California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill last month to ban what’s commonly called “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy,” processes aimed at changing the sexual orientation of minors.
The House Rabbit Society is a no-kill shelter in Richmond. They save rabbits from around the area from being euthanized. When you walk in, it neither smells like a shelter, nor looks like one. With carpeted floors and bright open enclosures, it looks more like a rabbit hotel.
Two weeks ago, hundreds of staff and movers transported the Richmond Health Center to its new home in San Pablo. This was one of the last steps in opening the doors to the West County Health Center, and it had been preceded by years of preparation. The long-term planning process was fed by focus groups that considered staff and patient needs. Dr. Chris Farnitano, the WCHC ambulatory care medical director, said planners wanted a building that would “encourage a team-based…
When the door opened at West County Detention Facility for Tamisha Walker, it was dark. After six months in jail, Walker was free. But she was alone. No one was there to pick her up. All she had was a bus ticket and a bag. “You just get on a bus,” Walker said. “And it’s a long, lonely ride.” Jeff Rutland knows the lonely freedom Walker spoke of. He’s reminded of it every time he sees a released inmate walk…
In the summer of 1975, Richmond Councilman Nat Bates received a call from Ben Brown, a Democratic campaign organizer in Atlanta. Brown needed Bates’ support rallying African American voters behind his candidate, Jimmy Carter, a little known peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia who had just finished his term as governor and was seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Bates was split. Back in California, incumbent governor Jerry Brown was also running for the Democratic presidential ticket, and Richmond councilmembers were…
There’s one outcome for the City Council election that Bea Roberson says she can’t let happen, and it’s the reason the first-time candidate decided to put her name on the ballot to begin with. “We cannot let the [Richmond Progressive Alliance] win again,” Roberson said, standing near the dais in the city chambers after a council meeting. She said if she can make it out of the election with her sanity, she doesn’t plan on running for any other political…
Eduardo Martinez sits at the front desk of the Richmond Progressive Alliance hunched over a pile of donor thank-you letters. It’s midday and the quiet of the office is punctuated by the hum of vehicles that pass by on Macdonald Avenue and the occasional police siren in the distance. As Martinez picks up the letters and shuffles them a bit, several stray postcards—decorated with antique cars and a family of raccoons and littered throughout the pile—pop out. The postcards are…
There wasn’t anything unusual or exciting about the white shirt, gray slacks, black shoes or the red, diamond patterned tie that Jael P. Myrick wore. Even the way he blended in with people didn’t make him seem out of the ordinary. Myrick is to all appearances a regular guy. But in a field of City Council candidates where many of the big names are part of a deep partisan division, the 27-year-old Myrick hopes his youth and regular-guyness brings a…
On Saturday, students from Making Waves teamed up with The Watershed Project for a trash assessment and cleanup effort at Baxter Creek, which was recently named one of California’s trashiest waterways. From cardboard and paper, to styrofoam and plastic bags—and even the occasional shoe—students and other volunteers removed debris and freshened up the area. Richmond Confidential caught the action in the video above.