Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Ever wonder what a day at the Oakland Raiders game is like. See my video of my day at the Raiders / Colts game. It features Raider Legend Moris Bradshaw, Raider Fan Legend Charlie Santana, Jr., and Raider fans and The Raiderettes. Oh, there was a game, too!

Two Oakland schools escape closure District postpones decision to close Burckhalter, Sankofa for another year By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 12/20/2007 06:19:56 AM PST OAKLAND — Burckhalter Elementary School and Sankofa Academy will remain open through the 2008-09 school year. School district staff, who had originally recommended that they be closed, decided it would be best to postpone the decision for at least one year. After hearing some of the community input and the remarks from the board, they sat down and decided to re-evaluate, said Troy Flint, the school district's spokesman. Last week, during an emotional meeting at the district office, many speakers urged the district to keep the schools open. Many argued that the closures in recent years have disproportionately affected African-American families. Sixty-one percent of Burckhalter's students and 92 percent of Sankofa's students are African-American. A staff report on recent school closures supp

According to the East Bay Daily News , the small venue called Freight & Salvage will become much larger in 2009, in a 14,000 square feet space on Addison Street. It will grow to 420 seats and allow Freight & Salvage to stay open until 2 AM.

This is totally terrible as no one knows who he is. Terrible. Police seek ID of Oakland slaying victim Article Last Updated: 12/18/2007 10:01:27 AM PST OAKLAND — Homicide detectives and the Alameda County Coroner are still trying to identify a young man, possibly between 16 and 18 years old, found shot to death early Saturday. He had no identification on him; no one in Oakland has reported him missing and he had injuries to his hands so fingerprints are difficult, Oakland homicide Detective Sgt. Jim Rullamas said Monday. "We've got nothing on him, no ID, no suspects, no motive for why he was shot," Rullamas said. "He looked young to me, between 16 and 18, he could be older," he said. He was about 5-feet-6, slender build, an African American with medium, light skin, Rullamas said. He was wearing a black jacket and blue jeans, he said. The victim was found in the 2700 block of Harold Street, not far from the Fruitvale onramp to southbound I-580. A passer-by sa

I discovered this video on YouTube.com called "Oakland Speaks" and not to give too much away, but it's a well-done, heartfelt look at Oakland's culture and housing costs. One woman says there's a connection between jobs and violence -- in other words, we need more jobs. She also says that we're losing people at a rapid pace, every day. Here's the video:

Just a video of the mural, but it says a lot about what the artist thinks of Oakland. Take a look:

Bloggers like Refin and Nancy Friedman have openly pointed to Oakland's chronic lack of retail venues during the holidays. Friedman writes... It's prime shopping season, and my fair city is in a world of hurt. The weekend before last I attended a town meeting convened by my city councilwoman at which a consultant delivered the depressing news that Oakland is losing $1 billion a year in potential retail sales to neighboring cities. (In the trade, that's known as "leakage.") Once upon a time, downtown Oakland was home to four major department stores, a big furniture store, and several swanky boutiques. The tide began turning in the 1980s, thanks to lackluster leadership, rising crime, and general cluelessness. The Loma Prieta earthquake, in 1989, delivered the coup de grâce. Some downtown structures were never repaired and remain vacant. Today Oakland, a city of about 400,000, has only one department store: Sears. To shop at Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Home D