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Smoking and public housing
Like many public housing residents, we were surprised to learn that smoking will be prohibited in all public housing apartments in Richmond beginning Aug. 1. The smoking ban was put in place nationally by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and will affect more than 1.2 million households, including 4,000 families living in Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority properties in the city.
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RPS and J. Sargeant Reynolds announce partnership to create new technical center
Richmond Public Schools and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College are teaming up to create a new technical center in the former tobacco plant in South Side.
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White House war against federal workers
The economy is doing well, crows the pugilist-in-chief, complaining that he doesn’t get enough credit for the things that he has done to “make America great again.”
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A steal for the Squirrels?
Baseball team gets sweet deal with city’s five-year lease at The Diamond
Virtually free rent. That’s what the minor league baseball team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels, got in their new five-year lease deal on The Diamond.
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UPAL, Sa’ad El-Amin partnership seeks to decrease high levels of lead in soil, water
‘Our goal is to prevent thousands of children from experiencing lead poisoning like those in Flint’
To increase awareness of lead hazards in water and implore the City of Richmond to support a full retrofit of lead service lines, United Parents Against Lead (UPAL) on July 15 joined forces with 1619 Inc., headed by former Richmond Councilman, Sa’ad El-Amin.
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All is forgiven? by Charlene Crowell
When the Biden Administration announced its latest initiative to reduce the nation’s unsustainable trillion dollar student debt, both borrowers and advocates rejoiced. In the coming weeks an estimated 804,000 student loan borrowers will together receive $39 billion in federal loan debt cancellations.
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Closing of area shelters leave many without shelter
Joe Barrett is back to living on the street. Left paralyzed on his left side by a stroke, the 62-year-old Richmond native is among more than 130 homeless people who lost their shelter beds Saturday.
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Report card
Funding, other details still unclear a year after Fox Elementary fire
It will take at least two more years to reopen historic William Fox Elementary School in The Fan — but only if nearly $26 million is available to make it happen.
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Heads up for a head start?
$19M from projected Casino revenue proposed for child care needs
An already short supply of child care operations could soon grow worse in Richmond and across the country, experts say. But the good news is City Hall has a solution, even though it could take three years to fully come to fruition.
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The need for food and shelter grows for city’s homeless
“The need has tripled,” Rhonda Sneed said. “More and more people are experiencing a crisis at this time, and so many with food insecurity. I am seeing more people seeking some form of nourishment from a trash receptacle.”
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Coming Together Virginia to explore impact of racism on mental health
For the next three months, Coming Together Virginia (CTVA) will host its Racism at Work (RAW) series to tackle how racism affects physical and emotional well-being. Founded by Danita Rountree Green and Martha Rollins in 2014, the nonprofit’s vision is of “a racially healed world of thriving, equitable and just communities.”
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A small step toward justice
On Tuesday, President Obama did something I thought he should have started in 2010 when he signed the Fair Sentencing Act — he commuted the sentences of 46 people in federal prison on drug offenses.
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Petersburg City Council chooses new leader
W. Howard Myers is out and Samuel Parham is in as the mayor of Petersburg. Foiled in his effort to gain a second term, 5th Ward Councilman Myers nominated Mr. Parham to be Petersburg City Council’s presiding officer at a time when the city continues to face severe financial challenges.
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Religious leaders celebrate denial of easement for Dakota Access pipeline
Native American and other religious leaders called the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision on Sunday to deny an easement for the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline an answer to prayer.
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Ben Carson: A never-ending nightmare
When Ben Carson emphatically declared that he has no government experience that would qualify him to run a federal agency, most took this to mean that he would quietly fade from public attention. We should have known better.
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A Zika virus cure?
Research at VCU supports claims of new antiviral drug
When he first published a paper 18 months ago detailing a kind of “miracle” drug that could destroy every virus and bacteria that plagues mankind, Virginia Commonwealth University researcher Paul Dent found his work derided as too good to be true.
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Richmond School Board adopts budget; cuts funds for academic improvement plan
The Richmond School Board adopted a $280 million operating budget that eliminates $4 million in numerous programs and services, but includes money for a plan to increase salaries to attract and retain teachers.
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City Council approves Salvation Army headquarters move; honors former park superintendent
The Salvation Army will be able to move its headquarters and shelter from Downtown to 1900 Chamberlayne Ave., next to a Wells Fargo bank branch.
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When Rihanna dressed as the pope
Rihanna came as a burlesque pope. Cardi B was a vaguely medieval madonna. Madonna, meanwhile, as a queen draped in black, was strikingly sedate. At the Met Gala on May 7, Catholicism was beyond chic.
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Kamras delivers first State of the Schools address
Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras delivered his first State of the Schools address Tuesday night to a packed house of more than 300 people at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.
