History

Berkeley students chip in to work with North Richmond

North Richmond is no stranger to challenges – or proposed solutions. But a class of UC Berkeley grad students, backed by The California Endowment and a network of local allies, hope their efforts can make a difference. “Our hope is that we can help bring neighbors together in a way that creates new energies focused on key neighborhood issues and shared concerns,” said Heather Imboden, a first year master’s candidate in city planning. Imboden is one of a half dozen…

Japanese youth ambassadors tour Richmond

This week Richmond was visited by a group of youth ambassadors from Shimada, Japan. The Richmond-Shimada Friendship Commission (RSFC), which celebrates its fiftieth birthday later this year, hosts a group of about six Japanese students and a teacher twice a year. Every summer, a group from Richmond travels to Shimada to live there for a month.

Richmond police captain describes intimidation, sabotage in department in 2006-7

A Richmond Police captain described a command staff so toxic with animus and distrust that by the time the chief hosted a September 2006 management meeting aimed at easing tensions, a lawsuit was inevitable. “What we didn’t know was (the plaintiffs) already had attorneys,” Capt. Mark Gagan testified Monday. “I went into the Napa retreat hoping to find resolution, and I was shocked when we imploded. I realized the meeting was orchestrated, manufactured to foster this lawsuit.” Seven high-ranking African…

High-ranking African American cop comes to Magnus’ defense in discrimination trial

In their first full day presenting their defense, attorneys representing Police Chief Chris Magnus, former Deputy Chief Lori Ritter and the city of Richmond called to the stand an African American police captain who praised Magnus’ leadership and rejected claims the chief or deputy chief are racists. “I have no reason to believe (Magnus) has any animosity against any other races,” Capt. Anthony Williams testified Monday. Williams’ detailed testimony covered the gamut of accusations made against Magnus and Ritter in…

Dangerous levels of DDT pollution in the Richmond Harbor

The Lauritzen Channel has more DDT in it than before the 1996 cleanup, and some fish are turning up with DDT levels in their tissues hundreds of times higher than their counterparts in the rest of the San Francisco Bay. It took one company less than two decades to create a chemical mess in the Lauritzen Channel that will take almost half a century to identify and clean.

Darrell Wayne Loud Sr.: The ‘Sixth Temptation’

Editor’s Note: This is guest column provided by George Livingston Jr., a celebrity photographer and documentarian of history, culture and music in Richmond. I met Darrell Wayne Loud Sr. about five years ago, when we attended a couple of Temptation & Stone Soul picnic shows. After that, we would talk on the phone about the joy of entertainment, life and, of course, the Temptations. Darrell would travel to watch the Temptations, his all-time favorite group, and one of the most…