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Officials launch probe into B.B. King’s death
Nevada officials said Monday they would conduct a homicide investigation into the death earlier this month of legendary musician B.B. King, after two of his daughters leveled accusations that the blues great was murdered. The Clark County, Nev., coroner’s office said in a post on Twitter that it had taken jurisdiction over Mr. King’s body, and autopsy results would take a minimum of six to eight weeks.
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City to step up efforts against blighted housing
More than 1,000 abandoned, decaying houses blight Richmond neighborhoods. And with the owners no longer paying property taxes, such properties add nothing to city revenue. Instead, such properties pile up delinquent taxes on the city’s books.
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Two Richmond properties being eyed for redevelopment
GRTC is shopping for a buyer for its former headquarters in the Fan District — five years after the bus company moved to South Side.
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Martin ends historic tenure as U.Va. rector
As George Keith Martin nears the end of his historic tenure as rector of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, he is reflecting on his efforts and those of the board to broaden diversity at the Charlottesville school.
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They say cats are curious, so it wasn’t surprising to see this furry feline left the cozy confines of his tiny house on the porch …
Published on May 22, 2015
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City Council approves 2016 budget, cuts funds for 379 vacant positions
Call it the big shrink at City Hall. Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Richmond City Council have combined to eliminate funding for at least 379 vacant jobs, essentially positions funded by taxes paid into city coffers
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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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Personality: Amory M. James
Spotlight on chef, manager of FeedMore Community Kitchen
Chef Amory M. James, food production manager of the FeedMore Community Kitchen, his staff and volunteers cooked up something extra special this week.
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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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GRTC seasonal service to Kings Dominion starts May 23
GRTC is again providing seasonal express services from Downtown and South Side to the Kings Dominion amusement park in Doswell. The daily service is scheduled to start Saturday, May 23, and will continue through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, according to GRTC officials.
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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.
