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Urban garden’s reach grows deeper into city’s ‘food deserts’
An urban garden that started out selling fresh produce and fruit at discount to two Richmond convenience stores will grow to serve 13 stores by this summer. But Tricycle Gardens wants to be more than a fresh food provider for Richmond’s food desert pockets. The nonprofit farm wants to be a magnet for grocery stores and farms in those pockets by highlighting the demand for fresh foods. “We want to show there’s a vibrant food community,” said Tricycle Gardens project manager Claire Sadeghzadeh.
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A mountain of problems uncovered in city finance division
Unpaid bills piled up and bank statements went unreconciled for months, creating uncertainty in the cash flow. Then after half the staff left, temporary workers had to be hired to try to clear the backlog of unpaid invoices from vendors who begged to be paid.
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City to pay $350,000 settlement in employee overtime lawsuit
City Hall has agreed to collectively pay $57,371 to 11 mostly former city Finance Department employees who alleged they were forced to work overtime without being paid.
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Gun buyback programs are ‘waste of time’
Jeremy Lazarus is correct when he reported that gun buy-back programs do not work; they do nothing to stop gun violence.
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CoStar to expand in Richmond, building a new riverfront office tower and creating up to 3,000 new jobs
Up to 3,000 new jobs and a new 26-story riverfront office tower that will rank as the tallest office building in Virginia.
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Black Americans want vaccine
“They’ve read all this stuff rate is half the white rate. Black people who don’t intend online, from different news sources, which is confusing. But then they meet me, as someone who has had the shot, and I can give them some real answers.”— Armando Mateos of Working Partnerships USA, a Silicon Valley-based community organization working to help dispel misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines.
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As social media guardrails fade and AI deepfakes go mainstream, experts warn of impact on elections
Nearly three years after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, the false election conspiracy theories that drove the violent attack remain prevalent on social media and cable news: suitcases filled with ballots, late-night ballot dumps, dead people voting. Experts warn it will likely be worse in the coming presidential election contest. The safeguards that attempted to counter the bogus claims the last time are eroding, while the tools and systems that create and spread them are only getting stronger.
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GRTC fuel savings may reduce push to raise fares
Diesel fuel is a lot cheaper these days — and that’s good news for public transit companies such as GRTC. Richmond’s public transit company expects to save $1 million a year through 2018 as the result of a $1 per gallon decline in the fuel’s price.
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Evergreen Cemetery sold to Enrichmond Foundation
Unkempt, but historic Evergreen Cemetery has a new owner eager to preserve and protect the burial ground for banker Maggie L. Walker, crusading journalist John Mitchell Jr. and as many as 50,000 other African-Americans. After months of talks, Enrichmond Foundation, the nonprofit support arm for city parks and recreation, completed the purchase of the 60-acre cemetery from a private family corporation.
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Consumers overtaxed? Receipts show it happened, but now changed
Be aware: Some corporations appear to be collecting more sales tax from customers than the state or local govern- ments require.
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VCU and the SATs
We applaud the move this week by Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao to eliminate SAT scores as a criteria for admission. In a major policy change announced Tuesday, Dr. Rao said applicants with a GPA of 3.3 or higher no longer will be required to submit scores from the test that he called “fundamentally flawed.”
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Honoring the Richmond 34- Elizabeth Johnson Rice listens as Virginia Union University President Hakim J. Lucas reads a proclamation honoring Ms. Johnson Rice and the …
Published on March 1, 2019
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Dueling rallies
At left, a protester who identified herself as Gabriela Salong leads a chant during last Saturday’s rally at the Bell Tower in Capitol Square organized by ICE Out of RVA, a coalition of Latinos,
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Mars has star power winning 6 Grammys
R&B artist Bruno Mars won the top prize at the Grammy Awards on Sunday in another victory for pop-driven music over rap, now the most popular genre in the nation.
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Postal rates increasing
Effective Sunday, July 10, the price of a stamp to mail a letter will increase to 60 cents, up 2 cents from the current price of 58 cents.
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City Council approves expansion of real estate tax relief
Elderly and totally disabled homeowners won increased relief from real estate taxes beginning in January 2020.
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City Council poised to scrap residency requirement for top officials
For nearly three decades, City Hall executives have been required to move into the city within a year of being hired.
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Richmond R&B singer hospitalized
The family of local R&B singer and producer Marlon Cox is asking for financial assistance to cover the 49-year-old’s medical expenses. Mr. Cox, who released his debut CD “Ain’t Dat Da Truth,” in 2006, was admitted to the hospital on April 4 after a “medical emergency,” according to the gofundme.com page created by his brother, Rafael Cox.
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RPS’ ‘Lit Limo’ keeps the joy of reading alive during the summer and into the fall
When Richmond Public Schools’“Lit Limo” literacy bus cruised to neighborhoods across the city delivering books and activities in English and Spanish for students of all ages, it was a great relief to parents and school administrators alike.
