AP
In life, Rene Garcia’s youthful good looks and rugged raps made for a compelling persona, one that played out in several slickly-produced rap videos that netted thousands of clicks on YouTube.com. On Wednesday, the Facebook page for his rapping name, “Lil G,” was a memorial wall, flooded with odes and rumors of the circumstances surrounding his death. That night two teens mourned Garcia, a 25-year-old resident of Pinole, near the spot of his slaying, marked by a circle of melted…
Beneath the surface of the San Francisco Bay, a small crew of divers works, largely unnoticed, salvaging shipwrecks and cleaning up oil spills. “If it can be done on the surface, our guys can do it underwater,” said Frank Immel, the marketing manager for Global Diving & Salvage, a marine contractor which specializes in underwater construction and diving services. Immel likes to say that his guys just wear different hard hats and different coveralls to work. His employees, underwater diving…
Late last year, Pacific Steel Casting, the country’s fourth largest steel foundry, fired 200 workers. The reason: Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a workplace audit on the company, and could not verify that they could legally work in the US
During six weeks of testimony in the racial discrimination lawsuit against the city of Richmond, one name has come up again and again: that of Lori Ritter, the former Deputy Chief of police. Ritter is named in the lawsuit as a defendant, along with the city and police Chief Chris Magnus. The seven plaintiffs—all black commanders within the police department—have alleged that Magnus and Ritter thwarted the advancement of black officers and cracked racist jokes. The city’s lawyers contend that…
Analysis of shell casings suggests a link between four killings in Oakland and Richmond and many of the 22 felonies for which Joe Blacknell III is on trial, Richmond Police Det. Christopher Llamas testified Thursday. The revelation came after weeks of testimony in the closely-watched case. Blacknell, now 21, is charged with shooting and killing Marcus Russell on March 10, 2009 and wounding four people on September 13 that same year. Blacknell also faces more than a dozen other charges,…
It may take a lot of baby steps before public transit technology can take a huge leap forward. CyberTran International, the Richmond-based “ultra-light rail” start-up that secured a public-private partnership with the city back in September, landed its second public-private partnership this week. I-Gate, a state sponsponed business incubator, invited the “ultra-light rail” company to join their network of green transportation and clean-energy technologies. Together larger facilities like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and UC Berkeley can provide “young entrepreneurial green…
W. Allen Taylor has brought his search for his father back to the front stage in Richmond. Taylor, the son of “Walkin’ Talkin’ Bill Hawkins,”one of the first black disc jockeys in the country, takes his audience on his quest to find out more about his father.
Police are continuing to investigate extensive vandalism inflicted on Nystrom Elementary this weekend. Vandals splattered paint throughout the building, smashed windows, destroyed electronics and soaked the floors in Nystrom’s recently renovated, multi-million dollar auditorium. The auditorium contains a gym, library, classrooms, computer lab and a kitchen. Costs of repairing the damage could exceed $500,000, according to media reports. Richmond Police Dept. Capt. Mark Gagan said detectives are investigating the incident, but have not found any suspects or conclusive motives. This…
Throughout most of 2009, neighborhood cliques of mostly teens and young adults were locked in a back-and-forth feud, intensified by ambitions for respect and reprisal. Mixed with the hot tempers and youthful indiscretions, social networking sites had become bulletin boards for taunts, and a burgeoning hop-hop video scene on YouTube bristled with boasts and threats. Add to that, the kids had military-grade weapons. “Assault weapons, pistols, [high-capacity] magazines, laser sightings,” said Detective Christopher Llamas. “In 2009, we had 350-plus shootings”…