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Thousands turn out for Women’s March RVA
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Carytown last Saturday for the second annual Women’s March, recalling demonstrations a year ago when hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington and cities around the nation and the world to protest President Trump’s inauguration and the GOP’s stance on issues such as women’s rights and immigration. Some called the 2017 event the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.
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Guns and churches: Local pastors caught between welcoming strangers, congregants’ fears
Pastor Preston R. Gainer is deeply perturbed. As violence dominates local and national headlines, he now is considering whether to arm himself and members of his East End church’s safety team as part of St. James United Holy Church’s security precautions.
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Down again: Student achievement drops again for Richmond Public Schools, according to 2018-19 SOL test results
Richmond Public Schools student achievement continues to decline, according to state Standards of Learning test results released this week by the Virginia Department of Education.
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Exonerated Five member stresses importance of knowing your rights in face of police questioning
As the credits rolled, the audience of more than 200 people fell silent with astonishment and anger after viewing “The Central Park Five,” a documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon about the 1989 case in which four African-American teens and a Puerto Rican teen were wrongfully convicted in the brutal assault and rape of a white investment banker as she jogged in New York’s Central Park.
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RPS officials fail to explain faulty, fluctuating graduation figures
There has been a sudden surge in the number of students graduating from Richmond Public Schools — and not just from Armstrong High School. RPS officials this week are reporting that 963 seniors received their diplomas during recent graduation ceremonies from the city’s nine high schools.
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3 from U.Va. picked in NBA draft
Call them The Three Basketeers. The swashbuckling trio of De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy led the University of Virginia to the NCAA Tournament basketball title.
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ELECTION 2020: 5 candidates for Richmond mayor share vision
I decided to run for election for Richmond mayor because:
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Personality: James E. ‘J.J.’ Minor III
When James E. “J.J.” Minor III, the newly installed president of the Richmond Branch NAACP, was pulled over while driving more than 15 years ago, he never imagined he’d be in fear for his own life.
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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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Frustration growing
City Council offers amendments to add millions of dollars to RPS while School Board approves cost-cutting measures
Community members are becoming increasingly angry and concerned about the future of Richmond Public Schools, especially after the Richmond School Board voted Monday to cut costs by shutting down two North Side buildings and implementing a new bus transportation system in the fall of 2016 that will make it more difficult for some students to get to their schools.
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Personality: Kelly King Horne
Spotlight on homeless advocate and executive director of Homeward
For Kelly King Horne, the coronavirus pandemic is just the latest challenge added to the stack that she deals with daily. As executive director of Homeward, the 22-year-old nonprofit planning and coordinating group for homeless services in the Richmond area, Ms. Horne is on the front line of community response to finding shelter and new housing for individuals and families who have lost theirs.
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President Barack Obama
His story is the American story — values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.
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City Council rejects turning over design funding for new George Wythe High
Will a new George Wythe High School ever get built?
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Shelter in place?
Homeless advocacy group says many unaware of warm housing when temperatures drop
As temperatures plunged into the 30s this week as fore- cast, a reluctant City Hall at the last minute grudgingly opened two overnight shelters – one for 50 single men and one for 50 single women, but none for those with children. Mayor Levar M. Stoney and his administration quietly sent email notices to some home- less groups about opening, but refused to issue any public statement in an apparent bid to reduce demand — follow- ing the script from the Sept. 30 tropical storm when only 12 homeless people managed to find the unannounced city shelter to get out of the heavy downpour. As was the case Sept. 30, most people who needed a warm place never got the word, ac- cording to a homeless advocacy organization, which decried the fact the city waited until 6 p.m. to announce the two shelters had opened an hour earlier. The shelters at United Na- tions Church, 214 Cowardin Ave. in South Side, and at the
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Black female WWII unit to be recognized with Congressional Gold Medal
The only all-female, Black unit to serve in Europe during World War II will be honored with the Congressional Gold Medal.
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Combating PTSD during, after military career
Sgt. Maj. Keith L. Craig, who was raised in Yantley, Ala., joined the Army in August 1984 at age 17.
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Reflections on freedom for Juneteenth, by Robin Stone
The official recognition of the day the last enslaved people in the United States learned of their freedom, known as Juneteenth, was a long time coming. It wasn’t until 2021 — nearly 160 years after slavery ended — that the president signed a proclamation making Juneteenth a federal holiday.
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Conducting the future: Burrs holds the baton at UR, Petersburg
Naima Burrs grew up surrounded by music. The Richmond native’s mother is renowned soprano Lisa Edwards-Burrs. Her father, Stacy L. Burrs, is a former CEO of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center, a former director of Venture Richmond and a jazz aficionado.