Victoria Dmitrieva

Richmond’s shelter project, it’s a home away from a home

Deneshia Clemons, 49, a San Francisco-born Richmond resident, says she thought she would die before turning 30, having feared for her life during a turbulent relationship years ago. But Clemons escaped that abusive situation, and now helps victims of domestic violence. A mother of three, Clemons founded a 24-hour emergency hotline one year ago to make sure survivors of domestic violence in Richmond get immediate help. Her project, “House of Loving Hands,” provides resources and connects victims to a temporary…

Council votes on Zeneca site clean-up and development

Electrician and two-time cancer survivor Sherry Padgett could throw a baseball from her 49th Street cabling business and hit what Richmond residents call “the Zeneca site:” an eighty-seven-acre property that contains more than a century’s inheritance of hazardous waste from manufacturers including the now-defunct herbicide maker Stauffer Chemical and the European pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Padgett calls the chemicals on the site a “witch’s brew.” Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, the City Council voted 5-2 to reverse its support for a cleanup…

City council tightens vaping regulations over health concerns

Richmond’s City Council unanimously approved a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes, including vapes, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t deemed safe. The measure, passed Tuesday night amid mounting nationwide concern over harm to health, will go into effect in 2020. There have been six vaping-related deaths reported in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Contra Costa County has seen one suspected case of vaping-related illness, according to Dr. Chris…