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City offers holiday tree disposal
Christmas is over. But what to do with the holiday tree? Good news: Richmond once again is offering several ways to safely get rid of live Christmas trees.

Drug court graduation Oct. 21
The Richmond Adult Drug Court will celebrate 11 new graduates 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, at a public ceremony at the Richmond Police Training Academy, 1202 Graham Road, it has been announced.

Parking, trash collection fees to increase under new city budget
Beginning July 1, Richmond residents will be charged an extra $3.55 a month for trash collection and recycling services, largely to help fund the city’s leaf collection program. That’s an 18 percent bump that will raise the monthly cost from $19.44 to $22.99.

Memorial Day holiday schedule
A list of closings and schedule changes for Memorial Day, Monday, May 30:

Photography exhibit to open May 13 at Pine Camp
The city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities is celebrating National Photography Month with an exhibit at the Pine Camp Cultural Arts and Community Center.

Mayoral prospects getting in, out of election race
Richmond School Board Chairman Jeff Bourne this week dropped out of the race for mayor before the contest even began.

City Council OKs new housing developments
Richmond City Council has given the green light to two new developments that will bring new housing to the Carver and Fulton areas.

Holiday schedule
City of Richmond government operations will be closed on Good Friday, March 25, it has been announced. The city, with a Baptist pastor as mayor, is one of the few area government operations to take an Easter break. The shutdown will affect City Hall and other city operations, including recreation centers and libraries. However, Richmond’s public schools will be open Friday, the last day before city schoolchildren begin a weeklong spring break beginning Monday, March 28.

Pine Camp hosts performance art exhibit March 18
The Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will host a performance art exhibit in honor of Women’s History Month featuring area artists at the Pine Camp Cultural Arts and Community Center, 4901 Old Brook Road.

Preliminary figures show $4.7M surplus for city in FY2015
City Hall could fill a big chunk of a projected $9.6 million deficit for the current fiscal year once outside auditors sign off on the city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for fiscal year 2015 that ended June 30. Based on preliminary figures, the city finished fiscal year 2015 with a $4.7 million surplus.

School Board holds nose to approve overcrowding plan
Members of the Richmond School Board approved a $19.1 million plan designed to help address huge overcrowding problems at several South Side schools.

Probe launched on city-church ties
Did anything illegal take place? Or is there merely a need for stronger policies covering city officials who engage in outside in endeavors on city time?

Energy savings could yield $18M to fix city schools
Energy savings could generate $18 million to fuel an overhaul of heating and cooling systems, windows, lighting and other systems in as many as 10 Richmond Public Schools buildings.

Weather woes delay leaf pickup
Richmond’s big snow means the city’s leaf collection is going to run further behind. Heavy rains during December pushed back the city’s leaf vacuuming program by two weeks or more, the city Department of Public Works has acknowledged.

State of Black America Address moved to Feb.6
The 4th Annual State of Black America Address has been rescheduled.

Heating woes continue to plague Creighton Court residents
Tina Marie Smith finally has a working radiator on the first floor of her Creighton Court apartment. The only problem: It doesn’t produce much heat. And it hasn’t, she said, since maintenance workers from the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority installed it three weeks ago.

Repaved areas of Chamberlayne Ave. uncover more defects
A repaved stretch of Chamberlayne Avenue already is falling apart, less than a year after being repaved for the world bike races held in Richmond last September. The problem pavement also undermines Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ claim that such paving for the races would last up to 10 years.

New Fulton housing development on drawing board
Richmond’s apartment boom is heading east into the Fulton community. The former Robert Fulton Elementary School, long a haven for artists, is proposed to be a centerpiece of a 266-unit, $38 million apartment complex to be called Studio Row.

Community Thanksgiving Feast open to all for 10th year
Come one, come all and share Thanksgiving with us. That’s the heartfelt invitation to the community as The Giving Heart prepares to serve a free turkey dinner with all the trimmings in Downtown.

RVA On Ice opens with ceremony Nov. 25
RVA On Ice, the city’s outdoor ice skating rink, will kick off its sixth season with a opening ceremony and celebration featuring music, games, activities and prizes.

City cheerleading, football competitions start Nov. 5
The city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities’ youth tackle football playoffs and cheerleading competitions begin this week.

City Council approves zoning change to spur North Side development
Richmond is rolling out the welcome mat for developers, investors and businesses willing to consider projects in centerpiece commercial districts in majority African-American areas of North Side.

City opens emergency cold weather shelter
Men and women again will be able to spend cold nights inside the city’s former Public Safety Building in coming months. For the third consecutive year, the City of Richmond will use a portion of the building at 501 N. 9th St. as its emergency overflow shelter, according to Tammy D. Hawley, a spokesperson for Mayor Dwight C. Jones.

Leaf collection scaled back for residents
Soon after taking office in 2009, Mayor Dwight C. Jones reversed the action of his predecessor, L. Douglas Wilder, who reduced the vacuuming of leaves to once a year to save $300,000. Mayor Jones restored the traditional two cycle collection of leaves in city neighborhoods.

Savings vs. service
City’s 2014 audit shows millions sent to rainy day fund despite critical needs
Is Mayor Dwight C. Jones saving too much money while starving City Hall of the monetary resources needed to provide services to Richmond residents?

‘La Vida’ exhibit opens Oct. 9 at Pine Camp
The city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will host an art exhibit, “La Vida,” through Nov. 20 in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

City Council expected to approve purchase of Conrad Center
City Hall is moving forward with a two-year-old plan to purchase the shuttered Conrad Center, once the area’s largest soup kitchen for the homeless and working poor.