AP
Step foot into the Reach Fellowship for Women in North Richmond, and Dr. Edwina Perez Santiago will greet you like an excited aunt hosting a holiday dinner party. “Come on in baby,” she says to the women as they enter through the front door, a welcome accompanied by a warm smile and a handshake. There are five women in attendance today, from different walks of life but here for the same reason: they want to get their lives back on…
The addition of new city councilmember Jael Myrick didn’t stop the council from falling back on its old argumentative habits during Tuesday night’s city council meeting. The council passed most items unanimously or with just one vote against—but the majority of the time was spent debating procedures about when a councilmember can make a motion and discussing what Councilmember Corky Booze considers to be South Richmond. Myrick, a field representative in Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner’s office, was appointed from among twelve…
The City Council appointed Jael Myrick to fill Gary Bell’s empty seat in a 4 – 1 vote with one abstention Monday, avoiding a special election. Myrick will be sworn in during Tuesday night’s council meeting. His appointment came at the end of a single-item meeting the council called to vet the 12 candidates who had stepped forward to fill Bell’s seat. It followed weeks of speculation and arguing over the empty seat. In their arguments before the decision, city…
Richmond had its first homicide of 2013 on Monday. The Richmond Police Department identified the victim as Richmond resident William Wheeler, 26. His body was found at around 3 a.m., alongside the train tracks near Lucas Park, at Lucas Avenue and 10th Street. He died of apparent gunshot wounds. It was the city’s first homicide since late November. Richmond ended 2012 with 18 homicides, the lowest number since 2001. Neighbors near the park said they heard gunshots around midnight or…
Twelve people have submitted their names for consideration by the Richmond City Council to fill the vacant seat left open when councilmember-elect Gary Bell—who is in a coma after suffering a bacterial sinus infections—was unable to be sworn in earlier this month. Among the twelve are former councilmembers, unsuccessful candidates from November’s race and a handful of new-to-the-scene political hopefuls. On Monday, February 4, the public and the council will have a chance to hear from each of the applicants…
The Richmond Police Department held its first annual Foster Youth Conference on Saturday at the LaVonya Dejean Middle School on Macdonald Avenue. About 100 foster youth, foster parents, Richmond police officers, staff from West County Children and Family Services and community members filled the multipurpose room early in the morning for a day full of workshops to promote community involvement and provide resources needed by children and teens in foster care. “There are caring adults here who understand that it…
Five Richmond police officers were promoted in a ceremony Thursday morning, and Code Enforcement Officer Dave Ragowski received a Lifesaving Award for successfully negotiating with a Richmond resident who had threatened to commit suicide.
Striking block prints illustrating scenes from the Cuban Revolution, pastel canvases full of memories from a childhood in Philadelphia, and a medley of photographs, sculptures and paintings from black artists throughout the Bay Area – in its first exhibitions of the year, the Richmond Art Center covers a lot of ground but keeps the connections local. The Art Center opened its three newest exhibitions on Jan. 12. Its main gallery is host to The Art of Living Black, the 17th…
On Friday, Nathanial Burris was sentenced in Contra Costa Superior Court in Martinez to the death penalty for the August, 2009, double murder of his ex-girlfriend Deborah Ann Ross and her friend Ersie “Chuckie” Everette at the toll plaza of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Burris was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in November 2012; the same jury also recommended the death penalty following a weeklong penalty phase of the trial. California law requires that the presiding judge…