Oakland in the headlines: legal squabble over airport naming with SF, and a broader local crime/social program context. City: largest in Alameda County, West Coast port hub.
Rising gas prices, driven by the Iran war, have increased costs for US, Canadian, and Australian drivers. Companies are offering incentives, but drivers face reduced earnings and higher expenses. The US IRS is urged to raise mileage deductions to offset costs.
Oakland’s airport now may be called Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport under a settlement with San Francisco. The agreement restricts how “San Francisco” is used in marketing, requires the word “bay” after San Francisco, and includes no monetary payment. Traffic trends remain down year over year as the change unfolds.
Oakland has achieved record-low homicides since the 1960s, with officials crediting the Ceasefire-Lifeline program that pairs at-risk individuals with life coaches and coordinates weekly reviews of shootings. The program, originated in Boston, saw a temporary dismantling during the pandemic but has since been reformed following an audit and is linked to the city’s recent decline in violent deaths.
A teenage driver has led to a fatal crash near International Boulevard and a city neighborhood, with three people killed at the scene and several others injured. The driver has been detained; police are investigating potential alcohol or drug involvement. The incident is developing.
A California jury has unanimously found that Elon Musk’s 2024 lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman has been filed too late, sparing OpenAI and its leadership from liability. The court accepts the jury’s verdict and signals an appeal may proceed. The case had centered on Musk’s claim that OpenAI shifted from nonprofit to for-profit and diverted charitable funds.