A 78-year-old woman was hospitalized Wednesday with head injuries suffered when she was robbed of her purse in the Cleveland Heights neighborhood near Lake Merritt, authorities said. He condition was not immediately available Thursday. The violent attack happened about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Newton and Lester avenues. According to initial police reports, the woman, who lives in the area, was walking on the sidewalk when a man confronted her and tried to grab her purse.
Ava Community Energy, formerly East Bay Community Energy, partnered with the Alameda County Transportation Commission, the county transit funder, to launch a $10 million fund in July to offer significant rebates to adult customers for the purchase of new electric bikes. The program provides $1,000 toward the cost of a standard e-bike or $1,500 toward the cost of a cargo or adaptive e-bike for people who qualify as low-income, with $400 and $900 rebates, respectively, for other county residents.
A coach at Elmhurst Middle School was standing on campus during a break when two men pulled up in a Chevrolet Tahoe, wearing ski masks, and jumped out of the car, according to police. "You got my cousin jumped," one of them allegedly told the man. "We're going to smoke you." A month later, on Dec. 15, one of the men made good on his threats, police said. The coach was walking on 98th Avenue during the day when a man pulled up in, asked the coach if he worked at Elmhurst, then opened fire twice. Both shots missed the coach, who called police after the gunman's Chevrolet Tahoe sped off.
As KTVU reports, a boxing ring used by heavyweight champion George Foreman in the 1980s sustained extensive damage after a car thief crashed into Lightning's Boxing Club on 5845 MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland at some point in the early hours Thursday morning. Kris Lopez, who co-owns the gym with his wife Denise Lopez, said the impact of the crash was forceful. "It's like an earthquake," Kris Lopez told KTVU. "The force knocked over the ring stairs and pushed the ring out of place."
A city resident has been charged with secretly taking a nude picture of his girlfriend's 16-year-old family member while she sat on the toilet, court records show. The suspect, 44-year-old Elder Lopez, of Oakland, allegedly drank alcohol then fell asleep on his girlfriend's couch while listening to music. When he woke up, he was surrounded by Oakland police, who'd been called there by his girlfriend after she allegedly went through his phone and found the picture, according to court records.
Just one day after a judge released him from jail with pending drug and gun possession charges, a city resident allegedly shot himself with his own gun during a dispute with a neighbor, court records show. Now the 54-year-old Oakland resident is back in jail, set to be arraigned Wednesday on new charges of shooting into an unoccupied car and possessing a gun as a felon, court records show.
William Smith, who lives on Tyrell, showed us a bent car rim, which he said had all been damaged by the street's potholes just in the last three weeks. He said he's also punctured two of his tires on the road. "So I drive extremely slow and cautious," he said. "Sometimes I'll choose not to leave, seriously, just because this street is so bad. I only use it when I have to. It's terrible."
Oakland will join several other Northern California cities that have begun enforcing street parking fees on Sundays, an effort to boost public revenues and commercial activity in the cash-strapped city. Starting Jan. 4, Oakland residents who fail to feed the city-run street meters and parking kiosks between noon and 6 p.m. Sunday will receive a warning, officials said. After 30 days, the city will begin issuing tickets.
There are shared languages that transcend what is written down or spoken aloud. Young people seem to understand this better than most. The teenagers at a recent after-school study hour in East Oakland spoke mainly in Spanish, but when they exchanged knowing grins, or burst into sudden laughter, it was clear that even behind a language barrier, this was an environment they trusted.
Holiday Pawty in Oakland!@doghoodapp and @pawsitivelybayarea invite you to a festive Holiday Pawty! Join us for an ugly sweater contest, raffles and prizes, special swag for your pups, and lots of community fun - all while supporting @WrenYorkieRescue and @shauls.paws . RSVP through the @doghoodapp to secure your pup's spot, prizes, and swag. Limited spots - don't miss out! Thanks to @hunkyhouseco for their support in bringing this event together.
Perhaps the best thing about holiday shopping is getting it done, but the process can be much more satisfying if you're supporting Oakland and Bay businesses and entrepreneurs along the way. Look no further than this roundup featuring over 20 holiday markets from Friday, Dec. 5, to Saturday, Dec. 20. Whether you are looking for artwork for your walls, handmade items for your kitchen, niche jewelry, rare plants, ceramics or other handmade gifts, these markets will have everything you need to complete your holiday wish list.
For those who plan their traveling around food, there's a new gastronomic ranking that puts Bay Area cities way up there. The readers of Conde Nast Traveler have weighed in for its annual travel awards, and in the category of food cities, Oakland takes first place while San Francisco scores fifth. Also placing in the top 15 cities are (to no surprise) New Orleans and Chicago, and (perhaps to slight surprise) burgs in Ohio and Hawaii.
Oakland has come out on top in Conde Nast Traveler's latest Readers' Choice Awards ranking of the best US food cities, but San Francisco comes in at number five. Conde Nast Traveler has just released the 2025 winners of its annual Readers' Choice Awards for travel destinations, hotels, airlines, and more. And in the ranking of destination food cities in the US, Oakland has come in at number one this year. This may be in no small part to the great diversity of cuisines available in the city, and the sheer number of restaurants by our estimate, with around 1,500 restaurants, there is one restaurant for every 293 residents in Oakland.