New Year’s Eve celebration at Main Street Station
Richmonders can ring in the new year at “Le Masque 007 NYE Celebration,” a New Year’s Eve bash at the newly renovated Main Street Station and the glass-enclosed train shed in Shockoe Bottom. The dress-up party, which will have a James Bond Casino Royale theme, starts at 9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 31, and ends at 1 a.m.
Roland ‘Fatty’ Taylor, guard with the former Virginia Squires, dies at 71
Roland Morris “Fatty” Taylor, who starred for the Virginia Squires died Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, in Denver following a lengthy illness.
Flying Squirrels have 1st African-American manager
The Richmond Flying Squirrels have their first African-American manager, Willie Harris. Harris, 39, played for the former Richmond Braves in 2007. He succeeds Kyle Haines as manager of the Class AA Eastern League Squirrels.
Tillman sets pace for VCU record books
Virginia Commonwealth University’s affiliation with Atlantic 10 Conference basketball is missing one golden nugget — an A-10 Player of the Year recipient.
Micah Thomas finding success at VUU
Micah Thomas arrived late — but fortunately not too late — to make an impact on Virginia Union University basketball.
Sportscaster Herm Edwards named head coach at Arizona State
Herm Edwards is taking his football expertise from the broadcast booth back to the sidelines. An ESPN personality on NFL Live since 2009, Edwards was named head coach at Arizona State University. “I’m here to build a program on top of the foundation that’s already been built here,” he said in his introductory news conference on Dec. 4 in Tempe, Ariz. “We’re here to be relevant in the Pacific 12.”
City Church to host New Year’s Eve prayer service, after-party
Many African-American churches have Watch Night services on New Year’s Eve, and then their congregants go out to clubs and other places that may not be safe, said Pastor Dimitri Bradley of City Church.
Emancipation Proclamation Day event to feature Roslyn Brock as speaker
Richmond once again will celebrate one of the greatest days in American history — the emancipation of enslaved people.
UNCI to move Dec. 31 to new home at former Richmond Christian Center
The Richmond Christian Center will end the year as the new home of United Nations Church International. The founder and pastor, Bishop Orrin K. Pullings Sr., and his wife and co-pastor, Dr. Medina Pullings, will lead the 700-member UNCI congregation in a procession from their current building at 5200 Midlothian Turnpike to their new, larger sanctuary at 214 Cowardin Ave. around 9 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 31.
Personality: Pam Mines
Spotlight on founder of nonprofit JP JumPers Foundation
Helping people in the special needs community is a labor of love for Pam Mines. “I am not the advocacy voice for the special needs community. I am simply a voice,” says the Chesterfield County resident.
City loses last independent, black-owned radio station
WCLM-1450 AM, the last independent, African-American-owned radio station in Richmond, is off the air after 21 years.
Bagby to lead Va. Legislative Black Caucus
Henrico Delegate Lamont Bagby will lead the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus in the 2018 General Assembly session.
Newport News House race still up in the air
Control of the Virginia House of Delegates remains unsettled. At the last minute, the state Board of Elections postponed Wednesday’s drawing to decide the winner of a Newport News House seat.
Funding extended for CHIP
Nine million American children — including 68,000 in Virginia — will continue to have government-supported health insurance for three more months.
GRTC rolling out new fare passes
GRTC is changing its tickets as it upgrades to new fare boxes on buses and prepares for the start of the Bus Rapid Transit system whose completion date is still uncertain.
Tax law change to affect city utility customers
In an unexpected twist, Richmond’s utility customers could gain a few dollars of savings on their water, sewer and natural gas bills as the result of the tax overhaul bill that Congress passed last week and President Trump signed into law.
Fired or resigned?
Omarosa out at White House
Omarosa Manigault Newman, who has resigned under duress from her public liaison job at the White House, is leaving true to form — amidst a cloud of controversy and with sparks flying.
Civil rights groups decry tax bill impact
President Trump and Republicans are heralding their new tax legislation as a major help to middle class Americans and as a certain way of boosting the economy by cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent
One down
Trump’s first year in office marked by controversy and protests
Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump took office, his presidency started generating controversy. Photographs showing that the crowd at President Trump’s swearing-in was smaller than at Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration in 2009 caused the first ruckus in his administration — but not the last.
‘The civil rights struggle has not survived on fear nor superficiality’
Re Letter to the editor, “Absence from Mississippi museum dedication hurt us,” Free Press Dec. 14-16 edition: It is an unimaginable claim that Rep. John Lewis’ absence from the dedication of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Dec. 9 hurt the African-American community. For Rep. Lewis to have stood on such hallowed ground with President Trump at the dedication would have been a travesty of historic proportions.
