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Black History Museum lighting up the night with ceremony Nov. 20
Lights will shine at the new Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. The museum will hold an illumination ceremony 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, at the building at 122 W. Leigh St., museum Director Tasha Chambers has announced.
Police body cameras arrive
“We finally get the chance to tell our story from beginning to end,” Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham said at a news conference Tuesday announcing the initial deployment this week of 20 body cameras for officers. Flanked by Mayor Dwight C. Jones, Richmond NAACP President Lynetta Thompson and others, Chief Durham said 20 more body cameras will be issued when they arrive within the next few weeks.
Family seeks criminal charges in Taser death by police
Gwendolyn Smalls said not a day goes by that she and her family don’t feel anguish over the inhumane and unnecessary death of her 46-year-old brother, Linwood R. Lambert Jr. The former Richmond resident died nearly three years ago while he was in the custody of three South Boston police officers who fired 20 Taser shots at him while his hands and legs were shackled.
Reggae singer’s lawsuit continued until 2016
Legendary Jamaican reggae singer Frederick “Toots” Hibbert is going to have to wait longer to find out if he will be awarded millions of dollars for the injuries he suffered when a drunken Henrico County man threw a liquor bottle that hit him in the head during a May 2013 outdoor festival in Richmond.
March set for Linwood Lambert death
The family of Linwood Lambert Jr. and other community members will mark the third anniversary of the former Richmond resident’s death with a march for justice Wednesday, May 4, in South Boston, where he died after three police officers stunned him 20 times with Tasers while he was in their custody.
Hampton alumna’s spicy taste buds win $1M
Meneko Spigner McBeth's award-winning Lay’s Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger potato chips soon will line the aisles.
Chief Durham: ‘This is not Ferguson’
“This is not Ferguson.” That was the assessment of Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham on Aug. 6, a day after Keshawn D. Hargrove, 20, was shot and killed by a Richmond Police officer in the alley beside DJ Market and Deli at Cary and Meadow streets in the West End.
Foster care project gets $100,000 boost
Two Richmond-based nonprofits just got a huge boost in their efforts to provide support for young people who are mandated to leave the foster care system in Virginia at age 18. The Children’s Home Society of Virginia, led by president and CEO Nadine Marsh-Carter, learned May 13 it had been selected to receive a $100,000 grant from Impact 100 Richmond to aid the “Possibilities Project,” an initiative first featured in the May 14-16 edition of the Free Press.
Suit settled by reggae singer struck by bottle
Grammy Award-winning Jamaican reggae singer Frederick “Toots” Hibbert suffered head pains and memory loss and was diagnosed with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder after a drunk spectator threw a liquor bottle that hit him in the head while he was performing with his band Toots and the Maytals at the 2013 Dominion Riverrock Festival in Downtown.
Bill seeks to expunge teen drug arrest records
Young people in Virginia who are convicted of marijuana possession or underage possession of alcohol find those convictions permanently etched on their criminal records. Historically, many of those convictions have fallen disproportionately on African-Americans, even though numerous studies show white people use alcohol and marijuana at similar rates.
Body cameras coming
Richmond police officers could be wearing body cameras as early as this fall. Chief Alfred Durham said Tuesday the nearly 740-officer force should have about 200 body cameras purchased and ready for use by officers “by October or November.”
No eggs, bacon for The Breakfast Club
They call themselves “The Breakfast Club.” They arrive about 6 a.m. at Fifth Baptist Church in the West End every Tuesday and Friday. Deacon John Chavis opens the back door for them. On this particular morning, 13 members of the club arrive. And as they do twice a week, they play basketball in the church gymnasium.
Praying to put an end to ‘senseless acts of violence’
Kenneth Williams said he was compelled to take a leap of faith to stem the city’s homicides after he attended the funeral last month of 12-year-old shooting victim Amiya Moses. “It was the saddest thing I witnessed in my life,” said Mr. Williams, a trustee at First Baptist Church Centralia in Chesterfield County and CEO and director of the Richmond-based Adult Alternative Program to help ex-offenders re-integrate into society. “I was so angry about her senseless death.”
VSU Gospel Chorale wins $10,000 in national competition
The highly acclaimed Virginia State University Gospel Chorale continues to win accolades. The latest honor: The choir, under the direction of Richmonder Perry Evans II, claimed first place in the 2015 Steve Harvey Neighborhood Awards Gospel Choir Competition.
Geronimo Aguilar gets 40 years
Forty years. That’s how much time former Richmond Outreach Center Pastor Geronimo “Pastor G” Aguilar will serve in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting two sisters — ages 11 and 13 — while he lived in their family’s home in Fort Worth and served as a youth pastor at their church in the mid-1990s.
141-year-old church clears $1M debt
The nearly 300-member house of worship on South Side held a ceremonial mortgage-burning ceremony.
School bus plan raises safety concerns
Tara Spencer stands on her porch in the Creighton Court public housing community each school day and watches as her 12-year-old daughter, Japria, waits about 20 yards down the street to catch the bus to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School where she is a sixth-grader.
Dr. Bedden gets $12,579 raise
That’s the new salary for Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden. With the start of the 2015-16 fiscal year on July 1, he is eligible to receive another $23,758 — up to 10 percent of his salary — based on performance incentives and $28,500 in a deferred compensation plan.
Program aims to dismantle school-to-prison pipeline
One hundred and forty-nine students were arrested in Richmond Public Schools during the 2014-15 school year, according to Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham. Of those, 59 were arrested for disorderly conduct, offenses that included not sitting down in class or using profanity toward a teacher, he said.
Free Press photographer honored with ‘Acts of Kindness’ award
“It’s not what you have, it’s what you give. And I have been blessed by doing that.” Rudolph “Rudy” Powell, a Richmond resident and part-time Free Press photographer, lives by that credo.
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