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‘Walk Through Fire’
Sheila Johnson’s memoir explores love, loss and triumph
For four days and three nights in mid-August, Sheila Crump Johnson, cofounder of Black Entertainment Television and CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, hosted hundreds of guests at her 340-acre Salamander Resort and Spa near Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.
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Biased test kept thousands of Black people from getting a kidney transplant, but it's finally changing
Jazmin Evans had been waiting for a new kidney for four years when her hospital revealed shocking news: She should have been put on the transplant list in 2015 instead of 2019 — and a racially biased organ test was to blame.
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Elkhardt’s closing signals harsh reality for mayor, City Council
Elkhardt Middle School is a fresh reminder of the increasingly shabby and dilapidated condition of most of Richmond’s school buildings — a condition that the mayor’s office and City Council have yet to seriously address despite repeated reports and warnings in recent years. Set to be shut down this Thursday night, with students, teachers and staff moving 10 miles north across the James River into the vacant Clark Springs Elementary building, Elkhardt on South Side reflects the stark reality the city is facing — the need to provide big money to keep Richmond’s school buildings usable, a reality that no longer can be papered over with rosy talk about bike races, baseball stadiums and football training camps.
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A resurrection story
Richmond Christian Center climbing back from bankruptcy with entrepreneurial efforts
Richmond Christian Center climbing back from bankruptcy with entrepreneurial efforts
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Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, ‘conscience of the world,’ dies at 87
Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner whose memories of persecution and teachings on tolerance made him one of the world’s most revered moral voices, has died at 87. “My husband was a fighter,” Marion Wiesel said in a statement. “He fought for the memory of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and he fought for Israel. He waged countless battles for innocent victims regardless of ethnicity or creed.”
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That’s the ticket
Hillary Clinton shatters glass ceiling with historic presidential nod
Hillary Rodham Clinton swept into history Tuesday as Democrats, eager to present a face of unity to a national television audience, chose her to be the party’s standard-bearer in the Nov. 8 presidential election.
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Out like Flynn
Concerns grow amid reports that Trump campaign aides were in frequent contact with Russian officials before Nov. 8 election
President Trump is facing a deepening crisis over the relationship between his aides and Russia, with senior Republicans vowing on Wednesday to get to the bottom of the matter and Democrats demanding an independent probe.
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Lead poisoning endangers Richmond children, too
Amid the public outcry over the lead-contaminated public water supply in Flint, Mich., it is easy to forget that lead poisoning remains a threat to children across the country — even in Richmond. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 500,000 young children nationally suffer from lead poisoning that can affect development of their mental capacity, their bones and their organs.
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New 'RVA Illuminates' to kick off holiday season Dec. 6 at Kanawha Plaza
It’s the most wonderful and magical time of the year, as dazzling and brightly colored displays and holiday festivities take over the city.
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Undefeated, unforgettable
Maggie Walker 1975 football team opted to play annual Armstrong-Walker Classic at Thanksgiving rather than VHSL playoffs
The 1975 Maggie L. Walker High School football team was undefeated and unforgettable.
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Ready to reopen
Va. businesses, churches and some restaurants are poised to open on Friday under state guidelines despite VLBC's opposition
Editor's Note: In a major change that took place after publication of the May 14-16 edition of the Free Press, businesses in the city of Richmond will not reopen on Friday, May 15. At the request of Mayor Levar M. Stoney, Gov. Ralph S. Northam issued a new executive order extending business closures in Richmond until at least Thursday, May 28. The order, released about 5:15 p.m. Thursday, May 14, also included Accomack County on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, which also requested to delay openings. In the Richmond area, businesses in Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover counties, however, can reopen Friday under Phase One of the governor’s guidelines. Government leaders in those three counties submitted a letter to Gov. Northam rejecting any delay in opening.
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Dementia and religion: Inside a church’s Alzheimer’s support group
They sat in a circle in a room usually used by high schoolers and talked about the people they loved who no longer recognized them or who had died forgetting the names of family caregivers in their last days.
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VSU’s legacy of musical excellence
Earlier this year it was announced that Virginia State University was awarded the prestigious All-Steinway School designation — a recognition of their commitment to providing only pianos from the Steinway & Sons company for students and faculty to use.
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Hospital Chaplain J.S. Park’s new book explores grief
“The biggest myth I see is that grief is a poison to get past”
“Everything happens for a reason” might be one of the least helpful things you can say to someone who just lost a loved one, according to veteran hospital Chaplain J.S. Park.
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Va. pioneer to receive Medal of Freedom
97-year-old NASA mathematician headed to White House for highest civilian honor
Former NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson could not have calculated her trajectory to the White House. The 97-year-old Newport News resident will be among 17 Americans receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — at the White House on Tuesday, Nov. 24.
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Auschwitz survivors warn of rising anti-Semitism 75 years after camp's liberation
Survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp prayed and wept as they marked the 75th anniversary of its liberation, returning Monday to the place where they lost entire families and warning about the ominous growth of anti-Semitism and hatred in the world.
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Personality: Ollie Harvey
Spotlight on founder of The H.O.P.E. Organization
It has been more than 20 years since Ollie Harvey began her work to ensure no one in Virginia goes hungry, and the experience has been extensive, occasionally challenging and life-affirming.
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New book revisits shameful transplant practice of past
For centuries, medical doctors have been guided by ethical standards, pledging no intentional harm to patients. But lapses or disturbing, questionable, on-the-spot decisions and errors in judgment by physicians occur, undermining public confidence in health care providers and prodding the nation’s medical academy to reassess its standards.
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Katherine G. Johnson, trailblazing NASA mathematician immortalized in the film 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 101
Katherine G. Johnson, the mathematical genius whose calculations took her from a behind-the-scenes job in a segregated NASA as portrayed in the film “Hidden Figures” to a key role in sending humans to the moon, died on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, at her residence at an assisted living facility in Newport News.
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Personality: Kimberly Pleasants
Spotlight on board president of Richmond Story House
Richmond is rife with historical importance for the state, country and the world, but not all that history is treated with equal care and consideration. For all the lives and legacies that have fallen or risk falling between the cracks of a changing capital, the Richmond Story House seeks to uncover and elevate those stories.
