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Personality: Dr. Kate Hoof
Spotlight on board president of Richmond Cycling Corps
Dr. Kate Hoof is helping Richmond kids put the pedal to the metal.
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Arthur D. ‘Art’ Toth Jr., owner of the former La Grande Dame, dies at 65
For nearly 30 years, Arthur David “Art” Toth Jr. was the go-to person in Richmond for full-figured women who wanted to dress well.
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Virginia Museum of History & Culture reopens May 14 after $30M renovation
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture will reopen this weekend after a two-year, $30 million renovation with a celebration featuring new exhibits, rich family stories, entertainment, activities and food trucks.
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History marker going up for Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground; mixed results on Confederate markers
A new state history marker to a long forgotten Black cemetery in Richmond is on the way, while two highway markers to the city’s Confederate past have been removed.
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City Council wants more time to study, consider collective bargaining
City Council hit the pause button Monday on authorizing collective bargaining for city employees.
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Pastor Anthony Franklin Sr. sees his mission as giving back where a community has needs
For years, Pastor Anthony Franklin Sr. struggled to pay the rent and keep the lights on for the small non-denominational Richmond church he founded called Truth Ministries.
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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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Delaware State president, athletes decry search of team bus by Georgia deputies
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.
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’A Strange Loop’ earns a leading 11 Tony Award nominations
“A Strange Loop,” Michael R. Jackson’s critically cheered theater meta-journey earned a leading 11 Tony Award nominations Monday as Broadway joined the national discussion of race by embracing an envelope-pushing Black-written and Black-led musical.
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Black History Museum saving Confederate statues: Let’s talk about it, by Sa’ad El-Amin
On Jan. 24, a resolution to transfer the title and ownership to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia of the five Confederate statues that were removed from Monument Avenue—including four of which the City of Richmond has owned for more than 100 years — was approved by a unanimous vote of Richmond City Council.
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State employee excoriates Virginia’s new return-to-the-workplace policy
I am underpaid, I am tired and I am frustrated.
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Retiring HU president offers advice to graduates
Hampton University’s 152nd annual commencement celebrated graduates as well as the 44-year tenure of HU President William R. “Bill” Harvey, who is retiring on June 30. Dr. Harvey, 81, served as the keynote speaker for the commencement, which was held on Mother’s Day at the Hampton University Convocation Center on campus. Dr. Harvey highlighted a long list of accomplishments made by the university under his stewardship, such as the creation of the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute to treat cancer and increasing the university’s endowment from $29 million to more than $400 million today. Dr. Harvey told the graduates, “Don’t settle with being the employee; I want you to be the employer. Don’t settle with representing the firm or corporation; I want you to own the firm or corporation. See the horizon as not a limit, but an invitation….” He offered grandfatherly advice to graduates, ranging from the financial -- “Pay yourself first. Save something from every single paycheck. Buy some property”– to the social – “Stay away from drugs and drug dealers. They will destroy your life or make it miserable.” Dr. Harvey went on to tell graduates to “fight racism every time it arises” and to “be positive role models. Be somebody.” He closed out his address by telling graduates to support Hampton University with their money. During the ceremony, Rashida Jones, who became the first Black woman to lead a cable news network when she was named president of MSNBC in February 2021, received the Outstanding 20-Year Alumna Award. The Henrico High School graduate earned a bachelor’s degree in mass media arts from Hampton University in 2002. Earlier this year, she launched the Rashida Jones Scholarship Fund for journalism students at the university. Thomas Hasty III, senior executive vice president and chief regulatory risk officer of TowneBank, received the Outstanding Alumnus-at-Large Award. He graduated from HU in 1977 with a degree in business. Honorary degrees were awarded to former Virginia Supreme Court Justice John Charles Thomas, who was the first Black named to the state’s highest court in 1983, and Christopher Newport University President Paul S. Trible Jr., who represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate from 1983 to 1989.
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’Intertwined history’
Descendants of the enslaved and their owners on a noted Caroline County plantation are working together to preserve remnants of their shared history that remain on the land
For years, Mike Mines has been fiercely determined to ensure that his two children know what he had not known much of his life — his family’s history.
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Abortion battle erupts with leaded U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion
America’s decades-old battle over abortion rights exploded anew on Tuesday as the U.S. Supreme Court authenticated a draft opinion leaked to the news outlet Politico that signaled the court will soon overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
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Rev. Marlene E. Forrest to be installed as rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church
The Rev. Marlene E. Forrest will be installed as the 23rd rector of historic St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in North Side on Saturday, May 14.
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Former city worker and union advocate: ‘I had no one to go to bat for me’
Andrew Thomas hoped to build a career in the Richmond Department of Public Utilities. Instead, the 49-year-old Jamaica native has quit the department after seven years.
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Proposed city budget includes help for aging mobile homes and examination of real estate taxes
For the first time, Richmond will help pay for fixing up aging trailers and mobile homes.
