Story

Officials react
“It is appalling that neo-Nazis, the Klan and other white nationalists chose Virginia and a great community like Charlottesville to spread their messages of hate and intolerance. It speaks to a vile and disturbing current in our culture and politics which has now broken out into the full light of day. I will be watching closely to make sure that President Trump’s
Story

Homegrown terror
The nation reacts to violence and murder in Charlottesville driven by white supremacists’ attempts to protect Confederate statues
Was the horror show in Charlottesville fresh evidence that overt racism remains an issue for our country? Or is it a terrible, but ultimately small blip in a nation where the issue of race has dominated the past and remains a key issue today?
Story

City hiring precinct workers for Nov. 7 election
Wanted: 200 people to work the polls on Election Day. Richmond Voter Registrar Kirk Showalter announced Monday that she is recruiting precinct officers for the next election on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Story

Henrico School Board vice chair arrested for DUI
The Rev. Roscoe D. Cooper III, vice chair of the Henrico County School Board, is to appear in court Nov. 16 on charges of driving under the influence and refusing to take a blood alcohol or breathalyzer test when he was stopped early Saturday morning on Interstate 64 by Virginia State Police.
Story

Black liberation thwarted from all sides
Black classism is just as detrimental to black liberation as white supremacy, and I do not like what I am seeing.
Story
Monument Avenue for real heroes
The Monument Avenue Commission has only just begun its work, but the fix is in. Apparently, the commission has been hamstrung by its charge from Mayor Levar M. Stoney to put the monuments “in context.”
Story

Band camp
The VSU Trojan Explosion works for its showmanship and sound
It is 5:45 a.m. and the early August sun is beginning to rise over the Appomattox River. Just north upon a hill, 115 students scurry out of dormitories that are largely empty until fall classes begin. The students’ destination is Davis Hall, where they’ll spend the next 12 hours practicing formations, maneuvers, sheet music, dance routines and more.
Story

Crusade for Voters history detailed in new book
Kimberly A. Matthews was surprised that no one had ever written a history of the Richmond Crusade for Voters, the oldest African-American political organization in continuous operation in the state.
Story

Bolt loses world race; still fan favorite
For the first time in nearly a decade, the world’s fastest man isn’t named Usain Bolt. Justin Gatlin has regained that title again after holding off the iconic Jamaican in the 100-meter final of the World Championships of Athletics last Saturday in London.
Story

A successful new experiment on human embryo raises religious questions
News that scientists for the first time successfully edited genes in human embryos has created a stir.
Story

Public to Monument Avenue Commission:
Is statue removal off the table?
Can the Monument Avenue Commission recommend that the statues of Confederates be removed? That was the pressing question at the first full meeting Monday of the commission assembled by Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney to deal with the statues to vanquished traitors along the tree-lined thoroughfare.
Story

George Mason Elementary to stay open with repairs
George Mason Elementary School’s students, teachers and staff are staying put for the 2017-18 school year. The Richmond School Board voted Monday night to back Interim Superintendent Thomas Kranz’s recommendation to make repairs at the Church Hill building that is more than 100 years old.
Story

Tensions high over North Korea
Are we facing a nuclear war with North Korea? Amid all the issues people are facing in Richmond and elsewhere, President Trump pushed that question front and center this week.
Story

Charlottesville braces for alt-right rally over Confederate statues
As the City of Charlottesville braces for a potentially volatile confrontation between supporters at a “Unite the Right” rally organized by white supremacist Jason Kessler and counterprotesters, city officials and faith leaders are taking precautions. The rally is scheduled for noon to 5p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville’s downtown to protest the Charlottesville City Council’s decision in April to have the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee removed from the park.
Story

New VUU president
Dr. Hakim J. Lucas of Bethune-Cookman tapped as school’s 13th president
They’ve been rivals forever, but Virginia Union and Virginia State universities soon will have one thing in common — a first-time president with executive credentials honed at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. Twenty months after VSU hired Bethune-Cookman Provost Makola M. Abdullah as its 14th president, VUU announced that the Florida university’s chief fundraiser, Dr. Hakim J. Lucas, would become its 13th president, effective Sept. 1. Dr. Lucas’ appointment was announced Tuesday by Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, VUU’s board chairman, following a 14-month search to replace former President Claude G. Perkins, who stepped down in June 2016, first taking a sabbatical and then retiring.
Story
1 vendor? ‘This is ridiculous!’
Re “Only 1 black-owned food vendor at NFL training camp,” Free Press July 27-29 edition: Only one black food vendor at the NFL training camp in Richmond? This is ridiculous!
Story

Happy birthday to Medicaid
For more than a half century, Medicaid has been a shining example of the good and essential support government can provide those most in need across all ages. Through the years, we have been striving to live up to the promise of ensuring all children and young people a chance to reach healthy adulthood — laboriously and successfully expanding coverage to more children thousands by thousands, millions by millions, state by state.
Story
The latest stunt
We are living in dangerous times. The bigots in the White House have launched a federal Justice Department study of anti-white bias in college admissions. The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Trump administration plans to redirect the civil rights division’s efforts toward investigating and suing universities over admission policies believed to discriminate against white people. What????
Story

Pulitzer winner Tracy K. Smith named U.S. poet laureate
Tracy K. Smith, who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2012, has been named the nation’s 22nd poet laureate, and her recognition is being trumpeted in more than the usual places.
Story

MEAC outlook not too promising for NSU and Hampton
Hampton University and Norfolk State University must hope their conference’s crystal ball is broken. The MEAC preseason football predictions are in, and they aren’t too promising for Virginia’s entries in the historically black athletic league.