Oakland Report’s Newsstand is a daily roundup of Oakland news from across the spectrum — a one-stop destination for readers to keep abreast of what’s happening in The Town. “I got 5” features five headlines we found interesting or notable this week.
1. The city of Oakland aims to put police drones on buildings across the city
The city is moving to station drones on rooftops around the city, which police would launch to the scenes of 911 calls while officers are en route. Both the city’s police commission and privacy advisory commission have approved the technology, which awaits final approval by the city council. The drones are estimated to cost $2.6 million over five years, for which the city seeks to tap Measure NN parcel tax funds. That measure was approved by voters in 2024 on a promise that the city would maintain at least 700 sworn police officers, a promise it has not kept. Read more…
2. Oakland, SF teachers unions suffer losses in school board elections
Oakland voters appear to have voted out two incumbent school board members who have deep ties to the Oakland Education Association teachers union; final results are still pending additional ranked-choice voting rounds. Voters in San Francisco also have chosen not to elect three teachers union-backed school board candidates in that city. Read more…
3. Criminal witness in Sheng Thao trial admits guilt, spars with defense attorneys
Mario Juarez, the political operative at the center of an alleged $3 million pay-to-play scheme with former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, admitted on the witness stand that he had committed various crimes in the past. Juarez is the prosecution’s star witness in the federal bribery and corruption trial of Thao and three co-defendants. Juarez himself has pleaded guilty in the case.
Under cross-examination, Juarez verbally sparred with the defense attorney, who appeared to be seeking to undermine Juarez’s credibility to the jury by highlighting his past criminal activities. Juarez admitted on the witness stand to stealing $14,000 from a tenant by inflating their security deposit and to keeping a $44,000 home loan payoff check entrusted to him by a homeowner. He acknowledged that he lost his real estate license after those incidents. He also admitted to bouncing a payment check to a local printer for political hit flyers attacking Thao’s mayoral opponents in 2024.
For his part, Juarez asserts that he brokered a deal with Thao to help her get elected mayor and give payoffs through Thao’s romantic partner, Andre Jones, in exchange for Thao directing city funds to a modular home venture partly controlled by Juarez and favorable contract terms for the city’s recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions. Read more…
Don’t miss a beat. Subscribe to Oakland Report (it’s free)
4. $11.4 million in Nvidia hardware stolen after leaving Oakland, authorities say
Six pallets of hardware made by Nvidia, the manufacturer of high-end computing equipment, were stolen after being loaded on a cargo truck in Oakland bound for Texas. Investigators say they lost track of the truck as it traveled south through California. Cargo thefts are becoming increasingly sophisticated, according to the FBI. In one case last year, thieves stole Nvidia-branded trailers only to discover they had been loaded with 20 tons of sand. Read more…
5. Mayor Barbara Lee waits until after election to use the power she already had
Oakland mayor Barbara Lee’s top employee, city administrator Betsy Lake, pushed out three city department heads on Friday, according to news reports. The staffing moves appear to show that Lee has had the power to push out underperforming department heads all along, despite recent campaign claims that the mayor needed more authority to manage the city’s operations.
The news of the staffing shakeup comes only three days after Oakland voters approved Measure EE, the “strong mayor” initiative that was created by a group of political supporters who were hand-picked by Lee. The measure, which was approved by voters but hasn’t taken effect yet, was billed as a needed reform to give the mayor more authority over city operations and department heads.
Supporters of the measure, including Lee, claimed that the mayor lacked authority to steer the city’s operations and manage underperforming department heads. Even before the measure, the city administrator has been Lee’s direct subordinate, hired and fired at will by the mayor, and oversees all the city’s department heads similar to a CEO of a corporation.
The released executives were the heads of human resources and transportation, and an assistant city administrator. Lee has been Oakland mayor for 18 months. Read more…
Subscribe to Oakland Report. (It’s free.)
Oakland Report’s Newsstand is a free public service to help Oaklanders stay informed in a fragmented media environment. We review over 200 publications for items that Oaklanders may want to know or find interesting — including local government, politics, public safety, business, schools, arts and culture. Headlines are refreshed by hand daily.