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Honorary street sign to recognize Bishop Melvin Williams Jr.
For more than 50 years, Bishop Melvin Williams Jr., pastor of the Temple of Judah at 2120 Venable St. has made his mark on Richmond and Virginia – primarily through giving. For years, his words of wisdom through his daily radio show; Christmas bicycle giveaways for children; care packages for incarcerated people; Thanksgiving giveaways; daily prayer at 5 a.m. at the church and now online; housing for the homeless and marches against crime and for community safety are just some of the services the church has provided over the years. Now, the city of Richmond is recognizing that service in a major way.
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Spring Creek Baptist receives $1.25M grant
Spring Creek Baptist Church in Moseley has been awarded a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help strengthen families through Christian home visitation. The project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to help parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children.
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Va. lawmakers again decline to put restrictions on personal use of campaign accounts
Virginia lawmakers on Wednesday defeated for another year campaign finance reform legislation that would have prohibited elected officials from spending political donations on personal expenses such as mortgages, vacations or gym memberships.
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Trump leans in on immigration, crime during campaign stop in Richmond
Former President Donald Trump made a campaign stop in Richmond on Saturday ahead of Super Tuesday, a day of primary voting that is expected to seal his bid to be the Republican nominee for president in November.
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Jackson Ward’s restaurant scene helps spur city’s business growth
Richmond has long been a hub for black capitalism — especially in Jackson Ward, once referred to as the Harlem of the South. According to a recent report from Yelp, the online publisher of crowd-sourced business reviews, black business openings in Richmond grew 66% in 2023. Yelp also found that black business openings in Richmond outpace the national black business opening rate of 24% and the national average of 20%.
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The 2024 Virginia General Assembly begins and ends with record number of Black legislators
History was made last November with the election of a record number of Black candidates to the Virginia General Assembly.
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Wealth disparities by race grew during the pandemic, despite income gains, report shows
A strong performance in financial markets, particularly an outsize gain for the stock market in 2021, helped entrench existing trends of wealth inequality during the pandemic, new data released this week show.
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Tonsils, talent and newborns
Richmond Community Hospital holds a special place in the hearts of many, including Edwina Richmond, a retired college professor with deep family ties to the city. Born at the hospital 76 years ago, Ms. Richmond has fond memories of the care she received there, from getting her tonsils removed to witnessing the hospital’s integral role in the neighborhood’s welfare, Richmond Free Press reporter George Copeland Jr. reports in this week’s edition.
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State of Black America 2024, by Marc H. Morial
“We’re building an America where we recognize the inherent dignity of every single person, and where every American has the chance to live a life of purpose and meaning. This is my vision for the future.” — President Biden, 2024 State of Black America
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Fixing our broken drug pricing system, by Dr. Greg Gelburd
As a recently retired physician, I felt relief for patients across the commonwealth when Virginia legislators recently passed bipartisan measures, Senate Bill 274 and House Bill 570, to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board. This board would be empowered to finally rein in skyrocketing prescription drug costs that make medicine inaccessible to too many patients. By signing this legislation into law, Gov. Glenn Youngkin can prioritize the health and well-being of Virginians.
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Moving the needle
Holland and Nelson energized by Chesterfield, Henrico growth
“We’re on a journey toward excellence, to be the very best we can be, to be a model of what is expected by you, for you.” With those words, James M. “Jim” Holland assumed chairmanship of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, Jan. 3., following a unanimous vote.
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Personality: Utibe O. Bassey
Spotlight on honorary chair of Centennial American Heart Association 2024 Richmond Heart Ball
Nigerian-born Utibe O. Bassey grew up in Connecticut and has family scattered far and wide, but none in Virginia. When she moved to Richmond in the summer of 2020 for a job with Dominion Energy, she was all alone and the pandemic was raging.
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Registrar offers options for voting amid snail mail issues
Richmond’s General Registrar Keith Balmer said at a recent meeting that he was offering practical solutions to ensure eligible voters in Richmond can cast ballots without hindrance in next week’s presidential primary, according to The Washington Post and other news outlets.
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City officials unveil ‘The Shockoe Project’
10-acre site to tell ‘a more complete story of Richmond’s history’
Mayor Levar M. Stoney, Delegate Delores L. McQuinn, members of the Richmond City Council and representatives from the Shockoe Institute yesterday unveiled “The Shockoe Project,” a 10-acre site in Shockoe Valley that they say is “dedicated to telling the full history of the Richmond slave trade and its national and global significance to the growth of our country.”
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Free community testing for COVID-19 continues
The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:
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Henrico bans firearms, ammunition from its buildings, effective immediately
Henrico County officials have announced a ban on the possession of firearms and ammunition in its government buildings, including libraries and recreation centers, effective immediately.
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Proposed new Virginia ‘tech tax’ sparks backlash from business community
Trade associations representing hundreds of companies that do business in Virginia have come out swinging against a proposal to expand the state sales tax to cover digital goods, something Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin proposed and Democrats endorsed in their budget legislation.
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Friday Cheers announces 2024 concert series
Friday Cheers, presented by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, returns May 3 for its 39th season as Richmond’s longest-running concert series and the city’s largest event of its kind on the James River.
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Hair care products founder Joe Dudley dies
Joe Louis Dudley, who rose from humble beginnings and overcame a speech impediment to create a multimillion-dollar, Black-owned hair care company, died Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, at age 86. Funeral services were Monday, Feb. 19, at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C.
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YWCA Richmond announces 2024 Class of Outstanding Women Awards honorees
Free Press Managing Editor Bonnie Newman Davis among this year’s recipients
For more than 40 years, YWCA Richmond has recognized accomplished women leaders in the Richmond community who one LinkedIn article described as “modeling resilience, empowering their teams to embrace change, learning from failures and persisting in the face of adversity.”
