OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 12: Travelers walk towards Terminal 2 at Oakland International Airport on April 12, 2024 in Oakland, California. The Board of Commissioners for the Port of Oakland voted on Thursday to proceed with a plan to change the name of Oakland International Airport to the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. San Francisco officials are objecting to the proposed name change and have threatened to file a lawsuit arguing it would violate the city’s trademark on San Francisco International Airport and would potentially be confusing for people traveling to the area. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

SOURCE: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

GET LOCAL BREAKING NEWS ALERTS

The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox.

Your Email Address

Privacy Notice

OAKLAND, Calif. —

A federal judge ordered the Port of Oakland to stop using San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport as its airport's new name while a lawsuit by the city of San Francisco is ongoing.

San Francisco sued in April over what it says is a trademark violation and asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction, arguing that the airport's new name is confusing people and violates copyright infringement.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson on Tuesday issued an order agreeing with the copyright violation argument, saying San Francisco spent millions to develop its brand. The judge also ordered Oakland's airport to remove any signs with the new name.

Port of Oakland spokesperson Robert Bernardo said officials were reviewing the ruling and considering their options, including appealing it.

The Board of Commissioners for the Port of Oakland in May finalized the approval to change the Oakland International Airport's name over the objections of San Francisco officials who said the name would cause confusion and affect its airport financially.

Oakland airport officials have said travelers unfamiliar with the region fly into San Francisco's airport even if their destination is closer to the Oakland airport across the Bay. Modifying the name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport will change that, they say. The airport's three-letter code OAK would not change.

"We are standing up for Oakland and the East Bay," Port Commission President Barbara Leslie said in a statement after the vote. "This name will make it clear that OAK is the closest major airport, for 4.1 million people, three national laboratories, the top public university in the country, and California's Wine Country.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter

Top Picks

OAKLAND, CA – Oakland City leaders, local manufacturing businesses, and community leaders announced a special local partnership between Oaklandish, Artefact, and Kay Chesterfield that showcases Oakland’s diverse and growing manufacturing sector.

As part of Manufacturing Month, these local Oakland manufacturers hosted an exclusive VIP tour to showcase a new state-of-the-art bio-composite manufacturing system capable of producing new products as part of the circular economy, in which waste is converted into useable products.

Artefact is collaborating with Oaklandish to debut a new line of eyewear this holiday season, using fabric scraps from Oaklandish and Kay Chesterfield operations that would otherwise wind up in landfill. The eyewear design collaboration will leverage the iconic designs and brand values of Oaklandish and Artefact’s novel new materials and manufacturing.

Oakland has become the center of climate technology innovation in the Bay Area, including the location of many federal and state funded climate startups located in an around the American Steel hub, working in such critical areas as new battery technologies, carbon dioxide capture and storage, and low or negative emission concrete production. Artefact’s production partnership producing low impact and high value products shows how even small, local businesses and workers will benefit from the climate tech advancements coming out of Oakland.

The reduced impact of this low greenhouse gas emissions product manufacturing was analyzed with UC Berkeley’s Center for Green Chemistry. While the technology is being piloted in Oakland, it will be replicated in partner sites in cities across the US, to replace imported products with low-impact, locally made, and high-value products.

What they're saying:

Nikki Fortunato Bas, Oakland City Council President, said, "Oakland is a center of the climate tech economy and innovation. We are proud to support West Oakland and its many startups working on research and development addressing climate change and developing healthy alternatives to old, dirty manufacturing, bringing jobs and economic development to our community.”

Cristy Johnston Limón, Economic and Workforce Development Department Deputy Director, said, "Oakland is at an inflection point as we welcome and support innovations in key industries that underpin our economy such as manufacturing and as part of our strategy to create good jobs for a wide range of Oaklanders, and encouraging further sector growth."

Ethan Escowitz, CEO of Artefact, said, "this partnership demonstrates how small-to-mid-sized companies will become major players reshoring clean, sustainable, and high-value manufacturing into communities across the United States."

