Story
High job hopes
Nonprofit offers former convicts free solar training for brighter futures
Criminal convictions can be a real barrier to finding work.
Story
ELECTION 2020: Voters are asked to decide on 2 state constitutional amendments
Two state constitutional amendments are on every Virginia voter’s ballot along with candidates seeking office.
Story
Unsheltered
Plans to house the homeless in Shockoe Valley disappear
Plans for a year-round shelter open around the clock for the homeless have suddenly evaporated seven months after being announced.
Story
Vanishing notebooks
RPS officials report 12,100 laptops missing
On the heels of a scathing audit report, Richmond Public Schools is admitting that its own internal check has found that more than 1,600 laptops that were purchased have vanished, and that it does not know the whereabouts of another 10,558 laptops that are listed in the inventory.
Story
‘No one handed out medals’
Retired Richmond fireman recalls heroic work saving elderly residents in fire 44 years ago
As the firetrucks roared up, an elderly woman was screaming for help out of a half-open window as smoke billowed around her. She would be the first person that firefighter William“Junie” Bullock would rescue that day from the ninth floor of the Boxwood Building at Imperial Plaza, a five-building complex for retirees located on Bellevue Avenue in North Side that had opened 11 years earlier.
Story
Roxie Raines Kornegay Allison, whose activism led to diversity on state boards and commissions, dies at 83
Roxie Raines Kornegay Allison championed Black inclusion in government and public contracting while also opening her heart and her home to children and adults who needed a helping hand.
Story
On a roll
Petersburg’s casino prospects gain momentum
Petersburg has already started interviewing developers as the Cockade City’s prospects for replacing Richmond as a host city for an upscale casino-resort appear to be gaining momentum.
Story
Soaring property taxes renew calls for cuts
Two members of City Council are proposing to cut the real estate property tax rate as the value of property surged by 13 percent — but it is unclear whether Mayor Levar M. Stoney or the majority the nine-member council will go along.
Story
8,000 potential gravesites identified at East End Cemetery using drone and hydrology mapping software
Finding unmarked graves in neglected cemeteries has always been a challenge.
Story
Faster legal sales of marijuana snuffed out; Black advocates cheer
The rush to start legal retail sales of marijuana next September has been snuffed out.
Story
City names Edwards as police chief
Richmond's top cop will be paid a record $216,000
Richard “Rick” Edwards is now the city’s 21st chief of police.
Story
Henrico man’s gardening passion grows YouTube followers
Randy Battle has a passion for gardening. Now he’s sharing that passion with a worldwide audience.
Story
City Council backs year-round homeless shelter, approves master plan
Rhonda Sneed has gained City Council support after a year of pleading for City Hall to create a year-round shelter for the homeless.
Story
Supply and demand
City’s ‘housing crisis’ calls for 23,000 affordable living spaces
Seeking to put fresh emphasis on an issue that has been on the agenda for at least a decade, City Council on Monday followed through and joined Mayor Levar M. Stoney in “declaring a housing crisis in the city of Richmond.”
Story
It’s a deal
City and RVA Diamond Partners finalize $2.44B agreement; council vote comes next
The Diamond District – Richmond’s biggest ever development – is now at the starting gate after seven months of negotiations between the city and RVA Diamond Partners LLC (RVADP), the private developer.
Story
Moving on up
Creighton Court developer’s $300M plan may cost $410,400 per unit
The most expensive housing development in Richmond is headed to a neighborhood in the East End that has ranked high in poverty.
Story
Richmond Free Press founders receive City Hall honor and recognition
Black-owned weekly saluted for its ‘leadership, service, dedication and prominence in the community’
Jean P. Boone and the late Raymond H. Boone, founders and publishers of the Richmond Free Press newspaper, received recognition from City Council on Monday night to honor their journalistic contributions to the city.
Story
Another case of inequity?
2 people rob the same SunTrust Bank but sentences different as black and white
Two people robbed the same SunTrust Bank branch in Hanover County four years apart.
Story
State still has $788M available to help families facing eviction
Confronted by the prospect of a flood of evictions, President Biden’s administration acted Tuesday to of- fer temporary relief that will impact struggling renters facing ouster for overdue payments, including those in Richmond and most of Central Virginia.
Story
RPS offers plan to boost student literacy
Nearly half of all Richmond students cannot read proficiently when they enter high school, leading to high dropout rates and a host of other ills, Richmond Public Schools acknowledges.
