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Veterans Administration revises policy on religious displays
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision permitting a cross to remain on a public highway, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has revised its policies on religious symbols in displays at VA facilities.
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VUU heads into homecoming with 62-0 win over Lincoln
Virginia Union University has the potential to turn this weekend’s homecoming into showtime.
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Cherished Holiday Memories
Christmas. It’s a time for family, sharing good food, holiday fun and heartfelt blessings. From the smell of dinner cooking for a family feast, to the glow of lights on a decorated Christmas tree, the season is rich with ingredients for wonderful memories that linger long after the holiday is gone. Six area residents shared with the Free Press their cherished memories of Christmases past. We hope their reflections will bring special joy and happy recollections of your own during this season.
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Equal justice, even for Trump, by Clarence Page
Yusef Salaam, whom you may remember as one of the exonerated Central Park Five, had only one word to tweet to those who wanted to know his feelings about the indictment of Donald Trump: “Karma,” he offered. Karma? I’ve heard about it. Drawn from concepts of re- birth in Indian religions, I’ve been advised to think of kar- maasaformof cosmic justice: Good deeds and intent lead to good karma and happier re- births while bad karma may lead to times that are not so jolly. Mr. Salaam was one of five Black and Hispanic teenagers wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white woman in New York’s Central Park, a case that later was explored in a 2019 Netflix series “When They See Us” and a PBS documentary “The Central Park Five.” In 1989, before any of the five teens had been tried, Mr. Trump, then a major Manhat- tan real estate developer with a bottomless appetite for self- promotion, took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the death penalty to be reinstated in New York. Adding kerosene to public anger at the time, the ads were reported to have played a major role in securing a conviction. So did false confessions, it turned out, since no DNA linked them to the crime scene and their descriptions of the victim didn’t match. Mr. Salaam served nearly seven years in prison before he and the other wrongfully accused teens—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise—were Clarence Page exonerated in 2002. Serial rapist Matias Reyes, already in prison, confessed to the assault and DNA confirmed his admission. Ah, how the mighty have fallen. The presumption of inno- cence until proved guilty seemed almost nowhere to be seen in Mr. Trump’s world when the Central Park Five case raged across the headlines and boiled over into a national media frenzy. Yet, as Mr. Salaam mentions in his tweet, Mr. Trump—for whom “apologetic” is not part of his brand—never has apologized. Still, he seeks the presumption of innocence he has denied to others. So be it. Let’s see how well his innocence claims hold up. For now, Mr. Trump’s chants of “Lock her up” in his 2016 race against Hillary Clinton come to mind. Now that it is he who faces what has been reported to be more than 30 counts related to business fraud in a sealed indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, I wonder: Can chants of “Lock HIM up” be far behind? Still, the stress test to which the former president has put our crimi- nal justice system offers a valuable opportunity to view fairness in our system with new eyes. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the ultraconservative Repub- lican from Georgia, suddenly has become a major advocate for inmates of the District of Columbia jail, now that their ranks were joined by detainees from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Interesting, I said to myself. Since the alleged insurrectionists are mostly white and the D.C. jail’s traditional population is overwhelmingly Black, maybe now they can see how the other half lives. Unsurprisingly, they were shocked. The jail’s conditions, were so bad that 34 of them sug- gested in a letter to federal court last fall that they would rather be moved to Guantanamo Bay. Detainees, through their lawyers, raised concerns that included threats from guards, standing sewage, and skimpy food and water. A federal judge held top jail officials in contempt after they delayed prompt medi- cal care for a Capitol defendant in their custody. Things have gotten better, spurred partly by Rep. Greene and other congressional visitors. But the irony of how it took 40 or so Capitol rioters to get more attention and action than the jail’s roughly 1,400 total inmates is not lost, especially on the inmates of color. Rep. Greene, seldom known for understatement, visited the jail and likened the rioters inside to “prisoners of war,” implying that they were being punished for their politics. Actually they’re being held for a lot more than that. Don’t forget the physical assaults on Capitol Police with pepper spray, bear spray and riot shields, just for starters. Equal justice for all is a cherished ideal in the American system, a system they tried to disrupt. We must do all that we can to preserve that ideal, even for those who try to destroy it. The writer is a syndicated columnist and senior member of the Chicago Tribune edito- rial board.