###

About Artefact: Artefact is an East Bay startup & UC Berkeley sustainability collaboration that has pioneered an advanced manufacturing system that is lightweight, low cost, and uses clean circular materials. As a result, the systems are accessible to small-to-mid-sized-businesses that hire locally, reshore manufacturing from overseas, and employ materials formulated from agricultural byproducts from California’s Central Valley. Artefact’s technology allows digital control of product graphics, which can bring beautiful graphics and artwork into the production of rigid/hard products like eyewear. https://artefact-made.com/events

About Oaklandish: Oaklandish is an influential streetwear brand & Town-branded apparel company. Oaklandish strives to spread “local love” by way of their civic pride-evoking tees and accessories, while creating quality jobs for locals, and giving back to the people and places that maintain Oakland’s trailblazer spirit. In line with this mission, Oaklandish donates a portion of proceeds to grassroots nonprofits and other community partners committed to uplifting Oakland. Oaklandish has been a certified B Corp since 2012 and is woman and POC owned. In addition to designing, producing and distributing apparel and swag, Oaklandish also provides creative services, sourcing, and 3PL support for an array of like-minded brands seeking to leverage Oaklandish design and operations expertise.

About Kay Chesterfield: Kay Chesterfield is a century-old Oakland re-upholstery company, which is today a leader in Bay Area furniture re-use and waste reduction.

About Oakland Manufacturing Month: This October, the City of Oakland is showcasing our manufacturing businesses to our future workforce and the community with a campaign to highlight Oakland manufacturers. During Manufacturing Month the City of Oakland will be organizing and promoting events hosted by and featuring Oakland's diverse breadth of manufacturers, large and small.

Tagged with: Economic & Workforce Development, Newsroom

Share

Posted: October 24th, 2024 12:50 PM

Friko, man. Fucking brilliant.

Friko’s 2024 album Where We've Been, Where We Go From Here is one of the most interesting, emotional, and exciting albums of 2024. It’s everything rock is supposed to be. Anthemic, loud guitars? Check. John Lennon-ish angst and introspection? Check. Earwormy, Paul McCartney-ish melodies? Check. Youthful passion, poetry, and poignancy? Check.

Friko | Oakland, CA

The Kinks. The Pixies. Radiohead. Jeff Buckley. Cage the Elephant. Friko is an evolutionary offshoot on a branch of rock that has yielded some of the most thoughtful, intelligent music of the past 60 years. I had high hopes for a moving performance. Friko rewarded those hopes.

At the Fox Theater on Friday night, Friko opened for Australia’s Royel Otis. More on the headliner in a moment. The truth is, I had never heard of Royel Otis until the day of the show. A few months ago, I noted on my calendar that Friko had a date at the Fox in Oakland on their website—and it was only after I got my photo pass request approved on the morning of the show that I looked to see what time the show began and noticed that Friko was the opening act. Total unprofessional "whoops!" on my part, but what the heck, I always like checking out new music.

Friko hails from the Chicago area. The recording duo comprising Niko Kapetan (vocals, guitar) and Bailey Minzenberger (drums) is on tour with an additional bass player and guitarist who add high-energy dynamics, both audibly and visually. Where We've Been, Where We Go From Here is their first full-length album, and Friday night was their first time playing in Oakland.

Kapetan opened the set solo on guitar, introducing himself to the audience (most of whom were there for Royel Otis) with the fervid emotion of his poetry and the vibrancy and charisma of his voice. Following that, the rest of the band came on stage and tore into the raucous "Crimson to Chrome." Friko used their too-short 40-minute slot to alternate between high-energy rock and deeply poignant, melodic numbers. In all, they played most of Where We've Been, Where We Go From Here.

