be temporarily closing two fire stations for the next six months, a move that is part of the city's broader plan to address a looming $129 million dollar budget deficit.
SF News Oakland Sees Violent End to the Year, Beginning of a New One, With Four Murders In 24 Hours While Oakland saw a drop in homicides in 2024, the city unfortunately made up some of that gap in the final hours of the year on Tuesday.
SF News Smash-and-Grab Burglars Ram Car Into Montclair Lucky Supermarket, Make Off With ATM A string of car-ramming burglaries continued in Oakland early Thursday morning, as the Lucky Supermarket in Montclair was rammed into with a vehicle by a team of thieves who went straight for the ATM.
SF News Man Dies After Saving His Family From Early Christmas Morning Fire In Oakland The Christmas morning actions of 37-year-old Steven Weatherford saved the lives of his aunt, uncle, and brother when their Oak Knoll house caught fire Christmas morning, but Weatherford himself would perish after saving his family.
SF News Oakland Catholic Diocese Accused of Hiding $106 Million in Assets So They Wouldn't Have to Pay Sex Abuse Victims The Oakland Diocese declared bankruptcy in 2023 when forced to pay settlements to 330 victims of sex abuse at the hands of priests. Now victims’ attorneys say the church transferred more than $100 million into an inactive nonprofit to hide their assets.
SF News Burglars Ram Cars Into as Many as Ten Oakland Businesses In Weekend Smash-and-Grab Spree There are reports that as many as ten Oakland businesses had their storefronts rammed into by cars over the weekend, stealing ATMs and more, and police say surveillance video suggests each smash-and-grab was pulled off by the same crew.
SF Politics Oakland City Council Approves Slashing Police, Fire, and Arts Departments to Trim $130 Million Deficit With the City of Oakland drowning in about $129 million in red ink, Oakland City Council voted to approve a plan to cut police overtime, close a few fire stations, and eliminate some arts programs in hopes of closing the deficit.
SF News An Oakland BART Station Might Be Renamed, If Someone Pays $750k A recent BART Board of Directors meeting saw the unanimous approval of a motion to rechristen the station as the Oakland Chinatown Station, provided a third-party fronts the capital required to do so.
SF Politics Is This Why the FBI Raided Sheng Thao’s Home? Filings Allege High-Rollers Traded Campaign Donations for City Contracts A new set of filings allege that a recycling company and a security firm funneled nearly $300,000 to a Sheng Thao political operative in exchange for lucrative city contracts, and now that political operative may have flipped and could be cooperating with the feds.
SF Politics Oakland City Council Weighing Drastic Cuts as $130 Million Deficit Looms Layoffs, pay cuts, and reductions to the police and fire departments are all on the table in Oakland, as the City Council looks for ways to slash the city's budget as they confront a deficit of nearly $130 million.
SF News Sideshow In Oakland Ends With BMW In Flames A roving sideshow early Sunday morning that moved from North Oakland closer to downtown, drawing hundreds of spectators, ended with one car fully engulfed in flames.
SF Politics FBI Probe That Brought Raid of Sheng Thao’s Home Has Witnesses Giving Closed-Door Testimony The FBI appears to be making progress in whatever investigation resulted in the June raid of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home, as witnesses are being subpoenaed, but we still don’t know why the raid happened or who the FBI’s suspects are.
SF Politics President of Oakland City Council, Nikki Fortunato Bas, Declares Victory In County Race, Complicating Mayoral Transition Who will be interim mayor of Oakland? That's a more open question now as City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas announced victory in her bid to become an Alameda County supervisor.
