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After hard times, restaurant owner warms hearts in Richmond with love

Menbere Aklilu has come a long way. From a struggling single mother, she is now a restaurant owner in Richmond, after moving from her native Ethiopia and a time in Italy.

Aklilu hosts an annual Thanksgiving dinner at her restaurant, Salute E Vita, where she just served a sit-down dinner for more than a thousand Bay Area homeless people. She has also begun holding a four-course Mother’s Day brunch for young single mothers. She helps Richmond and Oakland students pay school tuition.

First community briefing for the Berkeley Global Campus

UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are planning the new Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay. The committee wants the university to sign a legally binding agreement aiding those such as disadvantaged workers, emancipated foster youth, homeless people and individuals with criminal records, and requesting the university pay a fee to the city, to improve affordable housing and displacement issues, among other suggestions.

Thanksgiving comes early for Richmond seniors

About 60 senior citizens attended this year’s Richmond Annex Senior Center’s Thanksgiving lunch. Richmond Fire Department fire fighters helped serve the food, prepared by students of Contra Costa College’s Culinary Arts Department.

Richmond Youth Council aims to lower voting age

Richmond youth have rallied together in an effort to lower the city’s voting age to 16. If successful, they would earn the right to vote in municipal and school board elections long before they can even buy tobacco.