Story
Justices take on I.C. Norcom Friday in state tournament
John Marshall High School is among the smallest schools in the Virginia High School League’s 3A classification. It also ranks with the state’s 3A elite, at least basketball-wise. Relying on multitasking athletes such as Xavier Trent and Isaiah Anderson, Coach Ty White’s Justices are hopeful of a second state basketball title in three years.
Story
A look back
Spirit of Maggie Walker’s 1967-68 Green Dragons lives on
One state with two state champions. That’s the way it was in Virginia.
Story
Hampton U. Pirates favored to win MEAC Tournament
Hampton University has the MEAC’s best basketball record, and arguably the conference’s two best players. Its archrival, Norfolk State University, however, has the last regular season laugh, as well as hometown advantage, heading into this week’s MEAC Tournament at the Norfolk Scope.
Story
SisterFund giving circle seeks community change
Twenty philanthropically minded women have come together to have a greater impact on giving in the Richmond community.
Story
VCU Children’s Pavilion opens
It’s being described as the biggest development in child health care in Central Virginia. After more than five years of planning and construction, the new $200 million Children’s Pavilion outpatient treatment center was celebrated with fanfare Wednesday, just days before its planned opening to patients and families on Monday, March 21.
Story
Co-founders of Black Lives Matter movement to speak in Richmond
Two founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, will be speaking in Richmond this month. Ms. Garza is to deliver a lecture 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, at the University of Richmond’s Tyler Haynes Commons. Ms. Tometi is scheduled to speak 7 p.m. Thursday, March 31, at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center, 1200 W. Broad St., on the topic “#BlackLivesMatter: Hashtag in Action.” Both events are open to the public without charge.
Story
Bobbi Kristina’s autopsy shows mixture of drugs, alcohol
Bobbi Kristina Brown’s autopsy report contained evidence of recent cocaine use by the daughter of Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston before she was found unresponsive in a bathtub in her home last year. But a medical examiner’s office said last Friday it could not establish whether her death after months in a coma was accidental or intentional. Ms. Brown suffered brain damage and died of pneumonia resulting from drug intoxication and her face being immersed in water, the Fulton County Medical Examiner said.
Story
A song and a prayer
Musician starts campaign linking prayer and healing
One year after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, James Johnson Jr., the minister of music at Cedar Street Baptist Church of God in the East End, is releasing a song and initiating a national prayer campaign. Both are called “Agree.”
Story
Former First Lady Nancy Reagan dies
Nancy Reagan, the former actress who was fiercely protective of her husband, President Ronald Reagan, through a Hollywood career, eight years in the White House, an assassination attempt and his Alzheimer’s disease, died Sunday, March 6, 2016, at her Los Angeles home.
Story
Petersburg shake-up nets new chief operating officer
Amid crumbling finances, the City of Petersburg has shaken up its government leadership. After firing City Manager William E. Johnson III last week, the seven-member Petersburg City Council handed executive authority to three of its members, including Mayor W. Howard Myers, Ward 5, the city’s titular leader. The shuffle is the City Council’s latest effort to deal with millions of dollars in unpaid bills, a multimillion-dollar revenue shortfall and a malfunctioning water billing system.
Story
Planned school cuts causing pain
North Side resident Sherri Davis said she is concerned about planned budget cuts that may close schools, crowd classrooms and have parents scrambling to arrange transportation for their children. “It becomes a safety issue when you propose to put more kids in classes,” the mother of two Richmond Public Schools students told the Free Press on Wednesday. “It’s already hard enough for teachers to teach the large numbers of students they have in their classrooms.”
Story
Rudd’s Trailer Park sold; new owner takes over in April
Ronnie Soffee exchanged hugs and accepted well wishes from residents at Rudd’s Trailer Park early Saturday afternoon. He even shed a few tears as several people stopped by the office of the mobile home park at 2911 Jefferson Davis Highway.
Story
GOP surprise
Cuccinelli then McCullough poised for Va. high court
Ending a long-running dispute with the governor, the Republican majority in the General Assembly will cap the legislative session by filling a vacant state Supreme Court seat with their own choice. However, as has been traditional, the choice will be a seasoned jurist — Stephen R. McCullough of the Virginia Court of Appeals, GOP leaders in the House and Senate announced Wednesday.
Story
Déjá vu
Now that the political pundits of the major media outlets have gulped down the teas that were the South Carolina Democratic primary and Super Tuesday, they are busy trying to read the leaves left in their respective cups. One of the questions they are trying to fathom is: “Why are black voters splitting between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders?”
Story
Super Tuesday: Just how super?
Super Tuesday is over. And for fans of Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, it was a great night, with multistate victories for both candidates ranging from Massachusetts to Georgia to Arkansas.
Story
Plunky and Oneness wins 2 IMA awards
Plunky and Oneness, a Richmond-based jazz-funk fusion group, is among the winners in the 2016 Independent Music Awards.
Story
Host Chris Rock rocks the Oscars
Comedian Chris Rock launched his return stint as Oscar host Sunday by immediately and unabashedly confronting the racially charged elephant in the room — the furor over the all-white field of performers nominated for Hollywood’s highest honor.
Story
CIAA champs head to NCAA (Pt 2)
Lady Panthers celebrating title; Johnson clinches MVP
Kiana Johnson and Lady Walker may be the best celebration combination since ice cream and cake. They’re the life of a Virginia Union University basketball party that’s just spreading it wings under first-year Coach AnnMarie Gilbert.
Story
VUU enjoying turnaround
Long story short — Coach Jay Butler has turned things around at Virginia Union University. In recent times, VUU’s men’s basketball team would return from the CIAA Tournament in Charlotte, N.C., with no victories and little cause for optimism. The image brightened last week as VUU won its first tournament game since 2009 (over Shaw University), nearly tacked on a second win against two-time defending champ Livingstone College, and did so with a roster oozing with skilled underclassmen.
Story
Telfair: I was never consulted on Petersburg water contract
Two years ago, cash-strapped Petersburg jumped at a deal that Johnson Controls Inc. was offering. As it has done across the country, the energy and industrial giant offered to pay for installing automated water meters to replace Petersburg’s 11,500 old and outdated meters. The new meters would transmit water usage data to a passing truck and eliminate the need to send staff to physically check meters every two months.
