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What is a Black Identity Extremist?
While White men are beating Black men on the streets of Charlottesville, Va., while a lone White wolf is shooting people from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, while the word “terrorist” is hardly used to describe these men, the FBI, under the leadership of the racist Attorney General Jeff Beauregard Sessions, is thinking up a new way to oppress Black people. Despite the fact that there is no evidence of a “movement,” the FBI has described a group of black people as “black identity extremists” who pose a domestic terrorist threat to police officers.
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REAL LIFE Community Center extends jail program into the city
Amid his preparations to leave office, Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. opened a new nonprofit center in Downtown this week aimed at helping people address addiction, anger and other challenges to enable them to stay out of jail.
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Political control of House will come down to lucky draw
A drawing from a hat will decide control of the Virginia House of Delegates. That random draw will determine the winner of the 94th House District in Newport News — and with it whether Republicans retain a 51-49 majority in the 100-member chamber or whether the chamber becomes evenly split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, requiring a power-sharing arrangement.
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VCU’s ‘pass master’ Johnny Williams ranks among the nation’s top players in total assists
Jonathan “Johnny” Williams is listed as a point guard in Virginia Commonwealth University’s basketball lineup, but passing guard better defines his well-crafted skill set.
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Robert M. Davis Sr., founder of construction company, dies at 74
Robert Michael Davis Sr. left his mark on hundreds of homes in Richmond and Washington. For 50 years, he was involved in building, renovating and improving residences with a quality that kept him in demand. His record in home construction and his mentorship of and encouragement to young people who worked for him to
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RRHA picks Orlando Artze as interim CEO
Orlando Artze, a 64-year-old former Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority board member who has spent the past two years working on special projects for the authority, has been named RRHA’s interim chief executive officer.
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Williams takes charge on UNC’s defense
Kenny Williams III is the Richmond area’s most recent link to arguably the nation’s premier college basketball program.
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Make Va. No. 1 for workers, not just business
Virginia recently was ranked the best state in the country to do business and the worst state for worker rights and protections.
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Homelessness: A national crisis
Columnists
For more than a decade, economists, lawmakers and others have heralded the nation’s economy, often citing how unemployment has declined as new jobs have been created, or Wall Street trading and major bank profits rise. Some might be led to believe that all is well in America. But as Sportin’ Life in the folk opera “Porgy and Bess” sang, “It ain’t necessarily so.”
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RPS Board affirms rezoning plan will be finished by late Dec.
The Richmond School Board reaffirmed Monday night that it will complete school rezoning by late December.
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Climate change and hurricanes
Columnists
Hurricane Dorian has drowned the Bahamas and devastated the coasts of North and South Carolina. There are trillions of dollars worth of damages to communities that will take years to rebuild.
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VSU student gets inspiration from Hollywood internship
It all started with an app, specifically, a presentation for the app “Sellow” by Virginia State University junior Jaelon Hodges at The Pitch 2019, an entrepreneurial competition in North Carolina held by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund in May.
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VUU heads into homecoming with 62-0 win over Lincoln
Virginia Union University has the potential to turn this weekend’s homecoming into showtime.
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Personality: Kathey B. Stone
As parents around Richmond prepare for the holidays by purchasing gifts, scheduling mall visits, tapping into savings and sharing holiday cheer, Henrico County resident Kathey Bacon Stone will be in Whitehouse, Jamaica, giving the best gifts of all — time, opportunity and love.
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Personality: Tyra Hayes Beaman
Spotlight on Fulbright and Rangel fellowships recipient
Long before Tyra Zuri Hayes Beaman graduated with honors from Spelman College in May 2016, she was working toward becoming a U.S. foreign service officer by studying abroad in Argentina, Uruguay, Haiti and South Africa.
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Melvin 'Mel' Tull
Spotlight on board chair of Children’s Home Society of Virginia
November is National Adoption Month, and the Children’s Home Society of Virginia is highlighting the best of their work with profiles of successful adoptive families in the Richmond area in hopes of encouraging the public to provide a loving home for Virginia’s youths in foster care. CHSVA has connected more than 700 youths and families across Virginia during the past year under the direction of leaders like Melvin “Mel” Tull, its board chairman.
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Abortion battle erupts with leaded U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion
America’s decades-old battle over abortion rights exploded anew on Tuesday as the U.S. Supreme Court authenticated a draft opinion leaked to the news outlet Politico that signaled the court will soon overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
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Richmond’s striking past with Black baseball pitchers includes Satchel Paige, others
Since integrated professional baseball arrived in Richmond, there has been a relative shortage of Black men on the pitching mound for the home team.
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Personality: Coleman Wortham III
Spotlight on Children’s Hospital Foundation board chairman
Through decades of change and evolution, Coleman Wortham III has been a steadfast part of Richmond’s child care community.
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Funeral traditions changed – maybe permanently – by COVID-19
John E. Thomasson was a hero in his hometown. As a member of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors, he was the first African-American elected to public office in the county. Across 98 years, he built a successful realty company, helped to save mortgages, paid for college scholarships and owned the local funeral home for 53 years, where he oversaw the burials of thousands of Virginians. When he died of an age-related illness on July 22, there was hardly anyone in Louisa County who had not been touched by his life. Other than his wife of more than 65 years, the Rev. Christine Thomasson, there is likely no one who knows his impact better than his successor, D.D. Watson Jr., who was handpicked by Mr. Thomasson to purchase and take over his funeral home business in 2004. And yet upon the death of Mr. Thomasson—a businessman, philanthropist, politician and public servant whose life and work was recognized this year in a proclamation from the Virginia Senate—the largest single gathering in his honor held barely 12 people. That’s because of government-imposed safety restrictions on public gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
