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Lawsuit over disabled access to apartments ruled premature
A federal judge has thrown out a high-profile lawsuit seeking to force a new apartment complex going up in Church Hill to be altered to accommodate persons with disabilities. Senior U.S. Judge James R. Spencer ruled the suit was premature because the 151-unit Shockoe Valley View Apartments is still under construction in the 1900 block of Cedar Street.
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Nation of Islam moves mosque to Downtown
The Nation of Islam has quietly settled its Richmond mosque into a new home in Downtown. Forced to give up its large, steepled space on South Side, Muhammad Mosque No. 24 currently is operating out of leased space at 408 E. Main St.
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Longtime Broad St. business to close
For 70 years, Moore’s Auto Body and Paint Shop Inc. has been a fixture at 401 W. Broad St. But that is about to change as one of the city’s oldest African-American-owned businesses prepares to close. Owner Jesse Moore, 71, disclosed Monday that he has sold the nearly quarter-acre property and will shut down the auto body operation there at the end of the month.
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Richmond contractor on Congressional Black Caucus re-entry panel
A Richmond contractor is headed to Washington to talk up his plan for helping released convicts rebuild their lives by getting involved in the building trades. Kenneth Williams, 66, has been invited to talk about the Adult Alternative Program that he is developing to train ex-convicts to renovate houses and qualify for Class C contractor licenses.
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$3M civil suit filed against ABC agents
How much is Martese Johnson’s pain, suffering and bleeding worth? Mr. Johnson, now a fourth-year honors student at the University of Virginia, was slammed onto the pavement outside a Charlottesville pub last March by three agents from the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control who suspected him of trying to use a fake ID to enter.
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Kyle Jean-Baptiste, 21, rising Broadway star
Kyle Jean-Baptiste appeared to be headed to acting stardom. This summer, the talented 21-year-old became the first African-American and the youngest performer to play Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables” on Broadway.
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Have your say in new name for Thompson Middle
Thompson-Elkhardt Middle School. Or Elkhardt-Thompson Middle School.
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Origin of student civil rights group clarified
Re “Student civil rights workers recall efforts,” June 25-27 edition: We appreciate the Richmond Free Press devoting an article to the Civil Rights Movement and the 50th reunion of the Virginia Students’ Civil Rights Committee (VSCRC). There is one point that we would like to clarify about the origins of the VSCRC and its relationship to other groups active at that time.
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Folk Festival returns this weekend
Louis Armstrong once said, “All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song.” Music by people and cultures from around the globe will be featured in Richmond this weekend at the three-day 12th Annual Richmond Folk Festival.
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Readers speak out on Nov. 8 elections
I want the citizens of Richmond to remember back to when a former City Council was in office and corporate Richmond would not work with them. New businesses were locating in the county. The City of Richmond was not growing. In 1994, a new City Council was elected that included Tim Kaine, Viola Baskerville and others. Corporate Richmond worked well with them.
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Finally, a listening tour
The national office of the NAACP has made a couple of significant changes lately. They dismissed chairwoman Roslyn M. Brock and president Cornell Brooks.
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Media must keep environmental issues on front burner
The environmental progress achieved by the Obama administration is being dismantled piece by piece due to the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. Although these policies are being covered by some news organizations, they quickly are being placed on the back burner for the rest of the Trump circus.
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Morehouse Debate Team wins big at North American Championship
It was more like a sequel to the film “The Great Debaters” recently as the Morehouse College Debate Team reigned supreme at the 2016-17 Lafayette Debates North American Championship in Washington.
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NYC reaches $4.1M settlement in fatal police shooting
New York City reached a settlement of more than $4 million with the family of an unarmed man fatally shot by a police officer in a darkened stairwell nearly two years ago, the attorney for the family said Tuesday.
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Charlottesville votes to remove Lee statue
A divided Charlottesville City Council voted this week to move a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the city’s Downtown and to rename Lee Square where it stands.
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Manchester Courthouse to be renamed for Marsh brothers on May 20
It took 16 months, but the long-awaited public ceremony to rename the Manchester Courthouse for Richmond’s first African-American mayor, Henry L. Marsh III, and his late brother, Harold M. Marsh Sr., will take place Friday, May 20. Mayor Dwight C. Jones, who proposed the renaming, will lead the 4 p.m. rededication of the building at 920 Hull St. in South Side.
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Afeni Shakur, mother of rapper Tupac, dies at 69
Afeni Shakur, the former Black Panther who inspired the work of her son, rap icon Tupac Shakur, and fostered his legacy for decades after he was slain, has died of an apparent heart attack, authorities said Tuesday. She was 69.
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Commitment to city children ‘shameful’
It is said that a government’s budget is an expression of its commitment to its citizens. Well, what’s clear is that Richmond’s commitment to our schoolchildren is shameful.
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Energy savings could yield $18M to fix city schools
Energy savings could generate $18 million to fuel an overhaul of heating and cooling systems, windows, lighting and other systems in as many as 10 Richmond Public Schools buildings.
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Newton joins 5 other black Super Bowl quarterbacks
African-American quarterbacks, long absent on Super Bowl Sunday, have become commonplace on football’s brightest stage.
