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No more money for school maintenance
Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras is alarmed. He just found out that, as of March 31, RPS has only $881,143 left through June 30 to spend on school maintenance needs.
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Pulse to start service June 24
That’s the day GRTC will launch the biggest overhaul of bus service in generations, one the company hopes that regular riders will cheer and that will bring new people to use public transit.
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Public hearings set to rename school named for a Confederate
The Richmond School Board wants public input in changing the name of J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School, the only school in the city named for a Confederate.
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GPA miscalculations impact RPS students
Richmond Public Schools officials acknowledged Monday that four years of miscalculating students’ grade point averages have led to errors on students’ transcripts.
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Video shows former NFL player manhandled by Georgia police
A lawyer for Desmond Marrow said this week the charges against the former NFL player should be dropped, as police and prosecutors in Georgia said they are reviewing the arrest in which officers allegedly used excessive force.
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Warning: Smoking may cause eviction
New smoke-free policy takes effect Aug.1 for all RRHA properties, including 4,000 public housing units in city
Residents of public housing in Richmond are facing a ban on smoking in three months.
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City doesn’t publicize exemption from trash fees for elderly, disabled renters
City Hall is quietly blocking elderly and disabled renters from receiving free trash and recycling services, the Free Press has learned — a benefit the city has offered for nearly 14 years and which currently is worth $23.79 a month or $285.48 a year.
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Problems with protecting consumers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is supposed to “protect” consumers from fraud and predatory lending. But since 45 has ruled the roost, he has empowered exploiters to extract too much money from consumers.
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Economic justice and fair housing
“The housing problem is particularly acute in the minority ghettos. Nearly two-thirds of all non-white families living in the central cities today live in neighborhoods marked with substandard housing and general urban blight. Two major factors are responsible. First: Many ghetto residents simply cannot pay the rent necessary to support decent housing. In Detroit, for example, over 40 percent of the non-white occupied units in 1960 required rent of over 35 percent of the tenants’ income. Second: Discrimination prevents access to many non-slum areas, particularly the suburbs, where good housing exists. In addition, by creating a ‘back pressure’ in the racial ghettos, it makes it possible for landlords to break up apartments for denser occupancy, and keeps prices and rents of deteriorated ghetto housing higher than they would be in a truly free market.” – Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission), 1968 Former Vice President Walter Mondale, who co-sponsored the Fair Housing Act along with U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke, the first popularly elected African-American in the U.S. Senate, was interviewed recently on the occasion of the Fair Housing Act’s 50th anniversary.
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Confronting racism
There was a time not too long ago when businesses in Richmond and across the South would call the police to arrest black people who sat down at lunch counters because they wanted to order. So we found a sad irony in the April 12 arrest of two black men in Philadelphia because they sat down at a Starbucks and didn’t order anything.
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Step up
We are greatly disappointed by Richmond City Council’s failure Monday night to approve a tax on cigarettes. The 80 cents per pack tax, proposed by Councilman Parker C. Agelasto, would have generated $5 million annually that would have been dedicated to the repair and maintenance of Richmond’s aged and dilapidated public school buildings.
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Richmond native returns as star of film, helping others at Richmond International Film Festival
The Richmond of Tamika Lamison’s youth has evolved into a thriving artistic hub. Ms. Lamison, an actor and director who now lives and works in Los Angeles, grew up in South Side in the 1980s. “When I come home, I certainly see a huge effort to completely infuse a great deal of artistic life into Richmond,” Ms. Lamison told the Free Press in a telephone interview last week.
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VSU on the lookout for its next great running back
Auditions for the marquee role of the next Trenton Cannon are now underway at Virginia State University. Realistically, the All-American tailback will be nearly impossible to replace. Finding a replacement might be compared to trying to find a fill-in for the Statue of Liberty.
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U.S. Supreme Court hears Muslim travel ban arguments
The U.S. Supreme Court has so far had little to say about Donald Trump’s time as president, even as the nation has moved from one Trump controversy to another. That’s about to change.
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Personality: Adolph White
Spotlight on volunteer caretaker for purple martin nesting at Bryan Park
Every spring, there is a great migration that one Bryan Park volunteer anticipates and anxiously looks forward to.
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City eliminates $240,000 admissions tax debt of Richmond Jazz Festival
Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration has quietly eliminated the estimated $240,000 in admissions taxes that the popular Richmond Jazz Festival owed the city, three highly placed sources have told the Free Press.
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80¢ cigarette tax goes up in smoke at City Council
Richmond smokers will not have to pay an extra 80 cents for a pack of cigarette. After hearing from more than 50 speakers and nearly an hour of debate, Richmond City Council, with a 6-3 vote, killed a proposal to impose a city tax on cigarettes that Councilman Parker C. Agelasto, 5th District, had spearheaded.
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Tree problems go unanswered by city
Editor’s note: Just before the Free Press Wednesday deadline, Spencer Turner sent a text message to a Free Press reporter stating: “Thanks for help. They are cutting tree down Friday. The power of a free press.” As of deadline, the Free Press had not been able to confirm Mr. Turner’s statement with city officials. By Jeremy M. Lazarus
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Henrico schools hosts Family Learning series summit April 28
Henrico County Public Schools is hosting a Family Learning Series Summit, featuring workshops and activities on topics such as parenting, literacy, diversity, study skills, mental health and exceptional education. The summit is free and will be held 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at Hermitage High School, 8301 Hungary Spring Road.
