Contra Costa News

On this episode, a chat with Michelle Powell Evans of Breath Better Wellness and Tawnya Erickson. In a 2026 that has started off pretty wild, we discuss breathing techniques to help calm anxiety and stress. We get into what sound baths are and what they help with—including crystal bowls and other sounds. Finally, we talk paddle boarding out on the delta and the soothing impact nature has on the mind and soul,

Join Michelle on Febru...

On this episode, a chat with Monica Barajas of Monica's Riverview in downtown Antioch. We get into the restaurant, challenges, how she has overcome it and the potential for all of the City of Antioch.

At Monica’s, it offers feel-good breakfast, lunch and dinner favorites with care and creativity. Our menu celebrates  regional comfort food made from scratch using seasonal, local, and organic ingredients—always with a focus on qual...

On this episode, a chat with Jack Jackson, the author of The Reaction to Inaction: How to Outpace Disruption and Lead the Age of AI.

Jackson will be holding a book signing on December 13 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Barnes & Noble in Brentwood for his new book. Jackson grew up in Antioch and shares his journey.

Jackson is a leadership strategist, bestselling author, and former federal task-force professional known for helping ...

On this episode, Antioch City Manager Bessie M. Scott talks about her first year as city manager in the city of Antioch and offers many updates – including staffing, budget, and plenty of other updates.

I would argue year 1 was a fact finding mission to see what was underneath the hood of what had been going on in Antioch the past four years, now real progress can start as the systems have been identified, Scott shares much work ...

On this episode, Kathy Cabrera talks K911 Animal Rescue adoption goals for 2025. She talks about how the rescue was created and highlights the partnership with Petsmart. 

K911 is a non profit animal rescue that rescues abandoned and displaced cats & dogs who would otherwise remain on the streets and/or be euthanized. Because of our home-based foster volunteers we can help give abandoned, abused and displaced cats and dogs a cha...

On this episode, a chat with Kathie Campbell, Board President of the El Campanil Theatre in Antioch. According to Campbell, she announced that without funding, they will begin shutting down operations by December 2025. We get into the impacts of prior business decisions by prior staff and the board, impacts by the City of Antioch, crime, the homeless. However, there is now an uptick in economic development which could improve fundi...

On this episode, a chat with Hope Petrow, the author of Dating After Divorce: from Heartbreak to Soulmate. The book debuted this past week and was number 1 on amazon in two categories. Divorce sucks for anyone and everyone involved, but Petrow shares her experience of betrayal to rebuilding her self-worth starting over. She took journaling and her coaching experience to turn it into a book to help women navigate dating after divorc...

On this episode a chat with Cynthia Loredo and Tammy Zickuhr of Vasco Forever Helping Families who have a mission to advocate for a safer Vasco Road. We get into their mission and what they would like to see occur. While advocating for safety improvements on Vasco, one of the most dangerous roads in the San Francisco Bay Area, they share what they want to see happen. We also get into the newly released data, which is a good first s...

On this episode, Paul Stonebarger drops in to talk about the East County Valkyrie and their upcoming U-Pick 6 Girls flag football tournament on May 18 at Heritage HS in Brentwood. Stonebarger shares U-Pick is tribute to Brentwood’s U-Pick Season for cherry’s, while also Pick-6 for football. He shares how the league started, its impact and growth – which we also get into the explosion in girls flag football across the nation. He als...

On this episode, Antioch City Manager Bessie M. Scott drops in to talk about her first six months on the job. We get into her background, her expertise and her “why” she took the City of Antioch job given all the controversies, budget issues, staffing and the lift needed to improve the city. We get into the hiring controversy due to lack of transparency and within six months, improvements are already being observed, but first the c...

On this episode, a chat with Lindsay Zimmer who talks Etiquette as she is hosting an upcoming 2-day summer boot camp for youths ages 12-18. We get into her background and how she decided to bring a “etiquette boot camp” for youth to Contra Costa County.  We get into whether or not the world has lost its etiquette. While most topics could be considered common sense, many are not practicing good manners while many youths are simply n...

On this episode, a chat with Wendy Gomez of Knots and Found (Knots + Found) located in the City of Martinez. This is a one stop shop for indoor plants (house plants, tropical, succulents and cactus, along with many other goodies, classes, crafts, events and more.

Wendy shares her passion for plants, her journey from passion to business along with tips and tricks for maintaining indoor plants. We also touch on the mental health aspe...

On this episode, Tirrell Muhammad joins me to talk about his efforts with the Kings Accountability Group and the work being done in the City of Richmond and other parts of the Bay Area. He shares how it started as just four men talking weekly to hold each other accountable, which morphed into a non-profit. Muhammad shares his journey of how a Big Brother program in San Francisco changed his trajectory. He shared the importance of h...

On this episode, I chat with Foodie Crew creator Adam Gross about everything food trucks and what is coming in Contra Costa County this year. Launched in 2017 in the City of Antioch, we get into how Adam got into food, then owning a food truck to launching Foodie Crew where they are weekly in Antioch, Brentwood and soon in Pittsburg—while Oakley is monthly. We talk about the industry, some data, myths what the future may hold for t...

On this episode, a chat with Tara D. Sanders of Dále Vino-- the first wine bar in Pittsburg. Her love of wine first began while in South Africa. But her journey started while in High School when she became Miss Black Ca USA, Miss Teenage Ca, and Miss Teen of the Nation, Tara used her title funds to complete her BA and master’s degrees--along with the influence of her parents.

She is a big believer in education, providing tools to h...

On this episode, a chat with Sam Nunn of Three Nunns Farm who gives an update on the upcoming strawberry u-pick season and soon to be cherry season.

Located at 550 Walnut Blvd in the City of Brentwood, Three Nunn Farms offers a variety of activities throughout the year between u-pick seasons (strawberry, cherry, peach and pumpkins) to a giant corn maze in the fall—along with many other amenities such as a roller coaster, and pumpki...

A chat with Paul Culbertson and Kevin Wilson of Side Gate Brewery in Concord, CA. We talk about how they went from being in finance to launching a brewery and their love of beer. The two share their journey from concept to reality of how Side Gate Brewery was born and what went into the transformation in downtown Concord—and how they ended up in Concord. Obviously, we talk beer, what they make and what goes into each beer launch—bu...

On this episode, a chat with Trevel Adanandus of TNT Smoothie & Juice Bar located in downtown Antioch. While waiting to become a longshoreman, he opened in October of 2022 after talking with his dad (owner of Tease Southern Kitchen) where he offers healthy options from Acai bowls (superfood bowls), smoothies, juices to many other items. We get into how he came up with the concept, early challenges, why he chose the City of Anti...