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New City Charter change eyed to again help schools
Political strategist Paul Goldman is considering leading a fresh effort to let Richmond voters speak out on modernizing the city’s mostly obsolete and crumbling public schools.
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Congressional reps rebuke delay of payday loan rule
Columnists
Anyone who struggles with the rising costs of living knows all too well how hard it is to try stretching dollars when there’s more month than money in the household.
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Reclaiming history
St. Luke building, first home of Maggie L. Walker’s bank, is being turned into upscale apartments to spur development in Gilpin Court
Upscale apartments are taking shape in the long-empty St. Luke Building, the once vital four-story headquarters of a mutual aid society where renowned Richmond businesswoman Maggie L. Walker once had a bank.
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Personality: Melanie K. Frank
Spotlight on board chair of the Full Circle Grief Center
During COVID-19, grief has become a greater presence in the lives of many people with the large numbers of people stricken with, hospitalized by or who succumbed to the virus. For Richmonders struggling with this part of life, Melanie K. Frank and the Full Circle Grief Center have been working to be a helping hand.
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Stoney offers $681M budget
Spending plan raises trash fee, utility rates but avoids tax hike
Richmond Public Schools teachers and city police officers and firefighters would gain pay raises, but most city employees would have to make do with their current wages.
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City Council approves commission to review $1.4B Coliseum project
City Councilwoman Kim B. Gray scored a signal victory in securing an 8-1 vote Monday in support of her plan to create a commission of citizen experts to review the $1.4 billion plan to replace the Richmond Coliseum and redevelop at least 10 blocks of Downtown near City Hall.
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Hard hit again
It has been a week of recalculation and assessment, as Virginians collectively and individually continue to work to avoid the spread of COVID-19 amid new evidence that African-Americans and Latinos are being hard hit.
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Richmond’s evolving restaurant scene sprawls out to the suburbs
The owner of Tarrant’s Cafe in Downtown Richmond is a 20-year veteran of the city’s food scene. She started out waiting tables – now she owns four Richmond area restaurants and is the CEO of RVA Hospitality.
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Still funding Confederacy
Years of taxpayer money has kept Confederate cemeteries in pristine condition. Can there be true equity for historic African-American burial grounds?
On most Saturdays since 2013, volunteers have met at East End Cemetery in Henrico County to hack away at the vines and weeds that have choked gravesites there for decades.
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Personality: Dr. Erma L. Freeman
Spotlight on VCU School of Dentistry ‘First 100’ Trailblazer Award winner
When she started studying dentistry, Dr. Erma Freeman wanted to be a dentist for fairly simple reasons: good work, good money and time for family.
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Personality: Dan Fellows
Spotlight on Richmond Ambulance Authority innovator and award winner
Dan Fellows, fleet manager for the Richmond Ambulance Authority will go as far as the sun to ensure the highest quality of service for the residents of Richmond.
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Stained by dishonor
Henrico student launches growing effort to remove segregationist’s name from school
Jordan Chapman said her jaw dropped in incredulous disbelief the day she learned in her Hermitage High School history class about the late Harry F. Byrd Sr., the former Virginia governor, U.S. senator and avowed white separatist for whom H.F. Byrd Middle School in Henrico County is named.
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Personality: giovanni singleton
Spotlight on winner of the 2018 Stephen E. Henderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry
Inspired by African-American spirit writing, jazz and gospel music and the support of family, a locally grown poet’s discovery and love of writing and the arts led to a prestigious national literary award.
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RRHA resident’s chilly 3-year ordeal
For the past three years, Tina Marie Shaw has had to rely on an electric space heater to keep the winter cold out of her public housing unit in Creighton Court. “I worry about the heater starting a fire,” said Ms. Shaw, who looks after her 9-year-old grandson, Xavia, her pride and joy and an honors student at a Richmond elementary school. To avoid risk to herself and the child, “I unplug (the heater) at night when I go upstairs to bed, and turn it on in the morning.”
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Vaccine supply, distribution problems frustrate area residents
Virginia’s teachers, grocery store workers and the elderly are facing delays in getting inoculated against COVID-19. A sharp reduc- tion in the supply of vaccine has left local health departments, including Richmond’s and Henrico’s, without enough doses to meet demand.
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The NCAA, Justice Kavanaugh and student-athletes
We were quite interested in the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion this week regarding the NCAA and student-athletes and what compensation students can expect for providing their talent to a college or university.
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Virtual Emmy Awards ceremony has history-making wins and social messages
It was a virtual night of glamour for some, go-as-you-are for others, social justice messaging and family affairs.
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Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?
The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free walk-up COVID-19 and flu vaccines.
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How to normalize an insurrection, by Clarence Page
Well, it took long enough. House Speaker Mike Johnson has finally started releasing 44,000 hours of security footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol assault that many, including me, hoped would shed more light on what really happened on that chaotic day.