Fertile Grounds: Local Car Burglars Preying On Coffee Shop Customers
Watching for trends as we do around here we can say we’ve noted a decided uptick in the number of car burglaries outside local coffee houses of late – in broad daylight and so quick even the few people who realize what is happening have little time to react. Lafayette Police Chief Ben Alldritt has…
Not Sewer Gas Or Truck Doors Banging Shut – Lafayette Police Say Pre-Dawn Blasts Are “Intentional Act”
Veteran readers know we have covered reports of sizable and apparently random early-morning explosions here and on our Facebook pages over the years. Although all sorts of theories were developed as to the source of the blasts over the intervening years – everything from gunfire to methane gas to the banging of delivery truck doors…
Would-Be Laptop Snatcher Fended Off By Lafayette Coffee Shop Customers Monday
An apparent attempt to snatch a laptop from a customer at a downtown Lafayette coffee house did not end as expected for the would-be thieves Monday. Eyewitnesses and outright participants in what some described as a “battle Royale” on the street outside The Coffee Shop gave the following account of events: “I was dining outside…
Crashes Pile Up On Local Roadways Wednesday; Major Injuries Believed Averted
A number of crashes up and down our namesake 24/680 Corridor kept emergency crews and tow trucks busy Wednesday, creating some memorable moments for involved drivers but no serious or lasting injury as far as we could determine. The pictured crash, reported just after 2 p.m. in the eastbound direction of Highway 24 in Central…
Cougar Sighting In Pleasant Hill Wednesday
Officials in Pleasant Hill say a mountain lion was spotted about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday in the area of Edna Drive and Marguerite Avenue. Contra Costa County Animal Control has been advised of the sighting. If you happen to see a mountain lion do not turn and run from the animal, back away and dial police…
Chef Valentino Luchin Of Lafayette Booked For Robbing Orinda Bank Wednesday
An armed robbery at the Citibank branch in Orinda Wednesday morning triggered a widespread search for a suspect who left the scene in an older model Mercedes, police said, and ended when that suspect left a home on Valente Drive in Lafayette and was taken into custody on the street outside. Records indicate Valentino Luchin,…
Mt. Diablo Up Early, Does A Little Stretching – Produces 3.3 Magnitude Shaker Monday
Most folks appear to have slept through it but a low, 3.3 Magnitude earthquake rumbled under Alamo at 4:55 a.m. Monday – most significant of a flurry of three shakers and apparently leaving no significant damage in its wake. USGS scientists attributed the shaker to the presence of the Mt. Diablo Thrust Fault, a fault deep…
Pleasant Hill, Concord Police Busy In The 24/680 Monday
Reader Josh Cagle was out and about Monday when he found himself in the middle of a police stop and (apparent) arrest of some folks in this car today on eastbound Monument Boulevard at the I680 underpass. Corporal Chris Anderson from Pleasant Hill PD said the car had been reported stolen and their officers stopped…
Sunday Afternoon Parking Ticket Rager Leads To Strongarm Robbery Arrest In Lafayette
This site took a, we believe, understated approach to details of an incident stemming from a local man’s ire about getting a parking ticket downtown on Sunday but, as we have learned over the years – there was more to the story. Our rationale was to illustrate the competition and angst which accompanies parking in…
Black Clouds, Hail, Thunder, Lightning, Crashes, Spills, Crooked Deeds And A Fight For Life In Walnut Creek
Just your usual morning in the 24/680, with heavy winds and hail making things slick for drivers; people waking up to find things they thought were theirs are gone and now belong to someone else; and fire and police fighting to save a young life from the grip of a Fentanyl OD. Neighbors…