Oakland

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he’s sending 120 Highway Patrol officers to Oakland under a new state law enforcement campaign targeting an uptick in violent crime and theft that has placed political pressure on politicians, divided Democrats and bolstered criticism of California’s criminal justice policies. Newsom’s decision to bolster police presence in Oakland comes amid a barrage of recent headlines on the city’s crime rates, business closures and campaigns to oust the city’s mayor and Alameda County’s…

The Bay Area was a weird place in 1987. You had the remnants of the Me Decade’s cults of touchy-feeliness bumping up against Silicon Valley’s computer-nerd capitalism. Competing D.I.Y. music scenes meant you could surf between S.F. Thrash, East Bay rap, and pockets of punk popping up from everywhere; shows and entrances to a subculture of your choice were just a BART ride away. Other than the San Francisco 49ers, still deep into their Joe Montana-led winning streak, sports meant rooting for underdogs. (The Oakland A’s…

When a renowned Oakland musician stumbled upon a mysterious piano this week in the woods, gloriously cast in sunbeams like a scene out of a Disney cartoon, she had a couple of reactions.First, she was stumped by how it ended up there. Whoever transported it would have needed to lug the hefty instrument down half a mile of trail in Diamond Park in the Northern California city, then over a creek before setting it down in its new home.“I couldn’t figure it out,” said Vicki Randle, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who…

Everyone loves a good heist yarn, so I suppose we should be grateful to Major League Baseball and a Northern California billionaire for providing us with one.It’s the saga in which the Oakland A’s ballclub and its owner, an heir to the Gap fortune, are plotting to abandon the club’s home city and move to Las Vegas, enticed by more than $380 million in municipal subsidies for a $1.5-billion stadium and permanent immunity from property taxes. The move still requires approval by the owners of at least 23 of the league’s 30…

Leave it to Boots Riley to dream up one of the craziest (and we mean that in a good way) streaming series yet in 2023. The Oakland filmmaker and influential music man delivers another jaw dropper — this time for Prime Video — with “I’m a Virgo.” The biggest release in theaters this week finds Wes Anderson meandering through another visual wonderland, this time set in the ‘50s Southwest (Spain doing a fine job understudying for much of it). The big news for MCU fans is that Disney+’s “Secret Invasion” proves to be a big…

It’s hard to tell whether the Oakland Athletics are a bigger farce on or off the field.On the field, the A’s are on pace to lose 127 games. No major league team in the entirety of the 20th century lost so many games in a single season.Off the field, the A’s soon could go 0 for 4 in potential host cities, striking out in the pursuit of a new ballpark in Oakland, Fremont, San Jose and maybe now in Las Vegas.The question is not where A’s owner John Fisher and team president Dave Kaval might look next. The question is why…

Shipping containers are seen at a terminal inside the Port of Oakland.Carlos Barria | ReutersWest Coast ports are shutting down as union workers "no show" after a breakdown in negotiations with port management.The Port of Oakland was shut down Friday morning due to insufficient labor for terminal operations, a stoppage that is expected to last at least through Saturday. A source close to the situation told CNBC the port shutdowns are expected to spread across the West Coast as a result of lack of sufficient labor as…

A section of an Oakland street will be partially renamed to commemorate the life of the late legendary rapper Tupac Shakur amid hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.The Oakland City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to rename a portion of MacArthur Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Van Buren Avenue — where he once lived — as “Tupac Shakur Way.” The initiative was introduced by District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife.“When first started people didn’t think it was a valid art form,” Fife said during the meeting. “Now it’s taken…

Just a few hundred people of Chinese heritage still live in Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown. Many have been pushed out to cheaper and safer areas.Noah Sheidlower | CNBCPenny and Jack Lee, now married, grew up in the 1960s and 1970s among the thousands of people of Chinese heritage who lived in apartments lining the main stretches of Washington, D.C.'s bustling Chinatown."Chinatown was very bright, vibrant," Jack Lee recalled. "All of our recreations ended up being in the alleys of Chinatown." They felt it was a safe haven,…

Las Vegas raided Oakland of its football team three years ago, and Las Vegas appears on the verge of making off with Oakland’s baseball team as well.The Oakland Athletics are planning to buy land near the Las Vegas Strip with the plan of building a new ballpark there and moving into it in 2027, A’s president Dave Kaval told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Wednesday night.“We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year,” Major League…