Teachers nearly went on strike. More than 400 positions were cut. And the district still has $50 million in budget cuts left to find. Education reporter Ashley McBride breaks down everything happening in Oakland Unified right now — and what it means for students, educators, and the city.
Plus: a mass shooting at a downtown nightclub leaves two dead, Oakland’s speed cameras issue a stunning 70,000 warnings in their first month, thousands of immigrant truck drivers lose their licenses overnight, a new state bill aims to crack down on illegal dumping, the public defender makes a stand over a jury with no Black members, a vivid walking tour of Bruce Lee’s Oakland, and your guide to all the Oakland sports teams to root for in 2026.
Upcoming events
Sunday, March 15: OMCA Trans Day of Visibility event, Spotlight Sundays. Talk by Black trans archivist and historian Andrea Horne, plus workshops exploring trans ancestors in history and creative practice. museumca.org
Thursday, March 19: Oaklandside Culture Makers: authors Jasmine Guillory, Carolina Ixta, and Nomadic Bookshop founder J.K. Fowler in conversation with Azucena Rasilla. The New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St. More info at oaklandside.org
Through March 27: ARTogether exhibit “Where Are You From?” featuring work by 11 immigrant and refugee artists exploring migration, home, and belonging. artoakland.org
Stories we cover in this episode:
Education
Public safety
Transportation and immigration
Government accountability
Culture and sports
Find all these stories and more at oaklandside.org. Have feedback or story ideas? Email us at editors@oaklandside.org.
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Tasneem Raja is the Editor-in-Chief of The Oaklandside. A pioneer in data journalism and local nonprofit news startups, she co-founded The Tyler Loop, a nationally recognized community news platform in East Texas. She was a senior editor at NPR’s Code Switch and at Mother Jones, where the team she led helped build the first-ever database of mass shootings in America. She started her career as features reporter at The Chicago Reader and The Philadelphia Weekly, and lives in Oakland with her husband and daughter.