Free Republic

"For many Bay Area residents who lived through it, the Loma Prieta earthquake was an unforgettable moment. The magnitude 6.9 temblor killed 63 people, 42 of them on the Cypress Freeway in Oakland when a large section of it collapsed. The quake injured 3,757 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. Dozens of buildings were destroyed in Santa Cruz, about 10 miles from the quake’s epicenter. A portion of the Bay Bridge collapsed, and in San Francisco, a fire broke out in the Marina district and several buildings collapsed. Approximately 16,000 homes were left uninhabitable. Game 3 of the...

A Palestinian-owned cafe in Oakland, California, has introduced a menu to celebrate its first anniversary that includes an item celebrating the leader of Hamas. Near the bottom of its menu, the Jerusalem Coffee House advertises the “Sweet Sinwar” orange, ginger, and carrot juice. The $10 drink shares a name with Yahya Sinwar, the terror group’s leader and architect of its Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel. The cafe released the menu on Monday, the first anniversary of the attack and a day that featured competing pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian rallies across the United States, as well as expressions of communal...

Caltrans reached its next steps to remove one of the worst freeways in the country and make right what Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee once called a “scourge on the East Bay.” The freeway is highly criticized for ostracizing residents in the predominantly Black neighborhood of West Oakland. For years, community organizations have called for its demolition. “Today, I-980 represents a painful physical monument to the segregation and discrimination of generations past,” Caltrans wrote in a statement. In March 2023, Caltrans received a $680,000 grant from the federal government as part of the Biden administration’s infrastructure law. This prompted Caltrans to...

Las Vegas radio stations have banned Green Day after frontman Billie Joe Armstrong called the city “the worst shit hole in America” during a recent performance. While Armstrong’s comments were connected to his opinion on the A’s leaving Oakland and planning to move to Las Vegas, the Green Day frontman nevertheless chose to trash the entire city in an expletive-laden rant.

Vice President Kamala Harris has tried to portray her upbringing as “middle class” and even working class — touting a summer job at McDonald’s and claiming to be from Oakland, a blue-collar city with a large black population. However, a close look at her childhood shows that Harris and her younger sister grew up with many opportunities that many “middle class” children do not have, such as living abroad, private school education, and growing up in some of the wealthiest locales in the world.

hey say no good deed goes unpunished. An Oakland, California, City Council candidate, who is running for office on a platform of addressing the city’s homeless crisis and "skyrocketing levels of crime," said she had a bag full of donations stolen by a homeless woman during her campaign kickoff event on Sunday. To make matters worse, she said the police never showed up when she called 911. Charlene Wang, who is running for the at-large seat in the California city, says the homeless woman grabbed the bag — which contained about $1,000 — at Clinton Square Park at around 4...

Police are investigating after a Jaws of Life tool was stolen from firefighters in Democrat-run Oakland, California, on Friday. The apparent theft happened after firefighters used it at the scene of a call in the 1600 block of West Street, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. A law enforcement spokesperson said not long after the firefighters used it they realized it had been taken. Officials did not give any information about suspects in the case. Now, both agencies are working to recover the tool that is used after serious crashes to rescue individuals trapped inside vehicles. The Times report noted...

Maria Ramos, 33 and a mother of eight, was shot and killed in the city after she challenged some teenage drug dealers who reportedly sold weed to her children.. A mother of eight children was brutally executed after she confronted drug dealers in Oakland, California who were reportedly selling weed to her kids. Maria Ramos, 33, was shot and killed in the city after she confronted the teenage drug dealers. Maria Ramos was visiting her mother, Blanca Velasco, with her children on Aug. 7 when the dealers sold pot pipes to two of Ramos’ children, the Daily Mail reports. Ramos...

OAKLAND, Calif. - During a news conference meant for a "major announcement," the Oakland Police Union demanded Mayor Sheng Thao's resignation on Tuesday, citing severe understaffing and a lack of resources within the police force.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday sent a letter to Oakland officials urging them to allow police to engage in more vehicle pursuits, contending that the limitations placed on officers contribute to public safety challenges in the city. The California Highway Patrol inspired the governor’s missive after the agency “observed criminals fleeing with impunity” during the governor’s campaign to boost law enforcement and reduce crime in a city that has historically been one of the most dangerous in the state. In a policy Newsom described as an “outlier,” Oakland only allows police chases when a suspect is armed with a gun...

