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Upbeat about Armonii Burden
Armonii Burden would love to be known as the second-best defensive player to ever come out of Williamsburg’s Lafayette High School. The incomparable Lawrence Taylor, of course, is No. 1 on that list.
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Personality: Jake Rowell
Spotlight on LiftPD’s board president
In 2020, Jake Rowell found inspiration to help an underserved part of the Richmond community.
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State education official disputes findings of state inspector general
Virginia Inspector General Michael C. Westfall has reported that a top official in the state Department of Education set up a private consulting business that used resources developed through her state job and tweeted an announcement after setting up two websites to advertise her business.
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JM’s Jason Rivera-Torres says choosing Vanderbilt ‘just felt right’
The arrows on Jason Rivera-Torres’ basketball map are pointing toward Nashville.
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First Lady tells Tuskegee to ‘rise above’
I hope people who attended Tuskegee University’s commencement May 9 got First Lady Michelle Obama’s message. I hope they paid more attention to what she said than how some news media organizations portrayed the First Lady’s speech to graduates of the historically black Alabama school. I don’t want them to think People magazine got it right when it ran as the headline her dismay over being pictured as a fist-pumping Black Panther on a cover of The New Yorker in 2008. It didn’t. And neither did CNN, which put this headline on its report of that speech: “Michelle Obama says she was held to different standard in ’08 campaign due to her race.” What she told Tuskegee’s graduates was much more profound.
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To Assimilate or Infiltrate: The War for (and Against) Being Undeniably Black
When I was in the 9th grade I wrote a cartoon strip where the heroine’s name was Daphne. A white male classmate of mine who enjoyed reading my stories immediately complained that I’d give the girl a weird “black” name. I, politely, explained to him that the name was pronounced “Daff-nee” and that Daphne was a name from Greek mythology. Or, if that was too deep for him, a white female character from the cartoon “Scooby Doo.” No matter, to my “it’s all black names” to me friend. It was a weird name with a weird spelling, so it was a weird “black name.”
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Princeton names dorm for Black alumna
The residential hall at Princeton University that was named for Woodrow Wilson will be rebuilt and named for a Black woman who is an alumna of the school and a donor.
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Six key points from the scathing report on Minneapolis Police after George Floyd’s killing
The Justice Department on June 16 issued a scathing assessment of Minneapolis Police, alleging that racial discrimination and excessive force went unchecked before George Floyd’s killing because of inadequate oversight and an unwieldy process for investigating complaints.
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Big win for health workers
Almost unnoticed, more than 2 million workers in the burgeoning home health care industry finally have gained wage protection.
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Personality: Dr. Kimberly Williams Sanford
Spotlight on volunteer board chair of the American Red Cross Capital Chapter
With 2 million positive cases of COVID-19 in the United States and a hurricane season that started on June 1, the American Red Cross, the nation’s premier emergency response organization, likely will have its hands full into 2021.
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Personality: Stephanie Spencer
Meet the founder, executive director of Urban Baby Beginnings
For years, Stephanie Spencer has worked to build a better future for mothers. A lifetime of experiences – from working in the medical system as a nurse to becoming a mother herself – has contributed to her growing knowledge of maternal issues, particularly for Black women.
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Women swimmers make history
It was history pure and simple. Three African-American women swimmers swept the 100-yard freestyle event at the Women’s Division I NCAA Championship held March 19-21 in Greensboro, N.C. Freshman Simone Manuel of Stanford University set an NCAA, American, U.S. Open, Championship and Pool record when she clocked a time of 46.09 seconds, capturing the title.
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Beauty and brains
Miss America shows Carver students how royalty and science mix
Wearing a white lab coat adorned with sequins, goggles and a sparkling crown, newly crowned Miss America Camille Schrier demonstrated mad science as she mesmerized an excited and cheering group of Carver Elementary School fourth-graders Wednesday at the Science Museum of Virginia.
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Richmond entrepreneur to host black dress event
With the word “reimagine” as a catalyst, spiritual coach, motivational speaker and author Rita Ricks’ “Little Black Dress Day Affair,” event last year enabled women to dress up and celebrate their spirit and each other.
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33rd Annual 2nd Street Festival returns Oct. 2 and 3 in Jackson Ward
The annual 2nd Street Festival, Richmond’s free fall music and cultural festival celebrating Jackson Ward, returns this weekend after going virtual last year because of COVID-19.
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In rare contact, U.S. offers Russia deal for Griner, Whelan
The U.S. has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. In a sharp reversal of previous policy, Blinken also said he expects to speak with his Kremlin counterpart for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine.
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Parents weigh COVID-19 vaccination for their children
Kiara Gresham has been busy with the demands of her new small business, Cookie Jar Honeypot, and the need to ensure the education, health and well-being of her children during the pandemic and a virtual school year. With summer getting closer and the new school year months away, Ms. Gresham is taking on a new task: Learning all she can about vaccinating her two older children, Queron, 14, and Kaeoni, 12, against COVID-19.
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Lisa Borders is new president of WNBA
The decades old Women’s National Basketball Association has passed the more established pro leagues in terms of administrative diversity.
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Meditation apps don't always provide enlightenment
Search your smartphone’s app store for “meditation” and you’ll get more than 1,000 results.
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Did Miss Jamaica’s hair cut short her chance?
Halle Berry won an Academy Award for her dramatic role in the 2002 movie “Monster’s Ball” with a beautiful, short hairstyle. So why, an astonished audience at Sunday’s Miss Universe Pageant protested, didn’t their overwhelming favorite win? Their favorite: Short-haired beauty Miss Jamaica, 22-year-old Kaci Fennell.
