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This is the author. Dashka slater, wrote many books and has many awards to her name --paul Mantello

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Lucas Finkel-The Time period is november 4th 2013.

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The Fire on the 57 Bus in Oakland (Published 2015)

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One teenager flicked a lighter, and two families’ lives were changed forever.

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California pictures and facts-Dayna Mercado

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Nicknamed "The Golden State", the state of California has a population of around 39,144,818 people as of July 2015. The capital of California is Sacramento and the biggest city being Los Angeles (The City of Angels). The purpose behind California's nickname "The Golden State" is due to being referred to as the mythical paradise during the 16th-century, and additionally due to the fact this was the central location of the gold rush.

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More than 10,000 years ago, the first people arrived in what is now California. They walked from Asia, crossing on a strip of land that’s now submerged under a body of water between Russia and the United States called the Bering Strait.

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Dashka slater is the author of many teen books. She also is the author to many childrens books. Her books have gotten many awards over the years. --Paul Mantello

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Dashka Slater

Dashka Slater has been telling stories since she could talk. An award-winning journalist who writes for such publications as The New York Times Magazine and Mother Jones, she is also the author of nine books of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. Her children's picture books include: Escargot, winner of the Wanda Gag Read-Aloud Award; Dangerously Ever After, which is currently being made into an animated film by Fantasiation Studios; and The Antlered Ship, a Junior Library Guild selection and a Parents Choice Recommended book that received four starred reviews and was named Best Picture Book of the year by both Amazon and the Northern California Independent Bookseller's Association.

Slater's 2017 true crime narrative, The 57 Bus, has received numerous accolades, including the 2018 Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association, the 2018 Beatty Award from the California Library Association, the California Book Award Gold Award for Young Adult Literature, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor. It was a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist, an LA Times Book Award Finalist, and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Young Adult Book of the Year, in addition to receiving four starred reviews and being named to more than 20 separate lists of the year's best books, including ones compiled by the Washington Post, the New York Public Library, and School Library Journal. The recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Slater grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts but has spent most of her adult life in Oakland, California, where she is always working on far too many writing projects.

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Dashka Slater has been telling stories since she could talk. An award-winning journalist who writes for such publications as The New York Times Magazine and Mother Jones, she is also the author of nine books of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults.

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Lucas Finkel- 2013 was a good year for the LGBTQ community with new mexico passing a law to allow same sex marriage. Many say this was the tipping point for many states as they followed in there footsteps.

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Any day now, the New Mexico Supreme Court may grant same-sex couples the right to get married.

At this point, such a ruling may not seem like such a big deal. Prior to last year's elections, gays and lesbians had a civil right to marry in only six states. Now, they have it in 16.

"This year represented the true tipping point," says Eric Marcus, author of Making Gay History. "We've reached a moment in history where it's very difficult, if not impossible, to go back."

This has been "the gayest year in gay history," in the words of Fred Sainz, vice president of the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, and not only because individual states and the U.S. Supreme Court have extended greater protections to gay couples.

There have been substantive changes in policy and personnel, with President Obama essentially doubling the number of openly gay individuals who have served as federal judges and ambassadors.

This year has also seen symbolic milestones, including Obama enshrining the cause of gays in the civil rights pantheon in his second inaugural address, and the first professional athletes in major sports coming out.

None of which is to suggest that anti-gay discrimination has gone away entirely, or that all Americans are on board with these trends. When the Cheney sisters feuded recently, the Pew Research Center showed that nearly two-thirds of Republicans are opposed to same-sex marriage.

But an earlier Pew survey found that a majority of gay marriage opponents viewed its legal recognition as "inevitable." And gay rights advocates almost can't believe the progress they've already made.

"To describe the events of the year as breathtaking is woefully inadequate," says Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
A Long Time Coming
As with any great societal change, this year's victories for the gay rights movement took a long time to gestate.

Gays and lesbians had once complained about feeling invisible, but as millions of individuals have come out, they not only have made their political desires more tangible but also have won sympathetic allies among many straights.

"It took the shape of a million different conversations that a newly out gay family member had with her parents or his siblings," Kendell says.

Just as the presence of gays in American life came to seem more commonplace, so did same-sex marriage.

