Though it’s geographically the biggest city in Contra Costa County, Richmond gets little respect. The “City of Pride and Purpose” is, alas, perhaps best known for violence and drugs; jobs have been scarce since the city flourished during World War II as a shipbuilding center.

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Nuclear energy is getting a second look as concerns about greenhouse gases and global warming mount. Supporters include not only the governor, but environmentalist Stewart Brand, author of the Whole Earth Catalog. Learn more about it August 4 at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, starting at 6 p.m.

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Well, dang. As many of us know, investing in crude oil has been blamed for the skyrocketing cost of this commodity, which in turn has boosted gas prices to all-time highs.

(As many of us also know, crude oil accounts for some 70 percent of the cost of gas.) But it’s looking like the crude oil investment bubble is deflating.

Crude-oil futures dropped more than two percent to below $123 a barrel this morning, extending crude’s weekly losses to nearly 5%, as economic worries continued and as the dollar gained ground, MarketWatch reported this morning.

“The exhibited selling pressure was a statement of acknowledgement of the adverse effect that high oil prices and credit market woes are having on the global economy,” said John Kilduff, an analyst at futures brokerage MF Global. Well, it’s about time, eh?

Photo of light at the end of the tunnel by Flickr user Jsome1 under Creative Commons license