A new report commissioned by the City of Oakland that describes dangerously low staffing levels, both sworn officers and civilians, in the Oakland Police Department was muzzled by the City before pressure from the media compelled the City Council to release it.

As I write this on Wednesday morning, Loren Taylor has a slight but impressive lead over Barbara Lee. The conventional wisdom, endlessly repeated by the media, is that early returns favor the more moderate candidate (Taylor) while later returns incline toward the progressive (Lee). So we should expect the gap to narrow in the next few days. At the same time, turnout in the Hills—which went heavily to Taylor—appears to have been greater than in the flatlands, which is a good sign for him. So we’ll just have to wait and see, frustrating as that is.

All the local media blasted the news about a police shooting in Berkeley on Sunday like it was a story of international import. KTVU led the pack, starting their 5 p.m. news with it, followed by ABC News, Berkeleyside, KRON 4 News, the S.F. Chronicle, the Mercury News, CBS News, the East Bay Times—is there anyone I’ve forgotten to list?

It’s not the sexiest political issue, the corruption of political campaigns by unions. Sexy is when the FBI raids Sheng Thao’s home—that gets people’s attention. But the secret, under-the-table exchanges of cash in pay-for-play politics seldom makes the headlines, and for good reason: neither the unions nor the politicians want the public to know.

Is it the responsibility of Oakland’s government to make sure that every poor person in the city is able to enjoy the same benefits that middle-class or wealthy people enjoy? This is at the heart of the debate about who governs Oakland.