Contra Costa Times

contracostatimes.com — WALNUT CREEK -- A commander with the Citrus Heights Police Department will be Walnut Creek's next police chief. The City of Walnut Creek has selected Tom Chaplin, a 23-year law enforcement veteran, to be its next chief of police, City Manager Ken Nordhoff announced Tuesday in a news release.

contracostatimes.com — PINOLE -- Six people escaped with their lives after their home went up in flames when a candle was left unattended in a bedroom, a Contra Costa Fire Protection District battalion chief said. The one-alarm fire, at a home in the 2600 block of Fahey Court, started around 9:25 p.m.

contracostatimes.com — CONCORD -- With its July break coming up, the Mt. Diablo school board scheduled a special meeting next Monday to approve their 2013-14 budget and consider a few other issues. And once they come back from vacation in August, the board will meet on Wednesdays rather than Mondays.

contracostatimes.com — LIVERMORE -- Dive crews embarked on a second-day search for a Mountain House man who disappeared below the surface of Livermore's Lake Del Valle while kayaking with his sister on Sunday. Crews thinned on day two to a small group of East Bay Regional Parks District officers, two police dogs and three divers equipped to scan the bottom of the lake using sonar, East Bay Regional Parks Police Sgt.

contracostatimes.com — Click photo to enlarge MARTINEZ -- The girl who was gang raped at Richmond High School in 2009 testified Monday that she recalled waking up in the hospital in "excruciating pain" but did not remember being sexually assaulted outside the homecoming dance.