Feature Archives

On Saturday, December 15th, nearly 100 people held a candle light vigil in front of a new mural designed and painted by local artist Paul Barron and Gary King Sr. at the spot where his son Gary King Jr. was brutally killed by Oakland Police Officer Patrick Gonzalez on September 20. Family and friends had turned the spot of the murder into a shrine with candles, but messages of love and anger were repeatedly torn down by the City of Oakland. It was only after family and friends launched a struggle that the city approved the creation of a permanent mural.

Anti-choice protesters have reportedly been harassing, intimidating, threatening, and blocking patients, friends, family, and staff of reproductive health clinics in Oakland for years. The City of Oakland and East Bay clinics are uniting to support an ordinance protecting safe and unrestricted access to clinics. On Tuesday, December 4th, Oakland's City Council will consider an ordinance that would define penalties for those who try to interfere with access to clinics. Supporters will gather outside of City Hall for a 5pm rally.

On December 2, dozens of supporters marked the one-year anniversary of the tree sits at the Memorial Grove in Berkeley. Bands played, Circus Pandemonium performed, free food was served and protesters marched.

On November 20th, UC Berkeley completed the construction of a second barbed-wire fence around the Memorial Oak Grove. The fencing was built to enclose approximately ten tree-sitters inside and has cost an estimated $115,000. The University has announced it can fine or arrest anyone acting "in concert" with the tree-sitters.

Ichinkhorloo Bayarsaikhan, a 15 year old who immigrated to the United States from Mongolia, was murdered in a park in Alameda on Halloween night. The Asian Pacific Islander community has been troubled by police harassment and inadequate coverage of the investigation by local corporate media outlets throughout November. A rally and press conference to demand police accountability will took place on November 27th in front of the City of Alameda Police Department.

November 20th: UC Berkeley has completed the construction of a second barbed-wire fence around the Memorial Oak Grove, costing $80,000, enclosing approximately ten tree-sitters inside, and can fine or arrest anyone acting "in concert" with the tree-sitters. Oak supporters are calling for an 11am Thanksgiving Day gathering at the Grove. A group of mothers will bring holiday pies to feed the sitters, and a “Thanksgiving Turkey” will walk up to the grove with food for the tree defenders as well.

On Saturday, November 10th, hundreds of people marched on Chevron's Richmond Refinery to oppose the company's proposal to process dirtier, sulfur-heavy oils in the city of Richmond.

The November 7th spill of bunker fuel from the Cosco Busan, South Korea-bound container ship, is shaping up to be much more serious than early reports indicated and appears to be the worst ship-related spill in more than a decade. The Coast Guard estimates that over 58,000 gallons of fuel were spilled from the accident. Only a fraction of those gallons of fuel have been contained thus far. San Francisco Baykeeper is investigating why initial reports underestimated the size of the spill and why the Coast Guard failed to immediately coordinate its response with the Office of Spill Prevention and Response.