
Commitment needed to solutions for homelessness and recidivism
With the Democratic primary season kicking into gear and the general election right around the corner, the stage is set for an impassioned battle of ideas and policy initiatives that could shape our country for the next decade.

Prison gerrymandering hurts black poliical power by Marc H. Morial
“When districts with prisons receive enhanced representation, every other district in the state without a prison sees its votes diluted. And this vote dilution is even larger in the districts with the highest incarceration rates. Thus, the communities that bear the most direct costs of crime are therefore the communities that are the biggest victims of prison-based gerrymandering. The Census Bureau’s decision to count incarcerated people in the wrong place interferes with equal representation in virtually every state.” — Prison Policy Initiative, The Prison Gerrymandering Project

Toppling the Trump kingdom by Dr. Barbara Reynolds
So now with the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate’s rush to acquit President Trump in this rigged impeachment trial, he will soon be free to continue using foreign countries or committing any other illegal acts to ensure his re-election in 2020.

A real sickness
Forget the coronavirus. Would somebody please quarantine President Trump before he makes the nation sicker?

Marking time and history
Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote, the Virginia Museum of History & Culture selected 20 women to re-create a 1915 photograph of suffragists taken at the State Capitol in Downtown. Like the women in the old photograph, the contemporary group is made up of individuals “fighting to break barriers for women, to improve their communities and to make Virginia a more equitable and just society,” according to museum officials.

'Virginians You Need to Know' lectures Feb. 8, March 21 at Main Library
Researcher, author and lecturer Elvatrice Belsches will speak about “Virginians You Need to Know” at a two-part lecture series at the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Li- brary, 101 E. Franklin St.

Soulidifly to launch free TV streaming service Feb. 14
Richmond-based Soulidifly Productions is jumping into TV streaming. Already turning out movies, children’s books and a monthly magazine, the black-owned company will launch an array of largely original programming on its own service, SoulVision.

Honoring a civil rights pioneer
More than 100 people were present last Saturday for the dedication of a state historical marker in Gloucester County’s Hayes community honoring the late Irene A. Morgan and her actions to battle racial segregation.

Spartans' Jermaine Bishop leads NSU in scoring
Jermaine Bishop seems to have a rust- proof jump shot and a crossover dribble that collects no cobwebs. After being sidelined for the better part of three seasons, Bishop’s jumper is smack dab on target for Norfolk State University.

4 TJ playes named to All-State football team
Honors continue to roll in for the highly successful Thomas Jefferson High School football squad.

Gone too soon
Sports world has been rocked through the years by loss of young athletes
The tragic death of basketball icon Kobe Bryant stirs painful memories of other athletes who died much too young.

Mahomes leads Kansas City to come-from-behind win at Super Bowl LIV
The New England Patriots’ combo of quarterback Tom Brady and Coach Bill Belichick dominated the past two decades of NFL football. Might the Kansas City Chiefs’ tandem of quarterback Patrick Mahomes II and sideline guru Andy Reid become the team to beat in the coming decade?

Justice Clarence Thomas talks about his faith in new documentary
U.S. Supreme Court Jus- tice Clarence Thomas, who is known for his reticence, speaks for much of a new two-hour documentary about his life.

Journalist Gwen Ifill remembered with new postage stamp launched at her Washington church
In the historic African-American church where she worshipped, late journalist Gwen Ifill was remembered with a new Black Heritage postage stamp in a ceremony featuring dignitaries of the church, politics and journalism.

Anthony 'Pete' Rogers, retired educator, principal with RPS, dies at 92
Anthony Warren “Pete” Rogers was an advocate for teaching Richmond students how to work with their hands during his 35-year career with the city’s public schools.

Willie H. Gillenwater, one of the city's first certified special education teachers, dies at 91
Willie Harris Gillenwater was a pioneer in educating children with mental challenges in Richmond Public Schools.

Frank Tunstall III, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1220, dies at 70
Frank Tunstall III, the veteran president and business agent for GRTC’s unionized bus drivers, has died.

Personality: Kay Tyler
Spotlight on board president of Greater Richmond SCAN
It has been more than a decade since Kay Tyler started volunteering with Greater Richmond Stop Child Abuse Now, and she is still finding new ways to contribute to its mission of a safer future for Richmond youths.

Goldman drops appeal in plan for Coliseum referendum
Paul Goldman, leader of the Put Schools First campaign, is dropping his appeal of a Richmond Circuit Court ruling that blocked his efforts to put an advisory referendum on the ballot last November for Richmond voters to weigh in on the $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement plan.

Herring, other AGs sue to force U.S. to adopt ERA
Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring and two other Democratic state attorneys general sued a U.S. government official last week, seeking to force him to recognize Virginia’s recent vote to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and adopt the measure in the U.S. Constitution.