Events
Hundreds of volunteers will collect thousands of pounds of trash Saturday at Shimada Friendship Park as part of an annual statewide effort to clean coastlines and educate the public about healthy watersheds. Unlike other ocean contaminants, “Trash is a pollutant you can see, so it’s less abstract,” said Juliana Gonzalez, the Healthy Watersheds Program manager for The Watershed Project, which co-sponsors the event with Supervisor John Gioia and the City of Richmond from 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday. At noon, volunteers…
A budget that the Contra Costa Superior Court will consider adopting Friday would close six courtrooms, including the Juvenile Law Courtroom in Richmond. For the 2012-2013 fiscal year, more than $7 million is estimated to be cut from the county court’s budget.
At its first public meeting since the Aug. 6 Chevron refinery fire and a Measure N—referred to as the “soda tax”—lawsuit filed against the city, Tuesday night’s hotly anticipated City Council meeting painted for the Richmond community a clear portrait of its pending election season. “Trends are already beginning to form,” said Councilmember Tom Butt after the meeting about the strong positions taken by many of the candidates. Butt was ready to define his own reelection campaign as the middle…
A dozen Richmond residents, most donning shirts that read ‘Clean Air for All,’ rode a bus to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District office this morning to hear from the various agencies investigating the Aug. 6 Chevron refinery fire. Spectators filled the chairs and lined the wall of the quiet, wood-paneled room as each organization — including representatives from BAAQMD, the Environmental Protection Agency, Contra Costa Health Services, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, and California Air Resources Board —…
In a game that will be remembered more for its significance as a memorial to a lost player than as a high stakes varsity football encounter, the El Cerrito Gauchos beat the Kennedy Eagles 64-8 in Richmond last night, challenging a team still reeling from the death of offensive lineman Ulises Grijalva, who was shot and killed near his home on August 5. “We tried to play in his honor, and this is not the outcome we wanted,” Kennedy Head…
Kennedy High football coach Mack Carminer walked slowly to the 50-yard line on Friday — minutes before the team’s first home game — to hold a brief ceremony in honor of “a fallen soldier.” Followed by members of the school administration Carminer carried the framed Eagles jersey of Ulises Grijalva, a player who was killed on August 5. Taking the microphone, Carminer bowed his head and called for a moment of silence. The sound of teenagers’ laughter and teasing that…
When Dr. William Jenkins Jr.’s home was threatened by the Oakland Hills fire of 1991, the last thing on his mind was saving his house. “All he cared about was saving one suit so he could go to work,” said Dr. Brian Blaisch, Jenkins’ former colleague and friend. “And that was literally the real meaning in his life – making sure that he could get to work the next day.” Superhuman, perfectionist, giver, father: These were the words friends and…
The results of the state’s high school exit exams, released near the end of August, show that students in the West Contra Costa County School District lag behind the state average in combined English and math scores. On the English Language Arts part of the test, 58 percent of Kennedy High seniors, 66 percent of Richmond High seniors, and 72 percent of De Anza seniors passed. On the math part, 51 percent of Kennedy seniors, 61 percent of Richmond seniors…
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Richmond Bay Campus will focus on biosciences that affect energy production, environment, and human health scientists from the lab and the University of California said Thursday. The scientists explained the highlights of research projects to come for an audience of more than 100 people at the Memorial Auditorium. Research proposals included a range of topics, from local rainwater catchment and filtration systems to biofuel development. Jay Keasling, a professor of chemical and biomolecular…