A man has been arrested following the shooting death of Oakland rapper Alliauna Green, 27, known as Tan DaGod. Dominic Gates, 30, is facing murder charges from the Alameda County District Attorney. Gates, also a rapper, known as BNC4Nero, has a previous felony conviction.

akland politics are heating up. On July 9, the City Council voted to place a recall referendum for Mayor Sheng Thao on the November ballot. Public discussion has focused on last month’s raid on the mayor’s home by the FBI, IRS, and US Postal Service in a broad but as-yet-opaque investigation into allegations of corruption and money laundering. Yet the campaign against Thao has other motivations—and ignoring them would be a big mistake. Spearheaded by retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte and members of Oakland’s minority communities, the campaign gathered more than 40,000 voter signatures in favor of...

In recent months it seemed that Oakland — a city famously grappling with a rise in crime — had course-corrected in remarkable fashion. Statistics published by the police department showed year-to-year crime had dropped by 33% overall by the end of April, a dramatic shift after last year’s spike. Mayor Sheng Thao praised the city for turning a corner. Gov. Gavin Newsom quoted the 33% figure in a news release touting Oakland’s partnership with the California Highway Patrol. The news spread through social media posts and optimistic headlines, including stories in the Chronicle. But a new Chronicle review of Oakland...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is raising eyebrows on a national level by taking a tough stance against George Soros-backed prosecutor Pamela Price of Alameda County, which includes the crime-ridden city of Oakland. Price faces a recall effort on the November ballot, as does “progressive” Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, whose home was recently raided by the FBI in an apparent corruption probe. Breitbart News described Price’s record in 2023: Soros, who has funded radical prosecutors across the country, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars backing Price in 2018. She won in 2022 and immediately backed “criminal justice reform” of the...

Whether you like leftism or not (I don’t), one of the most admirable things about leftists is that they are long-term planners. Conservatives dream of quick fixes, but leftists put systems in place and then patiently wait for them to come to fruition. San Francisco perfectly illustrates how this works...and it goes back to the 1960s. At the end of June, a San Francisco convenience store was robbed and vandalized. This happened in a city that no longer polices minor crimes (allowing it to boast that its crime statistics have improved), thereby paving the way for major crimes. The city,...

A mob of looters ransacked an Oakland gas station convenience store and caused thousands of dollars in damage as the frustrated store manager claimed police took nine hours to respond to his plea for help. The horde, who had just attended a nearby car sideshow, broke into the 76 Station near the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport around 4:30 a.m. on Friday, according to ABC 7 News Bay Area. Owner Sam Mardaie estimated approximately 80 to 100 people broke through his store’s front door and grabbed everything they could get their hands on.

A jaw-dropping video shows the moment nearly 100 robbers ransacked a California gas station in the middle of the night. Surveillance footage displays dozens of masked and hoodie-wearing thieves taking their sweet time to grab as much as they can carry just after 4:30am on Friday at the station in crime-ridden Oakland. The raid came just days after Oakland's progressive mayor bragged about a drop in crime in the hellhole city.

Civilization in the Bay Area continues to unravel at an alarming rate. Checking in on California and we find that civilization continues to unravel at an alarming rate, but nowhere is that more obvious than taking a look at the Bay Area. Here’s the latest, from an item out at a local outlet: Thirteen senior citizens reported being brutally attacked and robbed in just one week in an Oakland community. But according to leaders at one senior living facility in the city, they say the number is much higher and closer to an astounding 30. … ‘It was happening every...

Isn't accepting bribes a crime? I always thought it was.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao's home was raided by the FBI over pay-to-play allegations against her boyfriend, a former aide claims - with the worker also revealing a huge upset in the pair's relationship. The Democrat lawmaker's home on Maiden Lane was searched around 5:30 am PT Thursday. Renia Webb, who served as Thao's chief of staff for 18 months, says she's been interview by federal agents and believes they may be looking into her boyfriend Andre Jones. Webb - who says she ran her office and her campaign - accuses Jones of classic pay-to-play corruption, including trying to lobby for...