Hercules News

There are two public meetings remaining to discuss the West of Hills Northern Pipelines Project planned by the East Bay Municipal Utilities District.

But their mutual love of her isn't the only thing that unites a father-in-law and son-in-law.

A proposed feasibility study on a BART extension to San Pablo, Richmond Hilltop, Pinole and Hercules has become bogged down in procedural issues, with the Planning Commission the latest Hercules body to punt on taking a formal position.

The city is scrambling to beef up its fire department staffing, with the imminent jump by three firefighters to the adjacent Rodeo-Hercules Fire District.

A private family memorial service for Thorvald "Toddy" Jensen, 92, of Marshall, formerly of Ruthton, will take place at a later date.

Voters in the Bolinas-Stinson Union School District passed an extension of a $300 annual parcel tax for education Tuesday while voters in Hercules approved a utility users tax measure to help fund city services.

Property owners are being hit with a sewer service charge increase, part of an annual ritual that began in 2009 and has another four years to go, counting the increase that will take effect in July.

Voters Tuesday were deciding the fate of a tax hike measure to tackle the city's financial crisis in the lone election in Contra Costa County.

Anthony Manaoat, a 2000 Fairfield High School graduate, is using www.kickstarter.com to raise money to launch a new business - The Flat Kids Screen Printing.

Voters in the East Bay will once again have a chance to elect an out person to the state Assembly when they head to the polls in 2014.

The Planning Commission on Monday will consider supporting a BART extension study, after its sponsor crafted a clause to alleviate City Council fears that it could divert funding from a waterfront Intermodal Transit Center for buses, trains and ferries.

City officials are taking flak over the wording of a June 4 tax ballot measure and their campaign to get voters to approve it.

For more than three centuries, the Medici dynasty ran Florence, Italy, becoming the most influential art patrons the world has ever known.

In response to a recovering economy, the City Council has ended four years of furloughs and boosted employees' potential earnings.

Hercules has hired a replacement for longtime City Clerk Doreen Mathews, who will retire at the end of the current fiscal year.

A draft environmental report for the West of Hills Northern Pipelines Project has been released by the East Bay Municipal Utilities District and is open for public comment.

A two-alarm grass fire that threatened homes in Hercules on Friday was caused by a Caltrans mower operating along state Highway 4, according to a Contra Costa County Fire Protection District official.

In Disneyland Park, Hercules has taken over the space usually occupied by Scottish princess Merida from "Brave" for a meet-and greet and games of skill.

Officials say a no-vote on a June 4 utility tax hike measure could force them to disband the police department and contract with the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office for a scaled-down police force.

Crews are responding to a two-alarm brush fire near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 4, which appears to be moving toward nearby homes, a Contra Costa County Fire Protection District dispatcher said.