For residents in four U.S. cities, it’s about to get more expensive to buy soda or other sugary drinks after voters okayed new taxes on these beverages. [More]
oakland
Oakland Raiders File Trademark Applications For “Las Vegas Raiders”
By 8.25.16
Even though the Oakland Raiders have not yet received the NFL’s blessing to relocate (again), the team appears to be protecting a potential Las Vegas future from potential trademark raiders. [More]
San Francisco & L.A. Block App That Helped Drivers Dispute Parking Tickets
By 10.13.15
Fixed is a smartphone app that tried to help drivers dispute parking tickets, but that aspect of the service is no longer usable in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Oakland after those cities blocked the company’s access to their parking enforcement websites. [More]
Supreme Court Shuts Down Attempt To Move Oakland A’s To San Jose
By 10.5.15
Professional sports teams relocate all the time — just ask the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, who moved moved to L.A. and then back home again in a little more than a decade (and who are among the lead prospects to fill the pro football void in L.A.). So it would seem no big deal for the Oakland A’s to only move about 50 miles away to San Jose, right? Not quite. [More]
Lawsuit Asks Major League Baseball To Put Up Safety Nets All The Way To Foul Poles
By 7.13.15
I’ve been going to baseball games since I was old enough to walk, and I’ve even had regular seats in prime foul ball territory. Yet I’ve never managed to snag an errant ball (and luckily, I’ve never had to duck out of the way from a flying bat). If a new lawsuit has its way, my dream of someday catching a foul ball will become even more of a fantasy. [More]
Boarded-Up But Open Sears Cited For Urban Blight
By 12.5.13
Rioters destroyed storefronts in downtown Oakland, California five months ago, filling the area with sadness and boarded-up windows. All of the businesses have fixed up their public faces except one. One retailer’s huge building still has boarded-up windows and looks abandoned. Local residents call the blighted storefront “depressing,” and the city issued a citation for “blight.” The blighted business? Sears. [More]
Banker Accused Of Stealing $2 Million From Elderly Customers — At Two Different Banks
By 5.29.13
Remember that Wells Fargo employee charged with defrauding a 90-year-old customer out of $10,000? That’s amateur hour compared to the Oakland woman accused of not only stealing around $2 million from bank customers — but doing it at two different banks. [More]
Oakland Decides It Doesn’t Need All Those Fees On Its Combination ID/Debit Cards
By 4.9.13
A few weeks back, we told you about the new photo ID cards being issued by the city of Oakland that could also be used as prepaid debit cards. We also told you about how these debit cards came loaded with sky-high fees. Now it looks like the city has decided to ditch some of these exorbitant charges. [More]
Oakland Residents Will Be Slammed With Fees If They Use City IDs As Debit Cards
By 3.20.13
The city of Oakland has begun offering ID cards that can also double as prepaid debit cards. Not inherently a bad idea, except for the fact that these cards come loaded with fees that will chisel away at the user’s funds. [More]
It’s Oakland Vs. Washington In Legal Battle Over Huge Medical Marijuana Dispensary
By 10.11.12
In what is believed to be the first instance of a municipality suing the federal government on behalf of a medical marijuana dispensary, the city of Oakland has gone to court to ask the feds to please stop trying to close down the largest such dispensary in the country. [More]
Stolen 5,300 Pound Copper Church Bell Recovered Near Scrapyard
By 10.27.11
Ding dong, are you missing a bell? Acting on a tip, police recovered a 5,300 pound copper bell that was stolen last week from the garden of St. Mary’s Cathedral in West Oakland, California. [More]
Laptop Thief Caught Thanks To Spy Program, Twitter, And Eventually, The Oakland PD
By 6.1.11
After Joshua Kaufman’s Macbook was stolen from his apartment in Oakland, he notified the police. Due to budget cutbacks, Oakland PD don’t respond to many non-violent crimes anymore like burglary, grand theft, and car wrecks, so initially they couldn’t help him. Then Josh activated a tracking program on it called Hidden. Like other similar programs, it gave him real-time remote access to his computer, letting him take pictures using its webcam and capture screenshots. He set up a Tumblr to post them, his story went viral, he gave the tracking info to the police, and they ended up trapping the thief and getting the laptop back to Josh. [More]
No Difference Between Large & Small Beers At Oakland Coliseum?
By 2.17.11
Qwest Field, home of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, recently caught some flack when people pointed out that you could fit an entire large beer into a “small” beer cup. A video shot at the Oakland Athletics’ ballpark is making people wonder how widespread this issue is. [More]
McDonald's Threatens Mac & Cheese Restaurant With Lawsuit Over Name
By 6.9.10
McDonald’s has lost at least two customers in the San Francisco area. The fast food Goliath has threatened to sue a pair of hopeful restaurateurs if they go ahead with the plan to name their plan to name their small macaroni and cheese-themed restaurant “Little Mac.” [More]
Oakland Is Out Of Weed, City Council Declares
By 5.3.10
Only in the Bay Area does it become an official civic emergency when pot stashes dry up. The Easy Bay Express reports the Oakland City council declared a local public health emergency because supplies of medical marijuana have dwindled. [More]
Police In Oakland Issue Warning About Craigslist Robberies
By 4.26.10
Just buying something from an anonymous seller on Craigslist — or any number of other sites — can be a risky proposition in its own right. But police in Oakland say there’s been a rash of recent incidents where victims purchased items off Craigslist only to be robbed at gunpoint when they show up to take receipt of their purchases. [More]
Crepe Place Will Give You Any Crepe And A Spanking For $25.00
By 10.7.09
We really have no idea if this is a deal or not, but Metro Crepes in Oakland, CA will give you any crepe on the menu and a spanking for $25. According to the menu, we estimate the value of the spanking at around $20 — if you get either the Brussels or the Madrid crepe.
Southwest Customer Exposes Self, Punches Another Passenger, Then Strips Naked
By 8.21.09
Here’s an issue you probably didn’t expect to run into on your flight from Oakland to Las Vegas. According to the SF Chronicle, a man exposed himself, then punched a passenger who screamed. After that, he decided to strip naked and resist while flight attendants and other passengers subdued him. The flight was turned around and both the man and the woman he punched were taken to the hospital. They apparently don’t know each other, and the man is wanted on drug charges.
