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Feet to the fire
Almost each day brings a new report of the death of another African-American at the hands of police.
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Marcus Hoosier gives VUU ‘a nice push’
Virginia Union University’s Panthers were a good basketball team without Marcus Hoosier. They’re an even better squad with him.
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VUU seeded No.1 for CIAA Tournament
Virginia Union University has drawn all “sevens” for this week’s CIAA Basketball Tournament. The Panthers must hope the 7 p.m. scheduled start times will spell long overdue good fortune. With a 22-6 overall record and a 14-2 record in the CIAA, Coach Jay Butler’s team is the No. 1 seed from the Northern Division and will open at 7 p.m. in Thursday’s quarterfinals. VUU’s first opponent will be the survivor of play-in games involving Elizabeth City State, Johnson C. Smith and Bowie State universities.
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Seed money stalled for city’s Whitcomb Court redevelopment
With the transformation of the Creighton Court public housing community underway, Richmond City Hall is seeking to change a second public housing community, Whitcomb Court, into a mixed-income community.
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National Urban League issues annual State of Black America report
Declaring that the state of black America is “locked out” of economic, social and educational equality, National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial said in his State of Black America Address last week that at least $1 trillion must be invested in America’s urban communities in order to bring a semblance of justice.
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Full-service grocery store planned for East End
A new full-service grocery store is headed to Church Hill, it was announced Tuesday. Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones, City Councilwoman Cynthia I. Newbille, 7th District, and T.K. Somanath, executive director of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, issued a joint statement about the planned market that is expected to bring about 25 full-time and 22 to 30 part-time jobs to this employment-starved area of the city once it opens — likely a year or more from now.
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‘Something bigger than myself’
“We’ve got a justice gap when too many black boys and girls pass through a pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails … Black men are about six times likelier to be in prison right now than white men.” Those words rang in my ears and lingered in the air like a heavy, heavy fog that morning. As I stared at President Obama, I kept repeating to myself, “Right now?”
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School bus plan raises safety concerns
Tara Spencer stands on her porch in the Creighton Court public housing community each school day and watches as her 12-year-old daughter, Japria, waits about 20 yards down the street to catch the bus to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School where she is a sixth-grader.
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U.S. Supreme Court rejects conservative challenge in voting rights case
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the method all states use to draw their legislative districts, rejecting a conservative challenge that could have given more clout to white, rural voters.
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VUU president to retire
After seven years and five months leading Virginia Union University and having a campus building named in his honor, Dr. Claude G. Perkins is ready to retire.
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Lady Panthers’ heartbreaker
In her only basketball season for Virginia Union University, Kiana Johnson scored a jaw-dropping 905 points. If she somehow could have added points 906 or perhaps 907, the Panthers might still be playing.
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60 years late
Richmond woman honored by college after being denied admission in 1956
As a young black girl in Stafford County, Va., in the 1950s, Gladys White Jordan saw up close how privilege was largely determined by skin color.
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Petersburg shake-up nets new chief operating officer
Amid crumbling finances, the City of Petersburg has shaken up its government leadership. After firing City Manager William E. Johnson III last week, the seven-member Petersburg City Council handed executive authority to three of its members, including Mayor W. Howard Myers, Ward 5, the city’s titular leader. The shuffle is the City Council’s latest effort to deal with millions of dollars in unpaid bills, a multimillion-dollar revenue shortfall and a malfunctioning water billing system.
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Police reform is major component of VLBC’s agenda for special General Assembly session
A bevy of proposals that could make it easier to sue police for using excess force, create civilian oversight of police complaints and simplify the process of expunging criminal records are floating into a special session of the General Assembly that is scheduled to open Tuesday, Aug. 18.
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Retired Richmond Police Maj. Wille C Jones, who battled racism within the department, dies at 87
Retired Police Maj. Wille C Jones was a leader in seeking to end ingrained racial bigotry in the Richmond Police Department.
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The Trump Show
We are disgusted by the rhetoric, lies and blatant disregard for the American people occurring during this week’s “Trump Show” that replaced what should have been a Republican National Convention.
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At 16, Vijay ‘J.J.’ Powell claims first of many golf titles to come
Vijay “J.J.” Powell got his golfing start watch- ing Tiger Woods’ PGA tour videos at home.
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Young people advocate for bigger goals and lasting change
Downtown echoed with the sound of cheers last Saturday as more than a hundred young people and their families gathered for the RVA Youth Rally at the Maggie L. Walker statue and shared their ideas for building a better future.
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Restore the Voting Rights Act, by Marc H. Morial
“Although the court did not deny that voter discrimination still exists, it gutted the most powerful tool this nation has ever had to stop discriminatory voting practices from becoming law. Those justices were never beaten or jailed for trying to register to vote. They have no friends who gave their lives for the right to vote. I want to say to them, ‘Come and walk in my shoes.’” — Congressman John Lewis reacting to the U.S Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder deci- sion in 2013.
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New Police Chief Gerald Smith greeted with eventful first day
For Gerald M. Smith, the first day as Richmond’s new police chief was anything but routine.