All results / Stories / Jeremy M. Lazarus
City social services department finds itself stressed with a shortage of workers
As the coronavirus stalks the city, more people are turning to the Richmond Department of Social Services for help.
Mayor Stoney unveils a $1.92 billion budget plan for 2020-21
Mayor Levar M. Stoney wants to increase total city spending an additional $135 million — or nearly $600 per resident — to beef up investments in street paving, public education, city worker pay, affordable housing and other priorities.
Markers to honor late city native Dorothy I. Height on March 24
Dorothy Irene Height left segregated Richmond at age 5 and went on to earn national recognition as a civil rights and women’s rights activist who devoted her life to uplifting people.
Fewer, higher paid school liaisons would replace RPS’ 17 attendance officers under Kamras plan
Jason Kamras is rejecting initial criticism of his plan to try a new approach to ensure Richmond students attend school daily.
Creighton Court redevelopment project seeks $4.9M city bailout
The project to transform the poverty-stricken Creighton Court public housing area in the East End into a mixed-income development has run into a glitch — the master developer can’t raise all the money needed to construct the first 105 apartments.
Bond fund to help people stay out of jail
Get arrested and you could lose your job, your home, custody of your children and anything you own if you can’t raise bail money.
Saving the past
Bradford family descendants, supporters work to protect old Sons and Daughters of Ham Cemetery
Dense woods fill much of a largely uncelebrated and essentially abandoned African-American burial ground in Henrico County that had been best known in recent years as a practice area for University of Richmond runners.
Mayor introduces measure to ban guns from city buildings, parks
Mayor Levar M. Stoney wants to ban guns from city buildings, parks, recreation centers and other community facilities.
Family burial interrupted by lack of death certificate
The prayers had ended and Rose M. Stith stood near the open grave in Oakwood Cemetery steeling herself to watch her youngest son’s casket lowered. But, suddenly, a member of the March Funeral Home staff was telling her that the burial of 44-year-old Byron Monte Stith Jr. was off.
Altria Theater lights up with new acoustics, amenities
Revamped acoustics — including a new sound system and sound-absorbing materials — are among the biggest changes in the grand venue once known as The Mosque and Richmond’s Landmark Theater.
Mixed deal
Sheriff’s playing cards lack ‘empathy’ for crime victims’ loved ones
Sheriff Antionette V. Irving, who has been under fire for her jail management and attacks on deputies, has sought to shift the narrative.
Vanishing notebooks
RPS officials report 12,100 laptops missing
On the heels of a scathing audit report, Richmond Public Schools is admitting that its own internal check has found that more than 1,600 laptops that were purchased have vanished, and that it does not know the whereabouts of another 10,558 laptops that are listed in the inventory.
Faster legal sales of marijuana snuffed out; Black advocates cheer
The rush to start legal retail sales of marijuana next September has been snuffed out.
City names Edwards as police chief
Richmond's top cop will be paid a record $216,000
Richard “Rick” Edwards is now the city’s 21st chief of police.
City Council backs year-round homeless shelter, approves master plan
Rhonda Sneed has gained City Council support after a year of pleading for City Hall to create a year-round shelter for the homeless.
Another case of inequity?
2 people rob the same SunTrust Bank but sentences different as black and white
Two people robbed the same SunTrust Bank branch in Hanover County four years apart.
City Council gives greenlight to casino project
Richmond easily leaped the first hurdle in its quest to become a casino city — City Council approval.
Crackdown
Attorney General’s Office of Civil Rights goes after possible housing discrimination by filing 13 lawsuits against 29 area companies that allegedly refused to accept renters using federal housing vouc
Owners and operators of apartment complexes in Richmond and across the state commonly have rejected rental applications from people using federal government-backed Housing Choice Vouchers to pay.
Slow but steady
Larger than expected voter turnout delays election results
Eleven volunteers were still hand-counting ballots at Free Press deadline to determine the winner of Tuesday’s Democratic “firehouse” primary in the 4th Congressional District.
Councilwoman hopes proposed changes to City Charter find support
Under proposed changes to the City Charter or constitution, City Council would gain new authority over housing subsidies and real estate tax relief to residents with low to moderate incomes, in addition to setting its own compensation and modi- fying zoning. Fifth District Councilwoman Stephanie A. Lynch hopes to gain unanimous support from her eight colleagues at the Monday, Dec. 11, council meeting for the changes she has negotiated with Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration. If passed by the council, the package would be sent to the General Assembly for approval in the upcoming 2024 session. Many of the changes follow recommenda- tions that a council-created Richmond City Charter Review Commission submitted Aug. 2 after a year of study. As the most significant package of charter changes proposed since the 2004 creation of a mayor elected citywide, the amend- ments do not address the current relationship between the council and the mayor ahead of the 2024 elections for the governing body and chief executive. The biggest proposed change could well be the tax and housing initiatives that the charter review commission did not address. The proposed Section 2.09 amendment would allow the city to defer property taxes and tax increases for qualifying low or moderate income property owners, using the definition of such individuals established by the Virginia Housing Development Authority, now known as Virginia Housing. Such a program could allow the taxes to accumulate over time to be paid off from proceeds after the property is sold. In addition, the proposed charter change would authorize the city to create a program that could help such qualifying individu- als buy a home or receive rental subsidies. The city also could use state or federal funds to advance such initiatives. The charter amendment also would declare the creation of programs that could provide funds directly to individuals for housing to be “in the furtherance of a public interest” to get