"With every state that has passed marriage equality, it becomes a little less of a headline and a little more an advance of a norm," says Mark Harris, a film critic and cultural historian. "Everybody feels like it's only going in one direction."

A decade ago, Harris and his husband, playwright Tony Kushner, became the first same-sex couple to be featured in The New York Times "Vows" section.

"It took a long time for those gay marriage announcements to be routine," Harris says. "It seemed like a long time to us, but it was really a short time. The speed of our progress in the last several years has been almost unparalleled in American history in terms of a specific minority group's push for civil rights."

By the timeDemocrat Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin was sworn in this year as the first openly gay senator in U.S. history, the occasion received barely any coverage. Similarly, Maine Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud coming out ahead of his gubernatorial bid seemed to cause barely a ripple.

"When I travel around the state, people want to talk about the future," says state Rep. Heather Mizeur, an openly gay Maryland Democrat running for governor next year. "It's insignificant to them that my wife will become the first lady of the state."
Crediting Obama
Given that gays make up a small fraction of the population, they have needed to win over allies. Their most important champion has been the president.

During his first term, Obama sometimes came across as a reluctant warrior on gay issues, taking his time to "evolve" his position on marriage, his timing perhaps prodded by remarks from Vice President Joe Biden. But Kendell and other advocates give him points for announcing his new position in the midst of his re-election bid.

"We saw an 18-point swing in African-American communities when the president came out in favor of it," says Mizeur of Maryland, where voters approved a same-sex marriage law last year.

Obama had already been the rare national politician to use the word "we" when speaking of the gay rights cause before announcing his support for same-sex marriage last year. In his inaugural address in January, he referred in the same breath to Stonewall, Selma and Seneca Falls (respectively, landmarks in the struggles for rights for gays, African-Americans and women).

Obama has been the "gays' LBJ," says Jonathan Rauch, a resident scholar at the Brookings Institution, comparing the current president to Lyndon Johnson, who signed into law the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the 1960s.

"He's a guy who took an issue that had been something of a hot potato and put both his hands on it and said, 'I am mainstreaming this issue,' " Rauch says.

Obama's efforts have been more than rhetorical. Crucially, he ended "don't ask, don't tell," the policy that kept gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

This year's Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage might well have turned out differently if the government still had an active interest in arguing for discrimination, says Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center at San Francisco State University, which studies transgender military service.

"People who opposed gays in the military were exactly right to do so," he says. "They realized the military is so widely revered in American society that if they could draw the line in the sand there, they could prevent gays from locking in rights in other parts of society."
Aspirational Achievement
Obama spoke about gay rights in aspirational terms in his second inaugural.

"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law," he said, "for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

Marriage helped gays "change the subject from being primarily about rights and nondiscrimination to being about love, family and community," says Rauch, who has written books about same-sex marriage and growing up gay.

"That's more compelling to people," he says. "They don't like having fingers shaken at them and being called a bigot."

Gays have not won every battle. The Senate passed an anti-discrimination law known as ENDA last month, but it appears to have little traction in the House. It remains legal for employers to fire people for being gay or transgender in more than half the states.

Although a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage rights, according to polls, it's a small majority. Public opinion polls may overstate such support, according to one study.

There's still considerable resistance among many voters and politicians to the gay rights cause. But the fact that support for gays and gay marriage has been rising - particularly among young people - may leave opposition to their movement less heated, activists say.

"Before Obama, it was possible to say that gay rights was a controversial but fringy concern," Rauch says. "After Obama, it is agree or disagree, but gay rights is 100 percent mainstream."

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How 2013 Became The Greatest Year In Gay Rights History

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From the White House and the Supreme Court on down, gay rights advocates have won a string of victories this year. Many Americans remain opposed to same-sex marriage, but support for gays and gay marriage has been rising - particularly among young people.

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Lucas Finkel- Oakland in 2013 had many acts gun and gang violence.

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Story highlights

Seven people were wounded Monday evening in a shooting on an Oakland, California, sidewalk, police said.

The shooter or shooters approached a group and started firing, said Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson.

Authorities do not have a motive.

The wounded are all men, ranging in ages from 23 to 31. Two of them are in critical condition, she said.

Police hope that witnesses will come forward, so they can piece together what happened.

Residents said a barbeque was being held at the time of the shooting, reported the Oakland Tribune.

