
Commonwealth Catholic Charities to lead city’s winter overflow shelter efforts
Homeless people needing shelter in Richmond beginning Friday, Oct. 1, through mid-April will have a place to stay if the private shelters are full during cold weather.

Golden Nugget donates $1M to Virginia’s HBCUs
A $1 million donation to the five historically Black universities in Virginia.

Driver, mechanic shortages could lead to GRTC service cuts
Offering bonuses of $5,000 to $8,500, GRTC is seeking to lure more drivers to its ranks and avoid cutting service.

30 city employees face possible firing over COVID-19 vaccination mandate
With the City of Richmond just days away from the Oct. 1 deadline for all employees to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, all but 30 workers have gotten the vaccine or filed religious or medical exemptions to the city mandate.

School Board rejects terminating contract for school food vendor
The Richmond School Board and schools administration debated the future of who will be contracted to provide meals to the city’s 24,000 students and what they will eat after last week’s public outrage over the condition, quality and nutritional value of the “Grab and Go” meals delivered to schools daily by provider Preferred Meals.

City registrar takes heat for delay in opening satellite voting locations
Keith G. Balmer, Richmond’s new voter registrar, was rushing to start early in-person voting next week at two satellite locations—City Hall in Downtown and the Hickory Hill Community Center in South Side.

Local screenwriter hopes next stop will be Academy Awards
Henry K. Myers is realizing the dream of every amateur screenwriter – to see his words turned into a film.

VUU’s Jada Byers turns on the speed
Expectations were sky high for Jada Byers and, so far, he has lived up to them.

BlackTop youth program loses gym space
A private South Side youth program that won plaudits and a $500,000 city grant for its virtual school operation that served more than 80 students daily during the 2020-21 school year has been evicted from its home in a church gymnasium and is scrambling to find a new location for its operations.

Va native, NFL Pro-Bowler Roger Brown dies at 84
Roger Brown was a big man with talent and ambition to match.

Personality: Kisha Beaner Howcott
Spotlight on founder and CEO of Clothed by Love Mentoring
The new school year brings all kinds of concerns for students, even without the threat of an ongoing pandemic. And while some concerns require specific solutions, the need for clothing is being met thanks to a mobile boutique, courtesy of Kisha Beaner How- cott and her group, Clothed by Love Mentoring.

Denied their chance
Racism and segregation wouldn’t allow young African-Americans in Richmond to use whites-only pool for life-saving swimming merit badge in quest to become Eagle Scouts
J. Maurice Hopkins never wanted this story written.

New ‘Emancipation and Freedom Monument’ unveiling draws crowds, tears
“Overwhelming!” “Excited!” “Proud!” Those were some of the comments from onlookers as they viewed the state’s new “Emancipation and Freedom Monument” that was unveiled Wednesday on Brown’s Island on the James River in Richmond’s Downtown.

‘Antiracist public health approach’ needed to substance abuse, by Marc H. Morial
“He was a Hollywood star with an off-Broadway paycheck that mostly went up his nose. He was a pacifist with a barroom- brawl, razor scar down the middle of his face. He played a sneering killer but started his career in dance tights. On set, he was Omar Little, the Robin Hood of the hood feared by fictional street thugs who feared nothing else. Off it, he was an aimless soul begging for someone — anyone — to love and accept him for who he was, not who he played.” — Kevin Manahan, Newark Star-Ledger

Va. voters’ choice: Moving forward or going back, by Ben Jealous
Virginia voters will pick the state’s next governor in November. The choice couldn’t be clearer, and neither could the national implications of this race in a bellwether state. Not only is the Virginia election a curtain-raiser for the midterm elections of 2022, it’s also the biggest test so far of whether the Trumpified GOP can win major races.

Where is the love?
“Reopen With Love 2.0” was the mantra being espoused by Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras as thousands of students returned to the classroom last week for in-person learning for the first time since March 2020 and the onset of the pandemic.

‘Forgotten First:’ A look at four – and more – NFL trailblazers
In this era of racial reckoning, it’s not only appropriate but significant that the stories of NFL trailblazers be told.

Lessons taught at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Nine teams passed on Paul Pierce in the 1998 NBA draft, and if you think he doesn’t remember each and every one of them, then you don’t know Paul Pierce.

Sanders makes coach’s job easy
Shedeur Sanders is making his father, Coach Deion Sanders, look good.