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Cosby freed
After spending 3 years behind bars for drugging and assaulting a woman in 2004, entertainer Bill Cosby was released from prison on a legal technicality, drawing mixture of public praise and criticism
Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction and released him from prison Wednesday in a stunning reversal of fortune for the comedian once known as “America’s Dad.”
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Personality: Ngoma Hill
Spotlight on New Generation Beat Poet Laureate
From Alexandria to Richmond to Vietnam and Harlem, Ngoma Hill has built an impressive artistic career. He is now being recognized for his work on another level.
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Fulton family receives unexpected blessing of mortgage payoff
It began as a casual conversation. Then it quickly turned into what Travis L. and Latarsha F. Woods can only call “a blessing from God.”
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Thank you to Richmond’s hospitals and health care providers, by Mayor Levar M. Stoney
The last few weeks have seen positive news for the Richmond community in our battle against COVID-19. Cases have started to decline, roughly 54 percent of Richmond’s adult population has received at least one dose of the COVID- 19 vaccine and Virginia is on the way toward a return to pre-pandemic normalcy with Gov. Ralph S. Northam lifting the State of Emergency Declaration on June 30. This is all excellent news for both the health of Richmonders as well as our local economy.
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Unbridled joy
RPS’ first full graduation since COVID-19 brings smiles, cheers and joy at The Diamond
Huguenot High School’s graduation Monday was a day to remember — the first Richmond Public Schools gradu- ates to walk across a stage and receive their diplomas in a traditional, big group ceremony since the pandemic hit in March 2020.
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Personality: Marquis D. Mapp
Spotlight on board chair of Virginia Pride
Virginia Pride has emerged in the decades since its founding in the 1970s as a major force bringing awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community to Richmond and around the state, as well as promoting diversity and unity among the local LGBTIA+ community.
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COGIC church gets whopping tax bill after city revokes tax-exempt status
A Richmond church that has been in operation for 112 years has been hit with a surprise $46,128 property tax bill from City Hall after its tax-exempt status was revoked.
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Coach Willard Bailey inducted into Black College Football Hall of Fame
It was a long climb, but Willard Bailey has reached the apex of college football coaching.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar, others encourage U.S. to rebuild refugee resettlement
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota thanked Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service during an online event June 17, in the name of “all the refugees you have settled and the millions around the world who have benefited from your work.”
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Witches celebrate the summer solstice wth cakes, mead – and salsa
To Lidia Pradas, the summer solstice “always recharges my energy and makes me want to start new projects,” she shared on her popular Instagram account, Wiccan Tips.
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Sha’Carri Richardson blazes new trail to Tokyo Olympics
Whether watching from Jamaica, Japan or the United States, it was hard to miss that shock of flowing, orange hair that came streaking across the finish line first in Eugene, Ore., last Saturday night.
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Rebirth of a nation, by Dr. E. Faye Williams
Some of my “vintage” or “experienced” readers may remember or actually saw the movie, “Birth of a Nation.” Not the 2016 Nate Parker version, I refer to the 1915 silent film, originally called “The Clansman” by D.W. Griffith. In short, it glorified the Ku Klux Klan and denigrated civil and human rights for formerly enslaved people using the “Black man, white woman” paradigm.
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‘A mind is a terrible thing to waste’, by Venson Jordan
As a boy growing up Black in America, I remember that there were a few TV advertisements that spoke directly to me. The most memorable was the United Negro College Fund. The words rang in my head like the bells of truth. The heavy, articulate voice would say, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
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City Council gives greenlight to casino project
Richmond easily leaped the first hurdle in its quest to become a casino city — City Council approval.
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VUU launches new Hezekiah Walker Center for Gospel Music with Juneteenth concert
VUU officials said the curriculum will “revolve around the study of sacred arts and their relation to African heritage. Furthermore, the center will explore music and worship traditions that promote the comprehension of biblical texts.”
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My’chael Jefferson-Reese to head new Chesterfield Public Defender’s Office
My’chael D. Jefferson-Reese relishes being a champion for people facing legal trouble.
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Michael Paul Williams wins Pulitzer Prize
Michael Paul Williams was at home writing his latest column for the Richmond Times-Dispatch when the newspaper’s managing editor called him with the stunning news: He had just been awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for commentary – journalism’s equivalent of an Oscar.
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Personality: Harold Aquino-Guzman
Spotlight on Richmond Public Schools’ highest achieving student
Harold Aquino-Guzman has a lot to celebrate this month. The George Wythe High School senior class president is not only the valedictorian at the South Side school, he is the top achieving student in Richmond Public Schools with a GPA of 5.1392.
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Oprah’s new book pick: ‘The Sweetness of Water’
NEW YORK Oprah Winfrey’s next book club pick is a debut novel set in Georgia at the end of the Civil War: “The Sweetness of Water” by Nathan Harris.
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Juneteenth and confronting hard history by Marc H. Morial
“Slavery is hard history. It is hard to comprehend the inhumanity that defined it. It is hard to discuss the violence that sustained it. It is hard to teach the ideology of white supremacy that justified it. And it is hard to learn about those who abided it.
