Despite the government shutdown, open enrollment for health insurance begins today. About 5 million uninsured people are going to be newly eligible for insurance through Covered California, according to Morgan Westfall, a project coordinator with the Community Clinic Consortium, a group that advocates for nonprofit health clinics in Contra Costa and Solano counties. Another 2.6 million will qualify for subsidies.
250 volunteers turned out to participate in the 29th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day.
The Richmond City Council gave its preliminary approval last night to an ordinance to ban alcohol billboards near schools.
The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors has taken steps to curb what it considers an unacceptably high rate of suicides. More county residents die by suicide than homicide, according to recent statistics, from a special county committee. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors adopted the Suicide Prevention Strategic Plan. It was the work of the county’s Suicide Prevention Committee, made up of more than a dozen agencies and groups, including representatives from the RYSE Youth Center, Contra Costa Behavioral Health,…