Hercules News

The city is considering a ban on free single-use bags similar to ordinances that have gone into effect in many other urban areas of the state, along with a ban on polystyrene containers for takeout food.

An unidentified woman died Monday evening after she rear-ended a van while driving westbound on Highway 4 and crashed into a field while reportedly trying to flee the scene, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A large water pipe construction project west of the East Bay hills is ready for public review, with an environmental document awaiting public comment and several hearings scheduled in June.

The city declined this week to support a study of a BART extension north, after a majority of City Council members raised concern that it could sap energy and funding from Hercules' long-planned Intermodal Transit Center on the waterfront.

One of the pioneers in providing real-time, online reservations for the campground industry, Leisure Interactive has been shaping the way campgrounds, RV parks and resorts process and manage their reservations since 2003.

Officials painted a bleak picture of the coming fiscal year's budget, telling residents at Tuesday's City Council meeting that unless they approve a utility tax hike in June, the city likely would have to disband its police department and contract with the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office for police services.

A proposal to extend BART north to Hercules is challenging this city to re-examine how it wants to evolve from an automobile-dependent suburb into its New Urbanist, pedestrian- and transit-friendly vision.

"Any extension that doesn't go through Richmond is a dealbreaker," Councilman Jim Rogers said at Tuesday's council meeting.

Despite passing Measure G last year, West Contra Costa Unified School District has a losing record when it come to parcel taxes.

The U.S. Forest Service is getting a big boost as California enters what's expected to be a very busy fire season.

These police calls were provided by the Hercules Police Department. Vandalism: On May 6, 2013, at about 10:05 am, an Officer responded to the Rite Aid parking lot, on Sycamore Ave.

They let the light in and capture the view outside. Homes with a lot of windows are certainly popular with one segment of homeowners.

The group includes a Victorville-based DC-10 jetliner-turned-air tanker and a former Navy C-130 cargo plane that's being converted in San Bernardino.

A Richmond official who also sits on the Hercules Planning Commission wants to put the kibosh on talk of extending BART north along Interstate 80, saying it would isolate and downgrade the downtown Richmond station.

No one was injured in a 5-acre brush fire off the eastbound 80 Freeway near Pinole Saturday, authorities said.

The fire, which was reported to the California Highway Patrol around 3:49 p.m., forced crews to close a far left lane as they battled the blaze, which burned between 3 and 4 acres west of Crockett on a grassy hillside near a neighborhood, according to the Rodeo-Hercules Fire District.

The headquarters staff of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems is moving from El Segundo to McKinney, Texas, in the coming months as part of a broader company reorganization.

Hundreds of used books, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes will be available at the Friends of the Hercules Library spring book sale on May 18 and 19 at the Hercules Library 109 Civic Drive.

A Hercules Planning Commission meeting Monday will culminate in a community workshop to review the Hercules General Plan and Central Hercules Plan with a view to update them and guide future development.

Both Hercules and Pinole's population grew by 0.4 percent last year. Figures released by the state Department of Finance show both Hercules and Pinole added about 200 residents in 2012.