Government
The Richmond City Council is 30 days from pursuing litigation against Chevron Corporation if negotiations fail to secure compensation for the August 2012 refinery fire. Legislators are seeking money from the oil company for damages and for expenses incurred by the city after the accident. Council voted 5-2 to hire Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, an antitrust, securities fraud and personal injury law firm based in Burlingame, to prepare to litigate if no agreement is reached by June 18. The measure…
It was August, 1945. In Europe, the Second World War had barely ended; in Asia, the peace was less than a month old. But already the U.S. government was making plans to demobilize the unprecedented war effort it had assembled over the previous half-decade. That month, the government announced plans to shut down the system of federally-funded childcare centers that had sprouted across the country to support the legions of “Rosies” working outside the home in the war effort. The…
He doesn’t remember the exact street he was on when he flew into traffic. But Najari Smith does remember riding in a shared lane—a section of road without a bike lane—when a truck behind him honked incessantly, signaling frustration with Smith’s slower speed. Smith tried to speed up, but his chain slipped off the gears, causing the bike to abruptly stop, flinging Smith off the bike and into the road. The truck slowed down for a few minutes, but sped…
Roberto dela Rosa’s mother has been in detention centers for almost two years, trying to get refugee status to stay in the United States. During the first year, his mother was transferred to different detention centers several times, and all of the bouncing around and the expense of phone calls kept dela Rosa from being able to talk to his mother at all, he says. Talking to his mother hasn’t been any easier over the past year since she has…
Governor Jerry Brown selected County Supervisor John Gioia on Tuesday to represent the San Francisco Bay Area on the California Air Resources Board. The 12-member panel, a division of the California Environmental Protection Agency, provides state leadership and enforcement on air pollution standards and climate change regulations. “I’m excited to be working at a statewide level on climate change and community health issues,” Gioia said. “The Air Resources Board has been on the cutting edge of developing policies to address…
Councilmember Tom Butt left the April 24 city council meeting around 9 pm, too frustrated to continue, followed a while later by Councilmember Jovanka Beckles, who had to work early the next morning. Down to five remaining members, the council debated and argued into the night, past 11 pm, midnight, 1 am. By the time Mayor Gayle McLaughlin declared the end of the meeting, around 1:30 am, it had gone on for more than seven hours. The long meeting wasn’t…
Upscale luxury furniture retailer Restoration Hardware has outgrown its former Marina Way South location, and now has put down roots in a larger warehouse at 2900 Atlas Road. Plans started last November for the big move, about the same time the national furniture chain went public. The company, headquartered in Corte Madera, signed a 10-year lease for the new Atlas location. Now the business can enjoy the space of the 200,000 square-foot building, when before it had to share a…
In a contentious meeting Tuesday night, the city council took on gun control and support for a program that works to curtail violence in Richmond after a deadly week that ended with three dead in the city. Councilmember Corky Booze set the tone for the meeting early on, when he took issue with Mayor Gayle McLaughlin’s re-ordering of agenda items. “This is just to show how we let our personalities get ahead of what’s supposed to happen in our city,”…
On Aug. 6 of last year, the rough draft of a federal investigation says, an employee at the Chevron Richmond refinery noticed a puddle on the ground.