Health

Group plans to offer services to youth, locals in crisis

A new alternative, social service program called Men and Women of purpose hopes to set up in Richmond. Led by Antwon Cloird, the group includes former felons, drug addicts and others who have overcome difficult circumstances. They have turned their lives around and now have professional degrees in psychiatry and counseling. “We all have a past,” Cloird said. “And our past helps us help people who were once were we were at. We know how they feel.” Cloird’s goal: to…

Play stresses HIV awareness to teens

Ninth and 10th graders from Kennedy High School gathered in their gym Thursday to watch a performance about givin’ it up and hookin’ up—and the risks associated with those behaviors.

Healthy Steps: A hospital administrator’s struggle to save Doctors Medical Center

Dawn Gideon remembers walking down the steep stadium steps of the Ashland Regional Medical Center auditorium, staring at the backs of the heads of 100 hospital workers, each step taking her closer to the front of a crowd filled with people she had known for only a month. It would be her first attempt at saving a hospital. “Oh my God, I have to save these people’s jobs, and I haven’t even looked in their eyes yet,” Gideon remembers thinking….

Veolia discusses evacuation plans with the City Council

The levels of hydrogen sulfide emitted from the Veolia wastewater treatment plant have been rising over the last few months, and if Tuesday’s City Council meeting was any evidence the plant’s neighbors have noticed. The minimum levels for emissions that Veolia has recently exceeded were set conservatively, said Chad Davisson, the wastewater management officer for the city, implying that there is no reason for concern. But that didn’t dissuade the vehement group of residents that showed up to talk about…

Rich-Con Cooks!

You cooked for us, now we’ll cook for you! We debuted Richmond Cooks on this day last year, featuring several recipes from the kitchens of Richmond Confidential readers. This year, our staff has compiled some of our own favorite recipes. You’ll find a few “family recipes” from cultural backgrounds including Greek and Italian, as well as a few recipes that meet special dietary needs (think vegan and gluten-free!). And, of course, we’ve included some of our favorite all-American holiday eats….

Voters pass parcel tax for Doctors Medical Center

Voters in West Contra Costa County passed a ballot measure Tuesday that Doctors Medical Center administrators said will keep the struggling hospital from closing. Measure J, which won with nearly 74 percent of voters casting “yes” ballots, will allow the county to put in place a $47 parcel tax increase per household in West County, bringing the hospital about $5 million in tax revenue that will help it close an anticipated $18 million budget gap. The Yes on J campaign…

Small gas leak creeps into Richmond over weekend

First, they heard the hissing. Then, they smelled the stench; gas escaping from a pipeline inside the hole carved out of the street on South 47th Street and Wall Avenue on Saturday morning. A laborer with Ghilotti Bros.—a San Rafael-based contracting company—called his supervisor, who was a few blocks away. They had backed into a two-inch PG&E pipeline while digging down to the sewer line. “As soon as I got out of the truck, I could hear it blowin’,” the…