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Dr. Henderson to retire as pastor of 102-year-old church
After 10 years in the pulpit, Dr. Morris G. Henderson is preparing to retire as pastor of Thirty-first Street Baptist Church. Last month, he notified the congregation that he would step down in December as the sixth pastor in the history of the 102-year-old church at 823 N. 31st St. in Church Hill.
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National Night Out to bring together police, community spirit
The rise in crime in Richmond has Marilyn Olds frustrated. “While you are locked up in your house, criminals are taking over our streets,” said the president of the Creighton Court Tenant Council. “The criminals need to see that we are united and we are not going to give up.”
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Only 1 black-owned food vendor at NFL training camp
When Washington’s professional football team converges on Richmond this week for its annual three weeks of preseason practice, Herman Baskerville and his team from Big Herm’s Kitchen on North 2nd Street will be there to greet everyone.
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Johnson named interim president of national NAACP
The national NAACP announced a new interim leader, along with a nationwide listening tour that will allow the organization’s leaders to talk to local members and figure out the future direction of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.
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Who’s running RPS superintendent search?
Who is controlling the future of Richmond Public Schools? In a school system with a high poverty, predominantly African-American student population, the new search committee charged with identifying superintendent candidates to lead RPS is being guided, in part, by some of the city’s most influential corporate personalities.
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GRTC slated to start CARE-on-demand service Aug.1
Roderyck Bullock is gaining a new transportation option. Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 1, the Richmonder will be able to use a new Uber-style, on-demand service that GRTC is putting in place to upgrade service to the elderly and disabled who rely on the company’s CARE paratransit service.
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HOME explains role in RRHA housing issue
Re “Prospect of home ownership escapes 70-year-old Randolph resident,” Free Press June 29-July 1 edition: The role of Housing Opportunities Made Equal in the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s scattered site process was to provide education and counseling. HOME is not a lender and does not provide financing.
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Grammy winner, Prince tour manager credits ‘Tiger Tom’ Mitchell with his start
Re “Broadcast legend ‘Tiger Tom’ Mitchell dies,” Free Press July 13-15 edition: When my family moved to Richmond from up North in 1959, I was a somewhat naïve, pimply-faced kid at a segregated, all-white junior high school, with a budding affection for black music.
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Health care fight
Republican efforts to dismantle health care in this nation are not over, despite the setback handed to the GOP leadership earlier this week. On Monday, a handful of their own U.S. Senate colleagues refused to go along with a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
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Maggie Walker’s awesomeness
We are still filled with pride and exuberance from the Maggie L. Walker statue dedication last Saturday in Downtown. There was a gloriousness about the day that Richmond rarely sees.
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Ph.D. rapper bringing hip-hop to U.Va. classroom
A.D. Carson isn’t concerned about those who don’t think hip-hop is a valid area of study in academia. Nor does the rapper who just earned his Ph.D. in May from Clemson University by presenting his dissertation as an album want people to think he’s the first to pursue hip-hop as an academic subject.
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U.S. appeals court strikes down prayer practice before government meeting
Government officials who lead Christian prayers to open meetings are violating the U.S. Constitution, a divided federal appeals court in Richmond has ruled.
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Personality: Antonio ‘Toby’ Mendez
Spotlight on sculptor of the Maggie L. Walker statue
Antonio “Toby” Mendez did not know much about Maggie L. Walker when he first began working on the statue that now stands at Adams and Broad streets in Downtown Richmond. But as the process of making the statue progressed, he learned more about her life and works.
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Wells Fargo to give $4M to HOME to expand black home ownership
Five years ago, banking giant Wells Fargo paid more than $200 million to settle documented government allegations that it deliberately charged African-American borrowers higher fees and interest rates on home loans.
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City Hall’s most feared man is out
For 11 years, he was considered the most feared man at Richmond City Hall as he led a staff of 14 in ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayers’ dollars. But that time is over for City Auditor Umesh Dalal.
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Resolving conflict focus in youth camp this Saturday
The Richmond Department of Juvenile Justice Services and the Capital District of the Virginia Juvenile Justice Association are sponsoring the W.E.B. Football and Life Skills Camp from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 22, at John Marshall High School, 4225 Old Brook Road, on North Side.
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Honoring greatness
Statue of Richmond pioneer Maggie L. Walker unveiled to cheers at gateway to Jackson Ward
Richmond residents and officials rejoiced Saturday morning as the long-awaited statue of hometown hero Maggie Lena Walker was unveiled.
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Faith group opposes Trump on voting data request
A national network of progressive faith organizations is rallying support for officials in Virginia and 43 other states and the District of Columbia who have rebuffed a Trump administration effort to collect detailed personal information on voters as part of a probe of alleged voter fraud.
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RRHA ‘missed a golden opportunity’ to help people become homeowners
Re “Prospect of home ownership escapes 70-year-old Randolph resident,” Free Press June 29-July 1 edition: I was appalled reading the Free Press front page story about Charlene Harris, the 70-year-old Randolph resident. Is the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s management becoming aloof and unfeeling towards the residents they serve? To think that the RRHA would move a 70-year-old lady from a house she has lived in and called home for 49 years and relocate her into a less desirable house and neighborhood is inconceivable.
