
Two-night MLK symposium to feature community leaders panel
A two-night, virtual public symposium on the topic “Strength- ening the Black Community: Where Do We Go From Here?” will be held 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, and Tuesday, Jan. 26, it has been announced.

Chesterfield Judge Pamela O’Berry in jeopardy of losing seat on bench
Judge Pamela O’Berry, currently the longest-serving Black judge in Chesterfield County, is facing removal after 12 years on the bench in Chesterfield General District Court.

Va. Senate moving against GOP Sen. Amanda Chase
The state Senate is lowering the hammer on GOP Sen. Amada Chase of Chesterfield for speaking and whipping up the crowd at a pro-Trump rally in Washington on Jan. 6 before the mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.

School Board to start work on Kamras’ proposed $341M budget
Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras presented to the School Board Tuesday night a $341 million proposed budget for the next fiscal year.

State Police to probe handling of city contract to remove rebel statues
Did Mayor Levar M. Stoney violate the state’s procurement law when his administration provided a sole-source emergency contract worth $1.8 million to remove city-owned Confederate statues?

Another double standard? Police seize firearms from Black men, but not whites, at Lobby Day
Police stopped a car of Black men and confiscated two of their guns at Virginia’s annual “Lobby Day” on Monday, while white gun rights activists defied local laws unimpeded in the state capital of Richmond.

Area AKAs celebrate VP Harris’ inauguration
Members of six area Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority chapters put on their pearls and Chuck Taylor sneakers Wednesday evening and celebrated the inauguration of their sorority sister, Vice President Kamala Harris, with a Zoom event on Wednesday, Jan. 20, from 6:08 to 7:08 p.m., homage to the sorority’s founding in 1908 at Howard University. The newly inaugurated vice president is a Howard University alumna.

Keep moving forward: VSU panel reflects on Dr. King’s words
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner said the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 directly op- poses all that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for. “Unfortunately a little over a week ago, we saw incredible hordes of thugs invade the United States Capitol (and) try to take the law into their own hands in a way that was the antithesis of everything Dr. King stood for,” Sen. Warner said Monday in video remarks kicking off a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at Virginia State University that was broadcast online.

Monacan’s Kendrick Warren Jr. may be the next ‘Special K’
The “Kendrick Warren Show, Part 2” is coming soon to a basketball court near you.

Fourth Baptist Church tumult raises concern among congregation
Started in 1859 before the Civil War, Fourth Baptist Church is now a venerable beacon of Christian faith in Church Hill and the fountainhead from which nine other area churches have sprung. But a major dispute between the current pastor and a large portion of the membership over the church’s organizational structure is threatening to tear apart the 300-member congregation as Fourth Baptist prepares to mark its 162nd anniversary.

Thomas H. Francis, whose political skills aided candidates in Chesterfield and elsewhere, dies at 77
For decades, Thomas Henry Francis pushed to make inroads for Democrats in Republican-controlled Chesterfield County where he lived most of his life.

Personality: Jeffrey M. Gallagher
Spotlight on board chairman of Virginia Repertory Theatre
The largest producing theater in Central Virginia. The first theater to perform a live theater production before an integrated audience in post-Reconstruction Virginia in defiance of Jim Crow laws. Those are major milestones in the history of Virginia Repertory Theatre, which traces its early roots back to 1953 through the Barksdale Memorial Theatre at Hanover Tavern.

’We need this to get back to normal’
It has been months since Annette Johnson has seen her grandmother in person.

America’s new day
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President Kamala Harris are sworn into office in an uplifting ceremony
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. issued a ringing call to the nation and began throwing out the damaging, corrosive policies of his predecessor after being sworn into office Wednesday along with his history-making vice president, former U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California.

Good Samaritan shows there’s hope
On Jan. 16, my brother, sister and I went to World of Beers restaurant in Short Pump to celebrate my brother’s birthday. The atmosphere and food was great.

Time for GOP to examine itself
The violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was a repulsive display of evil, not a peaceful demonstration that is emblematic of America, and we condemn it in the strongest terms possible.

Elected officials must be held accountable for Jan. 6
I’m a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Chesterfield. And as someone who gave years of my life to defend our democracy, I must speak out about the disgraceful coup attempt that we witnessed on Jan. 6 in Washington.

Dr. Fauci promotes COVID-19 vaccines on local Zoom call
“We want you all to get vaccinated for your own protection, for that of your family and for your community,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, who leads the nation’s health efforts to combat COVID-19, told a Zoom audience of about 10,000 people on a call with Richmond and Virginia health officials Jan. 8.