Tips To Avoid Rental Scams

Martinez, Calif. – Today, the District Attorney’s Office is sharing important tips for consumers to avoid rental scams. What is a rental scam? Scammers will list properties for rent online (i.e., Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace) even though they do not own them or have authority to rent them out. The scammer will attempt to have a prospective…

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Delta’s Bradford Island Catches Fire Overnight

We found ourselves covering the pending, early-morning evacuation of more than a dozen people off of Bradford Island near Antioch this morning, crews having trouble reaching the island due to heavy smoke from a fire burning there since about midnight. Eventually, three people were taken off the island with the rest opting to stay and…

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Sometimes, The Best Rescues Are The Littlest Ones

There was a good rescue in Martinez today, perhaps not the most dramatic with buzzing helicopters or cast life rings, but nevertheless one pulled off by strangers who came together to do some good. It started with Orinda Reader/Runner Amanda Ferguson, one of those people who sulk all day if they haven’t run 30 or…

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Overnight Grass Fire Chars 2 Acres In Lafayette Tuesday

An early morning grass fire burned through a hillside at Angelo Street and Reliez Valley Road in Lafayette early Tuesday morning, briefly threatening two homes on Hillside Terrace before it was brought under control. Firefighters got the call at approximately 1:30 a.m., and were hampered by the area’s steep terrain. In the end, no homes…

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Ask Not For Whom The Road Tolls, It Tolls For Thee…

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has announced that an express lane along an 11-mile stretch of southbound Interstate 680 from Martinez through Walnut Creek will begin charging tolls next month. Tolling operations will begin at 5 a.m. on Aug. 20 and will connect with the existing 11-mile express lane from Rudgear Road in Walnut Creek to…

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Tales From Suburbia: Oddities Du Jour

All in all a bittersweet week in the semi-rural Badlands of the East Bay, with fair weather prevailing, cooks sharing recipes, gardeners comparing tomato harvests, and water mains giving out just as we declare ourselves in drought and in need of every precious drop. It’s all part of the irony of life, we suppose, attempting…

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One Dead, One Wounded In Highway 4 Shooting In Concord Saturday

At approximately 6:35 p.m. Saturday, California Highway Patrol officers responded to reports of a freeway shooting on westbound SR-4, just east of Port Chicago Highway in Concord. Upon arrival, officers found victims suffering from gunshot wounds inside a black Toyota Camry. One victim succumbed to their injuries and another suffered moderate wounds. The unknown suspect…

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