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CIAA to move most championship games out of NC
The CIAA basketball championships are staying in Charlotte, N.C., but the football title game is moving out of Durham, N.C. Those are answers to the most asked questions following the conference’s announcement last week to transfer eight of its 10 annual championship events out of North Carolina.
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Personality: Marc Cheatham
Spotlight on The Cheats Movement hip-hop enthusiast
Marc Wesley Cheatham, founder of The Cheats Movement blog and podcast, says Democrat Tim Kaine’s 2009 appointment as chairman of the Democratic National Committee was a catalyst for the evolution of a platform for local hip-hop.
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VUU celebrates homecoming Oct. 2-9
Professor, author and national commentator Michael Eric Dyson will speak at Virginia Union University’s 2016 Convocation at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 7, at the Allix B. James Chapel of Coburn Hall on the campus, 1500 Lombardy St.
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Panthers looking for 3-peat Saturday against St. Augustine’s
William “Will” Stanback suffered a misstep, of sorts, in Orlando, Fla., and lost all football traction. Now he’s back in full stride in Richmond. Call it the “Stanback comeback.”
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TJ turns to man of the cloth for coaching
Thomas Jefferson High School is turning to a man of the cloth to lead its girls’ softball program. The Rev. Paul Brown officially will become the team’s coach in October, said TJ Activities Director Bill Holt.
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End of an era
Harvey’s Progressive Barber Shop to close Downtown
For hundreds of Richmonders, Harvey’s Progressive Barber Shop in Downtown has been their go-to place for a haircut. No more.
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Natural gas price rising for Richmond customers
The cost of natural gas — the fuel most Richmond residents cook and heat with and that many businesses use — is going up for the first time in more than two years.
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Executive Mansion dedicates garden to memory of enslaved
Imagine living and working hundreds of miles away from your family for years, with no smartphone, no internet, no means of transportation and no sense of how far you are from home.
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Study puts monetary value on good works done by U.S. religious organizations
Religion News Service Religion is worth $1.2 trillion a year to the American economy, according to the first comprehensive study of the question. “In perspective, that would make religion the 15th largest national economy in the world, ahead of 180 other countries in terms of value,” according to the study’s author, Brian J. Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation and an associate scholar at Georgetown University’s Religious Freedom Project. “That would also make American religion larger than the global revenues of the top 10 tech companies, including Apple, Amazon and Google, or the combined annual revenue of the six largest American oil companies,” Dr. Grim said as he released the study Sept. 14 in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington. Dr. Grim understands why the religious and nonreligious alike might look upon the exercise of valuing religion’s contribution to the economy skeptically. To put a value on the work of the nation’s 344,000 religious congregations representing all faiths, Dr. Grim looked at the schools, the soup kitchens, the addiction recovery programs and other activities they run and the programs’ impacts on local economies. He found that congregations and religiously oriented charity groups are responsible for 130,000 alcohol and drug abuse recovery programs; 94,000 programs to support veterans and their families; 26,000 programs to prevent HIV/AIDS and to support people living with the disease; and 121,000 programs to train and support the unemployed. They also operate more than 50,000 schools. He also determined that churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship employ hundreds of thousands of people and buy everything from flowers to computers to snow removal services. He believes the $1.2 trillion figure he came up with is a “conservative” valuation of the annual work of religious organizations in American society. Why crunch the numbers? Dr. Grim believes it is good to know the impact religion has on the nation. Dr. Grim also wants congregations and clergy — and the society that benefits from the charitable work— to appreciate the size of the contribution. In a country where people often hear much more about the evils committed by religious people — from sex abuse scandals to genocide — it’s time for some “balance,” Dr. Grim said. Even clergy often downplay the value of their work, said Ram Cnaan, director of the Program for Religion and Social Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Cnaan, who attended the National Press Club presentation to help Dr. Grim unveil his work, said the study would allow the religious to take pride in their contributions. “This is a new day for the people who study congregations,” he said of Dr. Grim’s work, “The Socio-economic Contribution of Religion to American Society: An Empirical Analysis.” “This is the beginning of a national debate — not if religion is important but how much it is important,” Dr. Cnaan said. Dr. Grim said that secular organizations like the Red Cross and the Cancer Society and the host of other nonprofits certainly contribute generously to the social health of the nation. Indeed, he said if the work of the religiously motivated did not exist, “I don’t think we would see all the good of society disappearing. However, I think it would be significantly less.” William A. Galston, a Brookings Institution scholar and a former Clinton administration domestic policy adviser who writes on religion and society, called Dr. Grim’s estimate of $1.2 trillion “a sensible number.” Dr. Grim’s paper, Dr. Galston said, can be used by religious organizations as “a credible calling card to get in the door” of policymakers who have too long undervalued their importance to society.
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Personality: Dr. Cheryl Ivey Green
Spotlight on new president of the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond and Vicinity
Dr. Cheryl Ivey Green wears many hats. She is the senior assistant to Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones. She is the executive minister of ministries at First Baptist Church of South Richmond. And she now is the new president of the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond and Vicinity. Elected to the post in May, Dr. Ivey Green was installed as president in an evening ceremony last Sunday at First Baptist.
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New D.C. museum opens with links to local people, history
When the National Museum of African American History and Culture opens this weekend with fanfare, a dedication ceremony Saturday with President Obama and other dignitaries and an anticipated crowd of thousands, a 130-year-old bell shipped to the museum from Williamsburg will ring — and acknowledge history.
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Scott, unlike others, serves interests of his constituents
Re editorial “Scott for U.S. Senate,” Sept. 1-3 edition: Thank you for recommending that Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott become U.S. Sen. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott.
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University of Illinois making history
The University of Illinois football program is making history. The Big 10 Conference member is the lone FBS school with an African-American head coach — Lovie Smith — and African-American offensive and defensive coordinators — Garrick McGee and Hardy Nickerson, respectively.
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New Church Hill grocery gets green light
Richmond City Council cleared the way Monday for a variety of new developments, including a new grocery store in Church Hill, after listening to activists lobby for expanding a slavery memorial site in Shockoe Bottom.
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RPS students chosen for unique Washington experience
Forty high school students from Richmond Public Schools will attend the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s National Town Hall on Thursday, Sept. 15, in Washington.
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McDonnell, wife free; facing $10M legal bill
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell is officially a free man, but he paid a heavy price to get there. Federal prosecutors announced late last week they will not pursue a second trial against Mr. McDonnell or his wife, Maureen McDonnell, on corruption charges. The decision, announced Sept. 8, comes more than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
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FAMIS program reaches 15th anniversary with more than 1 million youngsters covered
More than 1.6 million low-income Virginia children have benefited from government health insurance programs during the past 15 years.
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15 years after the 9/11 attacks, where is our nation?
This year is the 15th anniversary of 9/11. There will be numerous memorials remembering those who died and processing the tragedy and trauma visited upon our national community. This will be a necessary and good thing for us as Americans to do.
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Flanked by U.S. Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, left, and Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, Anne Holton, wife of Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, engages …
Published on September 9, 2016
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Politics served up at Rep. Scott’s Labor Day cookout
More than 1,000 people enjoyed hot dogs, hamburgers and politics Monday at the 40th Annual Labor Day Cookout hosted by Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott at his family home in Newport News.