A notable highlight was the Jeff Buckley-ish "Cardinal," an occasion for Kapetan to showcase his marvelous falsetto. It’s a sad song touching on loss—wistful and plaintive, albeit with a touch of hope when a bit of whistling comes in after the last chorus:

Then the evening came and crushed me The cardinal hit the ground Someone else instead of me Figured it all out Niko, where's your fight now?

Friko | Oakland, CA

"Where We've Been" followed, building a bridge from the lo-fi dynamics of the preceding song to a crescendo of guitar noise and impassioned thrashing on stage. An appropriately loud, bodacious rendition of "Get Numb to It!" closed the set. Friko had delivered the goods!

Royel Otis, the headliner on Friday, is an Australian duo hailing from Sydney. Ostensibly a duo like Friko, Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic just released their first full-length album this year. They are riding a wave of notoriety that includes over 100 million Spotify plays for "Oysters in My Pocket." A single of The Cranberries' "Linger" has done nearly as well, landing Royel Otis on the Billboard Hot 100 this summer.

Maddell and Pavlovic took command of a wide stage backed by risers for a drummer and a keyboard player, both of whom also added some backing vocals throughout the night. The band was also backed by a rather large orange prawn hanging under the lights where some less imaginative bands might drape, say, a big flag with the band's name. It wasn't clear why the prawn was there (although some of Royel Otis's song titles, like "Fried Rice," "Claw Foot," "Kool Ade," and the aforementioned "Oysters in My Pocket" hint at a fun obsession with food), but it was kind of cool. Side note: it must be Seafood Week at the Fox, because the following night's headliner was Shannon and the Clams.

Pavlovic did most of the singing, sometimes with a guitar strapped on but mostly with his hands wrapped around the mic. Maddell strummed his guitar with the kind of constant, almost-frenzied up-and-down picking made famous by U2's The Edge. Between Pavlovic's verses and choruses, Maddell punctuated the song breaks with catchy, memorable notes. (Fun fact: Maddell apparently doesn't like close-ups of his face in photos, and the photogs in front were confined to the edge of the pit furthest away from him. Most of the pics that come up in a Google Images search show him hiding his face with his hands or hair.)

Royel Otis has a "big beat" sound that brings to mind Foster the People, MGMT, and fellow Sydneysiders INXS. (OK, I admit I had to ask ChatGPT, "What do you call people from Sydney?") It’s jangly, danceable stuff. The audience ate it up.

For the encore, the duo came out without their backing musicians for "Linger." The crowd sang along. (Consider this for a moment: The Cranberries released that song in 1993. It is certain that neither the members of Royel Otis nor about half of the audience members were even alive then. It's what you might call an "oldie.") Pavlovic honored the crowd's participation: "You guys did so fucking good with that! Thanks for all your help."

He also thanked the silent member of the band. "A big shout out to this huge fucking prawn here behind us." But apparently, the prawn has a contractual agreement limiting its onstage time to barely more than an hour. It was not a lengthy show. Even so, Royel Otis is likely to return with more big beats and food-influenced song titles.

Do you have the best Christmas decorations in town? Send us photos and a description for Patch's 2024 holiday tour of lights.

Bea Karnes, Patch Staff

OAKLAND, CA — Can the holiday lights on your home be seen from space? Does it look like the Las Vegas strip?

If you've spent days or weeks painstakingly hanging strands of lights on your house, palm trees and shrubs, or hauling multiple figurines out to your lawn — Patch wants to hear from you.

Soon, we're compiling a Patch California tour of lights, where readers can explore the best holiday light displays in the East Bay.

We aim to have the list up as soon as possible — so email photos and a description of your winter wonderland to Kat Schuster at [email protected].

For many of us, taking in our neighbors’ outdoor holiday lighting displays and other decorative touches is as much a part of the season as exchanging gifts and singing Christmas carols.

Find out what's happening in Rockridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

There’s a good reason twinkling holiday lights and colorful displays make us feel good, according to mental health experts.

