For Amanda Smulevitz, AC Transit bus line No. 40 is like a time machine. It takes her back nearly four decades to a past growing up in homes scattered across East Oakland, past San Antonio Park where she hung out as a teenager and past Wing's Daily Kitchen on Foothill, where she and her parents used to order food. At nearly every stop along the way, it reminds her of a story.  

Bay Area dance pioneer Ruth Beckford, 87, wants to help others enjoy life after 80. Her workshop, "So I Live to 80, Then What?" will be held Saturday in Oakland.  

An original play, "Compared to What," written and directed by Oakland playwright Judith Offer about the founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, begins a three-weekend run May 10 at the First Christian Church Fellowship Hall, 111 Fairmont Ave.  

Staff file

Five years after being fired amid accusations that she tipped off her nephew to an impending police raid, former Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly is back in the thick of city business. SEIU, Local 1021 has hired Edgerly as a consultant to review the city's books as it continues negotiations on a new labor deal for more than 2,000 full and part-time city workers.  

Tito Puente and Trio los Panchos played Sweet's Ballroom, now the showcase of Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Noel Torres, Heavy Nopales and other acts from Mexico.  

Alameda County Health Pipeline Partnership formed in 2007 to help young people find careers  

JANE TYSKA

The program is a partnership between the Oakland Tribune and the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and has funding from the California Endowment, a private health foundation that grants funds to community-based organizations.  

Organization aims to help women of color gain a positive second chance at life.