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GOP ‘needs to cease their tireless efforts to deny and restrict folks’ from voting
I must take umbrage with the Republican majority of the General Assembly and its leadership. Once again, this partisan body of legislators has shown that it is more concerned with wasting taxpayers’ dollars in a frivolous lawsuit against Gov. Terry McAuliffe over restoration of voting rights for more than 200,000 individuals rather than providing for the medical care of 400,000 families in the Commonwealth.
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Recommit to rid nuclear weapons
On May 27, President Obama became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, where, at the end of World War II, the United States became the first and only country to drop an atomic bomb. The president used the occasion to revive attention on the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
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Donations allow Armstrong High to ‘play ball’
The enthusiastic words “Play ball!” were heard on Armstrong High School’s campus this spring for the first time in many baseball seasons.
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MLK Middle not living up to his name
Richmond School Board member Shonda Harris-Muhammed is calling on her colleagues and Superintendent Dana T. Bedden to stem a tide of alleged violence and assaults at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in the East End. In a recent Free Press interview, Ms. Harris-Muhammed, who represents the 6th District where the school is located, said more than 10 teachers and staff members from the school contact her regularly about their fears for their safety and that of others.
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City goes dim on solar streetlights
Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has boasted many times during the last seven years about the solar streetlights that were installed in a West End neighborhood with taxpayers’ dollars.
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No $ to fix schools
The same rundown buildings that many Richmond students attend are likely to be the same buildings where a new crop of students will be attending class 10 years from now.
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Hundreds to benefit from payday loan settlement
Hundreds of low-income Richmond area residents will benefit from the settlement of a lawsuit challenging the lending practices of Advance ‘Til Payday, a company that charges up to 960 percent interest on loans of $100 to $300. The settlement will result in the dismissal of at least 50 garnishment actions and 800 judgments that Advance ‘Til Payday had obtained in court against borrowers who defaulted on the loans, according to Jay Speer of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which brought the suit.
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Richmond School Board adopts budget; cuts funds for academic improvement plan
The Richmond School Board adopted a $280 million operating budget that eliminates $4 million in numerous programs and services, but includes money for a plan to increase salaries to attract and retain teachers.
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Virginia’s voter ID law upheld by federal judge
A federal judge has upheld a 2013 Virginia law requiring prospective voters to show approved photo identification before being allowed to cast ballots.
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U.S. Supreme Court upholds newly redrawn congressional boundaries
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Virginia Republican efforts to overturn redrawn congressional district lines Monday, completing a sweep of this year’s major high court redistricting cases by Democrats and minorities. The justices ruled unanimously that three GOP House members challenging lines drawn by a federal district court lacked standing to bring the case because they could not show they were directly affected.
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Headed for self-destruction
Since the 1970s, black folks have resolutely refused to organize a national unity movement to promote and protect our cultural, economic, political, educational, health and legal interests in what is still basically a white supremacist/racist country. One of the most significant and very harmful results of our refusal is the too high rate of homicides in too many urban areas throughout the country.
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Boost the homefront first
America is literally falling apart. In Flint, children were poisoned by the lead contamination of the water. In Washington, the subway system is plagued by fires and delays. Arlington Memorial Bridge, which connects the North to the South, the Capitol to Arlington National Cemetery, may have to be closed soon. President Kennedy’s eternal flame may burn forever, but the bridge is on its last legs.
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Madonna, Stevie Wonder pay homage to Prince at Billboard Music Awards
Madonna paid homage to Prince by wearing his signature color and bringing another icon, Stevie Wonder, onstage to sing the classic “Purple Rain” at Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards. Sitting atop a purple throne, Madonna kicked off the tribute with a version of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which Prince wrote and Sinead O’Connor recorded. She was teary-eyed as she sang the song, videos and photos of Prince projected behind her.
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Bishop Tutu’s daughter quits priesthood after gay marriage
The daughter of Nobel laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa has given up her clergy credentials after marrying a Dutch woman. Mpho Tutu told South African media that because her church did not recognize her wedding, she could no longer serve in the country.
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Trump wooing evangelical Christians
Donald Trump is moving quickly to rally the evangelical base of the Republican Party as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee pivots toward a general election contest where the conservative Christian vote will be crucial to his chances for winning the White House.
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Federal authorities seek death penalty in S.C. church massacre
Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a man accused of killing the pastor and eight parishioners in a racially motivated attack at an African-American church in Charleston, S.C., last June, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday. “The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm compelled this decision,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
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MLB’s Jackie Bradley has Richmond roots
The hottest hitter in major league baseball has deep Richmond roots. Boston Red Sox centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who has an epic 29-game hitting streak, was born in Richmond in 1990, and played baseball in the Metropolitan Junior Baseball League.
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Personality: Glen Besa
Spotlight on retiring director of Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter
For the last 14 years, Glen Besa has been working to protect the environment as director of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club. Issue after issue, he has led the club’s more than 15,000 Virginia members and supporters in protecting and improving air and water quality, advancing clean and renewable energy sources, understanding climate change and holding politicians accountable on decisions impacting the environment.
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Republicans file suit to rescind rights restoration to 206,000 Virginians
Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is facing a court fight over his April 22 order restoring voting rights to 206,000 felons who have completed their sentences, including about 40,000 people convicted of violent offenses. In a case filed Monday, Republican leaders in the General Assembly and four voters have asked the Virginia Supreme Court to find the governor acted illegally and to order him to rescind the blanket restoration of rights that allowed the affected individuals to vote, serve on juries and run for office.
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Gordon to be among highest paid city officials
Reginald E. “Reggie” Gordon is looking forward to the new challenge of leading the Office of Community Wealth Building, City Hall’s anti-poverty initiative, after nine years of overseeing American Red Cross operations in the Richmond area and most of the state.
