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Lumpkin’s Jail ceremony marks first step in memorial project
“Our history must never be buried,” Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said as he launched the long-awaited effort to create a slavery memorial at the Lumpkin’s Jail site — a once horrific pen in Shockoe Bottom for enslaved people who were bought and sold like cattle.
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Poor conditions at George Mason Elementary fire up School Board
After an unusual, tense public exchange between members Monday night, the Richmond School Board voted to hold a public hearing on Monday, July 31, to discuss the condition of George Mason Elementary School and what to do about it. Although George Mason boasts prominent alumni, including former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and former state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, several officials said the school building at 813 N. 28th St. is easily among the city school district’s worst facilities.
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HUD officials: Essex Village improvements underway
The overhaul of Henrico County’s troubled Essex Village apartment complex appears to be underway. Under threat of losing $4.2 million in yearly federal housing subsidies and facing pressure from Henrico County and 4th District Congressman A. Donald McEachin, PK Management, which operates the 496-unit, Section 8 complex at Pilots Lane and Laburnum Avenue, has begun making improvements to address long-standing health and safety issues, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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Super Tuesday
Virginians to vote in presidential primaries March 1
Now it is up to the voters. Next week, Virginians will help pick the Democratic and Republican nominees for president. The presidential primary elections for both parties are scheduled for Tuesday, March 1, in the Old Dominion, with polls open from 6 a.m to 7 p.m. in Richmond and across the state.
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Payback? Questions raised about charges against Sen. Lucas
State Sen. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, a key power broker and one of the highest ranking African-Americans in the General Assembly, has been charged with conspiracy to damage a Confederate monument during protests in Portsmouth that also led to a demonstrator being critically injured when the statue was knocked down.
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Fresh start for first day
Improved George Mason Elementary rolls out red carpet for its students
Before the first students arrived Tuesday at George Mason Elementary School, Principal Rose Ferguson walked the halls and the playground in Church Hill, and then checked with teachers and support staff to make sure everything was ready. More than 400 energetic youngsters were expected to bound in for the new 2017-18 school year.
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Nursing homes on front lines battling the coronavirus
Nursing homes are hot spots for the spreading coronavirus pandemic in Virginia, with 60 of the state’s 108 outbreaks occurring in long-term care facilities, state Health Department numbers show.
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Opportunity time
It hasn’t been a week of good news for Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras and the Richmond School Board.
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Churches mobilize to help families impacted by immigration raids
The children of Sacred Heart Catholic Church streamed out into Mississippi’s blistering heat last Sunday afternoon, carrying what they said was a message of opposition against immigration raids their parents could not.
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Serena Williams loses at U.S. Open
Maybe someday in the distant future, Serena Williams will look back and be proud of herself for making it to the final at four of the first seven Grand Slam tournaments she played in after having a baby. But not right now.
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Wronged
Retired factory worker Leonard Mc Millian had his home invaded by a police squad and spent more than an hour in handcuffs when police responded to calls about crimes at his home that proved bogus. Actor and songwriter Jerome Arrington spent a miserable seven weeks in jail after Richmond police arrested him for a street robbery he did not commit. Both men are African-American. Neither has received an apology for their ordeals, which appear to be relatively rare in a city where officers respond daily to dozens of calls. Still, their stories suggest that things can go dismayingly wrong even when police and prosecutors believe they are going by the book.
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GOP Sen. Amanda Chase sues after being censured
A firebrand conservative state senator from Chesterfield County seeking the Republican nomination for governor filed a federal lawsuit Monday that seeks to undo her legislative colleagues’ recent decision to censure her for an alleged “pattern of unacceptable conduct.”
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VUU’s Grant thrills fans in opening win against VUL
If JahkariGrant’spassingarmgathered any rust after four years of inactivity, it didn’t show in his Sept. 1 Virginia Union University coming out party.
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John Marshall Justices poised to win another state basketball crown
Most high school basketball teams feel fortunate to have one or two stars. Richmond’s John Marshall High School features a galaxy.
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Chaos and violence
Mass shootings claim lives at gatherings over July Fourth holiday
Mass shootings broke out at festivals, block parties and other gatherings in a handful of cities this week as the U.S. celebrated the Fourth of July. Gun violence that flared in Washington, D.C, Louisiana, Florida, Philadelphia, Texas and Baltimore left more than a dozen dead and almost 60 wounded — including children as young as 2 years old.
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Keeping Kamras
Richmond School Board votes 6-3 to extend Superintendent Jason Kamras’ contract for another 4 years
It’s official: Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras will stay on for another four years.
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Daphne Maxwell Reid rejoins cast for ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ reunion
Actress Daphne Maxwell Reid recently joined the cast of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” for a reunion show airing this week, 30 years after the popular TV sitcom premiered in 1990.
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City Council member wants to send Richmond 300 plan back to drawing board
Too many flaws. That’s City Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson’s take on a proposed new master plan, dubbed “Richmond 300,” to guide the city’s future development and enable Virginia’s capital to become the “welcoming inclusive, diverse, innovative place” it seeks to be.
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Black women and breast cancer diagnosis — just different, by Dr. Vanessa B. Sheppard
While we have made great strides in improving cancer outcomes among many populations over the last several decades, one group remains consistently, inequitably left behind: Black women in America.
