Faces in Focus is a series of profiles on local businesses and residents who are making an impact in El Cerrito. Read the full story

BY N’JERI EATON//

The West Contra Costa Unified School District met with the community Wednesday night to discuss school closures at DeJean Middle School in Richmond. Read the full story

BY FERNANDO GALLO AND DANIEL MCGLYNN//

El Cerrito has 24,000 residents – how many of them know some basic facts about their city? We went to the El Cerrito Plaza to find out. The results were surprising – and very funny. Read the full story

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a bucket labeled “anthrax” was found in a business on San Pablo Avenue yesterday, shutting down the street for several hours. The substance inside the bucket was tested and found to not be anthrax. You can read the article here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/07/BA7V1402SJ.DTL

Student kayak trip to Angel Island.

BY SWETA VOHRA //

El Cerrito residents may soon have a new neighbor. The Living Skills Center for the Visually Impaired, currently located in San Pablo, is considering moving to the city of El Cerrito in order to provide a higher quality of life for its students.

“El Cerrito is a community on the move,” says the center’s director Patricia Williams, who has been involved with the organization for 36 years.

A former instructor, Williams says that she’s wanted to build a new site since she became director in 1995. For over a year now, the organization has focused on El Cerrito because of its central location plus its safe and friendly community. Read the full story

Jennings, right, campaigning on Tuesday with Sharon Lewis.

BY SWETA VOHRA//

For Joyce Jennings, Tuesday’s election brought both a sense of jubilation and a measure of defeat. While Jennings was thrilled about the country electing its first black president, California passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, a move that meant, “racism is still prevalent in our culture,” according to Jennings.

“I’m feeling really sad,” said Jennings on Wednesday afternoon. She said that she was still hanging on to sliver of hope, as the absentee ballots had not been counted yet. But a win for the other side had already been declared on many news stations, and it was unlikely things were going to change.

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Proposition 4, which would require parental notification for minors who attempt to terminate a pregnancy, appears to be on the verge of defeat. With 99.5 percent of precincts reporting, the office of the secretary of state of California has the ballot measure trailing 47.9 percent to 52.1 percent. The 403,136 vote gap between yes and no votes isn’t likely to close when the final election results are tallied, although there are still tens of thousands of provisional and absentee ballots still to be counted.

El Cerrito Focus writer Sweta Vohra had a local story about Prop 4 in El Cerrito: You can find it here.

BY N’JERI EATON//

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El Cerrito Focus went to the polls today to hear what voters had to say. Read the full story

BY SWETA VOHRA//

Voters got out early. Campaigns continued for one last day. Signs filled the streets, walls and lawns. Read the full story