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Former Richmonder Todd taking talents to NBA draft
Former Richmonder Isaiah Todd is among those hop- ing to hear his name called in this year’s NBA Draft.
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McClellan’s path to victory
By all accounts, Virginia State Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan has the makings of a formidable member of Congress. Arguably, she is the best qualified candidate to replace the late Rep. A. Donald McEachin, who died Nov. 28, 2022.
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Harold C. Glenn, also known as ‘Soul Santa,’ dies at age 90
During a time that it was rare for a Black person to play the familiar holiday role of Santa Claus anywhere in the country, that fact did not deter Harold Cecil Glenn.
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Jehovah’s Witnesses move annual conventions online for second year
For the second consecutive year, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have canceled their large, in-person annual three-day conventions in Richmond and around the globe because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Henrico schools to reopen virtually this fall
The Henrico School Board voted unanimously last week to reopen schools this fall using a full virtual learning format for the first semester.
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Green light shines on Diamond District
The huge plan to redevelop 67 acres of publicly owned land around The Diamond baseball stadium has a green light — despite questions about the soundness of its financial structure.
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Bus Rapid Transit
Can Richmond afford to maintain proposed expensive bus service?
Can Richmond afford to operate the proposed Bus Rapid Transit system that promises speedier travel and is described as the biggest revamp in public bus service in the city in at least 50 years?
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Trial in ‘Operation Varsity Blues’ college admissions scandal gets underway
The first full trial in the college admissions bribery scandal opened Monday with defense attorneys seeking to portray the two parents accused of buying their childrens’ way into school as victims of a con man who believed their payments were legitimate donations.
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$1.1M needed for new voting equipment
Richmond is hoping to borrow voting machines to use in the upcoming June 9 Democratic primaries. At the same time, the city voter registrar is seeking more than $1.1 million from the city government to buy new voting equipment to use in the November general election. The city is one of 30 localities facing an emergency situation involving voting machines. The upheaval is the result of Tuesday’s action by the state Board of Elections decertifying the WINVote touch-screen machines that the 30 localities have used in their elections for 10 years. The board’s action essentially bans the use of the WINVote machines in any future elections, including the June 9 primaries that will be held in Richmond and nine other localities.
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Pride Month marred by anti-LGBTQ+ bills, by Marc H. Morial
“We are powerful because we have survived, and that is what it is all about—survival and growth.” — Audre Lorde
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City Council green lights projects for 2nd Street, North Side, East End
New apartments finally could rise on the site of the former Eggleston Hotel at 2nd and Leigh streets in Jackson Ward. City Council gave a thumbs up Monday by voting 9-0 to allow the long-stalled project to receive a grant of $250,544 over seven years through the city’s Economic Development Authority. Developer Kelvin Hanson, who initially proposed Eggleston Plaza five years ago, said he hopes to have the $5.8 million project underway this summer.
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Plans shape up for developments in Gilpin Court area
The Stallings family is preparing to go even bigger on developing its property in Gilpin Court, which lies north of Interstate 95 in Downtown and is best known for the public housing community.
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VSU’s new homeowner program designed to make employees, community HAPI
Virginia State University’s new program that will invest thousands of dollars to help its employees become homeowners also is designed to assist the economies of Petersburg and the village of Ettrick, where the university is based, according to the university.
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What we can no longer permit, by Ben Jealous
Picture a mountain valley somewhere in the Alleghanies, Appalachians or Blue Ridge. It’s a safe bet what you just imagined didn’t include a metal pipeline more than 3 feet wide running down a steep ridge or crossing a pristine stream.
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Inflation, nutrition and reality, by Julianne Malveaux
Remember the parable of the blind men and the elephant? As each approached an elephant and tried to describe it, they came up with wildly disparate answers. One thought it a snake, another a tree, another a trunk. Because they were blind, they could not see the big picture; they described the part of the elephant they could touch.
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Commit to affordable health care, by Ray Curry
Laughter is the best medicine, says the Reader’s Digest version of America. But not when it’s the only medicine, responds the America that far too many have known and continue to know. Not when the United States alone is one of the world’s top 33 most developed countries that does not have a form of universal health care that covers all of its population.
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Henry L. Marsh III, a former state senator and Richmond’s first African- American mayor, is greeted on Aug. 27 by School Board member Cheryl L. …
Published on January 7, 2021
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Judge holds Giuliani liable in Georgia election workers’ defamation case and orders him to pay fees
A federal judge on Wednesday held Rudy Giuliani liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of fraud, entering a default judgment against the former New York mayor and ordering him to pay tens of thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees.
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Honeymoon over?
Plans afoot to limit mayor’s spending decisions
Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s honeymoon with Richmond City Council appears to be coming to an end. Asserting that the council needs greater control over spending, two of the newest members, Kim B. Gray, 2nd District, and Kristen N. Larson, 4th District, are planning to introduce legislation that would slap fiscal handcuffs on the mayor and his administration.
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Howard E. Fitts Sr., former president of Robinson-Harris & Co., dies at 95
For more than 40 years, Howard E. Fitts Sr. was a key figure in buying and selling property in Richmond.