Anna Oakes

New York

Audio Producer and Journalist at Freelance

Reporter at @THECITYNY, grad student @columbiajourn | Bot Love with @radiotopia 🤖 Signal: annao.06

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Articles

Joy, Shrugs, Heat and Caffeine as Voters Hit Polls

4 days ago | thecity.nyc | Jose Martinez |Haidee Chu |Anna Oakes |Jonathan Custodio

A blistering heat wave couldn’t stop the New Yorkers who trudged to their polling places on Primary Day to thin out a packed pool of mayoral wannabes. “It’s a hot day!” newly minted voter Charlie Qucik, 23, said after voting at Public School 17 in Astoria, Queens.
New Yorkers Flock to Polls on Last Day of Early Voting

6 days ago | thecity.nyc | Samantha Maldonado |Katie Honan |Claudia Irizarry Aponte |Anna Oakes

Neither rain nor an extreme heat warning could keep New Yorkers in the five boroughs away from polling stations Sunday, the final day of early voting ahead of the city’s June 24 primary. As of Saturday, the eighth day of early voting, 305,896 New Yorkers had cast their ballots, more than double the number of early voting check-ins during the same period in 2021, although turnout then was impacted by the COVID pandemic.
Arrests Follow ICE Protests as New Yorkers Demonstrate in Solidarity With LA Activists

2 weeks ago | thecity.nyc | Gwynne Hogan |Anna Oakes

Thousands of New Yorkers flooded the streets of Lower Manhattan Tuesday evening protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which in New York City has been playing out inside immigration courthouses for three weeks. The throng gathered in Foley Square denouncing raids that have taken place in the city and across the country.
A Crown Heights Building's Rat Infestation Gets a Livestream

3 weeks ago | hellgatenyc.com | Anna Oakes

10:08 AM EDT on June 02, 2025 Adam Schleser has lived in the six-building Jewish Hospital complex in Crown Heights since the summer of 2018, and in his current, ground-floor one-bedroom since the fall of 2020. Schleser said that the apartment had some unaddressed noise issues—but the rent stabilization and enjoyable neighborhood made up for that. Then, in mid-October 2024, Schleser began hearing what he soon realized were rats in his walls.
Columbia and NYPD Crush Student Library Occupation Supporting Palestine

1 month ago | hellgatenyc.com | Anna Oakes

On Wednesday evening, NYPD officials stormed Columbia University's campus and conducted mass arrests of pro-Palestine protesters, several hours after the activists had occupied a reading room of the university's Butler Library ahead of finals week.
After Mohsen Mahdawi’s Release, What’s Next for Other Detained International Students?

1 month ago | documentedny.com | Meghnad Bose |Anna Oakes

Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University and a U.S. green card holder, walked free from federal custody last Wednesday afternoon and was welcomed by a crowd of supporters outside a Vermont courthouse.
'I Won't Wear Any Columbia Gear. I Feel Ashamed'

Mar 12, 2025 | hellgatenyc.com | Anna Oakes

8:42 AM EDT on March 12, 2025 On Tuesday around noon, members of a coalition of dozens of Jewish student groups gathered on the northern steps of the Columbia University campus to protest the unlawful detention of Mahmoud Khalil by federal agents, and the university's complicity and lackluster response. The campus, which has been closed to the public since last year's student encampment, has been dotted with fences since Khalil's arrest on Saturday.
Universities are continuing to retaliate against staff for participating in Gaza campus protests

Dec 10, 2024 | mondoweiss.net | Claudia Gohn |Anna Oakes

Clara C. began working at Columbia University one month after the start of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023. She was hired in the Germanic Languages Department as a Department Assistant. Like many incoming members of the Columbia community, she had high hopes for her time at the university.
In Sheepshead Bay, Arts Classes Bring Community to Older Residents — Grassroots Magazine

Oct 17, 2024 | grassrootsmagazinenyc.com | Anna Oakes

Ovcharkenko’s son, then his wife, moved to Brooklyn in 2001. Alone in Tashkent, Ovcharkenko followed his family to Brooklyn in 2010. But life in the United States was not easy. In Tashkent, Ovcharkenko could have expected a pension following his retirement. In the United States, he started from scratch. “If I had realized I would work until my last breath, I might have stayed [in Tashkent],” he said.
What Student Journalists at Columbia Really Learned

May 17, 2024 | thenation.com | Anna Oakes |Indy Scholtens |Emily Byrski |Angelica Ang

Thank you for reading The Nation!We hope you enjoyed the story you just read, just one of the many incisive, deeply reported articles we publish daily. Now more than ever, we need fearless journalism that moves the needle on important issues, uncovers malfeasance and corruption, and uplifts voices and perspectives that often go unheard in mainstream media.