Safety
Diana Becton overcame a plagiarism scandal to be named interim district attorney of Contra Costa County.
It is the first day back since spring break. Alana Banks still has her tan from Barbados. She walks onto UC Berkeley’s campus behind Sproul Hall to the Fannie Lou Hamer Center, a small tin building named after the voting rights activist. If you weren’t familiar with the place, it would be easy to miss, as it is hidden behind the English department and to the far left of the art studio. Banks, who is from Oakland, is one of the co-founders of the center, which opened in February. It is the first space set aside as resource center for black students on UC Berkeley’s campus.
A recent study suggests that not only do suspensions take a toll on students, they place a financial burden on their communities.
Richmond Mayor Tom Butt delivered his annual State of the City address to a crowd of about 50 people Tuesday night, and though it wasn’t quite as upbeat as Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s recent “Moonshot” address, he did seem to have plenty of good news for the city.
The DA report, dated Sept. 10, 2015, found that Richmond’s three medical marijuana dispensaries—Green Remedy Collective, Holistic Healing Collective and 7 Stars Holistic Healing Collective—and their owners appeared to have manipulated financial data in order to profit from their sales “in direct conflict with state law.”
In the past year alone, domestic violence centers and organizations say they have seen an increase in the number of victims that they assist. The rise has posed problems for some organizations, because of a lack of resources needed to provide victims with the help and services they need.
Court documents submitted in an ongoing case indicate that Richmond Police Department Sergeant Michael Rood sent “numerous inappropriate and sexually suggestive” text messages to the head of a medical marijuana dispensary he was tasked with regulating.
A coalition of advocacy groups is challenging the legal right of the California Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend the driver’s licenses of those who cannot afford to pay traffic fines.
City Council had a packed agenda for this week’s meeting but spent most of the evening in conversation with community organizations and the Richmond police about preventing further violence in the city.