
Westwood Baptist, other groups host park cleanup
The Enrichmond Foundation is partnering with a historic West End church, a community bank and the City of Richmond to organize the cleanup of a park they call a “hidden gem” in the West End.

Stop the Violence Parade coming to Mosby Court
The Ephesus Pathfinder Club at Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Side is organizing the first Richmond Stop the Violence Parade, it has announced.

Harlem churches see gospel tourist boom
The stern warning issued from the pulpit was directed at the tourists — most of whom had arrived late — a sea of white faces with guidebooks in hand. They outnumbered the congregation itself: A handful of elderly black men and women wearing suits and dresses and old-fashioned pillbox hats.

Funeral Monday for Wendell F. Davis
Wendell F. Davis traveled by bicycle and GRTC bus from his North Side residence to Western Henrico County on Thursday, April 14, to visit his daughter, stepdaughter and the love of his life, his 2-year-old granddaughter, Caleá.

Contractor Wilbur J. Dyer III dies at 57
Wilbur J. Dyer III had a deep-rooted entrepreneurial spirit. And he also loved to construct and build.

Personality: Brittney Maddox
Spotlight on president of Good Clear Sound
Brittney Maddox seeks to make a positive difference in the community in her role as the president of “Good Clear Sound,” a slam poetry collective at Virginia Commonwealth University.

It’s all about the ‘Tubmans’
Anti-slavery crusader Harriet Tubman will replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced Wednesday.

Criminal charges filed in Michigan water crisis
The Flint water crisis became a criminal case Wednesday when two state regulators and a city employee were charged with official misconduct, evidence tampering and other offenses over the lead contamination that alarmed the country and brought cries of racism.

Price of first class stamp drops by 2¢
A postage stamp now costs 47 cents — a drop of 2 cents for a first class letter.

Faith-based group out to change world for homeless students
More than 1,600 students in Richmond Public Schools are considered homeless because they lack a traditional place to live. They live in shelters with their families, bunk with relatives or on the couches of friends or find space in group homes or motels.

Petersburg shakeup continues
Irvin M. Carter Jr. has been dismissed as director of the Petersburg Finance Department in the latest city government shakeup.

General Assembly backs plan allowing anonymity for suppliers of lethal injection drugs
Death row prisoners will continue to be executed in Virginia. In a blow to death penalty foes, the General Assembly on Wednesday approved Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s proposal to allow the state to secretly purchase lethal drugs for executions from small drug manufacturers that would remain unidentified.

July 3 riverfront fireworks canceled
Richmond will have two fireworks shows to celebrate In- dependence Day on July 4th — the city’s traditional show in Byrd Park and the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ annual blast at The Diamond baseball stadium.

Frustration growing
City Council offers amendments to add millions of dollars to RPS while School Board approves cost-cutting measures
Community members are becoming increasingly angry and concerned about the future of Richmond Public Schools, especially after the Richmond School Board voted Monday to cut costs by shutting down two North Side buildings and implementing a new bus transportation system in the fall of 2016 that will make it more difficult for some students to get to their schools.

GRTC’s planned Bus Rapid Transit already $11.5M over projection
Richmond’s Bus Rapid Transit system is going to cost an additional $11.5 million to develop. But the state — and not Richmond — will pick up the extra expense, GRTC spokeswoman Carrie Rose Pace disclosed Tuesday. “Under the project agreement, the Commonwealth of Virginia will cover any costs that exceed the estimated project budget,” she stated in an email to the Free Press.

Four candidates to run in primaries for 4th District congressional seat
The election for the 4th Congressional District seat that now includes Richmond is beginning to shape up. Two Democrats and two Republicans have qualified to run for their respective political party’s nomination in a June 14 primary. The winners of the primaries then will face off for the seat in the November general election.

State NAACP election results upheld
After months of uncertainty, Linda Thomas is officially the president of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. She replaces Carmen Taylor of Hampton, who lost a close election last fall at the state convention. “I’m feeling pretty good. I’m anxious to get started, and the other members of the executive committee are anxious to get started,” said Ms. Thomas, a Caroline County resident whose husband, Floyd W. Thomas, serves on the Caroline Board of Supervisors

Entrepreneurs pitch products aimed at senior market
Patricia Fitzpatrick enthusiastically pitched the UZURV ride reservation service website and app that she and other entrepreneurs created to a three-member judges panel resembling the popular product pitch TV show “Shark Tank” at the Aging 2.0 Global Startup Search competition last week in Henrico County.

Disney’s ‘The Lion King’ opens April 19 at Altria Theater
Disney’s “The Lion King” roars back into Richmond next week, with all the enjoyable and familiar characters, costumes and songs.
Kudos to city’s juvenile detention center staff, leadership
Re “City juvenile detention center re-certified,” March 17-19 edition: Good job, Rodney Baskerville, superintendent of the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center, and staff. They not only passed the audit, but received 100 percent in all areas.