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Raise the minimum wage
Day in and day out, men and women all over our country work hard at their jobs but hardly have anything to show for it. As the debate over income inequality and narrowing the ever-widening wealth gap continues to dominate our national and political conversations, private corporations and states are taking matters into their own hands, bridging the dueling divides of income and opportunity by increasing the minimum wage.
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Flying Squirrels seek to attract more African-American fans
“I had a good time tonight,” Bobby Brown said to his family as they left The Diamond after attending a recent Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball game.
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City to hold radiothon to send kids to camp
Music lovers in Central Virginia can listen to their favorite song on the radio and help send a child to summer camp in the process.
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Cleveland to pay $6M in Tamir Rice’s death
Cleveland officials have agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old who was shot and killed by a police officer in 2014, according to documents filed in federal court on Monday.
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3 team up to find new home for Squirrels in Boulevard area
Public pressure to keep baseball on the Boulevard appears to be having an impact. In a new effort, Mayor Dwight C. Jones is teaming up with the Richmond Flying Squirrels and Virginia Commonwealth University to find a site for a new ballpark near The Diamond, but not on the 60 acres of public property the city wants to redevelop.
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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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Power to vote
Gov. McAuliffe boldly restores voting rights of 206,000 Virginians, including disenfranchised African-Americans
David Mosby no longer feels like a second-class citizen. After years of being barred from the ballot box because of his criminal record, the 46-year-old home improvement contractor is finally able to vote and fully take part in the life of his community.
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Increase financial access
Our nation has made great progress in the advancement of minorities. However, the current election cycle serves as a reminder of how far we have to go. National, state and local political races are prompting many to ask the simple question, “Will our next elected officials create more opportunity for Richmond’s African-American community or stifle the progress that already has been made?”
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Holistic expo to be held May 7 at Richmond Raceway Complex
Five-time cancer survivor and Richmond resident Steven Wentworth is bringing the Greater Richmond Holistic Expo to the Richmond Raceway Complex in Henrico County.
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Harlem churches see gospel tourist boom
The stern warning issued from the pulpit was directed at the tourists — most of whom had arrived late — a sea of white faces with guidebooks in hand. They outnumbered the congregation itself: A handful of elderly black men and women wearing suits and dresses and old-fashioned pillbox hats.
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Funeral Monday for Wendell F. Davis
Wendell F. Davis traveled by bicycle and GRTC bus from his North Side residence to Western Henrico County on Thursday, April 14, to visit his daughter, stepdaughter and the love of his life, his 2-year-old granddaughter, Caleá.
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Price of first class stamp drops by 2¢
A postage stamp now costs 47 cents — a drop of 2 cents for a first class letter.
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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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Price puts events out of reach for some area residents
Re: “First African-American police officers to be remembered in April 30 ceremony,” March 31-April 2 edition: I remember very well three of the four policemen who are to be honored. They were officers in my younger days. I would like to come to the ceremony, however, I cannot afford to pay the $50 the event organizers are charging to attend the ceremony. I am a citizen who lives off a very low income each month.
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Moncrief swinging for the stars with Flying Squirrels
There is a pot of gold waiting at the end of the baseball rainbow. But it sure can be hard getting there. Consider the quest of Carlos Moncrief.
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Freeman’s ‘God’ series asks bigger questions about religion
It all started about seven years ago when actor Morgan Freeman visited the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Noticing the mosaics of Jesus inside the museum, Mr. Freeman asked his tour guide, who was Muslim, if the tiles had been covered when the building, originally a Greek Orthodox church, was used as a mosque. No, the guide said, because Muslims view Jesus as a prophet.
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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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Reversal of misfortune
Kemba Smith, whose prison sentence was commuted in 2000, dines with President Obama after meeting with White House aides
When U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was making his initial bid to become president of the United States, Richmond native and 1989 Hermitage High School graduate Kemba Smith was among the thousands volunteering in his ambitious history-making campaign.
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Trial continued of Henrico cop charged in shooting
The case of a Henrico County police officer, who was charged with malicious wounding for shooting into a car and injuring a woman in mid-December, has been postponed for two months.