"This is really kind of outrageous," Oakland police Chief Sean Whent told the newspaper. "Six o'clock at night isn't that late at night. So, really pretty brazen stuff on the street corner at that time of day."

In June: Oakland video shows street shooting of pleading teen

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7 shot in sidewalk shooting in Oakland | CNN

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Seven people were wounded Monday evening in a shooting on an Oakland, California, sidewalk, police said. The shooter or shooters approached a group and started firing, said Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson. Authorities do not have a motive. The wounded are all men, ranging in ages from 23 to 31.

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The author dashka slater talks about her book 57 bus. She gives a book talk about her award winning book.

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Located in West Central California, close to San Francisco, Oakland is known to be the 8th largest city. This city is known for its thriving economy and "world-class" cultural attractions, such as museums featuring art, natural sciences, historical architecture, and more! Even at night, Oakland can have an exciting and fun-filled nightlife complete with bars, clubs, and restaurants. The population of this wondrous city is 421,042 people with 41.5% of the population's persons having earned a bachelor's degree or higher! (important to the story since the topic of schools and graduating is often brought up in Richard's side of the story).

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Introduction to Oakland, California

Oakland, located in west central California across the bay from San Francisco, is the state's eighth-largest city. Originally settled in 1820 and named after the huge oak trees found in the area, Oakland grew dramatically during the gold rush of 1849 and was incorporated as a city in 1854. About 50,000 refugees fled to Oakland after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, many settling there permanently. The opening of the (San Francisco-to-Oakland) Bay Bridge in 1936 helped the city's growth; during World War I, Oakland was a major shipbuilding center, attracting a huge blue-collar work force.

Today, Oakland is a major center of commerce and industry, home to Fortune 500 companies such as Clorox and Golden West Financial. Along with San Francisco, San Jose and several smaller communities, Oakland is part of the Bay Area known for its thriving economy and world-class cultural attractions.

Oakland Culture

The Oakland Museum offers art, natural sciences and California history under one roof, along with scenic gardens and ponds. The city is also home to the Ebony Museum of Art (for African American works), the Pardee Home Museum (historic architecture) and the Chabot Space and Science Center. A more sophisticated scene in San Francisco, with its plethora of art and music venues, is just 10 miles away. Wine lovers flock to Sonoma and Napa to the north.

Oakland Sports and Leisure

Oaklanders are passionate about their sports, supporting three major league teams. Just south of the downtown area, Network Associates Coliseum hosts major league baseball's Oakland Athletics and the NFL's Oakland Raiders. Next door, the recently renovated Arena in Oakland is home to the NBA's Golden State Warriors. For big-time college football, the University of California at Berkeley is just 5 miles to the north.

Oakland Outdoors

Plenty of outdoor diversions are available in and around Oakland. Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach, right on Oakland's side of San Francisco Bay, is a convenient and popular area for swimming, picnicking and sporting activities. Oakland's Lake Merritt, America's largest urban saltwater lake, is a great spot for boating, jogging and bird watching (it's also the oldest bird refuge in the country). Briones Regional Park, about 12 miles northwest of downtown Oakland, has more than 5,000 acres of wilderness, wildlife and trails for hikers, runners, and horseback riders. For a winter getaway, skiing and snow sports are available within a 2-hour drive at a Lake Tahoe and other Sierra Nevada Mountain resorts.

Oakland at Night

Oakland has an exciting nightlife, with many entertainment options in Jack London Square along the waterfront. Plenty of restaurants, bars and clubs are available within the downtown area and along San Pablo Avenue in neighboring Berkeley and Albany to the north. And there's always San Francisco just across the Bay.

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Oakland, California - City Information, Fast Facts, Schools, Colleges, and More

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Introduction to Oakland, California Oakland, located in west central California across the bay from San Francisco, is the state's eighth-largest city. Originally settled in 1820 and named after the huge oak trees found in the area, Oakland grew dramatically during the gold rush of 1849 and was incorporated as a city in 1854.

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These police stations are located throughout the city of Oakland and pride themselves on being committed to reducing crime, and serving fair and quality treatment throughout the community. Police stations in Oakland include the Police Department on 7th street, Oakland Police Traffic Division of 73rd Avenue in the Eastmont Town Center, etc.

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The official website of the City of Oakland. Find out about meetings, request City services through OAK 311, or contact the Mayor and City Council.