Bay Citizen
Hundreds of people crowded into the Craneway Pavilion for the third annual Chocolate and Beer Festival on Saturday afternoon. Attendees sampled sweets from a variety of local chocolatiers—including North Oakland’s Bittersweet, Emeryville’s Coco Delice and Richmond’s Galaxy Desserts—and the over-21 crowd sipped sample-sized beers from nine different breweries. Live music from Emperor’s Jazz, Beam and 21st Century set the mood throughout the festival. Saturday’s event marked the premier of “Rosie’s Shipyard Ale,” a pale ale created in honor of Rosie…
The prosecutor let the image linger overhead. The photo’s stark shades revealed a slim teen boy, hat backwards, teeth bared in a sneer. The jury saw in his thin arms an AK-47 assault rifle, right hand on the trigger, left hand braced under the barrel, a long “banana clip” magazine jutting out the bottom. His T-shirt bore a memorial picture of Sean “Shawny Bo” Melson, an alleged gang member who was shot and killed at age 16 in North Richmond…
More than one year after the March 2009 murder of Marcus Russell, the woman who was with him when he was killed identified a suspect. She said the man was in the van from which a fusillade of gunfire was unleashed, killing Russell and wounding her in the leg. Problem is, the man, a well-known alleged south Richmond gang member who goes by the nickname ‘Scooter Doo,’ couldn’t have been in the car that day. He was in jail. “I…
Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus took the stand Wednesday, the first time the jury has heard from him since testimony began in the racial discrimination lawsuit filed against him. Magnus was sworn in just fifteen minutes before court adjourned. But fifteen minutes were enough to offer a preview of the arguments ahead. Stephen R. Jaffe, the attorney for the seven plaintiffs who are suing Magnus and the city for workplace discrimination, described what he called a racially charged prank in…
The trauma of at least eight gunshot wounds assured the death of 21-year-old Marcus Russell, a coroner’s examiner testified Tuesday. “It was the totality of all the gunshot wounds put together,” said Dr. Thomas Rogers, forensic pathologist for the Alameda County Coroner’s Office. “A large amount of internal bleeding caused shock” from which Russell never emerged. Detailed testimony and graphic autopsy photos dominated proceedings Tuesday in the trial against Joe Blacknell III, a 21-year-old Richmond resident accused of killing Russell,…
Richmond is making a habit of being the first. In June, Richmond became first city in Contra Costa County to issue its own municipal identification cards. In December, the city came one step closer to becoming the first city in the state to impose a tax on soda. Tuesday night, the City Council made Richmond the first city in the state to endorse a “millionaire’s tax.” The council voted 6-0-1 to pass the symbolic measure supporting a statewide initiative for…
Lt. Cleveland Brown testified that he never heard the Richmond police chief or deputy chief use racial slurs, but that they made remarks that were offensive to African Americans. Former Deputy Chief Lori Ritter “told me to tap dance,” Brown said from the witness stand. “That is racially offensive.” Brown is one of seven high-ranking African American police officials suing Ritter, Police Chief Chris Magnus and the City of Richmond for workplace discrimination. During his third day of testimony, the…
On the night before his death, Marcus Russell’s nerves were uneasy, and a red minivan was lurking curbside a few blocks from his grandmother’s house, his mother testified Monday. But before Faith Russell could see who was driving the red minivan, which she said she saw several times in her neighborhood in the months leading up to her son’s March 2009 death, it sped away. Once, as she drove toward it, the van accelerated up the street, headlights off. A…
The mayor and many of the 50 or so residents who filled the Whittlesey Community Room Friday night said it countless different ways, but it all boiled down to the same thing: 2011 was a great year in Richmond. “I can’t think of a place I’d rather live right now,” said longtime resident Mike Peritz. The year behind and the year ahead were the topics during the open gathering held by Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and touted as a state-of-the-city report…