Story

Turnout expected to be key in race for governor
Virginia is for lovers of close elections, as one wag put it, and one more is just about to happen.
Story

Play it forward
Richmond Flying Squirrels go to bat for the community
As the Richmond Flying Squirrels prepare for the spring season and the opening home game on April 13 at The Diamond, the baseball team continues stepping up to the plate in the Richmond community — on and off the field. “Our philosophy, and what the team hinges on, is three things,” said Todd “Parney” Parnell, the Squirrels’ vice president and chief operating officer who has been with the team since its Richmond debut in 2009.
Story

New Coliseum project ‘almost certainly a mistake’
Columnists
The Navy Hill development project proposes to spend $350 million in public money to build a massive 17,500-seat regional arena in Richmond’s small and valuable Downtown. The arena, paid for only by the City of Richmond, will short-circuit all other city capital projects — most notably schools and housing — for at least a decade. The arena is almost certainly a mistake.
Story

Statement of Dr. Vanessa Tyson
Released Wednesday, Feb. 6
On the night of Friday, February 1, 2019, I read multiple news accounts indicating that Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax would likely be elevated to Governor as an immediate result of a scandal involving Governor Ralph Northam.
Story

Donnie McClurkin: 'I'm at a time now I sing when I want to'
Two decades ago, gospel singer and pastor Donnie McClurkin stepped on a London stage to record his second album. Now, he’s returning to the United Kingdom for 20th anniversary concerts on Oct. 18 and 19 to reprise the music of his “Live in London and More” CD that featured the songs “That’s What I Believe” and “We Fall Down.”
Story

Personality: James W. Warren
Spotlight on chairperson of the board of directors of BridgePark Foundation
Amid the ongoing transforma- tion of Richmond’s landscape and infrastructure, James W. Warren is looking to create bridges in more ways than one.
Story
Muslims in U.S. working toward greener Ramadan with less waste
Religion News Service Neekta Hamidi usually gets a few strange looks when she sits down for an iftar, the evening meal that breaks the Ramadan fast, at her mosque in Boston.
Story
Story

Richmond area will host numerous events for Black History Month
Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African-Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history.
Story

The aftermath of mass shootings infiltrates every corner of survivors’ lives
More than a year after 11-year-old Mayah Zamora was airlifted out of Uvalde, Texas, where she was critically injured in the Robb Elementary school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers, the family is still reeling.
Story

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.
Story

Payout for Bedden
Richmond Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden will receive $294,571.81 in severance pay when he departs on June 30. Dr. Bedden was not present at Monday night’s Richmond School Board meeting when the board voted 7-1, with one abstention, to approve his final payout.
Story

GOP ups ante to block felons’ rights restoration
Gov. Terry McAuliffe is facing a new challenge from the Republican-dominated Virginia General Assembly to his authority to restore the rights of felons who have served their time — even on a case-by-case basis.
Story

New report: Reforms to help drivers with suspended licenses not working
When Shaniqua Wyatt Jackson needs to go somewhere, she has to catch a ride with a friend or catch a bus. She knows how to drive, but the 37-year-old would court arrest because her driver’s license is suspended. It has been since 2015 because she could not pay the fines a Richmond judge imposed after finding her guilty of several traffic infractions.
Story

Save Adult Alternative Program to help former convicts
Re “Re-entry training program locked out of former school building,” Free Press April 7-9 edition:
Story

Automatic restoration of felons’ voting rights
We have long called for the voting rights of felons to be restored automatically once they have served their time.
Story

NSU, HU facing uphill climb
Norfolk State University will have a chip on its shoulder pads during the upcoming football season.
Story

Vice President Harris breaks nearly 200-year-old record for Senate tiebreaker votes, casts her 32nd
Vice President Kamala Harris broke a nearly 200-year-old record for casting the most tie-breaking votes in the Senate when she voted Tuesday to confirm a new federal judge in Washington, D.C.
Story

IRS filing shows Monroe Park Conservancy running deficit
Does a nonprofit group authorized by City Hall to manage Monroe Park need a bailout?
Story

Michael Gilmore returning to the VCU Rams
What comes around goes around — or something like that. Michael Gilmore started his college basketball career at Virginia Commonwealth University. And now it appears he’ll conclude it wearing the Rams’ black and gold. The Jacksonville, Fla., native and nephew of NBA legend Artis Gilmore is returning to VCU after spending the past two seasons at Florida schools, one as a redshirt.