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Goldman prepares to sue over casino
In mid-June, Richmond City Council voted 8-1 to select RVA Entertainment Holdings LLC as its preferred choice to operate a resort casino in the city — setting the stage for a second attempt to win city voter support for a gambling operation that was defeated two years ago. However, political strategist Paul Goldman believes the no-bid award to the company could violate a provision of the state constitution as well as the Virginia Public Procurement Act. He said he is preparing a lawsuit to test whether the city was required to go through a bidding process before making what amounts to a perpetual right for that company to operate the casino.
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A ‘woke’ military? Don’t forget the messy race relations that got us here, by Clarence Page
Recent Republican moves to limit diversity training and transgender rights and other hot button controversies stemming from the annual defense authorization bill remind me of my own days in uniform back when some of those diversity policies were being created.
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A 6-year-old said ‘I did it’ after shooting his teacher at Virginia school, warrants say
In the moments after a 6-year-old shot his teacher in a Virginia classroom last January, the boy made statements, including “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I did it. I got my mom’s gun last night,” according to recently unsealed police search warrants.
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Recovery and reflection
Hawaii works to identify wildfire’s 107 dead
Hawaii Hawaii officials worked painstakingly to identify the 107 people confirmed killed in wildfires that ravaged Maui and expected to release the first names Tuesday, even as teams intensified the search for more dead in neighborhoods reduced to ash.
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Slavery was good?
Africans were so lucky to be captured, shipped in torturous conditions away from their homeland, stripped of their languages, kinship, religion and culture and bound into perpetual servitude in America so that they could learn “useful skills.” Pretty preposterous, right? Not for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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Dr. Willie Woodson, minister and community activist, succumbs at 72
Dr. Willie Woodson wore multiple hats as a Richmond faith leader.
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Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in, becomes 1st Black woman on Supreme Court
Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in to the Supreme Court on Thursday, June 30, shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.
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Indoor basketball courts or outdoor courts? Why not both?
The advantages of indoor and outdoor basketball courts are fairly obvious.
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Abortion in Virginia must be protected
If you are a Black or Brown woman who is pregnant, living in Virginia, and want the right to become a parent, congratulations.
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Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher indicted by grand jury
A grand jury has indicted the mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher on charges of child neglect and failing to secure her handgun in the family’s home, a prosecutor said Monday.
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High 5!
Denver Nuggets win first NBA title over Miami Heat in Game 5
This is no joke. The Denver Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokic, aka “The Joker,” are NBA champs for the first time since entering the league 47 years ago.
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Juneteenth events
One of the few lasting changes from the moment of “racial reckoning” that America experienced after the murder of Minnesota resident George Floyd was the federal recognition of Juneteenth as a national holiday in 2021.
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Charles Willis, the ‘first responder to first responders’, continues decades of community advocacy
On Tuesday, June 6, Charles Willis was on Cowardin Avenue going to get dinner when he saw police cars racing across the Lee Bridge toward Virginia Commonwealth University’s campus. He knew something was wrong.
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Housing is a vaccine for poverty, by Mayor Levar Stoney
When I was growing up in Hampton Roads, we lived paycheck to paycheck. My father regularly stated we were just one missed paycheck, one missed rent payment from potentially losing our home.
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The secret is out about Trinity’s football dominance
It all started about four years ago. First one standout football player enrolled at Trinity Episcopal School. Then another ... and another ...
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Black resistance to ignorance, by Julianne Malveaux
Each year the Association for the Study of African American Life and History sets a theme for Black History Month. This year the theme is Black Resistance. It is appropriate for a time such as this because it reflects the work we must do in a climate where there has been active retrenchment of our rights.
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Latest COVID-19 vaccine ‘a great opportunity’
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine has come to Virginia, with Richmond and Henrico officials marking the arrival with a news conference Wednesday morning following the first vaccinations.
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We were medical guinea pigs, by Julianne Malveaux
People who don’t know Black history have probably heard more about the Tuskegee syphilis “experiment” in the last month than they have in their whole lives.
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Mask up, vax up
Count us in when it comes to supporting the COVID-19 vaccine mandates issued last week by Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney and Gov. Ralph S. Northam.
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Protect democracy: Fix U.S. Supreme Court, by Ben Jealous
It has been six months since the Biden-Harris administration began, ushering in an era of hope after four bitter and disheartening years. We have much to celebrate.