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City housing director, church leaders discuss shelter options
$3M on the table for homeless
Ninth District City Councilman Michael J. Jones hopes a network of churches can be developed to provide shelter for the homeless during inclement weather, particularly during winter cold.
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Big mistake
Tear gas released on Lee statue protesters was in error
Twenty-five minutes before an 8 p.m. curfew was to go into effect, Richmond Police officers began firing tear gas and other noxious chemical agents to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered around the now removed Robert E. Lee statue in the city’s West End.
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Harris cites climate ‘crisis,’ pushes $1B for floods, storms
Vice President Kamala Harris called climate change an “immediate” and “urgent” crisis on Aug. 1 as she detailed more than $1 billion in federal spending to respond to disasters such as deadly flooding in Kentucky and wildfires ravaging her home state of California.
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Personality: Vanessa Evans
Spotlight on president of the Richmond Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Sorority life is a point of pride for Vanessa Evans.
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The NMAAHC celebrates hip-hop with block party
The National Museum of African American History and Culture will host its first Hip- Hop Block Party on Saturday, Aug. 13 at the Washington, D.C. museum.
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City jail inmate charged for attacking deputy
It took three weeks, but a Richmond City Justice Center inmate with a long rap sheet has been charged with the malicious wounding July 7 of a female deputy whose jaw was shattered and who suffered other serious facial injuries in a brutal attack.
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Appreciation: Bill Russell lived a life like very few others
Bill Russell hated autographs. Saw no point to them. If he was out din- ing and got approached by someone asking for his signature, Mr. Russell’s usual response was to instead ask the person to join him at the table to have
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Conflict of interest sparks tense discussion for RPS School Board
The Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center arose as a topic of discussion during the Richmond School Board meeting Monday night.
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City to exchange gift cards for rifles, handguns, broken weapons
Richmond’s first gun buyback program — largely regarded by experts as a publicity stunt — is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at Liberation Church, 5501 Midlothian Turnpike, Mayor Levar M. Stoney announced Tuesday.
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Property owners given more time to apply for tax exemptions
Elderly and totally disabled property owners in Richmond will have the whole year to apply for exemptions from real estate taxes, beginning in January 2023.
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Cities face crisis as fewer kids enroll and schools shrink
On a recent morning inside Chalmers School of Excellence on Chicago’s West Side, five preschool and kindergarten students finished up drawings. Four staffers, including a teacher and a tutor, chatted with them about colors and shapes. The summer program offers the kind of one-on-one support parents love. But behind the scenes, Principal Romian Crockett worries the school is becoming precariously small.
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No charges for officer who pepper-sprayed Army lieutenant
A former police officer in Virginia should not be criminally charged but should be investigated for potential civil rights violations after he pepper-sprayed, struck and handcuffed a Black U.S. Army lieutenant during a 2020 traffic stop, a special prosecutor has determined.
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Who’s manning Richmond City Jail?
For several weeks the Richmond Free Press has reported ongoing violence at Richmond’s City Jail.
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Plan won’t end economic violence, by Julianne Malveaux
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law on June 25, 2022, was a win for the Biden-Harris Administration.
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MAGA meets fascism, by Clarence Page
As much as I call myself a zealot for free speech, I also find it prudent sometimes to remember the value of not speaking. Or, at least, in pursuit of reasoned discourse I will seek a substitute that sounds less inflammatory.
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DOJ: Buffett company discriminated against Black homebuyers
A Pennsylvania mortgage company owned by billionaire businessman Warren Buffett’s company discriminated against potential Black and Latino homebuyers in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware, the Department of Justice said Wednesday, in what is being called the second-largest redlining settlement in history. Trident Mortgage Co., a division of Berkshire Hathaway’s HomeServices of America, deliberately avoided writing mortgages in minority-majority neighborhoods in West Philadelphia such as Malcolm X Park; Camden, N.J.; and in Wilmington, Del., the Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in their settlement with Trident.
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‘The Lioness’ gets her prey
Amanda Nunes had revenge in her corner and that, combined with her flying fists and feet, was enough to regain her UFC bantamweight belt.
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How many homeless people will be sheltered this winter remains unclear
Finding adequate space also an issue, city officials say
City Hall is moving forward in trying to find nonprofits or churches and other faith-based groups with available space to house homeless people, at least during the winter.
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102-year-old WWII veteran from segregated mail unit honored
Millions of letters and packages sent to U.S. troops had accumulated in warehouses in Europe by the time Allied troops were pushing toward the heart of Hitler’s Germany near the end of World War II. this wasn’t junk mail — it was the main link between home and the front in a time long before video chats, texting or even routine long-distance phone calls.
