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City Council approves 2019-20 spending plan, but with flaws
“We made it,” City Council President Cynthia I. Newbille said after the council approved the 2019-20 budget Monday night without discussion.
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Locked out
Report: Fewer mortgages approved in predominately African-American, Latino areas
The greater the number of African-Americans and Latinos living in a Richmond neighborhood, the tougher it is for home buyers in the neighborhood to get a mortgage approved or for existing owners to get their home loans refinanced. That’s the rule of thumb that prevails among banks and online mortgage lenders, according to a new report from the Richmond-based fair housing watchdog group, Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia.
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GRTC unlimited fare passes start Sunday
GRTC passengers can begin using unlimited ride passes Sunday, Nov. 15, according to Carrie Rose Pace, the transit company spokesperson.
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The role of Blackness in the Hamline Islamic art controversy
We’ve heard little about the students who initiated the complaint and why they objected to a painting of the prophet.
In early October, Erika López Prater, a professor at Hamline University in Minnesota, showed her online Islamic art history class an image of the Prophet Muhammad. A Muslim student in the class complained, citing Islamic tradition barring representations of the prophet. Other students joined in to express their view that this incident was part of a larger problem of Islamophobia on campus. The administration agreed, and eventually Ms. López Prater’s contract to teach during the spring semester was rescinded.
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Get serious about white extremists and domestic terrorism
Columnists
Just over a decade ago, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI produced a report titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.”
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VSU wins Labor Day Classic before crowd of 10,000-plus in Norfolk
Virginia State University continues knocking out its football opponents — even those in a larger division. Under Coach Reggie Barlow, the Trojans beat Norfolk State University 14-10 last Saturday before a crowd of 10,221 fans at the Labor Day Classic in damp Dick Price Stadium.
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Churches continue to alter services in era of COVID-19
‘It gives you a reason to reach out to others’
Like other parts of the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic transformed church services throughout the Greater Richmond Region.
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Telehealth grows during pandemic as safe way to confer with health professionals
Richmonder Melissa Hanson survived a vicious assault, but she still lives with the physical damage, mental scars and post-traumatic stress disorder. Like many people needing mental health therapy, Ms. Hanson found the pandemic disrupted her ability to meet with her caseworker three times a week and to get help with errands such as grocery shopping.
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Prepare for what’s about to happen
Now that the election is over and everyone has wiped the tears from their eyes, I still have these questions: What happened? Why did it happen? Are we, as Americans, ready for what’s about to happen?
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City tax amnesty application process now open
City Hall is now accepting applications for tax amnesty on real estate taxes and some businesses taxes.
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Obamacare still vital
Signature health care law remains intact despite GOP assaults
Don’t panic if you bought individual or family health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. The ACA, a.k.a. Obamacare, is struggling but still alive and will continue to operate, according to experts in the field, despite President Trump’s decision last week to cut off premium subsidies to insurance companies.
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Criminalizing poverty
Kalief Browder, a teenager who spent three harrowing years in a New York City jail on charges that eventually were dropped, took his own life as a result of the trauma he suffered.
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$200M loss spurs City Council to revise real estate tax abatement program
For at least two decades, Richmond has primed the redevelopment pump by allowing individuals and companies that improve aging houses, apartment buildings and commercial properties to pay reduced property taxes over 10 years without any restrictions.
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A record number of Americans can’t afford rent
Single mom Caitlyn Colbert watched as rent for her two-bedroom apartment doubled, then tripled and then quadrupled over a decade in Denver — to $3,374 from $750 last year.
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West End crew take Seattle Seahawks to victory over Washington
The Seattle Seahawks are a West Coast team with a strong West End of Richmond influence.
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‘Richmond 34’ student sit-in commemorated with state marker
Elizabeth Johnson Rice was among 34 Virginia Union University students who were arrested after they staged a sit-in at Thalhimers department store in 1960 for its refusal to serve African-Americans in its restaurants.
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Following directions
Dear Reader, This edition of the Richmond Free Press begins our 28th year of publishing. Our first edition — January 16-18,1992 — hit the streets with no internet, no smart phones and very few media outlets that populate today’s media landscape.
