All results / Stories / Debora Timms
Legislating with power and purpose
Jennifer McClellan’s historic first year in Congress
March 7, 2024, marked one year since Jennifer L. McClellan made history, winning a special election to succeed the late A. Donald McEachin and become the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia.
Shining a light on the ‘Rural Black Church’
Leonard L. Edloe, the founding pastor of Hartfield’s New Hope Fellowship Church, delves into the history and the legacy of the rural Black church in his recently self-published book, “Restoring the Glory: Breathing New Life into the Rural Black Church.”
‘Human suffering involved,’ says business owner
City Council passes steps to address meals tax concerns and homelessness
Among the ordinances unanimously passed by Richmond City Council on Monday was one that would change how the Finance Department collects and applies meals tax payments.
An hour can save a life
More diverse blood donors needed amid emergency shortage nationwide
National Blood Donor Month might have ended Jan. 31, but ongoing shortages in Virginia and nationally mean that the need for donors remains critical.
2024 State of the City
Mayor Levar Stoney points to Richmond’s bright future
Mayor Levar M. Stoney used his final State of the City address to reflect on his administration’s accomplishments over the past seven years, while also signaling Richmond’s bright future.
Next chapter
Sandra G. Treadway retires as state librarian
When Dr. Sandra Gioia Treadway started working as an associate editor of publications for the Library of Virginia in 1978, she recalls the time being such “a different world back then. It’s hard to imagine what it was like.”
Remembering a trailblazer
Bernadine A. ‘Bernie’ Simmons paved the way for others to follow
Bernadine A. ‘Bernie’ Simmons, the late television news anchor and creator of Richmond’s popular “12 About Town” segment for WWBT-NBC12, was remembered by friends and colleagues on Saturday, Jan. 13, at Joseph Jenkins Jr. Funeral Home in Richmond.
Chesterfield students to benefit from new outdoor classroom
Salem Church Middle School and Communities In Schools of Chesterfield (CIS) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 29 to launch the school’s new outdoor classroom. Initial funding for the collaborative project came from U.S. Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant which aims to address post-pandemic impacts on students — something especially important in a school where the majority of the students are low-income and Black and Brown, the same populations disproportionately negatively impacted by COVID and its long-term effects.
Richmond native successfully pitches at Black Ambition
For Leslie Winston III, it was a case of the third time is the charm when his company, Monocle, was named HBCU Grand Prize Winner at the 3rd Annual Black Ambition Demo Day on Nov. 9 at Spring Studios in New York.
Reflections about Roland ‘Duke’ Ealey
He ‘was very much a Richmond fixture and everybody who knew him respected him’
Jody Lynn Allen, a history professor and the Robert Francis Engs director of The Lemon Project at The College of William & Mary, is eager to learn what Mr. Ealey’s papers reveal about civil rights in regions outside of the Lower South.
Celebrating community
Two churches step out from the past together
Two Dinwiddie County Baptist churches, Rocky Branch in Sutherland and Central in Church Road, both celebrated their 150-year anniversaries in October. To mark the occasion, the predominately white congregation of Central Baptist and the predominately Black congregation of Rocky Branch Baptist did something that would have been unthinkable all those years ago — they came together in worship and fellowship.
‘Kemba’, a film based on Richmonder’s life of love, prison and redemption, makes screen debut
“Kemba,” a movie based on the true story of Richmond native Kemba Smith, made its world premiere this week at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
With passion and purpose
Nearing retirement, Debra Carlotti has helped empower children and parents for decades
Richmond Public Schools educator Debra Carlotti was born in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., a place that is a lot more trendy now than when she grew up there in the 1950s and 1960s, she said.
47 acres and a dream
Developer seeks to expand family’s legacy in Tappahannock with housing for seniors, workers
Business is in Shiree Monterio’s blood.
‘Walk Through Fire’
Sheila Johnson’s memoir explores love, loss and triumph
For four days and three nights in mid-August, Sheila Crump Johnson, cofounder of Black Entertainment Television and CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, hosted hundreds of guests at her 340-acre Salamander Resort and Spa near Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.
Gary Flowers takes his show national
Beginning this Sunday, radio listeners can tune in again to “The Gary Flowers Show.”
Black women benefit from more mind, body, spirit practices
Khepera Sankara was at rock bottom when she attended her first yoga class in 2013. It was an Ashtanga class taught by yoga teacher Robbie Norris as part of a program that brought yoga to the Richmond City Jail, where Ms. Sankara was incarcerated for shoplifting. “It was a godsend,” she said in a recent phone interview. “I found it so profoundly transformational. Just the physical practice helped change my
Richmond’s new police chief details plans to deter crime, build community outreach, be transparent
After a nationwide search, Richard “Rick” Edwards’ interim position as Richmond’s police chief became permanent when the 24-year veteran of the Richmond Police Department was sworn in July 24 as the city’s 21st police chief.
VSU’s legacy of musical excellence
Earlier this year it was announced that Virginia State University was awarded the prestigious All-Steinway School designation — a recognition of their commitment to providing only pianos from the Steinway & Sons company for students and faculty to use.
Conducting the future: Burrs holds the baton at UR, Petersburg
Naima Burrs grew up surrounded by music. The Richmond native’s mother is renowned soprano Lisa Edwards-Burrs. Her father, Stacy L. Burrs, is a former CEO of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center, a former director of Venture Richmond and a jazz aficionado.
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