Alameda County

The city of Berkeley has allocated all of its 51 emergency housing vouchers, or EHVs, which were provided to the city as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Countywide, 875 have been allocated.

After an alleged violation of the California Voting Rights Act, or CVRA, AC Transit will redraw district lines and expand its leadership from five to seven wards, while eliminating its two at-large seats on the Board of Directors.

Activists from the Care First Community Coalition, Restore Oakland, and the Interfaith Coalition for Justice in our Jails have expressed concern over the $81 million allocation of spending for mental health expansions at Santa Rita jail.

Alameda County residents are in the midst of a historic recall effort against their district attorney, reminiscent of the high-profile 2021 recall of former San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin.

New vaccines are being developed to boost immunity against the XBB.1.5 subvariant of COVID-19. There are no official timelines for the rollout of any of the new boosters yet.

BART has officially made an addition to its firefighting team. The organization recently welcomed the switch from goats to sheep by sending the animals around the Bay Area to mitigate fire risks on BART property.

Berkeley’s cannabis industry is back in business. A new temporary “tax holiday,” lasting from January 2023 until July 2025, aimed at supporting legal chains was passed unanimously by city council on July 11.

Under a new ordinance passed by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, sideshow attendees can now be fined $1,000 or face three months in jail. 

In an effort to “restore trust” after the November 2022 election, District 5 supervisor Keith Carson proposed an ordinance to create an elections oversight commission, which the board unanimously approved June 6

Sounds of music, laughter and joy abounded at Berkeley’s 36th Juneteenth Festival on Sunday. The festival commemorates June 19, 1865 — the day the last of American enslaved people were declared free in Galveston, Texas, more than two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.