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Washington Nats manager Dusty Baker recalls his ‘heckuva good time’ in Richmond
It has been 45 years since he last swung a bat at the former Parker Field, but Dusty Baker remembers Richmond. Graciously, Baker, the current Washington Nationals manager, granted an interview to the Free Press on May 28, prior to the Nats’ home game with St. Louis.
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City budget deficit pegged at $4.1M
The City of Richmond is facing a $4.1 million deficit and likely will have to dip into savings to avoid being in the red when the books close June 30 on the current 2015-16 fiscal year. That’s according to Lenora Reid, the city’s chief financial officer.
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Cruising // Under the watchful eye of her father, Tommy Davis, young Luci cruises on her bicycle along the 500 block of South Davis Avenue …
Published on June 3, 2016
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GOP ‘needs to cease their tireless efforts to deny and restrict folks’ from voting
I must take umbrage with the Republican majority of the General Assembly and its leadership. Once again, this partisan body of legislators has shown that it is more concerned with wasting taxpayers’ dollars in a frivolous lawsuit against Gov. Terry McAuliffe over restoration of voting rights for more than 200,000 individuals rather than providing for the medical care of 400,000 families in the Commonwealth.
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Death penalty too good for Roof
Dylann Roof, the unrepentant racist who killed nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., is — no question — a monster. He prayed with people before reciting racist cants and annihilating people. After his heinous acts, it was discovered that he was a rabid racist who had wrapped himself in the Confederate flag. Does he deserve the death penalty? No.
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Recommit to rid nuclear weapons
On May 27, President Obama became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, where, at the end of World War II, the United States became the first and only country to drop an atomic bomb. The president used the occasion to revive attention on the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
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Donations allow Armstrong High to ‘play ball’
The enthusiastic words “Play ball!” were heard on Armstrong High School’s campus this spring for the first time in many baseball seasons.
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MLK Middle not living up to his name
Richmond School Board member Shonda Harris-Muhammed is calling on her colleagues and Superintendent Dana T. Bedden to stem a tide of alleged violence and assaults at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in the East End. In a recent Free Press interview, Ms. Harris-Muhammed, who represents the 6th District where the school is located, said more than 10 teachers and staff members from the school contact her regularly about their fears for their safety and that of others.
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City goes dim on solar streetlights
Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has boasted many times during the last seven years about the solar streetlights that were installed in a West End neighborhood with taxpayers’ dollars.
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No $ to fix schools
The same rundown buildings that many Richmond students attend are likely to be the same buildings where a new crop of students will be attending class 10 years from now.
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Hundreds to benefit from payday loan settlement
Hundreds of low-income Richmond area residents will benefit from the settlement of a lawsuit challenging the lending practices of Advance ‘Til Payday, a company that charges up to 960 percent interest on loans of $100 to $300. The settlement will result in the dismissal of at least 50 garnishment actions and 800 judgments that Advance ‘Til Payday had obtained in court against borrowers who defaulted on the loans, according to Jay Speer of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which brought the suit.
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Richmond School Board adopts budget; cuts funds for academic improvement plan
The Richmond School Board adopted a $280 million operating budget that eliminates $4 million in numerous programs and services, but includes money for a plan to increase salaries to attract and retain teachers.
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Virginia’s voter ID law upheld by federal judge
A federal judge has upheld a 2013 Virginia law requiring prospective voters to show approved photo identification before being allowed to cast ballots.
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U.S. Supreme Court upholds newly redrawn congressional boundaries
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Virginia Republican efforts to overturn redrawn congressional district lines Monday, completing a sweep of this year’s major high court redistricting cases by Democrats and minorities. The justices ruled unanimously that three GOP House members challenging lines drawn by a federal district court lacked standing to bring the case because they could not show they were directly affected.
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Headed for self-destruction
Since the 1970s, black folks have resolutely refused to organize a national unity movement to promote and protect our cultural, economic, political, educational, health and legal interests in what is still basically a white supremacist/racist country. One of the most significant and very harmful results of our refusal is the too high rate of homicides in too many urban areas throughout the country.
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Boost the homefront first
America is literally falling apart. In Flint, children were poisoned by the lead contamination of the water. In Washington, the subway system is plagued by fires and delays. Arlington Memorial Bridge, which connects the North to the South, the Capitol to Arlington National Cemetery, may have to be closed soon. President Kennedy’s eternal flame may burn forever, but the bridge is on its last legs.
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Oprah to star in Henrietta Lacks story
Oprah Winfrey will star in an HBO movie based on the 2010 nonfiction book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot.
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Madonna, Stevie Wonder pay homage to Prince at Billboard Music Awards
Madonna paid homage to Prince by wearing his signature color and bringing another icon, Stevie Wonder, onstage to sing the classic “Purple Rain” at Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards. Sitting atop a purple throne, Madonna kicked off the tribute with a version of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” which Prince wrote and Sinead O’Connor recorded. She was teary-eyed as she sang the song, videos and photos of Prince projected behind her.
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Bishop Tutu’s daughter quits priesthood after gay marriage
The daughter of Nobel laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa has given up her clergy credentials after marrying a Dutch woman. Mpho Tutu told South African media that because her church did not recognize her wedding, she could no longer serve in the country.
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Trump wooing evangelical Christians
Donald Trump is moving quickly to rally the evangelical base of the Republican Party as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee pivots toward a general election contest where the conservative Christian vote will be crucial to his chances for winning the White House.
