The polls closed on a wet Election Day in West Contra Costa County at 8 p.m., after a busy day of voting that was expected to bring more in-person ballot casters than in 2024. Richmond voters are selecting a new mayor, after Mayor Eduardo Martinez failed to get enough voted in the June primary to qualify for the November election. The mayoral candidates — Councilmember Claudia Jiménez, and Ahmad Anderson — were upbeat when reached shortly before the polls closed….
Richmond has an image problem. And its residents are well aware of it. They see it in outsiders’ faces, hear it in their derogatory comments and sense it when they tell others where they are from. The image of Richmond as a rough-and-tumble town was solidified in the movie “Coach Carter,” about a Richmond basketball coach who inspires his scrappy but talented players to succeed athletically and academically, against all odds. That descriptor, apt as it may have been, also…
The West Contra Costa Unified School District was expected to propose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students this week, but that was postponed indefinitely because of legal concerns, according to an email that Superintendent Chris Hurst sent to staff. Parents are split on whether students over 12 years old should be forced to get the vaccine, which the federal government has not yet approved for younger children. Some parents are concerned that kids could experience unexpected side effects, though studies…