In the News
Rosa María Carranza leaned forward to hold a 3-year-old’s back as the girl climbed a rock in the forested hills of northeast Oakland.
Dressed in hiking gear and beaded necklaces, Carranza, 67, maneuvered between trees and children on a sunny morning in December. “Hold on to that branch,” she said in Spanish. “You can do it, my love!”
I came to Congress because my life has been shaped by the systems that either work or fail, with real consequences. I was born legally blind and have never driven a car. Public transit has always been the backbone of my life. The need and fight for accessible transportation inspired me to run for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors, where I served on the board and later as president for four years.
Members of California’s congressional delegation on Monday called for an investigation into the recent deportation of a Bay Area mother and her two young children, including a 6-year-old boy who is deaf.
A new park aimed at residents of East Oakland situated just past the industrial warehouses that abut the tidal canal toward San Leandro Bay will become a reality thanks to millions in federal funding.
Oakland Rep. Lateefah Simon, who helped secure $11.2 million in federal funding that will partially pay for the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline park project, toured the location Friday for what proponents hope will be a new green space for the community.
When the Trump administration announced $1.9 billion in mental health and social service cuts on late Tuesday night — sending out termination notices to some 2,000 organizations — more than 100 Congressional Democrats demanded answers.
Last week, Rep. Lateefah Simon called a conference inside Oakland’s 19th Street BART station to introduce a federal bill that could have big implications for transit safety.
There, Simon, who represents Berkeley and other East Bay cities in Congress, announced that she had introduced the Rapid Intervention and Deterrence for Enhanced Rider Safety Act, or the RIDER Safety Act, which would allow transit agencies across the country to tap federal crime prevention funds to pay for “transit support specialists” rather than exclusively law enforcement officers.
As the federal shutdown drags on, Alameda County officials are trying to figure out how to keep residents from going hungry.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors agreed to give roughly $10 million to local programs that feed residents. The bulk of the funding — $8.3 million — will go to the Alameda County Community Food Bank, and $1.7 million will be spent on meals for senior residents. The Board will reconvene on Oct. 28 to ratify the decision.
Written by: Julia Métraux
On Wednesday, a group of six Democratic members of Congress, led by Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), raised concerns that the federal government is “failing to protect federal contractor workers with disabilities” in a letter sent to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.