Monthly Archives: July 2011

Half-Steppers board bus, Junior Olympics final destination

For the past year the Richmond Half-Steppers have been going up and down the state of California to qualify for the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games. This year 10 boys and eight girls qualified. According to coach Johnny Holmes, the boys relay team is ranked third in the country.

Adult Day Health Care programs across the state fight to keep funding

Funding Adult Day Health Care, which supports the elderly and those with special needs, was cut from the state’s budget this summer, and unless a lawsuit challenging the cuts is successful, the program will disappear at the end of this year.

Peaceful protest held at immigration detention center

Nearly 100 residents from across Contra Costa County held a peaceful protest last week at the West County Detention Facility where illegal immigrants are held prior to deportation. Organized by the East Bay Interfaith Immigration Coalition, families and friends of immigrants, students and religious leaders shared stories, sang songs, held banners and prayed that Congress will one day take the necessary steps to repair a failed immigration system that they say is tearing families apart

Half-Steppers’ final tune-up for Junior Olympics

Half-Stepper head coach Johnny Holmes stood around Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park track Wednesday evening waiting for Moses “Bullet” Baker, age 8, — the first leg of his nationally ranked relay team—to arrive for practice. Teammate Josh Johnson, 8, was waiting, too, and had already loosened up when coach Holmes spotted him. This would…

Council approves money, ‘Half-Steppers’ ready to run in New Orleans

The city of Richmond will foot the bill to send a track team of local kids to New Orleans.

Community members, leaders meet, cross lines

Roughly 100 residents of Richmond and unincorporated North Richmond gathered at the Civic Center Monday to hear an assortment of city, county and industry leaders weight in on how to ease the unemployment and crime that plagues their communities.

San Francisco Mime Troupe brings political comedy to Richmond

Richmond residents have fun at Nicholl Park while watching the San Francisco Mime Troupe perform “2012—The Musica!”

Richmond, North Richmond, to gather tonight for anti-crime meeting

With the city and its unincorporated North Richmond neighbor still in the throes of a month wracked with violence, city and county leaders are inviting residents to community meeting tonight at 4 p.m.

Lifting spirits through North Richmond blues

Service was a recurring theme at the 2nd Annual North Richmond Music Festival, which drew more than 250 neighborhood residents for a day of barbecue, sweet blues music and social service outreach.

Richmond puts best foot forward to wow lab

It’s rare that a project can seemingly unite every sector across a city, but Richmond’s bid for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory expansion brought out 700 people from all corners of the city to show support Thursday for the campus, as the city put its best foot forward to showcase what it has to offer the lab.

Doctor’s Medical Center faces grim prognosis

What would happen if West Contra Costa County’s largest hospital was forced to shut its doors or seriously downgrade its emergency room operations? It would be very bad, according to a study released last week by the county health department’s Emergency Medical Services agency. Yet hospital officials say a permanent closure of Doctor’s Medical Center San Pablo, whose largely low-income and elderly patient population makes it difficult to run profitably, is looming unless they are able to secure state or other funding soon.

Police, civic leaders announce gang task force

Less than two days after Daryl Russell, 20, was gunned down in plain daylight and only a stone’s throw away from a community center, Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus and officials from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office stood near the blood-stained site and announced a new joint gang task force.

Blues to return to North Richmond Saturday

Bluesman Jesse James will headline an array of performers set to let the music fly Saturday at Shields-Reid Park for the second annual North Richmond Music Festival. The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.