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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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City’s economic promises with NFL training camp have yet to materialize
Richmond has yet to receive a big chunk of the promised payoff from the much touted economic deal that resulted in Washington’s pro football team holding its summer training camp in the city, according to a Richmond City Council member.
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City Council continues talks on school funding
Richmond City Council appears to be stuck between a rock and a hard place as it seeks to craft a balanced $709 million operating budget that would become effective July 1. On one side are passionate supporters of Richmond’s public schools who want the council to shift more local tax dollars into public education to avoid the potential shutdown of Armstrong High School and four elementary schools. Find the money, they say.
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Full-court press
Navy Hill District Corp. is pulling out all stops as Feb. 24 vote by City Council on $1.5B Coliseum replacement and Downtown development nears
From robocalls to press conferences, the Navy Hill District Corp. that Dominion Energy top executive Thomas F. Farrell II heads is pulling out all the stops to generate public support for the $1.5 billion Richmond Coliseum replacement plan ahead of the scheduled vote by City Council in late February.
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Mayor eschews status quo, urges city to think bigger in State of City address
Stop being afraid to do something great. That’s Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s response to the opposition to the $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement plan that so far has failed to gain widespread public support.
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Legal efforts continue against use of tear gas on peaceful protesters
From marches to nighttime clashes and courtroom battles, the demand for racial justice and an end to police violence continues in Richmond — now the epicenter of Virginia protests and police actions to control the situation more than a month after they began.
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VUU announces $5,000 tuition cut
Virginia Union University will cut the yearly cost of undergraduate tuition by $5,000 beginning next fall in an apparent bid to attract more students and end a quiet, but dramatic two-year drop in enrollment.
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Life as they know it: Homeless residents of Cathy's Camp tent city talk about drawbacks of leaving
Money and comfort are among the reasons that the homeless encampment across from the Richmond Justice Center is still standing and the city’s goal of dismantling it is still unrealized.
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Contentious state NAACP election gives Barnette 2-year term
Robert N. Barnette Jr., who has led the Virginia State Conference NAACP since August when the previous presi- dent was removed, will hold the top post in the civil rights organization for the next two years after emerging victorious in a controversial election.
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Pulse of the city
Ridership, confusion up as GRTC’s new bus rapid transit line starts
Mayor Levar M. Stoney calls it “progress” and “one of the most exciting and progressive public transportation projects in Richmond history.”
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Evicted
Richmond ranks No.2 nationally in displacing people from their homes and apartments by eviction
Marcel Slag has been fighting evictions for 28 years as a lawyer with Central Virginia Legal Aid and its now independent Justice Center.
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$ for schools
Mayor Levar M. Stoney announces $800M plan to fully fund school construction over next 20 years
The mayor announced a plan on Dec. 20 to provide the $800 million that Richmond Public Schools wants to improve and modernize schools, a majority of which are 60 or more years old and seven of which are 100 years old.
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Chief Durham reflects on his tenure in Richmond
Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham is done. He wrapped up Dec. 20 by issuing promotions to 12 officers, including naming three deputy chiefs and tapping one, William C. Smith, to serve as acting chief.
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Brook Road bike lanes get the green light
Cars and trucks will have to surrender half of their lanes on Brook Road to cyclists. That’s the final decision of Richmond City Council, which voted 6-3 to install bike lanes and uphold a nearly 4-year-old approved plan for developing biking infrastructure in the city.
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City Council readies for lower revenue projections
Ninth District Councilman Michael J. Jones, chair of City Council’s Finance and Economic Development Committee, esti- mates that projected Richmond revenues in the new fiscal year that will begin July 1 could shrink by $75 million to $100 million as a result of the coronavirus.
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Cathy’s Camp to be shut down by March 31, displacing homeless
Complete closure and removal. That’s what’s ahead for Cathy’s Camp, the tent community that sprang up in recent months adjacent to the city’s winter overflow shelter and across the street from the Richmond Justice Center.
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Chief Durham refutes claims that smell of weed falsely being used for searches
Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham said he has sought to hold his department to high standards and to impose discipline when he finds officers fail to uphold them.
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Lost cause
Richmond City Council rejects resolution requesting General Assembly approval for authority over city’s Confederate monuments
The racist Confederate past has maintained its stranglehold on Richmond’s future.
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Virginia playing central role in high-stakes Nov. 6 election
Call it a high-stakes referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency and the Republican agenda that includes proposals to slash spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and anti-poverty programs to pay for tax cuts, appoint conservative judges to roll back voting rights and affirmative action, eliminate environmental protections and end abortions.
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Final stanza
Larry Bland, director of The Volunteer Choir, is calling it quits as group reaches 50th anniversary
A local gospel music group that has been generating sounds of joy and inspiration for 50 years could soon be no more. Larry Bland & The Volunteer Choir is scheduled to make three appearances this year to mark its golden anniversary milestone, and then Mr. Bland said he will retire as the group’s director and chief organizer.
