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7 honored in 2019 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History program
Seven outstanding African-American leaders were celebrated during the seventh annual “Strong Men & Women in Virginia History” awards program Feb. 7 at a Downtown hotel.
President calls for criminal justice reforms at NAACP convention
“Mass incarceration makes our country worse off, and we need to do something about it,” President Obama told 3,000 cheering people at the 106th annual NAACP National Convention in Philadelphia this week.
Charlottesville police chief retires in wake of damaging report
The first African-American police chief of Charlottesville abruptly retired Monday, about two weeks after a scathing independent review criticized his “slow-footed response” to violence at a white nationalist rally this summer.
What’s in a kiss? Wilder accused of sexual impropriety by VCU student
Aging political lion L. Douglas Wilder allegedly propositioned a Virginia Commonwealth University student who was young enough to be his great-granddaughter and has ended up receiving what amounts to an embarrassing and highly public slap from the young woman.
Rev. Joseph Lowery, head of SCLC and dean of civil rights veterans, dies at 98
The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery fought to end segregation, lived to see the election of the country’s first African-American president and echoed the call for “justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream” in America.
VMI superintendent resigns after probe ordered of ‘ongoing structural racism’
The superintendent of Virginia Military Institute resigned Mon- day, a week after Gov. Ralph S. Northam and other state officials ordered an investigation into what they characterized as a culture of “ongoing structural racism” at the college.
Former U.S. Sen. John Warner dies at 94
Flags are flying at half-staff over the nation’s capital in honor of former U.S. Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia who died Tuesday, May 25, 2021, at age 94.
Acclaimed writer Paule Marshall, professor emeritus at VCU, dies at 90
Writer Paule Marshall, an exuberant and sharpened storyteller who in books such as “Daughters” and “Brown Girl, Brownstones” drew upon classic and vernacular literature and her mother’s kitchen conversations to narrate the divides between African-Americans and Caucasians, men and women, and modern and traditional cultures, died Monday, Aug. 20, 2019, in Richmond.
Tax time
Monday, May 17. That’s the deadline for Virginians to file their federal and state income taxes for the year 2020.
Payback? Questions raised about charges against Sen. Lucas
State Sen. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, a key power broker and one of the highest ranking African-Americans in the General Assembly, has been charged with conspiracy to damage a Confederate monument during protests in Portsmouth that also led to a demonstrator being critically injured when the statue was knocked down.
Elusive copper cornerstone box pulled from Lee pedestal, opened
Conservation experts at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources pulled books, money, ammunition, documents and other artifacts Tuesday from a long-sought-after time capsule found in the remnants of a pedestal on Richmond’s Monument Avenue that once held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Pharrell Williams says ‘toxic energy’ tanked 2nd ‘Something in the Water’ in Va. Beach
Hometown or no hometown, music superstar Pharrell Wil- liams is pulling his hugely successful “Something in the Water” music festival out of Virginia Beach.
Scathing DOJ report finds discriminatory, unconstitutional police practices in Baltimore
African-American residents in Baltimore are routinely subjected to unconstitutional stops, arrests and excessive force by the Baltimore Police Department, a scathing federal report released on Wednesday states. The 163-page U.S. Justice Department report details an investigation launched after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray last year that found the Baltimore Police Department engages in a pattern of conduct that violates the Constitution and federal law.
Civil rights groups to commemorate 57th anniversary of historic March on Washington
A series of events led by a coalition of civil rights groups such as the NAACP, the National Action Network and a coalition, including Martin Luther King III and the families of George Floyd, Eric Garner and Breonna Taylor, will commemorate the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington that was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Amelia Boynton Robinson, civil rights activist, dies at 104
Free Press staff, wire reports MONTGOMERY, Ala. Amelia Boynton Robinson helped change America. The first African-American woman to run for Congress served on the front lines during the Civil Rights Movement. Almost beaten to death in a march for voting rights in 1965, she was among those who pushed the country to pass a strong law to finally ensure African-Americans could cast a ballot without facing literacy tests, poll taxes and vicious attacks.
Obama cheered
President Obama took aim on Tuesday at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and accused critics of playing into the hands of the Islamic State in a speech meant to cement his legacy and set a positive tone for his final year in office. Delivering his last annual State of the Union speech to Congress as president, he called for leaders to “fix” U.S. politics and criticized candidates such as Mr. Trump for using anti-Muslim rhetoric that betrayed American values.
Tragedy in Vegas
Sunday’s bloody mass shooting outside casino is the worst massacre in recent U.S. history
The mystery and motive behind mass killer Stephen Paddock — gambler, accountant, auditor and real estate investor — continues to baffle federal authorities and law enforcement officials in Las Vegas who were working on Wednesday to discover what drove the 64-year-old to commit the worst mass murder in modern U.S. history.
Kanye West appeals judge’s ruling keeping his name off Virginia ballot
Rapper Kanye West is appealing a ruling by Richmond Circuit Court Judge Joi Jeter Taylor that would keep his name off the presidential ballots in Virginia.
Charges dismissed against Sen. Lucas
A Richmond judge dismissed charges on Monday that were filed against the highest-ranking Black state senator and several other Portsmouth officials after police said that she and others conspired to damage a Confederate monument in the Hampton Roads city.
