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Huguenot soccer team has a world of talent
It is fitting Huso Hasanovic teaches world geography at Huguenot High School. His global awareness ties in nicely with his other Huguenot duty — coaching Falcons soccer. With an international cast of athletes, Hasanovic, a native of Bosnia, has guided his fledgling program to championship caliber in just two seasons.
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Legalized torture of prisoners
Freddie Gray is neither the first nor will he be the last person to die in police custody. According to a 2011 report from the U.S. Department of Justice, 4,813 people died in police custody between 2003 and 2009 (the most recent data, reported in 2011). However, not every state reports their data, so the number is probably higher. A new report is scheduled to be released this year or next.
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Jay Z, Beyoncé bailed out Baltimore protesters
Power couple Jay Z and Beyoncé have privately donated tens of thousands of dollars to help bail out of jail demonstrators arrested while protesting police brutality in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., according to the hip-hop mogul’s ghost writer. Activist Dream Hampton, who worked with Jay Z on his 2010 autobiography “Decoded,” also said the couple wrote a “huge check” to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
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$1M upgrade at Main Library in Downtown
Every day, dozens of people flood into the Main Library in Downtown to use public computers. They come to check emails, seek employment, do research and handle other activities in the online world, including paying bills and applying for visas.
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Attention deficit?
Busy school superintendent wants to teach college course
Busy school superintendent wants to teach college course
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5th Street traffic detour expected through mid-August
A portion of North 5th Street was closed Wednesday to start the second phase of work on the bridges beside the Richmond Coliseum.
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Mobile homes must meet city code
Re “Mobile home residents allege city’s actions discriminatory in HUD complaint,” May 7-9 edition:
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The criminalization of poverty
The recent U.S. Department of Justice report on police and court practices in Ferguson, Mo., put a much needed spotlight on how a predatory system of enforcement of minor misdemeanors and compounding fines can trap low-income people in a never-ending cycle of debt, poverty and jail. This included outrageous fines for minor infractions, such as failing to show proof of insurance and letting grass and weeds in a yard get too high. In one case, a woman who parked her car illegally in 2007 and couldn’t pay the initial $151 fee has since been arrested twice, spent six days in jail, paid $550 to a city court and, as of 2014, still owed the city $541 in fines, all as a result of the unpaid parking ticket. The Department of Justice found each year Ferguson set targets for the police and courts to generate more and more money from municipal fines. And Ferguson isn’t alone. The criminalization of poverty is a growing trend in states and localities across the country.
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First Lady tells Tuskegee to ‘rise above’
I hope people who attended Tuskegee University’s commencement May 9 got First Lady Michelle Obama’s message. I hope they paid more attention to what she said than how some news media organizations portrayed the First Lady’s speech to graduates of the historically black Alabama school. I don’t want them to think People magazine got it right when it ran as the headline her dismay over being pictured as a fist-pumping Black Panther on a cover of The New Yorker in 2008. It didn’t. And neither did CNN, which put this headline on its report of that speech: “Michelle Obama says she was held to different standard in ’08 campaign due to her race.” What she told Tuskegee’s graduates was much more profound.
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First Lady connects
First Lady Michelle Obama delivered an authentic, unfeigned and inspiring message to graduates at Tuskegee University’s commencement on May 9. Here are excerpts:
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Judge Spencer to VUU grads: Don’t let others deter you
“Make your haters your motivators.” That was the message Judge James R. Spencer delivered to 320 graduates at Virginia Union University’s commencement Saturday at Hovey Field. Judge Spencer, a senior U.S. District Court judge who presided over the recent corruption trials of former Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, spoke of his own tribulations of overcoming low expectations from others to reach his position on the bench.
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President calls on religious groups to speak out on poverty
The African-American boy who grew up with an absent father, who started his work life as a community organizer on the payroll of a Catholic agency and who later became U.S. president had plenty to say about poverty in our “winner-take-all” economy. President Obama spoke Tuesday of “ladders of opportunity” once denied to black people and now being dismantled for poor white people as their difficult lives get that much more difficult: “It’s hard being poor. It’s time-consuming. It’s stressful.”
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VUU’s Hamilton slugs her way to All-CIAA
Taylor Hamilton swings a powerful bat in the middle of Virginia Union University’s softball lineup. The junior infielder/outfielder from Willingboro, N.J., slugged 10 homers, drove in 40 runs and batted .435 this past spring, leading VUU to a 16-11 record. Her slugging percentage was a robust .848. Hamilton made All-CIAA and the All-CIAA Tournament Team.
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Personality: Sixto M. Cancel
Spotlight on White House ‘Champion of Change’ honoree
Virginia Commonwealth University senior Sixto Martin Cancel is headed to the White House next week, where he will be recognized for making a difference in the community. He is one of 12 former foster youths from around the nation who will be saluted Tuesday, May 19, as a “Champion of Change.”
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No charges filed against Wisconsin police officer in teen’s death
A Wisconsin police officer who fatally shot an unarmed biracial teenager in March, prompting several days of peaceful protests, will not be charged, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Officer Matt Kenny used justified lethal force in the March 6 shooting of Tony Robinson, 19, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said.
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Girl Scouts executive stepping down
Viola O. Baskerville is ending her tenure as chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts of the Commonwealth of Virginia (GSCV). Mrs. Baskerville, 63, who formerly served as state secretary of administration, a member of the House of Delegates and on Richmond City Council, is retiring Friday from the regional Girl Scouts post after three years.
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Advocacy groups plan housing, services safety net for foster youths
Janeva Smith has seen many of her friends in foster care suddenly become homeless when they turn 18. They have nowhere to go, few life skills and little hope for the future. “I’ve had many friends who tried to commit suicide,” said Ms. Smith, who was 18 months old when she initially was placed in foster care in Plainfield, N.J. She was 14 when she entered foster care in Virginia, moving between foster families, group homes and shelters.
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Giles hopes to boost services to troubled teens
Shunda T. Giles has been preparing for her transition from lawyer for the Richmond Department of Social Services to its top manager. On Monday, the 41-year-old attorney took over the leadership role of the department of more than 400 staffers and a $74.5 million annual budget, all aimed at strengthening families and providing services to meet essential human needs.
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Plenty of jobs, not enough workers
Commission recommends aligning training with opportunities
Talk about a huge surprise: Four job openings exist in Richmond for every job seeker in the city, according to government data. In fact, more jobs in the city go begging for qualified workers than anywhere else in the Richmond region, which overall has 1.5 job openings for every job seeker, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated in its December report.
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Sunset over The Carillon in the West End
Published on May 8, 2015
