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Local input sought on Shockoe Bottom
Wanted: Community involvement in creating a new development plan for Shockoe Bottom. An activist group is seeking public input now that Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ plan for a new baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom appears to be going nowhere. The mayor’s combo baseball-development plan has been on hold for 10 months after failing to win City Council support. The Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, which battled the mayor’s plan as an effort to erase the history of slavery in Richmond, announced it would hold several brainstorming sessions in the next few days to solicit public suggestions for the historical and commercial development of Shockoe Bottom, an epicenter of the slave trade before the Civil War.
Settlement details expected in death of South Side man involving police, ambulance personnel
A settlement is being worked out in the $25 million federal civil lawsuit alleging that two Richmond Police officers and two Richmond Ambulance Authority emergency medical personnel fatally smothered city resident Joshua L. Lawhon three years ago.
Slave memorial and museum gets jumpstart under mayor’s plan
A long-stalled effort to develop a museum and memorial park in Shockoe Bottom to tell the story of enslaved people in Richmond seems to have gained fresh momentum, but that could quickly evaporate.
City Council expected to provide $300,000 ‘seed money’ for planned slavery museum in Shockoe Bottom
Richmond is poised to pour $300,000 into a new attempt to create a national slavery museum.
William C. Smith named interim police chief in Richmond
For now, William C. Smith is in charge of the Richmond Police Department. The 23-year department veteran took over as interim chief on Tuesday, New Year’s Day, following the official retirement of former Chief Alfred Durham.
A new top cop in town
The Richmond Police Department has stayed free of public accusations of police brutality as “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations grow locally and across the nation to protest atrocities by white police officers in the black community. The nearly 740-officer force has garnered mostly praise for its community policing efforts to gain closer ties with neighborhoods in the city it serves.
New police chief promoted from the ranks
Six police chiefs have come and gone since William C. “Will” Smith joined the Richmond Police Department as a patrolman in 1995.
New Police Chief Gerald Smith greeted with eventful first day
For Gerald M. Smith, the first day as Richmond’s new police chief was anything but routine.
Chief Durham reflects on his tenure in Richmond
Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham is done. He wrapped up Dec. 20 by issuing promotions to 12 officers, including naming three deputy chiefs and tapping one, William C. Smith, to serve as acting chief.
Under fire
Calls grow for Interim Chief Blackwell to resign after word of his fatal 2002 officer-involved shooting
Interim Richmond Police Chief William V. “Jody” Blackwell is supposed to be the right person to focus on “necessary public safety reform, healing and trust building within the community.”
‘I’m done’: Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham announces his last day on the force will be Dec. 31
“I’m done. I don’t have another position waiting.” So said Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham after publicly announcing Tuesday he will retire effective Sunday, Dec. 31.
City worker unionization efforts begin as police coalition calls for Chief Smith’s ouster
Should City Hall follow the lead of the Richmond School Board and authorize its employees to organize and collectively bargain over wages and working conditions?
Jury still out
After a year on the job, Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith has not won over many officers or residents either through style or substance
A year ago, Gerald M. Smith was introduced to the city as an “innovator” and a “reform-minded change agent” as Mayor Levar M. Stoney introduced him as Richmond’s new police chief.
Clarence Wall, administrator at Central State Hospital, dies at 86
Clarence Edward Limas Wall, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and former director of hospital programs at Central State Hospital, has died. The Richmond native died Sunday, April 18, 2021. He was 86.
Monument Avenue group raises $107,000 for Carver Elementary
A new microphone system for the auditorium. Whiteboards and projectors in every classroom. Kidney-shaped desks in each room to allow teachers to work with small groups of children needing extra attention. Those are the kinds of items that soon will be coming to Carver Elementary School, thanks to a successful fundraiser that a nonprofit group conducted on behalf of the school.
Chief Durham decries drop in police force
Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham is tired of hearing he should be doing more to stem the bloodshed in Richmond. He hears that refrain every time there’s another killing — and there have been 52 already this year, up nearly 27 percent from a year ago when 41 people were reported slain.
Changing of the guard
Roger Gregory no longer a chief judge; Reggie Gordon, Damon Jiggetts now head foundations
Judge Roger L. Gregory is now the former chief judge of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Police chief to hold town hall meetings
Police chief to hold town hall meetings Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham is making a greater effort to hear from the public.
Mitchell named GRTC interim CEO
GRTC has never had a female chief executive. Nor did any of its predecessor public transit companies. That is not changing as the bus company moves to replace David Green, who announced last week that he would step down as GRTC’s chief executive officer at the end of the month.
Richmond Fire Department blazing through recruiting
When it comes to recruiting, the Richmond Department of Fire and Emergency Services stands head and shoulders above the rest of the city’s public safety departments.
