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Faith-based group out to change world for homeless students
More than 1,600 students in Richmond Public Schools are considered homeless because they lack a traditional place to live. They live in shelters with their families, bunk with relatives or on the couches of friends or find space in group homes or motels.
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Petersburg shakeup continues
Irvin M. Carter Jr. has been dismissed as director of the Petersburg Finance Department in the latest city government shakeup.
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General Assembly backs plan allowing anonymity for suppliers of lethal injection drugs
Death row prisoners will continue to be executed in Virginia. In a blow to death penalty foes, the General Assembly on Wednesday approved Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s proposal to allow the state to secretly purchase lethal drugs for executions from small drug manufacturers that would remain unidentified.
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July 3 riverfront fireworks canceled
Richmond will have two fireworks shows to celebrate In- dependence Day on July 4th — the city’s traditional show in Byrd Park and the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ annual blast at The Diamond baseball stadium.
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GRTC’s planned Bus Rapid Transit already $11.5M over projection
Richmond’s Bus Rapid Transit system is going to cost an additional $11.5 million to develop. But the state — and not Richmond — will pick up the extra expense, GRTC spokeswoman Carrie Rose Pace disclosed Tuesday. “Under the project agreement, the Commonwealth of Virginia will cover any costs that exceed the estimated project budget,” she stated in an email to the Free Press.
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Four candidates to run in primaries for 4th District congressional seat
The election for the 4th Congressional District seat that now includes Richmond is beginning to shape up. Two Democrats and two Republicans have qualified to run for their respective political party’s nomination in a June 14 primary. The winners of the primaries then will face off for the seat in the November general election.
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State NAACP election results upheld
After months of uncertainty, Linda Thomas is officially the president of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. She replaces Carmen Taylor of Hampton, who lost a close election last fall at the state convention. “I’m feeling pretty good. I’m anxious to get started, and the other members of the executive committee are anxious to get started,” said Ms. Thomas, a Caroline County resident whose husband, Floyd W. Thomas, serves on the Caroline Board of Supervisors
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Unsold food is ‘a godsend’
Boxes of tomatoes, peppers and other fruits and vegetables fill four tables in the basement social hall at Zion Baptist Church on South Side, creating the look of a small grocery store. “This is a pretty small load,” said John Thombs, who had brought the cornucopia to the church at 2006 Decatur St., where his wife, Betty, set it up with a few helpers.
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Petersburg works to filter water meter debacle
Petersburg failed to upgrade its billing system so it could accept and use the data collected from the new digital water meters, despite Mayor W. Howard Myers and the Petersburg City Council making that a condition in approving the switch to the new meters.
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Free Press wins big
The Richmond Free Press continues its 24-year tradition of award-winning excellence. The newspaper was recognized with 10 awards — including five first-place awards and runner-up for the Journalistic Integrity and Community Service Award — at the annual Virginia Press Association competition in writing, photography, news presentation and advertising.
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Marching for dollars
City Council takes first steps to give more to RPS
Before dozens of students, parents and teachers began pleading, berating and challenging Richmond City Council to beef up funding for city schools, the nine members of the governing body had already taken the first step. In a 9-0 vote Monday night, in front of a packed council chamber of school supporters, the council approved an ordinance requiring the city administration to give to the schools real estate tax money collected from surplus property previously owned by the school system.
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Council to CAO: Create plan to aid businesses impacted by BRT
Restaurants and other businesses along Broad Street could receive financial help to survive the expected 15 months of construction of the GRTC’s Bus Rapid Transit system.
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Another Barbara Johns?
Open High students plan citywide walkout to protest lack of funding
Imagine all 5,600 high school students in Richmond walking out to protest the physical conditions of their buildings. Then imagine them overflowing the Richmond City Council chambers a few hours later to bring their concerns to the nine-member governing body.
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Governor vetoes bills ahead of April 10 deadline
Richmond and other localities can still, if they choose, require employers with government contracts to pay workers a “living wage” that is well above the current $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage. However, the state will not be creating an experimental, independent school system where students in kindergarten through 12th grade could take all of their classes on a home computer or laptop.
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Federal agency investigating local postal union election
The U.S. Labor Department is investigating the conduct of the Dec. 16 election of officers for the Richmond-based Old Dominion Branch Local 496 of the National Association of Letter Carriers.
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City’s energy savings plan didn’t pan out
Earlier this year, City Hall rejected a proposal to use energy savings to pay for $13 million in improvements to an array of city buildings, including replacing old boilers, aging windows and outdated lighting.
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Fulton streets may change for Bus Rapid Transit
Richmond is moving forward with a proposed $7.9 million overhaul of Dock and East Main streets to improve the road network for the new Stone Brewing plant and the coming Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the East End. The project appears to expand potential sites for development near the riverfront and the Virginia Capital Trail, the Richmond-to-Williamsburg bike and pedestrian connector.
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City changes
Richmond population grows; it’s no longer majority black
After growing up in Richmond, Patti B. Wright joined the wave of people leaving the city for the suburbs when her son, Joshua M. “Josh” Wright, was a toddler. But now that her son is grown, she felt “it no longer made sense to live out in the country at the end of a dirt road.”
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Mayoral prospects getting in, out of election race
Richmond School Board Chairman Jeff Bourne this week dropped out of the race for mayor before the contest even began.
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City Council OKs new housing developments
Richmond City Council has given the green light to two new developments that will bring new housing to the Carver and Fulton areas.
