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Morrissey ahead in polls, but battles to keep law license
Attorney Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey appears to be riding high in his quest to become Richmond’s next mayor. But he also continues to be dogged by the sex scandal that landed him in jail in 2014 and a fresh effort to strip him of his law license. Mr. Morrissey, who was once the city’s chief prosecutor and now is a defense attorney, has emerged as the front-runner in the eight-way race to replace Mayor Dwight C. Jones, the first public poll of the race indicates.
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Power moves
Uncertainty reigns as President-elect Trump prepares to take office
President-elect Donald Trump has jangled nerves with his unexpected Election Day victory and his appointment of a firebrand arch conservative, former Richmonder Steve Bannon, as his chief strategist.
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Sessions seeks to revive federal anti-crime program that targeted African-Americans
New U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed to revive 1990s law-and-order strategies that pumped up the nation’s prison population to the highest level in the world to fight the recent surge in urban violence.
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Trump rally sinks under weights
Donald Trump was expected to pack the Richmond Coliseum when he visited the city last week. After all, he has packed arenas in other cities.
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In deep: IRS filings show Dominion Energy committed $20M over 20 years for naming rights for a new Coliseum
Dominion Energy is more entwined in the $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement and Downtown redevelopment proposal than previously disclosed.
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Teaching while black
We have read with disgust report after report from around the nation of incidents of white people calling the cops on African-Americans who are engaged in nothing more than the normal activities of daily living — barbecuing while black, going to the pool while black, waiting at Starbucks while black, going into your apartment building while black, vacationing at an airbnb while black, selling Girl Scout cookies while black and campaigning for public office while black.
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Former President Obama to speak at Sen. McCain’s funeral
Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush will deliver eulogies Saturday at the funeral of U.S. Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war during Vietnan and six-term Republican senator from Arizona whose reputation as a maverick is causing a stir even after his death.
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Evergreen Cemetery receives international recognition
Evergreen Cemetery, the historic burial ground of such Richmond greats as businesswoman Maggie L. Walker and crusading newspaper editor John Mitchell Jr. as well as thousands of other African-Americans, has just garnered international recognition.
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Tuesday’s primary elections feature Dance-Morrissey contest
Voters on the east side of Richmond will play a big role next week in what has become one of the state’s hottest primary contests.
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‘A heavy lift’: Religious black voters weigh Buttigieg’s bid
The Rev. Joe Darby, a South Carolina pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, pondered a sensitive question that he knew was on the mind of his congregation. Would black voters be able to reconcile their conservative religious doctrine with voting for a gay candidate for president?
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Goldman has until Aug. 30 to show signatures on Coliseum referendum were wrongly rejected
Paul Goldman is refusing to give up on his effort to allow Richmond voters to weigh in on the huge and costly plan to replace the Richmond Coliseum.
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Personality: Ari Abad
Spotlight on co-founder of Woman Life Freedom RVA
When Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22-year old Kurdish woman from the city of Saqqez in the Kurdistan Province, died Sept. 16, 2022, in police custody after being arrested for not properly wearing her hijab, the story resonated with Ari Abad. Hijab’s are headpieces worn by some Muslim women.
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Personality: Montae Lamar Taylor
Spotlight on interim president of Va. NAACP Youth/College Division
Montae Lamar Taylor, interim president of the Virginia NAACP Youth and College Division and a student at Old Dominion University, witnessed the clash between white nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville on Aug. 12 that outraged people around the nation and the world.
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Personality: Mollie S. Reinhart
Spotlight on founder of Befriend
With COVID-19 still a clear and present danger, building and maintaining human connection can be difficult. It’s a need that Mollie S. Reinhart and the orga- nization she founded, Befriend, seek to address.
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Influential African-Americans who died in 2022
They were literary giants, luminaries of stage and screen, and masters of their chosen professions – be it music, sports or fashion. Most are famous, a few are notorious. Yet they all profoundly impacted their fields of endeavor.
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Personality: Alexander L. Taylor Jr.
Spotlight on Military Retirees Club fundraising chair
In 2022, retired Army Col. Alexander L. Taylor Jr. committed himself to a different kind of military service. A trial attorney, Mr. Taylor joined Richmond’s Military Retirees Club during its 50th anniversary celebration in June.
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Personality: Brenda W. Johnson
Spotlight on president of Top Lady Clubbers
Brenda W. Johnson says the golf bug first bit her when a sorority sister from Delta Sigma Theta invited her to take up the sport when she lived in Michigan. “She says, ‘Let’s learn how to play golf,’ ” Mrs. Johnson recalls. “I looked at her as if she was crazy. But we moved ahead anyway and started lessons. We both had very young families at the time, so we didn’t play often.”
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Personality: Diana H. Garland
Spotlight on Richmond ambassador for USA Pickleball Assoc.
One of the fastest growing sports involving a court and a net is not tennis or badminton. It’s pickleball!
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Personality: Martinez Kelley
Spotlight on board chairman of Atlantic Outreach Group
More than a decade ago Martinez Kelley saw the beginnings of the Atlantic Outreach Group, which eventually led to his path in community service.
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Metro Richmond area will host numerous events for Black History Month
Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African-Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. The event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African-Americans.
