Richmond Confidential hits pause button for summer

Like many of its readers, the community news websites Richmond Confidential and Oakland North will be on vacation for the summer.

The decision to hit the pause button was a difficult one, driven by economic conditions.  The hiatus is expected to be temporary.

Hard funding choices are facing the University of California, Berkeley, including our sponsor, the Graduate School of Journalism.   The result is that the community news sites won’t be funded for the summer as in years past.

This year, our reporters produced an array of gripping stories, climaxed by a video narrative of a gang member turned community activist, and a multimedia exploration of concussions in high school sports. Reporters followed His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, on his U.S. tour stops in Richmond and Berkeley. They shadowed student conflict mediators through the halls of an Oakland middle school as they quell fights and keep the peace.

Reporters and editors look forward to resuming coverage in September with an array of fresh stories on East Bay politics, government, education, justice, culture, science, health, the environment and more.

Meanwhile, readers can browse our archive of East Bay features, and let us know what stories matter most to you. Please keep an eye on social media feeds for updates on when we’ll be back.