All results / Stories / Jeremy M. Lazarus

Federal commission approved for 400th commemoration of Africans, African-Americans in U.S.
In late August 1619, a storm-tossed English warship flying a Dutch flag stopped at one of the earliest English settlements in Virginia and changed the future of America and the world.

City report offers grim view of future revenue, expenses
Richmond appears to be booming. Construction is underway on new apartments, commercial space and government buildings.

City may be facing deficit in current 2019-20 budget
Three months ago, with the city’s economy booming, Richmond’s government projected an $8.5 million surplus when the current fiscal year ends June 30. But today, the city appears to be facing a $6.2 million deficit, according to the latest data for the 2019-20 fiscal year, after the coronavirus sent the local economy — and that of the state, the

More dollars possible for certain neighbor associations
Money to fund an anti-litter program is expected to be shifted to civic and neighborhood associations in Carver, Jackson Ward, The Fan and other neighborhoods with restricted parking districts.

Virginia Organizing challenges Youngkin’s voting rights move
The Charlottesville-based grassroots group Virginia Organizing plans to lead a public march and protest in Richmond at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, to protest Republican Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin’s rollback of the virtually automatic restoration of voting rights for released felons, it has been announced

VSU enrolls 1,000 students in freshman class
Virginia State University is reporting that nearly 1,000 freshmen enrolled for the fall semester, a rebound from 2015 when

City tackling polluted water
Richmond’s most heavily polluted watersheds that drain into the James River will get some extra attention, thanks to a $1 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, it has been announced.

New bridge named for longtime school volunteer
Robert S. “Bob” Argabright II is receiving special recognition for his volunteer service to Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School in South Side.

Woodland Restoration Foundation hopes descendants will help with continuing cemetery upkeep, plans
Call him the headstone hunter.

GRTC slated to start CARE-on-demand service Aug.1
Roderyck Bullock is gaining a new transportation option. Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 1, the Richmonder will be able to use a new Uber-style, on-demand service that GRTC is putting in place to upgrade service to the elderly and disabled who rely on the company’s CARE paratransit service.

City workers launch campaign for collective bargaining
City Hall employees this week launched their campaign to gain the right to collectively bargain over wages and working conditions.

Confederate pedestals out
Grass and landscaping to soon replace dead soldiers
Richmond’s streets and parks will soon lose virtually all vestiges of the white-supremacist Confederate statues and monuments that once loomed so large.

VSU placed on warning by accrediting agency
Virginia State University, which has been tussling with the state auditor over its financial reporting, now has taken a slap from the regional group that accredits the historic Petersburg area school. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced last week that VSU has been placed on warning, a sanction imposed for failing to provide evidence it was in compliance with all of the group’s standards.

More payouts
3 City Council aides receive $97,000 total in severance, vacation pay
Richmond City Council quietly approved severance packages totaling more than $97,000 for three departing council employees even as council members expressed shock and dismay over similar payments to four departing employees of former Mayor Dwight C. Jones.

Dr. Frank S. Royal steps down as chair of Meharry Medical College
For decades, Dr. Frank S. Royal regularly flew to Nashville to lead board meetings at historic Meharry Medical College. But at 77, the retired Richmond physician has decided “it is time to let someone else take over.”

Wells Fargo to give $4M to HOME to expand black home ownership
Five years ago, banking giant Wells Fargo paid more than $200 million to settle documented government allegations that it deliberately charged African-American borrowers higher fees and interest rates on home loans.

City Council members file legislation to halt bike lanes in North Side
Two City Council members want to kill City Hall plans to turn one travel lane on both sides of Brook Road over to bicycles between Azalea Avenue and Charity Street.

City denies owing overtime pay to former mayor’s security detail
That is City Hall’s response to a lawsuit that four members of former Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ executive protection detail have filed alleging they were denied overtime pay when they worked more than 40 hours a week. The legal tussle over pay is now underway in federal court in Richmond and pits Richmond Police Officers Charles Battle, Errol Fernandez, Anthony Franklin and Eric Godfrey against the city.

Lawmakers hope Virginia will push ERA over finish line
A bipartisan group of five legislators will try again to get the Virginia General Assembly to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in the next legislative session.

Absence marks Emancipation Proclamation Day service
Jan. 1 marks one of the greatest days in American history — the day when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery amid the raging Civil War.