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She’s lovin’ it
Former Richmonder’s career with McDonald’s has made her a millionaire
Flipping burgers leads to millionaire status
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Delivering help to those in need
Most people are still asleep when Joseph E. “Joey” Matthews starts his collection run Sunday mornings.
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State NAACP executive director resigns citing hail of allegations
The executive director of the Virginia State Conference NAACP has abruptly quit after 14 months.
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Mayor Stoney outlines new plan for city in State of City address
The Pulse lanes on Broad Street and in other parts of Richmond will be painted red thanks to a state grant to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians.
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School Board adopts budget, changes opening times and snubs City Council
Despite pressure from City Hall and the community, as well as division among members, the Richmond School Board is moving ahead with plans to control devel- opment and construction of a replacement for the decaying, 60-year-old George Wythe High School in South Side.
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New review of Marcus-David Peters case finds shooting justified
Once again, Richmond Police Officer Michael Nyantakyi has been cleared in the May 2018 fatal shooting of 24-year-old teacher Marcus-David Peters during what has been described as a mental crisis, although Mr. Peters’ family continues to describe Mr. Peters’ death as an unpunished murder.
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Task force recommends bevy of public safety reforms to Mayor Stoney
Handed the mission of re-imagining public safety in Richmond, Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s 38-member Richmond task force has come up with a buffet of ideas.
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UR suspends building name change; fundraiser halted with alumni boycott
Students are pulling out of campus organizations. Alumni, including a 7,300-member alumni Facebook group, are halting donations. And the faculty Senate has censured the board chair or rector.
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VLBC outlines legislative priorities for new General Assembly session
Buoyed by two legislative sessions last year that ushered in huge reforms in voting and criminal justice, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus is vowing to keep pressing for more change.
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Twist of fate
Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia to get Confederate statues removed from Monument Avenue
What do you do when you don’t want to make a difficult decision? Let someone else make it.
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BlackTop youth program loses gym space
A private South Side youth program that won plaudits and a $500,000 city grant for its virtual school operation that served more than 80 students daily during the 2020-21 school year has been evicted from its home in a church gymnasium and is scrambling to find a new location for its operations.
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Herring seeks third term, battles challenger Miyares in attorney general race
Do Virginia voters want an activist attorney general who is ready to use the office’s legal firepower to battle housing discrimination, protect workers’ rights, defend abortion rights for women and pursue criminal justice reform?
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Richmond Police school resource officer balances helping kids with rising gospel career
The world is starting to listen to Mervin D. Mayo sing.
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The next big thing?
City officials are turning to the planned development of 60 acres of city-owned property in North Side around The Diamond for a big return
What’s the next big thing for Richmond now that the $565 million casino-resort project for South Side and the $1.5 billion Navy Hill project for Downtown are kaput?
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Tightening the reins
Richmond School Board votes 5-4 to issues its own design request for a new George Wythe High School and empanel new evaluation team after 3-hour debate
After four months of heated debate, the Richmond School Board on Monday night pushed ahead with its own plan to build a new George wythe High School and two other schools in hewing to its mantra that “schools build schools.”
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RPS employee faces firing for incident she, others deny
Robin Spears previously had a spotless record during her 14 years as a teacher and social worker with Richmond Public Schools.
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Richmond jail staffing shortage blamed for rise in injured deputies, inmates
In the past four weeks at the Richmond City Justice Center, one deputy had his shoulder dislocated after he was thrown to the ground while trying to stop two prisoners from assaulting another inmate. Another deputy was head-butted by an inmate after refusing to provide the inmate with another prisoner’s food tray, according to information provided to the Free Press. In addition, the Free Press has learned another inmate was stabbed during this period, apparently the fourth this year. And early Monday, the jail reported to Richmond Police the third death of an inmate this year, though the identification was not released. For the second time since late October, an inmate who was transported to the John Marshall Courts Building was found to be carrying a concealed blade, according to information provided to the newspaper.
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Woman says former executive who defrauded city also fooled her
Sharon B. Holmes is relieved that a retired senior executive in the Richmond Department of Public Works is going to prison for engineering a scheme that ripped off the department for $600,000.
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On probation
VUU has a year to meet financial accreditation standards
Virginia Union University remains optimistic of lifting the dark cloud that hangs over its accreditation – a key requirement for its students to access federal student loans – despite record enrollment, a strengthened academic program and increased donations.