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Obamacare still vital
Signature health care law remains intact despite GOP assaults
Don’t panic if you bought individual or family health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. The ACA, a.k.a. Obamacare, is struggling but still alive and will continue to operate, according to experts in the field, despite President Trump’s decision last week to cut off premium subsidies to insurance companies.
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Fake math fuels Trump’s lopsided, lousy tax reform
“Rightful taxation is the price of social order. In other words, it is that portion of the citizen’s property which he yields up to the government in order to provide for the protection of all the rest. It is not to be wantonly levied on the citizen, nor levied at all except in return for benefits conferred.” — Journal of the Senate of the State of Ohio, December 6, 1847
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When in doubt, blame Obama
“Bump stocks.” Hardly anyone had heard about them before they were found in the late Las Vegas sniper’s arsenal. Association with that massacre has made the devices, which can enable a semiautomatic rifle to fire almost as rapidly as a machine gun, so widely despised that even the National Rifle Association has turned against them in a surprising move — after unsurprisingly blaming Barack Obama.
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How do they get away with it?
The New York Times was reporting well-known rumors and accusations when it broke the story Thursday that big-shot movie mogul and Miramax founder Harvey Weinstein allegedly had a long history of sexually harassing, abusing and victimizing countless women. But Mr. Weinstein might have gotten away with the alleged sexual abuse that reportedly spanned three decades for a good reason — several good reasons, in fact.
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Folk Festival to ‘feed your soul’ this weekend
Music and culture from around the globe will highlight the 13th Annual Richmond Folk Festival. The three-day event, from Friday, Oct. 13, through Sunday, Oct. 15, has the theme “Feed Your Soul.” Served up will be 36 performers for every taste — from bluegrass and gospel to Japanese talko drumming and Persian tar and setar, Romanian cimbalom, Peruvian, Irish, Northern Indian Khyal singing, New Orleans brass and zydeco music.
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Petersburg art league’s new exhibit
Mixed media featuring artists Josue Fred and John A. Rooney headlines the Petersburg Area Arts League’s Friday for the Arts exhibit opening Friday, Oct. 13, at 7 E. Old St. in Petersburg.
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Personality: Amy Black
Spotlight on founder of nonprofit Pink Ink Fund
When Amy Black began working as a tattoo artist in 2000 at Pink Ink in Richmond, she was among just a handful of women in the field.
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McQuinn may be unseated from Slave Trail Commission
For 12 years, Richmond Delegate Delores L. McQuinn has led the city’s Slave Trail Commission to bring attention to the history and legacy of slavery in Richmond.
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Sen. Kaine visits new vocational school for former felons
When Kenneth Williams got out of prison, he found work in construction and began rebuilding his life. Thirty years later, the veteran 68-year-old contractor strives to help other felons follow in his footsteps by teaching them carpentry, plumbing and other basic skills to help them become employable and perhaps start their own business.
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VSU Trojans to celebrate homecoming ‘Flash Back’
A gospel extravaganza, a hip-hop concert, a jazz event and appearances by singer TSoul, and comedian Mike Epps are among the highlights of Virginia State University’s 2017 homecoming celebration that kicks off this weekend on the Ettrick campus.
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Church members dispute alleged support for Dr. Henderson
Dr. Morris G. Henderson has yet to win congregational support to remain as pastor of Thirty-first Baptist Church, according to six members.
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Cake dispute turns into highly visible First Amendment religious football
Sometimes a wedding cake is just delicious. And sometimes it is a First Amendment football. In the U.S. Supreme Court’s term that began Monday, the nation’s highest court will hear Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a.k.a. “The Cake Case.” It stems from 2012 when two gay men visited a Lakewood, Colo., bakery in search of a wedding cake. The owner-baker, who is Christian, turned them away. The case has been in court ever since.
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Deadline to register to vote Monday, Oct. 16
On Tuesday, Nov. 7, voters will go to the polls to elect Virginia’s governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and members of the Virginia House of Delegates.
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Tragedy in Vegas
Sunday’s bloody mass shooting outside casino is the worst massacre in recent U.S. history
The mystery and motive behind mass killer Stephen Paddock — gambler, accountant, auditor and real estate investor — continues to baffle federal authorities and law enforcement officials in Las Vegas who were working on Wednesday to discover what drove the 64-year-old to commit the worst mass murder in modern U.S. history.
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Creating a peaceful Richmond
As a Hijabi Muslim and new resident of Richmond, I quickly learned that the city is quite welcoming. It was during a visit to the grocery store that I really felt welcomed, and then again when I went to Short Pump Mall. Small talk in a checkout line or elevator goes a long way to make people of different backgrounds feel welcomed.
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Who’s in charge?
It seems the Richmond School Board has been taken down the rabbit hole of secrecy yet again. And Thomas E. “Tommy” Kranz, Richmond Public Schools’ interim superintendent, may have a starring role in the latest drama.
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Trump creates firestorm over athletes’ taking a knee
President Trump seems to have too little to do. Amid the damage from two hurricanes, a verbal feud with a nuclear North Korea and a host of other issues ranging from health care to tax reform, the president has triggered a spat with athletes in the nation’s most popular pro sports leagues, the NFL and the NBA.
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VSU takes winning streak on the road
Hot will meet cold this week in Salisbury, N.C., as Virginia State University, one of the NCAA Division II’s hottest football programs takes on struggling CIAA football rival Livingstone College on Saturday, Sept. 30.
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Stanton slugging it all the way to the bank
Giancarlo Stanton is Major League Baseball’s top slugger. He also claims No. 1 status going to the bank. The Miami Marlins’ mountainous right fielder had 57 home runs through Saturday, Sept. 23, and was bidding to be just the sixth man in history to enter the exclusive club of players with 60 or more home runs in a single season.
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Personality: Angela Cimmino
Spotlight on board president of Down Syndrome Association of Greater Richmond
Angela Cimmino found out three days after her son’s birth that he had Down syndrome. “We were a bit shell-shocked,” she recalls.
