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Lady Eagles lose to Sacred Heart, prepare for next season

The Kennedy Lady Eagles basketball team traveled to San Francisco Saturday night and battled Sacred Heart Cathedral in what would be Kennedy’s last game of the season. Sacred Heart, the number one seed in the NorCal Division III playoffs, withstood a frenzied Kennedy first-half attack to win 86-70. Instead of drawing X’s and O’s on a dry-erase board prior to the game, Lady Eagles  head coach Rae Jackson told his players the Bible story about David and Goliath. He explained…

Candlelight vigil for Lincoln Plair honors a giving spirit

Until his death, Lincoln Plair would show up each morning at 8 a.m. at the Elm Playlot in the Iron Triangle to pluck broken glass, syringes and other dangerous debris from the sandbox where local kids play. Then he’d leave his daily mark: a series of geometric patterns in the sand, “like a little Zen garden,” said Richard Muro, a staff member and muralist with Pogo Park, a nonprofit group dedicated to making Elm Playlot a safe space for children….

Lavender Seniors group provides community, education for LGBT elders

In 1994, Marvin Burrows and a few of his friends placed an ad in the newspaper inviting gay and lesbian seniors in the Bay Area to join Burrows and his friends for a meeting at the Bayfair Mall in San Leandro. They called themselves the “Lavender Seniors.” “The thought was to have a social group that mixed gay men and lesbians, which is unusual in our time period,” Burrows said, “and to advocate for LGBT senior issues, to do things…

Chevron asks for new tax appeal judges

Chevron is worried that James Giacoma, Art Walenta and Clark Wallace might be holding a grudge. That’s one argument the oil company made in legal documents  filed in January asking that the three be removed from the county tax appeals board–the most recent maneuver in Chevron’s nearly decade-long battle with Contra Costa County over the property taxes it pays on its Richmond refinery. The three men are civilians appointed by the county Board of Supervisors to handle property tax disputes….

Planet Fitness comes to Richmond

More than 5,000 Richmond fitness hopefuls signed up for gym memberships at the new Planet Fitness that opened Friday inside a former Safeway store location, on the corner of Macdonald and San Pablo Avenues.

Still on the bus, Lady Eagles defeat Branham High 69-54

Something must’ve been in the air yesterday as the Kennedy High Lady Eagles’ basketball team traveled south toward San Jose to take on the Branham High Lady Bruins in the first round of the NorCal Division III playoffs. After a quick stop at Panda Express to eat some pre-game rice bowls, everyone jumped back on the bus with full bellies, and sang Sponge Bob Square Pants and Dora The Explorer theme songs for the next five minutes. Lady Eagle’s head…

Residents provide input on revitalization of section of Cutting Boulevard

Two dozen residents, representatives from community organizations and city employees met Tuesday night to discuss revitalization plans for future development of a section of Cutting Boulevard, which many consider a “gateway” to the city. Although similar plans for the area have been discussed in the past, the meeting was a chance for the city to get an update on what changes and improvements residents would like to see, such as improved street lighting, more opportunities for businesses and increased access…

Council hears plan on Point Molate rehab, ups ante in race for call center

After 10 years behind lock and key, the Point Molate Beach Park could re-open as early as this summer, a city official told the Richmond City Council Tuesday night. The council unanimously approved a two-part plan to rehabilitate the park, which would cost up to $115,000. In a relatively short three-hour meeting, the council also agreed to loan the developer of the proposed site for the Affordable Health Care Act call center $1 million in a tactical effort to secure…

On the Richmond shore, 75 new citizens embrace U.S. cultures and laws

On Tuesday, UC Berkeley’s Seismological Laboratory director Richard Allen, who is British, sat quietly next to his Polish wife, Kasia Allen, Cal’s assistant dean for external relations. Together, along with 75 immigrants from 33 other countries, they raised their right hands at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Homefront National Historical Park in Richmond and took the 140-word oath of allegiance that made them naturalized U.S. citizens. The earthquake scholar said that the couple’s son had been born in the…