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Personality: Paula McCapes
Spotlight on board chair of Underground Kitchen-Community First
Philanthropy runs in the family for Paula McCapes.
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Panthers pounce all over Trojans
The rafters of Virginia Union University’s historic Barco-Stevens Hall are adorned with retired jerseys.
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Personality: Tonie Stevens
Spotlight on co-founder and board president of FETCH a Cure
Pets are just as vulnerable to illness and cancer as any living creature, and Tonie Stevens is working to further public awareness about pet cancer and treatment.
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Personality: Rita H. Willis
Spotlight on founder of New Shoes For Back To School
Rita Hayes Willis reflects back to when she was a child eagerly leaving for her first day of school each year. She was properly outfitted from head to toe. “There is something about a new pair of shoes for the first day of school,” she recalls.
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We shall overcome
Charleston church massacre spurs removal of racist symbols
Charleston church massacre spurs removal of racist symbols
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80¢ cigarette tax goes up in smoke at City Council
Richmond smokers will not have to pay an extra 80 cents for a pack of cigarette. After hearing from more than 50 speakers and nearly an hour of debate, Richmond City Council, with a 6-3 vote, killed a proposal to impose a city tax on cigarettes that Councilman Parker C. Agelasto, 5th District, had spearheaded.
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A battle supreme
Dems, civil rights groups and others gearing up for confirmation fight over U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh
To President Trump, he’s “a judge’s judge” and “a brilliant legal mind” who deserves swift confirmation.
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Economic injustice?
Report shows city spending with minority-owned businesses has dropped nearly 48 percent since 2014
From the mayor’s office to key positions at City Hall, African-Americans continue to play big roles in Richmond’s government. But the issue of city spending with black businesses and the promotion of black inclusion, inexplicably, appears to be taking a backseat to other priorities, with Mayor Levar M. Stoney having publicly spoken little about inclusion and economic justice during his 18-month tenure.
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Divine sounds: Foote family celebrates gospel radio station's first anniversary
Foote family celebrates gospel radio station’s first anniversary
Richmond radio station WQCN is marking its first anniversary of delivering gospel to fans in the area on 105.3 FM. Better known as “The Choice,” the station is the growing broadcast arm of the 150-member Faith & Love Fellowship Church based on South Side.
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Pushback: Individuals, coalitions raising questions, opposition to mayor’s $1.4B Coliseum development plan
As Mayor Levar M. Stoney and representatives of the Navy Hill District Corp. stump throughout the city to marshal support for the $1.4 billion plan to replace the Richmond Coliseum, resistance is beginning to appear.
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Free Press Endorsements 2018
Tuesday, Nov. 6, is Election Day. And we believe there is no starker contrast or more clear choice for Virginia voters than in the race for U.S. Senate and in contests for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 4th and 7th Districts.
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Bienvenidos to VUU
The historically Black university plans to enroll 450 Hispanic students by 2024 to obtain federal designation as a Hispanic-serving institution, according to VUU President Hakim J. Lucas
Within three years, Virginia Union University wants 25 percent of its undergraduate students to be Hispanic, according to university President Hakim J. Lucas.
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Trump evangelical advisers exposed to COVID-19 flout CDC guidelines, preach in public
At least two faith leaders, including one of President Trump’s unofficial evangelical advisers, have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a White House Rose Garden ceremony and a separate evangelical gathering in Wash- ington.
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‘They tried to ban one. We’re coming back with a hundred’
Hundreds of pastors both rallied and prayed last week outside the trial of three white men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. They gathered in response to a defense lawyer’s bid to keep Black ministers out of the courtroom.
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Student protests bring down Mizzou president, chancellor
The University of Missouri’s president stepped down Monday, and its chancellor moved aside, after protests by the school’s students and football team over alleged inaction against racial abuse on campus.
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Stoney to be city’s youngest mayor
Levar Stoney will be the next mayor of Richmond. Belying earlier polls that portrayed him as an also-ran in the contest, Mr. Stoney swept to a surprising outright victory in Tuesday’s election by capturing five of the nine City Council districts — the magic number.
