Events

Police seek to bridge gap between foster youth and officers

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…

Shorthanded, Lady Eagles celebrate last-second victory and league title

Boxing had the “Thrilla in Manila.” Football had the “Immaculate Reception.” Baseball had the “Shot Heard Around the World.” And now basketball has Kennedy High Lady Eagles’ “Three Against Five.” In what might be the most famous basketball game ever played at Coach Dolly Felix Gym, the Lady Eagles defeated the Hercules Lady Titans Friday night on a last-second shot while playing the last 55 seconds of the game with only three players. With the score knotted at 70, and…

Oilers fire all cylinders, race past De Anza 68-40

For 15 seconds after a Richmond Oilers basketball win, there’s no happier place in the world than in the boys’ locker room. That’s when head coach Rob Collins shows his players the Saturday Night Fever dance moves. And on Wednesday night it happened again. After thumping the De Anza Dons by 28 points, Coach Collins did his best John Travolta impersonation. Players went nuts and jockeyed for position to see their head coach lose himself in disco bliss. Before the…

Housing plan sparks arguments on rent control, just cause evictions

After several hours of confusion and bickering, last week the Richmond City Council approved a housing element—a part of the general plan that will address land use and housing development throughout the city—just in time to meet a deadline to be eligible for a state-issued $44 million grant. But although the entire housing element contains more than fifty sub-sections, there are still four sections of the plan the council left undecided, which could affect rent control, eviction laws and low-income…

Financially struggling Richmond hospital seeks partnership

Luis Moreno brought his 17-year-old stepdaughter to Doctors Medical Center last Monday after she missed two days of school due to flu symptoms. She is not a Richmond resident—she lives in Pinole—but Doctor’s Medical Center is the closest emergency room. And she is uninsured. Like her, nearly a quarter of the patients Doctors Medical Center sees every day are uninsured and an additional 30 percent are underinsured, meaning that Medicare or MediCal covers a portion—but not all—of their hospital costs,…

Richmond residents dig into Greenway and MLK celebration

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been proud of Richmond Monday. Mother Nature would have been thrilled, too, as more than 400 people strolled several blocks of the Richmond Greenway and watched hundreds of volunteers plant seeds of hope and food. Under a warm winter sun folks young and old congregated near the community garden portion of the trail and celebrated the city’s 6th Annual Martin Luther King National Day of Service event. Organized by Urban Tilth, the gathering…

Special meeting to discuss vacant City Council seat this Thursday

After running out of time to officially declare the council seat left by Gary Bell as vacant at last week’s city council meeting, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin announced a special meeting to be held this Thursday at City Hall to discuss the issue. The time for the meeting has not been specified yet. “This process is very important and I look forward to getting it started by way of establishing some dates for the process to begin to move forward,” McLaughlin…

Oilers play tall, defeat speedy Eagles by 14

On Friday, the Richmond Oilers boys’ basketball team defeated their cross-town rival, the Kennedy Eagles, 58-44. The game was held at Richmond High and was the Oilers third victory of their last five games. The contest was thoroughly guarded by law enforcement officers, both in and out of uniform. Prior to entering the gymnasium fans were separated into two lines, one for women and another for men, and searched for weapons. Last October the two schools experienced gunshots during the fourth…