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Richmond Public Library unveils plan for $70M reno at Downtown facility
A $70 million facelift is being proposed for the Richmond Public Library’s Main Library in Downtown.
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Efforts advance for state, federal funding for historic Black cemeteries
The General Assembly, with bipartisan support, is preparing to beef up its efforts to financially support volunteers and organizations seeking to restore long-neglected Black cemeteries and to support efforts to preserve Black historical sites.
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City seeks court order authorizing 2nd casino referendum
City Hall is rushing to secure a Richmond Circuit Court order to authorize a second casino referendum in November before the General Assembly can block it through budget language, the Free Press has learned.
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Services scheduled for Dr. Adelaide Winfree Simpson
Dr. Adelaide Winfree Simpson loved helping people learn to cope with challenges, deal with traumas and handle the troubles in their life. For more 36 years, she worked with a wide array of individuals as a practicing clinical psychologist in the Richmond area.
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Council approves Highland Park housing units, ban on wild animals, and more honorary street signs
Rushing to get to their August recess, City Council spent less than 90 minutes passing more than 40 pieces of mostly routine legislation that largely involved approvals of special use permits for development and authorizations for future transportation projects.
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Councilwoman calls for audit of defunct foundation
The chair of City Council’s Education and Human Services Committee plans to seek a financial audit of the collapsed Enrichmond Foundation, which previously played a crucial role in providing support for city parks and recreation.
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What dreams come true
City’s ownership of Mayo Island appears within reach
City Hall is jumping to buy a major James River island that the city has dreamed of owning for 40 years to expand parkland.
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Chief sounds off on noise ordinance
The noise ordinance that Richmond City Council passed five months ago replaces criminal charges with significant fines for people who disturb their neighbors with loud parties and audible disruption. It may sound like good intentions, but the new rule is tone deaf on enforcement, according to Acting Police Chief Richard “Rick” Edwards.
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Fire training center topic returns
A controversial plan to have the Richmond Fire Department build a training facility on a two-acre section of the lawn at the Hickory Community Center that the Planning Commission rejected has returned to City Council’s agenda.
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Early voting to begin for General Assembly seats
The battle for General Assembly seats is about to begin.
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Bon Secours expanding in East End
Following through on a three-year plan to expand health services in Richmond’s East End, Bon Secours announced this week the expansion of obstetrics and gynecology services on its Richmond Community Hospital campus, and plans to open a $2 million urgent care center by year’s end.
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Sacred burial site to be marked by mural
A mural with a message embedded in large red, black and green stripes will soon mark an historic but largely unknown Black cemetery in North Side.
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Lucille A.B. Roane, voting proponent, former detective, dies
Richmond voter advocate and former city police detective Lucille Aurelia Brown Roane has died. Mrs. Roane, who was the first Black president of the Richmond Metropolitan Area Chapter of the League of Women Voters and the third Black woman to serve on Richmond’s police force, succumbed to illness Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. She was 94.
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South Side pastor withstands termination vote
Dr. Michael A. Sanders remains the pastor of historic Mt. Olive Baptist Church in South Side.
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Mellon Foundation to provide $250M to help communities create new monuments
Suddenly there is a new source of funding that might help Richmond create replacement monuments for the white supremacist Confederates that have been taken down from Monument Avenue and other city sites.
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Judge blocks meeting called by Fourth Baptist pastor
A Richmond judge on Tuesday blocked the pastor and the deacon board of a divided Fourth Baptist Church from holding a special congregational meeting on Saturday, June 5, to take a second vote on removing trustees, the church treasurer and the chair of the finance committee.
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Richmond native rapper Brax lives on in mural to be unveiled
A new mural will be unveiled this weekend in North Side celebrating Braxton Trenae Baker, a Richmond-born rapper who performed as Brax and made a major splash on social media before her death last year at age 21.
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Virginia GOP ‘suffering voter-suppression envy’
Re Article “Who are we?” and editorial “Redistricting,” Free Press Aug. 19-21 edition:
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Hundreds of RRHA families may face eviction after moratorium ends July 31
Hundreds of people living in public housing in Richmond could be at risk of eviction in the coming months as the last moratorium on tenant ousters for nonpayment expires July 31.
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Church members to return to court June 1 in Fourth Baptist conflict
A Richmond judge again is being asked to step into the fight for control of a divided Fourth Baptist Church and stop the pastor and its deacons from trying anew to oust their opponents — six trustees, the chair of the Finance Committee and the church treasurer.
