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Deacon Charles Williams named interim head of Office for Black Catholics
Deacon Charles Williams has been appointed interim director of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond’s Office for Black Catholics. The appointment was made by Bishop Barry C. Knestout, effective Dec. 1.
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Hopewell man still waiting for Islamic center's collection to benefit his injured wife
After his wife was shot and nearly killed in their Hopewell home, Iftikhar H. Saiyed was grateful when the Tri Cities Islamic Center in Chester took up a collection from worshippers to benefit the family during her recovery. But nearly four years later, Mr. Saiyed said he is still waiting to receive the money that members raised.
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Social distancing has mixed practice around Richmond
Walk into any retail store, and it’s clear that the messages about social distancing and personal protection have penetrated only so far.
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Scoring his 1,000th point, Huguenot’s Jordan Parham gets a Gatorade bath
On special occasions, it can be OK for an athlete to take a shower even before getting to the locker room. At least that was the case for Huguenot High School’s Jordan Parham on Feb. 7, Senior Night.
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Wisdom from ancestral warriors
In 1619, 400 years ago, the first African captives were brought to what is now Virginia. Since that time, many of our courageous ancestral warriors — men and women — have fought against the physical and psychological terrorism inflicted by the proponents of white supremacy and racism.
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Councilman Hilbert opposes Salvation Army move to North Side
“I am firmly against this.” That’s the not-in-my-backyard response from 3rd District City Councilman Chris A. Hilbert’s to a Free Press report last week that the Salvation Army is applying for a special use permit to move its combination headquarters and homeless shelter from Downtown to a church building in Mr. Hilbert’s North Side district.
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Logan excels on slow-pitch softball circuit
Most men play slow-pitch softball for an excuse to slip out of the house, get some exercise and perhaps throw back a few cold ones with the guys.
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Challenge under raps
Cosby High School student hoping for fame and a win on music TV show
When Brazil Barber posted a music video on YouTube in March 2016 of a song she wrote and performed, little did she know that it would open doors and land her on a national cable television show.
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Collecting comfort items for children separated from parents
Most people wouldn’t think something as simple as a teddy bear would make an emotional impact, but Cynthia Downing, creator of The Comfort Movement, has a different opinion.
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Damar Hamlin cleared to play 4 months after cardiac arrest
Having spent the past several months meeting President Biden, raising millions of dollars for his charitable foundation and promoting the benefits of CPR training, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin can focus now on the next big objective in his life: returning to football.
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Whitney Houston, Notorious B.I.G. among inductees into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
In a normal year, the newly inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class would have hit the stage to perform the well-known songs that made them famous and helped them enter the prestigious organization. Not in 2020.
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Families plead for more information on missing loved ones
Richmonder Toni Jacobs wishes that her missing daughter could have gained the kind of national and social media exposure that the family of 22-year-old blonde Gabby Petito experienced.
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Metropolitan Business League founder Neverett Alexander Eggleston Jr. dies at age 90
Neverett Alexander Eggleston Jr., a well-known Jackson Ward entrepreneur and a founder of a Richmond trade association for Black businesses, has died.
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Hanover case tests parental rights
The case of a Hanover County mother is providing a test of the proposition that parents matter — a currently popular Virginia political slogan.
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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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Power in the word
Performing spoken word helps 15-year-old Leslie Reyes deal with the gruesome death she witnessed at age 9 of a 16-year-old friend. With a steady voice, Leslie tells a packed audience of more than 100 people that she watched her best friend die from gunshot wounds in El Salvador. She tells the room of mostly strangers about the “blood-covered gauze and stitched up holes on his shoulder and leg.”
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Personality: Coach Willard J. Coker
Spotlight on the Bulldogs’ inspiring championship leader
When people get slapped down, they have two basic options. They can accept their sad fate, throw a pity party, curse at the world and stay on their backsides. Or they can bounce back. George Wythe High School Coach Willard J. Coker is a bouncer.
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Personality: Robin M. Brown
Spotlight on Grand Worthy Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star
Robin M. Brown seeks to make a positive difference in the lives of children and others in the community. That’s why she joined the Richmond-based Order of the Eastern Star of Virginia at the behest of her mother-in-law, Erma R. Brown, in 1996. The fraternal organization is affiliated with the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Virginia Free and Accepted Masons.
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‘Doing God’s work’ at The Healing Place
Al Jackson drank alcohol, snorted cocaine and smoked crack cocaine for 24 years. “I was suicidal, I was lost and I had no hope,” he recalls of those dark days.
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Muslim women, others denounce Trump attacks on Charlottesville family
When Donald Trump disparaged the parents of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan, he didn’t just pick a fight with the Khans. He now faces the ire of hundreds of Muslim American women.
