Friends, family say goodbye to Aretha Franklin in marathon funeral
The “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin was remembered and celebrated in a star-studded marathon funeral service last Friday that drew laughter, tears and, as with any large family gathering, controversy.
DMV mobile service center to be outside City Hall on Sept. 7
The state Department of Motor Vehicles will operate its mobile customer service center outside Richmond City Hall, 900 E. Broad St. in Downtown, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7.
Blackwell Historic District consideration delayed until Oct.
A state agency is hitting the pause button on a decision to create a new historic district covering much of the Blackwell neighborhood in South Side.
VUU, VSU awarded grants
Virginia Union and Virginia State universities have been awarded National Park Service grants to aid in the preservation and upgrade of aging campus buildings, 4th District Congressman A. Donald McEachin announced Tuesday.
City seeks election officers
Interested in serving as an election officer in the upcoming election on Tuesday, Nov. 6?
Bike lane hearing Sept. 11
Want bike lanes on Brook Road? Hate the idea? Next Tuesday, Sept. 11, residents can speak their minds about the proposal to reduce the four-lane road to two lanes for traffic, with one lane in each direction reserved for cyclists and parking.
New laws tighten school suspension practices
Ahead of the start of the new school year, new policies have been in place to reduce long-term suspensions of misbehaving students across the state.
Court may wind up redrawing lines for House of Delegates districts
Federal judges could end up redrawing the boundaries of 11 districts in the House of Delegates — including four in the Richmond-Petersburg area and seven in Hampton Roads — that were found to be illegally overloaded with black voters.
Monroe Park Conservancy issues new guidelines for feeding
Feeding the homeless will return to Monroe Park once it reopens, but with new rules that will limit the number of charities that can operate at one time, according to Alice M. Massie, president of the park’s governing body, the Monroe Park Conservancy.
Black businesses feeling left out
Too many black-owned businesses are feeling left out of a booming Richmond economy.
Kaepernick draws fire again — this time over Nike ad
Controversy continues to surround former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick two years after he first took a knee during the national anthem to protest the oppression of people of color and continuing police brutality against African-Americans.
Justifiable homicide
Richmond Police officer cleared in May shooting death of teacher Marcus-David Peters, who was naked and unarmed
Justifiable homicide. That’s the ruling Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring has applied to the bizarre and tragic case of 24-year-old Marcus-David Peters, the unarmed man who was fatally shot by a police officer last spring off of Interstate 95 while apparently suffering mental distress.
Major cracks begin to show in Trump White House
Senior officials in President Trump’s administration have been working from within to frustrate parts of his agenda to protect the country from his worst impulses, an anonymous Trump official wrote in a column published by the New York Times on Wednesday.
Pressley to become first African-American woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress
Add the name Ayanna Pressley to the list of African-American underdogs who are achieving unprecedented political success. Ms. Pressley scored a stunning upset of 10-term U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, positioning herself to become the first African-American woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress.
White House war against federal workers
The economy is doing well, crows the pugilist-in-chief, complaining that he doesn’t get enough credit for the things that he has done to “make America great again.”
Kavanaugh and chaos
We are witnessing a magnitude of chaos and desperation rarely seen in Washington with the U.S. Senate hearings this week on President Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Trump and violence
Is he serious? Does President Trump really think there will be “violence” from the left if Republicans lose control of Congress in the November midterm elections? Isn’t the whole point of winning an election to get what you want without turning to violence?
Immigrants, Caucasians, Native Americans and ‘America as we know it’
At one time, this country was the home of those labeled Native Americans. Slowly, then rather viciously, this country became home to invading Europeans, many of them criminals, murderers, thieves, debtors and rapists — the rejects of their various countries and communities. They made Native Americans, and all their various tribes, the enemy.
Finding our ‘moral center’
Our longest war has not been in Afghanistan. It has been the war waged against the American people by our politicians in Washington. They have steadily passed laws to make life a living hell for the American people while talking about “compromise” and acting in a “civilized” manner toward each other.
Memories of the ‘Queen of Soul’
My most precious memory of the great Aretha Franklin occurred in the early 1970s when I was an associate editor of Ebony magazine and working in Johnson Publishing Co.’s New York office.
