Mommy and me time/Emmie Aslan, 3, sits with her mother, Joli Aslan, while they enjoy the music of the Desiree Roots Jazz Trio at last Saturday’s outdoor concert at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen.

Cityscape-City Hall has not been able to remove this stone highway marker noting that a stretch of U.S. 1 in South Side, now known as Richmond Highway, was once called Jefferson Davis Highway to honor the traitorous Confederate president. Location: A grassy strip in front of the city Department of Public Utilities’ Field Operations and Maintenance Facility at Maury Street and Richmond Highway. A Richmond chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy placed the 4-foot-tall marker on the site in 1935. City Council voted last December to change the name of the roadway. Robert Steidel, the city’s chief operating officer, stated Tuesday that this is one of a series of markers placed by the UDC along U.S. 1 in the city and other locations. He said all are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which complicates their removal. He stated that city staff is working with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to come up with a plan to remove the marker. The plan will be presented first to the City Planning Commission. Meanwhile, the Virginia General Assembly, which nearly 100 years ago designated U.S. 1 as Jefferson Davis Highway, this year approved replacing the Davis name with Emancipation Highway as of Jan. 1, 2022, in localities such as Chesterfield County that have not renamed the roadway.

Cityscape-City Hall has not been able to remove this stone highway marker noting that a stretch of U.S. 1 in South Side, now known as Richmond Highway, was once called Jefferson Davis Highway to honor the traitorous Confederate president. Location: A grassy strip in front of the city Department of Public Utilities’ Field Operations and Maintenance Facility at Maury Street and Richmond Highway. A Richmond chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy placed the 4-foot-tall marker on the site in 1935. City Council voted last December to change the name of the roadway. Robert Steidel, the city’s chief operating officer, stated Tuesday that this is one of a series of markers placed by the UDC along U.S. 1 in the city and other locations. He said all are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which complicates their removal. He stated that city staff is working with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to come up with a plan to remove the marker. The plan will be presented first to the City Planning Commission. Meanwhile, the Virginia General Assembly, which nearly 100 years ago designated U.S. 1 as Jefferson Davis Highway, this year approved replacing the Davis name with Emancipation Highway as of Jan. 1, 2022, in localities such as Chesterfield County that have not renamed the roadway.

Remembering her brother-Princess Blanding hosts a community remembrance of her brother, Marcus-David Peters, last Saturday on the third anniversary of his death. Mr. Peters, a 24-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University honors graduate and biology teacher, was shot and killed May 14, 2018, by a Richmond Police officer as he was experiencing what some have described as a mental health crisis just off Interstate 95. Ms. Blanding held the anniversary gathering on Monument Avenue, near the Lee monument circle that some renamed Marcus-David Peters Circle. She and other family and friends honored Mr. Peters’ life and called for a federal investigation into his death. Ms. Blanding is running as a Liberation Party candidate for governor.

Standing with Palestine-More than 1,000 people gather Wednesday evening in Monroe Park for a rally and march calling for Israel to stop the bombing in Gaza. Since May 10, more than 227 people have been killed, including 64 children, and another 1,600 have been injured in the latest violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Untold numbers have been left homeless. The Israeli government has defended its airstrikes as a way to take out Hamas’ military infrastructure. In return, Hamas militants have answered the airstrikes with rocket attacks. The Richmond demonstration called for a ceasefire in Gaza, for self-determination for the Palestinian people and for an end to U.S. funding for Israel as it puts Palestinians living in Gaza under tight control and restrictions. The rally was sponsored by the Arab American Association of Central Virginia, Richmonders for Peace in Israel-Palestine and the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality.

Standing with Palestine-More than 1,000 people gather Wednesday evening in Monroe Park for a rally and march calling for Israel to stop the bombing in Gaza. Since May 10, more than 227 people have been killed, including 64 children, and another 1,600 have been injured in the latest violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Untold numbers have been left homeless. The Israeli government has defended its airstrikes as a way to take out Hamas’ military infrastructure. In return, Hamas militants have answered the airstrikes with rocket attacks. The Richmond demonstration called for a ceasefire in Gaza, for self-determination for the Palestinian people and for an end to U.S. funding for Israel as it puts Palestinians living in Gaza under tight control and restrictions. The rally was sponsored by the Arab American Association of Central Virginia, Richmonders for Peace in Israel-Palestine and the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality.

Evening primroses in North Side

Back in the groove-Singer Desiree Roots gets concert-goers back in the groove during one of three outdoor performances Saturday by Ms. Roots and her Jazz Trio on the lawn of The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. For many, the socially distant, 60-minute concerts were their first outings since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The concerts were sold out, with ticketholders spread out in marked 10-foot pods that could accommodate groups of up to four people. The music was so good that Claiborne Watkins had to stand up and dance.

Back in the groove-Singer Desiree Roots gets concert-goers back in the groove during one of three outdoor performances Saturday by Ms. Roots and her Jazz Trio on the lawn of The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. For many, the socially distant, 60-minute concerts were their first outings since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The concerts were sold out, with ticketholders spread out in marked 10-foot pods that could accommodate groups of up to four people. The music was so good that Claiborne Watkins had to stand up and dance.