Biodiesel Grows Up from Shaleece Haas on Vimeo.
By Shaleece Haas/Special to 510 Report
Biofuel Oasis, a worker-owned biodiesel company, is moving from their one-pump garage to a new drive-through station on a busy corner in southwest Berkeley, Calif.
UPDATE: On April 30, 2009, Biofuel Oasis made the move to their new station.

Diana Montaño
In what has become a years-long saga pitting the Woodfin Hotel in Emeryville against its workers, the hotel has again defied an Emeryville City Council order to pay back wages, workers’ advocates say.
In 2006, hotel employees first charged the Woodfin with defying a city-wide living wage ordinance. Measure C, approved by Emeryville voters in November 2005 and put into effect that December, set guidelines for low wage work in the city. Among these guidelines was a limit to the workloads assigned to hotel attendants, or housekeepers. According to the …

By Shaleece Haas/Special to 510 Report
Wheel Estate from Shaleece Haas on Vimeo.
For one Berkeley man, an RV is more than just a recreational vehicle. It’s the home he turned to when his house went into foreclosure.

By Samson Reiny / 510Report
As the California heat begins to usher in the summer, as well as usher water enthusiasts into the swimming pools, counties, including Alameda County, are integrating a new federal law that will further protect people from accidental drownings in public pools and spas. All hotels, community recreation centers, and high schools must install new federally-approved drain covers to prevent swimmers from being held down by the suction force of water ducts.

Rich people may have more money but does that mean they’re less polite? A recent UC Berkeley study examines how body language reveals wealth.

On eating roadkill and the thin line between trash and treasure.

By Will Jason
For nearly 10 years, federally funded career centers in the East Bay have offered little in the way of job training. Last year, as the region lost 40,000 jobs, local career centers offered training to just 449 adults.
That is because about two thirds of the federal money pays to run the career centers, which also offer more basic services such as résumé workshops, English classes and free computer access to search for jobs. And when jobs were plentiful, career centers saw little need to increase more intensive training …

Surfing the world wide couch. from Alba Mora on Vimeo.
By Alba Mora/Special to Oakland North
Would you ever let two strangers crash on your couch? Recently reporter Alba Mora welcomed two couchsurfers into her Berkeley home.