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Woodland, Evergreen cemeteries for sale
A Richmond foundation is pursuing the purchase of two historic, but privately held African-American cemeteries, the Free Press has learned.
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Superintendent starting school year with optimism, plan
If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Superintendent Dana T. Bedden is taking that familiar saying to heart when it comes to academic improvement in Richmond Public Schools.
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GOP at it again
Republican leaders seek to hold Va. governor in contempt for restoring voting rights of 13,000 former felons last week
Gov. Terry McAuliffe once again is under attack from Republican leaders in the General Assembly who are determined to halt his efforts to restore the voting and political rights of hundreds of thousands of felons who have served their time. In a new filing Wednesday, GOP leaders asked the Virginia Supreme Court to hold the Democratic governor in contempt for restoring the political rights of 13,000 felons last week and for trying to do so in coming months for more than 200,000 others who have completed their sentences.
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Electoral Board seeking legal decision on candidate qualification
Richmond has put a hold on printing ballots for the Nov. 8 general election while the city’s Electoral Board tries to figure out whether two candidates’ names should be listed.
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Nonprofit helps students with scholarships
A Richmond area nonprofit is seeking to assist parents to obtain state scholarships to enroll children with dyslexia, autism or other learning challenges in accredited private schools.
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NAACP lawsuit alleges black and disabled students bear brunt of punishment in city schools
Richmond Public Schools — dominated by African-American administrators and teachers — is being accused of fueling the “school-to-prison pipeline” through a regime of discipline that punishes mostly African-American students, particularly those with disabilities.
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Petersburg facing shutdown because of money woes
Petersburg’s financial woes are even worse than previously disclosed. Interim City Manager Dironna Moore Belton warned the Petersburg City Council and a crowd of taxpayers Tuesday night that she is just a few weeks away from having to shut down all city operations except for police, fire and ambulance services because the city is running out of cash.
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Education advocate back in Chesterfield court
Education advocate Kandise Lucas is once again headed back to Chesterfield County General District Court to face a charge of trespassing on school property — just two weeks after Chesterfield Schools Superintendent James F. Lane promised to lift a ban against her under an agreement with the federal government.
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Undeterred
Not to be blocked by court, Gov. McAuliffe restores voting rights of 13,000 felons; creates system to help thousands more
Just a month after the Virginia Supreme Court blocked his attempt to restore the voting rights of more than 200,000 felons, Gov. Terry McAuliffe is once again charging ahead on this “issue of basic justice.”
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Plans for Church Hill grocery move foward
Plans to bring a new grocery store to Church Hill are moving forward.
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Maggie Walker statue clears final hurdles
The plan to create a statue of Richmond great Maggie L. Walker in Downtown has cleared its final hurdle. Now the work can begin on the project to honor Mrs. Walker, best known as the first African-American woman to charter and serve as the president of a bank, an accomplishment in 1903 when Mrs. Walker was leading the Independent Order of St. Luke, a benevolent society.
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Ryland Roane, 58, AIDS educator and HIV hotline supervisor dies
Ryland Restee Roane Jr. was a pioneer in HIV/AIDS education in Central Virginia. After being diagnosed with HIV in 1987, the Richmond native devoted his life to providing information and assisting others through his work for the Richmond and state health departments. A graduate of Wake Forest University, his contributions during his 28-year career are being remembered after his death Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016. He was 58.
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SOL test scores decline in 4 of 5 core subjects
One big reason was cited when the Richmond School Board hired Dr. Dana T. Bedden as superintendent in December 2013 — his track record for increasing academic performance among students in the school systems he had led in Georgia and Texas.
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City’s projected deficit now reported as expected surplus
City Hall has wiped out the red ink. Instead of a deficit, Richmond is projected to finish its most recent fiscal year with a $4.5 million surplus, according to the administration of Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
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Petersburg facing service cutoffs from unpaid vendors
Despite paying a monthly fee, Petersburg residents might not get their trash collected or their recycling materials picked up.
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Va. loses a freedom fighter
Jack W. Gravely, who led the fight for civil rights as head of the Va. NAACP, dies at 72
Jack W. Gravely was the definition of outspoken. He never hesitated to speak his mind about issues affecting the African-American community. The son of a coal miner, he led the charge for civil rights during two separate stints as executive director of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP, most recently in the past year.
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Advocate’s troubles end with Chesterfield schools
Kandise Lucas apparently will be able to enter public schools in Chesterfield County without facing arrest for trespassing. The advocate for disabled students said she has been notified that she prevailed in a federal complaint challenging the school system’s ban against her that had been in place since 2011.
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City seeking developers for Boulevard project
It took an extra three weeks, but City Hall is now seeking developers for the projected $350 million transformation of its Boulevard property into apartments, offices and retail space.
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Richmond Christian Center now home for other churches’ services
The Richmond Christian Center, is living up to its name. After nearly four decades as an independent church, RCC’s congregation has begun sharing its South Side property with four other nondenominational churches.
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Restoration rights process bogged down
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has been unable to keep his promise to swiftly restore felons’ voting rights on a case-by-case basis after the Virginia Supreme Court struck down his executive orders restoring voting rights en masse to more than 200,000 felons.