“It does create that neurological shift that can produce happiness,” Psychologist Deborah Serani, a senior professor at New York’s Adelphi University, told NBC’s “Today” show. “I think anything that takes us out of our normal habituation, the normal day in, day out ... signals our senses, and then our senses measure if it’s pleasing or not.”

Decorating for the holidays “will spike dopamine, a feel-good hormone,” she said. “For a lot of us, Christmas is a magical time, it’s a time of innocence. It’s a time of joy.”

That’s why Patch and T-Mobile are partnering to find the lighted homes around town to visit.

A few details:

If you’re including a video, please upload it to YouTube and send us the link so we can embed it (make sure it's marked “public”). We also request that the homeowner submit their own yard or a close relative.

We’ll keep updating the countywide list throughout December.

Once you've provided the information — and submitted a photo or two or a video (after you uploaded it to YouTube) — you will be entered and included in our roundup.

Pro-tip: If you haven't photographed your light display before, a good time to take photos is at dusk.

IMPORTANT: By submitting a photo, you're giving Patch permission to publish it for this feature and future stories. Photos should be original and taken by the person submitting the photo.

So, be sure to check back for updates and sign up for your local Patch.com newsletters as well!

Please copy and paste the following information into an email, along with photos or videos, and follow these guidelines:

We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Remember, email Kat Schuster ([email protected]) to submit photos of your holiday lights.

Nation

EUREKA, Calif. (AP) — The National Weather Service has canceled its tsunami warning for the U.S. West Coast after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck early Thursday.

At least 5.3 million people in California were under a tsunami warning after the earthquake struck, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

It was felt as far south as San Francisco, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by smaller aftershocks.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

EUREKA, Calif. (AP) — Officials were urging some residents to move inland after a strong earthquake near the coast of Northern California early Thursday sparked worries of a possible tsunami.

At least 5.3 million people in California were under a tsunami warning after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a yellow alert, which predicts localized but minimal damage. More than 1.3 million people lived close enough to the quake that they could have felt it, the USGS estimated.

The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County near the Oregon border, according to the USGS.

It was felt as far south as San Francisco, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by smaller aftershocks.

A tsunami warning, which was issued shortly after the temblor struck, covers nearly 500 miles (805 km) of coastline, from the edge of California’s Monterey Bay north into Oregon.

The National Weather Service urged residents along the Northern California coastline, including in the San Francisco Bay Area, to move inland due to the threat of a possible tsunami. A wave could reach the San Francisco coastline as early as 12:10 p.m., according to Rachel Kennedy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office that covers the Bay Area.

Kennedy said forecasters are waiting to get a report on how high potential waves could be. She called it “a pretty dangerous situation.”

The city of Berkeley was ordering people in parts of the city to “leave now” in anticipation of an incoming tsunami.

“It was a strong quake, our building shook, we’re fine but I have a mess to clean up right now,” said a still shaken Julie Kreitzer, owner of Golden Gait Mercantile, a store packed with food, wares and souvenirs that is a main attraction in Ferndale.

“We lost a lot of stuff. It’s probably worse than two years ago. I have to go, I have to try and salvage something for the holidays because it’s going to be a tough year,” Kreitzer said before hanging up.

Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel said evacuations are in place for people to move to higher ground in areas of the city under the tsunami warning and crews were assessing damage from the quake. So far there have been no reports of major damage or injuries. Bergel, who works as a resource aid at a middle school said lights were swaying and everyone got under desks.

“The kids were so great and terrified. It seemed to go back and forth for quite a long time.” She said. Some children asked, “Can I call my mom.” (edited)

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, has stopped traffic in all directions through the underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland.

The San Francisco Zoo’s visitors have been evacuated as a result of the earthquake, the zoo said in a post on the social media platform X. The animals have been secured and staff has been moved to higher ground.

Throughout Northern California phones buzzed with a tsunami warning from the National Weather Service that said: “A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.”