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Halloween comes early for Richmonders, dogs at Point Isabel

Richmond’s “Barktoberfest” last weekend at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline offered the area’s canine population the same chance to celebrate.

Barktoberfest’s October 26 costume parade was accompanied by competitions for categories such as the best small, medium, and large dog costumes. This year, about 50 dogs trod along the waterfront and showed off their attire with their tails wagging cheerfully. Some dressed in rainbow costumes while other dogs and owners wore matching superhero attire.

City council tightens vaping regulations over health concerns

Richmond’s City Council unanimously approved a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes, including vapes, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t deemed safe. The measure, passed Tuesday night amid mounting nationwide concern over harm to health, will go into effect in 2020. There have been six vaping-related deaths reported in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Contra Costa County has seen one suspected case of vaping-related illness, according to Dr. Chris…

Council takes no action on proposal to charge fees for public records related to police misconduct

The fee, intended to charge enough to cover the actual cost of the service, applies only to previously private police misconduct records made disclosable by the recent and upcoming police transparency legislation Senate Bill 1421 and Assembly Bill 847. SB 1421, enacted in January, has made a number of formerly unreleased police misconduct records disclosable to the public, including records related to officer-involved shootings, uses of force resulting in serious injury, on-duty sexual assaults and police dishonesty.