Artists’ entries sought for annual competition of Storm Drain Art
Artists and would-be artists still have time to enter the competition to decorate Richmond storm drains in the 2017 Storm Drain Art Project.

Dr. Sullivan to speak at UR
Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, former U.S. secretary for health and human services and founding dean of the Morehouse College School of Medicine, will speak on the impact of faith on health care decisions and outcomes at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at the University of Richmond’s Jepson Alumni Center.

Gorsuch sworn in to high court
President Trump reveled in the biggest political victory of his presidency at a White House ceremony on Monday in which his U.S. Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch was sworn in, poised to make an instant impact on a court once again dominated by conservatives.

World map shows Africa in truthful light
In an age of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” authorities in the city of Boston believe their new school map offers something closer to the geographical truth than that of traditional maps, and hope it can serve as an example to schools across the nation and the globe.

Federal tax filing deadline: Tuesday, April 18
Taxpayers get three extra days to file their federal tax returns this year.

Mother Emanuel shooter gets 9 life sentences in S.C. state court
With Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof getting nine life sentences in state court on top of a federal death sentence, his prosecutions are finally over — and some relatives of the nine parishioners he killed at a historically black church say they can finally begin to heal.

Sessions wants to return to tough crime policies
For three decades, America got tough on crime. Police used aggressive tactics and arrest rates soared. Small-time drug cases clogged the courts. Vigorous gun prosecutions sent young men away from their communities and to faraway prisons for long terms.

Back on the runway
Renée Lacy has been the modeling guru for thousands of children, teens and adults in the Richmond area and beyond. For 35 years, the bubbly, energetic woman operated a training center in Downtown where would-be models under her tutelage learned the ways of the runway.

Religious order reviewing bids on former Powhatan boarding school property
The future of a historic 2,200-acre property in Powhatan County, where thousands of African-American children once were educated in long-closed Catholic boarding schools, remains in limbo.

Jackson Ward development continues with proposed $27M apartment-retail complex
A Jackson Ward parking lot soon could soon be home to a five-story, $27 million building featuring 167 apartments. Richmond area developer Eric Phipps reportedly is proposing to create the new project on a 1-acre parcel on East Marshall Street. The site is on the north side of Marshall between Adams and 1st streets.

City Council besieged with requests for more money
As it wades into the details of city spending, Richmond City Council, as usual, is finding itself besieged with pleas for additional funding from departments that feel shortchanged by Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s spartan budget proposal.

Henrico NAACP hosts substance abuse program
The Henrico Branch NAACP is sponsoring “Substance Abuse, A Way Out,” a community program featuring panelists discussing substance abuse and ways to prevent it.

GRTC gears up for route changes effective Nov. 12
Love it or hate it, GRTC is moving ahead with a major revamp of its city bus routes. The proposed changes to routes are expected to be finalized this week and go into effect on Sunday, Nov. 12, Amy Inman, the city’s transportation planner, told a Richmond City Council meeting Monday.
Kudos to VUU Lady Panthers
Re “VUU women return home to cheers despite loss in NCAA final,” March 30-April 1 edition: Congratulations to the Virginia Union University women’s basketball team and coaches for a fine season.
‘Don’t forget your feet’
More than 29 million Americans have diabetes, according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and there’s a pretty good chance either you or someone you know belongs to the 12 percent of people in Virginia who live with the disease.
Training needed on both sides
Re “Unequal punishment: Rep. McEachin requests federal investigation into high suspension rates for African-American students and those with disabilities,” March 30-April 1 edition: The situation of greater punishment statistics for minorities, in particular minorities with special needs, sounds like only the symptoms of the problem are being addressed and not the real problem(s).

Confirmation would be blow to workers
Alexander Acosta, the 45th president’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Labor, is up for confirmation by the U.S. Senate. He got narrow approval on March 30 from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions by a 12-11 party line vote.

49 years after Dr. King’s death
Tuesday, April 4, was the 49th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Thousands of people planned to join Fight for $15 and the Movement for Black Lives to march in Memphis and in cities across the country on that day in the fight for decent pay and racial justice. Such demonstrations are more than a fitting tribute to Dr. King. They are taking up his unfinished agenda.

Buffoonery
We shudder thinking about the buffoonery of the Virginia unit leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Photographer Louis Draper’s work to be preserved by VMFA
The work of photographer Louis Draper, a Henrico County native who moved to New York City in 1957 to explore his passion, is internationally regarded for documenting the everyday lives of African-Americans and notable leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.