Health

Neighbors celebrate Arbor Day and honor the victim of a hit and run

After his sister passed away about a month and half ago, Keoni Larot moved to Richmond. A day after he arrived, David Cox, a neighbor in a wheelchair, was killed on the corner directly in front of Larot’s new house in a hit and run that remains unsolved. The North and East Tree Team, with help from volunteers, planted 40 trees to celebrate Arbor Day in Larot’s neighborhood on Saturday. They planted the first tree, a young Gingko tree, in…

Richmond bioscience company makes strides in HIV research

The cure for HIV could be as simple – well, almost — as a shot in the arm. The full process, which researchers started testing in 2009, would look something like this: extract patient’s blood, eliminate HIV receptive gene on white blood cells, multiply those new cells, infuse billions of the cells into patient’s blood stream. And voila, the virus roams veins and arteries, lonely, with no receptors to bond with. That process has a group of scientists hoping they…

Fun run on the Home Front

More than 200 people ran or walked the Bay Trail at Marina Bay on Saturday as part of the Home Front Festival. Runners and walkers had two options: 5k and 10k courses. The fastest man in the 5k run was 37-year-old Tim Stahler, and BZ Churchman, 49, was the fastest woman. In the 10k run, the champion Jack Wallace, 21, took less than 36 minutes. Emily Ferenzi, 31, was the women’s champion, taking about 39 minutes. The youngest “runner” was…

Richmond native Tania Pulido wins national award for youth activism

Tania Pulido of Richmond will accept a Brower Youth Award for exceptional youth activism and leadership on Tuesday at the Herbst Center in San Francisco. The Brower Youth Award is one of the most prestigious youth activism awards in the country. Presented by the Earth Island Institute the award recognizes six individuals under the age of 22 each year based on recommendations from their individual communities. “I am so proud,” said Urban Tilth member Sherwan Dean outside of Pulido’s earshot….

Shoreline Festival brings out hundreds and raises awareness about shoreline conservation

Fred Casanares got to Point Pinole Park a little before 8 a.m. on Saturday. He fired up the grill at 10 a.m. with almond wood, because it burns cleaner than charcoal. For the next five hours, Casanares cooked hundreds of pounds of burgers, hot dogs, quesadillas, and skirt steak, while smoke wafted around the festival and the persistent long lines in front of the grill. “I can’t even calculate how many people I’ve fed,” he said, wiping the trails of…