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Class and crass
I never thought I would miss our 43d President, George W. Bush. And I’ve never thought of him as a great, or even good, speaker. But the speech he gave Oct. 19, at a conference convened by the George W. Bush Institute was simply eloquent, excellent, thoughtful and compelling.
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Teachable moment
We have seen segments of the foul video posted to social media showing white football team members from Henrico County’s Short Pump Middle School in the locker room simulating sex acts on black members of the team while making racist comments.
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VSU looking toward postseason with string of wins
Virginia State University continues to dominate CIAA football about every way possible — on the field, in the standings and also statistically.
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4th Circuit renders decision in battle over Md. cross
For 92 years, a four-story-tall cross has stood at a major intersection in Prince George’s County, Md., paying silent tribute to members of the American military who died fighting in World War I. Now, in the latest church-state battle over public memorials, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond has ruled that the massive memorial violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on the government imposition of a religious faith.
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Reunited and it feels so good
Former President Obama energizes Va. Dems at rally
Former President Barack Obama told a packed audience at the Greater Richmond Convention Center the fate of American politics rests within their vote on Tuesday, Nov. 7. “The question for you tonight, and over the next 19 days, is do you want a politics of division and distraction? Or do you believe in a better kind of politics, one where we work together and listen to each other,” President Obama said to loud cheers and applause.
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Richmond Police spent tax $ at Henrico County establishments for rally food
Will Richmond have to shell out another $570,000 if supporters of Confederate statues come back in six weeks to hold another rally in Richmond?
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Training camp fails to score finances, developments for city
After five football seasons, the Washington pro football team’s training camp at 2401 W. Leigh St. apparently is failing to generate enough income to pay off the cost of its construction.
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Local student wins national TV contest
Cooking is part of Emmy Sumpter’s DNA. Emmy’s earliest memories of cooking begin at age 6 when she would help her mother, personal chef Erica Sumpter, prepare recipes and meals in their kitchen.
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What is a Black Identity Extremist?
While White men are beating Black men on the streets of Charlottesville, Va., while a lone White wolf is shooting people from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, while the word “terrorist” is hardly used to describe these men, the FBI, under the leadership of the racist Attorney General Jeff Beauregard Sessions, is thinking up a new way to oppress Black people. Despite the fact that there is no evidence of a “movement,” the FBI has described a group of black people as “black identity extremists” who pose a domestic terrorist threat to police officers.
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VUU homecoming promises football, fun next week
“Panthers: Wild with Pride” is the theme for Virginia Union University’s 2017 homecoming festivities that begin Wednesday, Oct. 25. The five-day event promises something for everyone, including a Motown costume party, Chicago-style step dancing and a salute to the university’s “Golden Class of 1967.”
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Chadwick Boseman in ‘Marshall’ is bulletproof
Thurgood Marshall, a titan of 20th century law and a civil rights pioneer, has until now largely eluded Hollywood’s notice. Despite its title, “Marshall,’’ too, is wary of taking on the Supreme Court justice in full, sticking to a minor case from Mr. Marshall’s early career as counsel for the NAACP. That makes, for better and worse, a sometimes slight, sometimes serious courtroom drama, shot through with bright certainty in the coming triumphs for Mr. Marshall and the civil rights movement. It’s a superhero-style origin story: Thurgood, pre- “Brown v. Board of Education,’’ pre-black robe.
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VSU’s yearlong wins unbroken
Virginia State University may have forgotten what losing even tastes like. It’s been more than a calendar year since it was on the wrong side of a football score.
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Caleb Grimes stands out for Benedictine
Caleb Grimes is planning a career in the Navy. In the meantime, he’s giving his opponents on the football field a bad case of the blues.
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Players make World Series a world event
Most of today’s baseball stars hail from the wealthier, majority-white suburbs, but that’s not the case from a global perspective.
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Charter schools debate continues
Are charter schools a threat to public education? That issue will be the focus of a two-part program titled “Protecting Public Education” that will feature a panel discussion and the screening of a documentary about the cost of privatizing education, “Backpack Full of Cash,” it has been announced.
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Trump speaks at event hosted by hate group
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, President Trump spoke to a hate group last week — and he was a hit. The Family Research Council, which is on the SPLC hate group list, invited the 45th president to speak at the Values Voter Summit, an annual socially conservative conference. This proved to be a political layup for President Trump, the first sitting president to speak at the conference, amid the turmoil surrounding his administration.
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Personality: Timika Cousins
Spotlight on founder of The Faces Behind The Purpose For You
Personal tragedy led Timika Cousins to become an advocate against domestic violence after her beloved cousin was murdered by an abusive husband in 2014.
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Virginia’s CHIP funding in jeopardy
Overshadowed by the uproar of President Trump’s attempt to defund government support of the Affordable Care Act for adults, 65,000 children in Virginia and 9 million children across the country are now threatened with the loss of their health insurance.
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Former principal fills 7th District interim School Board seat
Cheryl L. Burke, a former longtime principal at Chimborazo Elementary School, is the Richmond School Board’s unanimous choice to serve as the interim school board representative for the 7th District. Mrs. Burke’s selection comes one month after former 7th District School Board member Nadine Marsh-Carter resigned following her husband’s death.
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Confederate rally in Richmond exceeds $500,000 in police spending
“The cost of monitoring First Amendment assemblies is not cheap.” That’s the view of Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham. And that certainly proved true for Richmond, which spent $570,000 on crowd control and other services on the Sept. 16 protest over the city’s Confederate statues, according to figures the city reported last Friday. Chief Durham was the biggest spender.