Oakland | featured news

Occupy Wall Street supporters who staged rallies that shut down the nation's fifth-busiest port during a day of protests condemned on Thursday the demonstrators who clashed with police in the latest flare-up of violence in Oakland, Calif.

A day of demonstrations in Oakland that began as a significant step toward expanding the political and economic influence of the Occupy Wall Street movement, ended with police in riot gear arresting dozens of protesters who had marched through downtown to break into a vacant building, shattering windows, spraying graffiti and setting fires along the way....

Oakland prepared Wednesday to again become the epicenter of Occupy Wall Street movement as local organizers aided by labor unions and advocacy groups finalized plans for a broad-based call to action that was expected to include marches, pickets outside banks, school shutdowns and an attempt to close the nation's fifth-busiest port.

The city's police union on Tuesday blasted Mayor Jean Quan and city officials for sending mixed messages about the Occupy Oakland encampment and upcoming general strike.

Riot police in Oakland dispersed hundreds of protesters with tear gas on Tuesday night as crowds tried to re-enter a plaza outside of City Hall that the authorities had cleared of an encampment earlier in the day. After the forceful response to the Occupy Oakland protests, officers in Atlanta moved in early Wednesday morning to clear a similar camp in that city’s central Woodruff Park. At least 53 people connected to the protest group Occupy Atlanta were arrested, and the park was cleared by 2 a.m. Eastern time, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Oakland police raided the Occupy Oakland encampments early Tuesday morning and reportedly arrested dozens of protesters. Oakland police confirmed that an operation was in progress to clear out the encampments but said it was not clear yet how many protesters had been arrested.

An Alaska Airlines flight landed safely on Monday at Oakland International Airport and has been cleared, after a bomb threat aboard the aircraft was called in, an airport spokeswoman said. Alaska Airlines flight 342 was isolated on a taxiway after landing just before 8 a.m. local time and passengers were bused to the terminal, said airport spokeswoman Joanne Holloway. The flight was bound from Seattle to Oakland.

Protesters clashed with the police on Friday night after a white former transit police officer was given a two-year sentence for the killing an unarmed black man.

Long after most kids are home, dozens of 6th graders at Elmhurt Community Prep in Oakland are reading, writing and more, until 5 or 6 o'clock. Their academic bankers hours, which often reflect the workday of their parents, is part of an innovative program run by Citizen Schools, a federally-funded non-profit that targets at-risk middle-schoolers in some of the nation's toughest neighborhoods.

The city of Oakland, California on Tuesday legalized large-scale marijuana cultivation for medical use and will issue up to four permits for "industrial" cultivation starting next year.