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Halloween, Hype and Herschel
Halloween is just around the corner but many among us have been up to the same old tricks all year long, particularly in terms of politics.
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VUU Panthers ready for CIAA Tournament in Baltimore
The Virginia Union University Panthers have taken care of important basketball business in Pennsylvania. The next stops on the team’s planned hoops itinerary are North Carolina, then Maryland and then, perhaps, the NCAA Tournament at points now unknown. Following a crucial 79- 71 victory last Saturday at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Coach Jay Butler’s squad has taken the pole position, steering into next week’s CIAA Tourna- ment in Baltimore. VUU will finish the regular season Saturday, Feb. 19, at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., before heading for the tournament in Baltimore, which starts Tuesday, Feb. 22. If the Panthers can hold on to the top spot in the CIAA Northern Division, their likely quarter final tournament opener would be Thursday, Feb. 24, at Royal Farms Arena. The CIAA Tournament finals are set for Saturday, Feb. 26. ESPN-Plus and ESPN-U will provide TV coverage throughout the week. VUU’s victory at Lincoln University put distance between the Panthers and the runner- up Lincoln Lions for the Northern Division top seed. VUU forward Robert Osborne received no mention in the preseason All-CIAA voting. But he’s due for much more recognition when the more important postseason All-CIAA team is announced next week. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound junior powerhouse out of Hermitage High School in Henrico County was at his burly best at Lincoln, hitting 12 of 20 field goals and scoring 26 points. Jordan Peebles, the pogo-stick senior for- ward from Emporia, added 19 points and nine rebounds at Lincoln and is always a best-bet for the highlight reels. In only 20.5 minutes per game, Osborne leads the balanced Panthers in scoring (12.6 points per game), field goal percentage (.573)
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CRT – Critical race truth
As Black History Month 2022 wraps up, we again call our readers’ attention to the growing national assaults on teaching and learning about America’s past and the racist policies and practices that have brought our city, state and nation to where it is today – with gaps in education, health, wealth, employment, homeownership and justice that disproportionately impact Black people and people of color.
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Henrietta Lacks’ family settles lawsuit with biotech company
More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells without her knowledge, a lawyer for her descendants said they have reached a settlement with a biotechnology company that they accused of reaping billions of dollars from a racist medical system.
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UPAL, Sa’ad El-Amin partnership seeks to decrease high levels of lead in soil, water
‘Our goal is to prevent thousands of children from experiencing lead poisoning like those in Flint’
To increase awareness of lead hazards in water and implore the City of Richmond to support a full retrofit of lead service lines, United Parents Against Lead (UPAL) on July 15 joined forces with 1619 Inc., headed by former Richmond Councilman, Sa’ad El-Amin.
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All is forgiven? by Charlene Crowell
When the Biden Administration announced its latest initiative to reduce the nation’s unsustainable trillion dollar student debt, both borrowers and advocates rejoiced. In the coming weeks an estimated 804,000 student loan borrowers will together receive $39 billion in federal loan debt cancellations.
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City’s plan leaves fewer people with shelter this winter
City Hall is ending its decades-old effort to prevent homeless people from freezing to death when temperatures plunge.
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Closing of area shelters leave many without shelter
Joe Barrett is back to living on the street. Left paralyzed on his left side by a stroke, the 62-year-old Richmond native is among more than 130 homeless people who lost their shelter beds Saturday.
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A Supreme surprise: How the Right rescued the Voting Rights Act, by Clarence Page
Although largely upstaged by former President Donald Trump’s federal indictment, the Supreme Court’s voting rights decision earlier this month is likely to have a game-changing impact for many years to come.
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Report card
Funding, other details still unclear a year after Fox Elementary fire
It will take at least two more years to reopen historic William Fox Elementary School in The Fan — but only if nearly $26 million is available to make it happen.
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Lee statue removed in U.S. Capitol; injunction remains keeping Monument Avenue statue
The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed with ease Monday from the U.S. Capitol, but the towering statue of the slavery-defending general will remain on Monument Avenue for now, courtesy of a Virginia Supreme Court ruling.
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Damon Hewitt named new executive director of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The executive committee of the Washington, D.C.-based Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has announced that veteran civil rights attorney and policy expert Damon Hewitt will serve as the organization’s next president and executive director.
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Biles makes history in return to competition at U.S. Classic
Time on her hands and a world-class gym at her disposal after the 2020 Olympics were postponed, Simone Biles started experimenting almost as a way to stave off the monotony of training.
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As death penalty opponent celebrates, vigilance continues
For Dale Brumfield, the likely abolition of the death penalty in Virginia is “a revolution in criminal justice reform.”
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NCAA: GOING TO THE BIG DANCE: Liberty University Flames player Darius McGhee rises to occasion
When the Liberty University Flames jump for joy, no one jumps higher than Darius McGhee.
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After video backlash, NCAA addresses inequities at women’s and men’s tournaments
The NCAA’s inequities in women’s sports are showing. And the NCAA officially, embarrassed mightily on social media, moved quickly to try to clean up the problems.
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VMI appoints Black interim superintendent amid shakeup
The Virginia Military Institute has selected a retired U.S. Army major general to serve as its interim superintendent amid a leadership shakeup that followed a newspaper article describing allegations of persistent racism at the school.
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South Side churches merge, with Pastor Alexander ‘Jay’ Patrick as new head
Celebration Church and Outreach Center, formerly the Richmond Outreach Center, ap- pears to have merged with the nearby Liberation Church, with Pastor Alexander “Jay” Patrick of Liberation named the pastor of the newly merged church.
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Who will be NBA Rookie of the Year?
LaMelo Ball did everything and more that could have been expected of him — everything, that is, but stay healthy.

