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The U.S Department of Justice has awarded $700,000 in federal grants to two organizations in Contra Costa County, paying for programs to enhance the services given to trafficking victims and battered women. “It is really huge for us and we are really rejoicing,” said Rebekah Truemper who works for STAND! For Families Free of Violence. “The grant will keep the transitional housing program going and it also allows us to use other funds to support crisis intervention, prevention and other…
Relying partly on a grant from Chevron, the West Contra Costa Unified School District rolled out its new five-year strategic plan at a community meeting in Pinole on Monday night. “This is about setting priorities and then allocating resources,” superintendent Bruce Harter said. The plan elicited guarded support from some classroom teachers. Parents, teachers, students and administrators gathered in the gymnasium at Collins Middle School and sat in rows of folding chairs facing a large projector screen as the district’s…
Cash-for-gold businesses may soon see tougher rules as Richmond officials mull over a proposal that would give them more authority to regulate the dealers. City planners are drafting an ordinance amendment to establish new zoning regulations for the specialty businesses that offer customers cash in exchange for selling their gold. Once complete, the Planning Commission and City Council will decide whether to approve the zoning amendments. The updated zoning rules come after a 45-day moratorium the city council passed…
Richmond’s unprecedented plan to help homeowners refinance their mortgages has sparked a national debate about the use of eminent domain, but until now officials haven’t shed much light on how they selected the list of 624 mortgages.
Chevron plays a major role in the politics and the economy of the city of Richmond. But that relationship is anything but harmonious, as an audience at the UC Berkeley School of Law heard on Wednesday. Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia and oil and energy policy analyst Antonia Juhasz described the long history of conflict and cooperation between the third-largest revenue-earning corporation in the country and the Richmond community. “There’s always been a love-hate relationship between the city and Chevron,”…
This year, Salesian High School students traded in their textbooks for iPads, in a move designed to enhance the learning environment. Mary Lou Flannery, the assistant principal for academic affairs at Salesian, said the iPad education program has been in the works for over a year. The school was previously using technology in the classroom but integrating personal mobile devices into the curriculum was the next step. “We began with research,” Flannery said. “We went out to various schools and…
Since Richmond’s Ceasefire was founded in 2011 homicides have dropped, although violent crime in general has been declining since 2007. But some residents and activists in North Richmond feel that they’re not benefitting from the program.
Vicky Conway says she is stuck in a loan she can’t afford. She and her husband Rodney Conway bought a home in northeast Richmond in 2004 and, like many of the city’s residents, the couple’s home is “underwater,” meaning the amount they owe exceeds the market value of the house. “I know that we’re not going to be able to retire and continue with the same mortgage payments,” said Vicky Conway, 51. Now the Conways are banking on the city’s…
The 101-year-old Dornan Drive Tunnel was closed for repairs after Richmond’s engineering staff, and a hired construction team, discovered a room-sized void above the tunnel’s concrete lining. This Friday cars, bikes and people will once again zoom through a tunnel that acts as the main road to Miller Knox Regional Shoreline and Point Richmond.