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Jehovah’s Witnesses move annual conventions online for second year
For the second consecutive year, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have canceled their large, in-person annual three-day conventions in Richmond and around the globe because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Henrico schools to reopen virtually this fall
The Henrico School Board voted unanimously last week to reopen schools this fall using a full virtual learning format for the first semester.
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Biden’s strategy to end hunger in U.S. includes more benefits
The Biden administration is laying out its plan to meet an ambitious goal of ending hunger in the U.S. by 2030, including expanding monthly benefits that help low-income Americans buy food.
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Trial in ‘Operation Varsity Blues’ college admissions scandal gets underway
The first full trial in the college admissions bribery scandal opened Monday with defense attorneys seeking to portray the two parents accused of buying their childrens’ way into school as victims of a con man who believed their payments were legitimate donations.
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$1.1M needed for new voting equipment
Richmond is hoping to borrow voting machines to use in the upcoming June 9 Democratic primaries. At the same time, the city voter registrar is seeking more than $1.1 million from the city government to buy new voting equipment to use in the November general election. The city is one of 30 localities facing an emergency situation involving voting machines. The upheaval is the result of Tuesday’s action by the state Board of Elections decertifying the WINVote touch-screen machines that the 30 localities have used in their elections for 10 years. The board’s action essentially bans the use of the WINVote machines in any future elections, including the June 9 primaries that will be held in Richmond and nine other localities.
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Dr. Daniels and others must ‘put their money where their mouths are’ to block gentrification
I learned 20 years ago the difference in wealth in the white and black communities. I took a white man home to his brick bungalow in the West End, which he said he had bought for $10,000 after World War II and which at the time was assessed by the city at $90,000.
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Drug testing backlog delays cases; defendants linger in jail
Deep inside a six-story, brown and tan state building in Norfolk, not far from the waterfront, you’ll find thousands of sealed bags stored in a locked vault.
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VSU’s new homeowner program designed to make employees, community HAPI
Virginia State University’s new program that will invest thousands of dollars to help its employees become homeowners also is designed to assist the economies of Petersburg and the village of Ettrick, where the university is based, according to the university.
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What we can no longer permit, by Ben Jealous
Picture a mountain valley somewhere in the Alleghanies, Appalachians or Blue Ridge. It’s a safe bet what you just imagined didn’t include a metal pipeline more than 3 feet wide running down a steep ridge or crossing a pristine stream.
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Inflation, nutrition and reality, by Julianne Malveaux
Remember the parable of the blind men and the elephant? As each approached an elephant and tried to describe it, they came up with wildly disparate answers. One thought it a snake, another a tree, another a trunk. Because they were blind, they could not see the big picture; they described the part of the elephant they could touch.
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Fixing our broken drug pricing system, by Dr. Greg Gelburd
As a recently retired physician, I felt relief for patients across the commonwealth when Virginia legislators recently passed bipartisan measures, Senate Bill 274 and House Bill 570, to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board. This board would be empowered to finally rein in skyrocketing prescription drug costs that make medicine inaccessible to too many patients. By signing this legislation into law, Gov. Glenn Youngkin can prioritize the health and well-being of Virginians.
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Commit to affordable health care, by Ray Curry
Laughter is the best medicine, says the Reader’s Digest version of America. But not when it’s the only medicine, responds the America that far too many have known and continue to know. Not when the United States alone is one of the world’s top 33 most developed countries that does not have a form of universal health care that covers all of its population.
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Henry L. Marsh III, a former state senator and Richmond’s first African- American mayor, is greeted on Aug. 27 by School Board member Cheryl L. …
Published on January 7, 2021
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Dominion Energy offers energy saving tips and bill payment assistance options as winter approaches
The fall and winter months typically bring higher energy bills as customers use more electricity to heat their homes. Dominion Energy Virginia is reminding customers of energy-saving tips to help save money. The utility also offers bill payment assistance options for customers in need.
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Howard E. Fitts Sr., former president of Robinson-Harris & Co., dies at 95
For more than 40 years, Howard E. Fitts Sr. was a key figure in buying and selling property in Richmond.
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Prisoners in the U.S. are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands
A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here, at an unlikely source — a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison.
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Student loan forgiveness application website goes live
President Biden on Monday officially kicked off the application process for his student debt cancellation program and announced that 8 million borrowers had already applied for loan relief during the federal government’s soft launch period over the weekend.
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CBC head backs America’s College Promise Act
“Some people believe HBCUs are no longer needed and are irrelevant. They are under assault.” That was the sobering message U.S. Rep. George Kenneth “G. K.” Butterfield, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, delivered on the state of historically black colleges and universities.
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Raynell Reid shows off a tribute plaque to her late uncle, Richmond Fire Capt. Harvey S. Hicks II, during a ceremony last Sunday at Mosby …
Published on February 14, 2020
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Dominion Energy to cut bills
It will take a few months, but Dominion Energy expects to begin cutting electricity bills because of lower fuel costs for generating power.
