Annie Giles, community activist, dies at 81
As a minister’s daughter, Annie Marie Turner Giles felt driven to help others overcome problems and challenges in the Whitcomb Court public housing community in the city’s East End.
Journalist Les Payne, a founder of NABJ, dies at 76
Les Payne, an intrepid Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who helped pave the way for another generation of African-American journalists as one of the founders and a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, died on Monday, March 19, 2018. He was 76.
Personality: Frances K. Scott
Spotlight on chair of The Charmettes’ annual prayer brunch
Cancer does not discriminate. Age, race, ethnicity and economic background don’t matter, Frances K. Scott has learned.
VUU president seeks dismissal of fraud lawsuit
Virginia Union University President Hakim J. Lucas is fighting back against an explosive lawsuit from his former employer, Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
U.S. Census Bureau: City population continues to grow
Richmond’s population has jumped above 227,000 people for the first time in at least 40 years, and current trends suggest the capital city’s population should easily exceed 230,000 residents when the mandatory 10-year census is taken in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Morrissey found to have violated a State Bar rule
Attorney Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey moved a step closer this week to being disbarred for the second time in his legal career after a three-judge panel upheld one count of serious misconduct against him.
Holiday closings
In observance of Easter on Sunday, April 1, please note the following: City and county offices: Richmond government offices, including City Hall and community centers, closed Friday, March 30.
Residency requirement could be scrapped for all but key city employees
Two members of Richmond City Council are seeking to largely scrap a 25-year-old policy of requiring city executives, managers and council appointees and staff to live in the city — ensuring they would be closer to the people they serve and also would contribute to the city through tax payments on their homes, cars and purchases.
City Council calls for Washington team to pay its way or end relationship
Will Washington’s pro football team continue to run a summer training camp in Richmond after 2020? That question is expected to be decided after Mayor Levar M. Stoney and team representatives hold talks, likely in May, on a potential extension of the current agreement.
Heating repairs still needed on 104 public housing units
Heat has been restored to more than 300 public housing units, but work still needs to be completed in more than 100 other units.
‘Black Panther’ continues to smash box office records
The box office hit “Black Panther” is now the top grossing superhero film of all time in the United States. The wildly popular Disney and Marvel release achieved the milestone on Saturday after surpassing fellow Marvel title “The Avengers.”
‘Our ballots will stop bullets’
Thousands take to streets in Richmond, D.C. and across the nation to demand gun control and school safety
Chanting “Enough is enough” and “Never again,” more than 5,000 students and other demonstrators marched through Richmond last Saturday as part of a nationwide protest against mass school shootings and gun violence.
Volunteers working hard to clear, maintain cemetery
Re “VCU center developing master plan for historic Evergreen Cemetery,” Free Press March 15-17 edition: We’re writing to offer a clarification to your article. Toward the end of the story about Evergreen Cemetery, the writer refers to “adjoining neglected and abandoned East End Cemetery.” In fact, a huge swath of East End has been cleared for years and is being maintained year-round by volunteers.
The other Ms. Walker
Nine years ago, when she was just 26, Natalie Cofield was looking for a mentor. A young woman with entrepreneurship hard-wired into her spirit, Ms. Cofield was discouraged that people did not take her seriously and was disheartened that she could not make the connections she needed to further her entrepreneurial mission. So she started reading biographies of businesswomen, hoping to find inspiration on the pages that she could not find in real life.
Razor thin Pa. victory underscores importance of voting
“Eight days after Bloody Sunday, President Lyndon Johnson spoke to a joint session of the Congress and made one of the most meaningful speeches any American president had made in modern time on the whole question of voting rights and introduced the Voting Rights Act. And at one point in the speech, before President Johnson concluded the
Richmond love?
School shootings. A mad bomber.
The greater good
We are disappointed that Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s proposed 2018-2020 budget holds no more additional funds to fix up the city’s dilapidated schools than the revenue expected from a meals tax increase.
March for Our Lives
Two more people were hurt this week in the latest school shooting, this time at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, Md.
4 area students receive Pi Lambda Theta scholarship awards
Four area high school seniors were honored by the Virginia Area Chapter of Pi Lambda Theta at its annual scholarship program on Sunday.
Activist Mandy Carter to speak March 23 at Diversity Richmond
Mandy Carter, co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition and of Southerners on New Ground, is speaking 7 p.m. Friday, March 23, at Diversity Richmond Event Hall, 1407 Sherwood Ave. The theme: “What do we do now?”
