Story

Patients and doctors alike adapt during a year of COVID-19
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, everyday activities people often took for granted — hugs, seeing friends at birthday parties, dinners out and midday coffee runs with colleagues — were no longer considered safe and harmless.
Story

Va. minimum wage goes to $9.50 on May 1
Saturday, May 1, will usher in a major jump in pay for tens of thousands of hourly workers across Virginia.
Story

Historic site review slows rail lines planned over historic Black cemetery
Could a long-hidden Black cemetery impact plans to improve rail service between Richmond’s Main Street Station and Union Station in Washington, D.C.?
Story

New business investments to add more than 1,200 jobs
More than 1,200 new jobs are headed to the Richmond area as the result of new business investments.
Story

John Marshall High renames gym, field to honor former coaches
The John Marshall High School gymnasium and athletic field are getting new names to honor two coaches who were instrumental in the North Side school’s sports history and in mentoring youths.
Story

Judge suspends incorporation efforts at Fourth Baptist Church
A Richmond judge has temporarily blocked historic Fourth Baptist Church from taking any further steps to incorporate and reversed other actions approved during the pandemic.
Story

Faith leaders react to Chauvin verdict
As the Minneapolis judge thanked jurors for their “heavy-duty jury service” on Tuesday, reactions already had begun to the three guilty verdicts in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the May 25 death of George Floyd.
Story

Personality: Dr. Madeline G. McClenney
Spotlight on president-founder of Exodus Foundation.org
Baptist minister, prison abolitionist and self-described “mass clemencyist.”
Story

Area commencements will be mix of in-person and virtual celebrations
Universities and colleges throughout the Richmond area have announced commencement plans designed to keep people safe while allowing for graduates and their families to celebrate.
Story

School Board should focus on education, not school construction
Letters to the editor
Re “School Board taking control of new building construction,” Free Press April 15-17 edition: Members of the Richmond School Board are putting politics over people.
Story

A ‘bid for cheap immortality’
Letters to the editor
Re “Confederate chair held ransom: White Lies Matter group threatens to turn stolen $500,000 chair into a ‘toilet’ unless the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Richmond posts banner on anniversary of Confederate surrender,” Free Press April 8-10 edition:
Story

Police need help to stop the violence
Letters to the editor
In Richmond lately, there have been several deadly shootings in our beloved city. Reasons for many have yet to be determined. There is never a reason, to me, to take someone’s life unless in self defense. But this does not seem to fit the motives in these cases.
Story

‘Gun control has nothing to do with guns; it is people control’
Letters to the editor
The purpose of this letter is correct myths surrounding the AR-15 rifle, the most popular rifle in America.
Story

Virginia suspends use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine
Virginia has suspended the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after federal health agencies warned that the single-dose inoculation may cause a rare, and potentially fatal, blood clot disorder.
Story

UR faculty votes for rector’s removal as board outlines new plan
The University of Richmond Board of Trustees this week took a first step to organizing a commission that would “establish principles on renaming” buildings at the private, 4,000-student school.
Story

Personality: Dr. Sesha Joi Moon
Spotlight on co-creator of The JXN Project
The 150th anniversary of Jackson Ward’s creation is close, and Dr. Sesha Joi Moon is intent on seeing that the full history of the district in Downtown is recognized and celebrated.
Story

Andrea Peyton Sharpe, bookkeeper, dies at 73
Brothers Jerry F. “Jay” Sharpe Jr. and Devron N. Sharpe run very different businesses in the Richmond area. But the one person each trusted to keep their books was their mother, Andrea Peyton Sharpe.
Story

Mustang Club revs engines to mark classic car’s 57th birthday, service award
Thomas Victory and the Victory 7 Mustang Club are celebrating a birthday on April 17 — the 57th birthday of the Ford Mustang.
Story
Story

School Board taking control of new building construction
The Richmond School Board is taking back control of the design, development and construction of new schools, potentially blocking a City Hall plan to fast-track design and development of a replacement building for worn-out George Wythe High School.