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Focus on Africa
President welcomes 49 leaders to White House
President Obama is promoting business relationships between the United States and African countries.
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To save lives, lawmakers must seek common ground on gun legislation, by Roger Chesley
Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly, now in charge in both chambers in the session that opened last week, hope to pass several gun-control bills. The wish list includes legislation to ban the sale of new assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, The Washington Post reported.
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Petersburg City Council raises taxes, cuts funding to keep city afloat
Smokers will pay an extra 80 cents in tax for each pack of cigarettes they buy inside the city limits of Petersburg beginning Oct. 1 — a move the city officials hope will generate $900,000 a year in much needed revenue.
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Trump lays out tough agenda in address before Congress
Heralding a “new chapter of American greatness,” President Trump issued a broad call for America first, investing in the nation’s infrastructure, slashing taxes and revamping health insurance in his first address to Congress.
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Personality: Sixto M. Cancel
Spotlight on White House ‘Champion of Change’ honoree
Virginia Commonwealth University senior Sixto Martin Cancel is headed to the White House next week, where he will be recognized for making a difference in the community. He is one of 12 former foster youths from around the nation who will be saluted Tuesday, May 19, as a “Champion of Change.”
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Samantha Cunningham of VSU earns All-CIAA honors
Virginia State University softball slug- ger Samantha Cunningham went out with a bang, or rather a sharp ping from her metal alloy bat. In her final season wearing the Trojans’ orange and blue, the senior third base player from Waukegan, Ill., earned All-CIAA hon- ors while leading the conference in hitting at .467. Cunningham finished with 13 doubles, three home runs, 29 runs batted in and struck Delaware State president, athletes decry search of team bus by Georgia deputies Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. The president of Delaware State University, a historically Black college, accused sheriff’s deputies in Georgia of intimidating and humiliating the university’s women’s lacrosse team when deputies pulled over the athletes’ bus and searched it for drugs. Delaware State University President Tony Allen said he’s “incensed” by the April 20 traffic stop along Interstate 95 south of Savannah as the team returned from a game in Florida. In a letter to students and faculty, Dr. Allen said nothing illegal was found and campus officials were “exploring options for recourse — legal and otherwise.” “We do not intend to let this or any other incident like it pass idly by,” Dr. Allen said in the letter posted Monday on the university’s social media pages. Liberty County, Ga., Sheriff William Bowman, who is Black, said Tuesday his office is conducting a formal review of the traffic stop. He said deputies had stopped other commercial vehicles the same morning along I-95 and found drugs on a different bus. The team’s chartered bus was stopped because it was traveling in the left lane, which is a violation of Georgia law, he said. The sheriff said deputies decided to search the team’s bus when a drug-sniffing dog “alerted” alongside it. “I do not exercise racial profiling, allow racial profiling or encourage racial profiling,” Sheriff Bowman told reporters. The sheriff added that based on what he already knows, “I believe the stop was legal.” No one was arrested or charged. The sheriff said the bus driver was given a warning. Video posted online by one of the Delaware State lacrosse players shows two white deputies on the bus. One of them tells the bus passengers that possessing marijuana remains illegal in Georgia. “If there is anything in y’all’s luggage, we’re probably going to find it, OK,” the deputy says. “I’m not looking for a little bit of marijuana, but I’m pretty sure you guys’ chaperones are probably going to be disappointed in you if we find any.” The deputy continues : “You guys are on a lacrosse team, correct? If there is something in there that is questionable, please tell me now. Because if we find it, guess what? We’re not going to be able to help you.” Sydney Anderson, the student who posted the video, wrote in the campus publication The Hornet Newspaper that team members felt there was “underlying racism” behind the search. “The team members were in shock, as they witnessed the of- ficers rambling through their bags,” Ms. Anderson wrote. “They brought the K-9 dog out to sniff their luggage. The cops began tossing underwear and other feminine products, in an attempt to locate narcotics.” Georgia courts have held that the odor of marijuana is enough to give police probable cause to search vehicles without a warrant. The sheriff said he welcomes feedback from the lacrosse team. “We realize that in this current environment, even a traffic stop can be alarming to citizens, especially African-Americans,” Sheriff Bowman said. out only four times in more than 100 plate appearances. Earning second team honors for the Trojans were designated player Macy Beville from nearby Dinwiddie and pitcher Alaijah Pratt from Lusby, Md. Also, Pratt and Desmyn Owens of Lawrenceville made the All-Freshman team. Under first-year Coach Jameshia Smith, VSU finished 20-13 overall and 13-4 in the CIAA. The Trojans’ season ended with a 6-4 loss to Bowie State University on May 7 in the loser’s bracket final of the CIAA Tournament in Glen Allen.
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Veteran church keyboard artist presents gospel show, despite health setback
One of Richmond’s biggest gospel shows ever is headed to Trinity Baptist Church in North Side to showcase Richmond’s best known performers.
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Dr. Adam L. Bond, Ebenezer Baptist Church’s new pastor, eases into transition during pandemic
Dr. Adam L. Bond is blending the old with the new at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, despite the disruption from the pandemic.
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School Board taking control of new building construction
The Richmond School Board is taking back control of the design, development and construction of new schools, potentially blocking a City Hall plan to fast-track design and development of a replacement building for worn-out George Wythe High School.
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Head of Monroe Park Conservancy charged with assault; VCU students may face discipline in case
The volunteer president and director of the group that operates Monroe Park has been charged with assault stemming from a confrontation Sunday, Oct. 31, with two Virginia Commonwealth University students.
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A Wilder ovation
More than $875,000 raised during gala honoring the legacy of the nation’s first Black governor
Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder’s gifts as an orator were on full display last Saturday, Jan. 20, in Washington.
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Greene’s ‘national divorce’ would be disaster for the South, by Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, now a major figure in the House Republican Caucus, is calling for a “national divorce,” that would “separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government.” Like her hero, Donald Trump, she claims widespread anonymous support for the idea:
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VUU’s Ruth C. Harris celebrated among 2015 Virginia Women in History
Dr. Ruth Coles Harris was the first African-American woman in Virginia to be certified as a public accountant. The great-granddaughter of slaves, she passed the two-day CPA examination in 1962, when fewer than 100 African-Americans across the nation were CPAs. Dr. Harris also taught in the Commerce Department at Virginia Union University for nearly 48 years and was the first director of the Sydney Lewis School of Business.
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School Board taps RPS COO as interim superintendent
After hashing out the details of outgoing Superintendent Dana T. Bedden’s early departure, the Richmond School Board selected Thomas E. Kranz, the school district’s chief operating officer, to serve as interim superintendent.
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Automatic expungements can help remove barriers by Mayor Levar M. Stoney
Unjust and racist policies continuously serve as a barrier to progress for our Black and brown communities, creating a stifling environment for socioeconomic mobility that makes it less and less likely for each generation to be better off than the last.
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Step up
We are greatly disappointed by Richmond City Council’s failure Monday night to approve a tax on cigarettes. The 80 cents per pack tax, proposed by Councilman Parker C. Agelasto, would have generated $5 million annually that would have been dedicated to the repair and maintenance of Richmond’s aged and dilapidated public school buildings.
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City Council poised to scrap residency requirement for top officials
For nearly three decades, City Hall executives have been required to move into the city within a year of being hired.
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Fans pick ‘The 50 Greatest Black Athletes’
If compiling lists is meant to stir controversy, “The 50 Greatest Black Athletes” struck its target. The survey, released Aug. 8, is a collaboration of The Undefeated and Survey Monkey and makes an attempt — some suggest a wild stab — at naming the 50 greatest black athletes of all time.
