All results / Stories / Jeremy M. Lazarus
Support builds for more fiscal controls over Mayor Stoney
Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney is doing all he can to avoid the fiscal handcuffs that City Council is poised to slap on him.
Ignoring call to duty
Failure to sign up for Selective Service hurts thousands
Register for Selective Service. Otherwise, you could ruin your life. Jacquel Parker wishes he could tell that to every young man turning 18.
Man’s gift of life to be highlighted during NASCAR race Saturday
When a 14-year-old cousin’s kidneys failed, Christopher J. Woody stepped up after testing found him genetically compatible. He donated one of his kidneys to save Tyshawn Morris’ life.
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.
Blood Feud
Descendant pushes to be recognized by Pamunkey Tribe despite vestiges of ‘Black Laws’
The Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s fight in the General Assembly for the right to build gambling casinos in Richmond and Norfolk is shining a renewed spotlight on the tribe’s use of racial bigotry to ensure its survival.
Wronged
Retired factory worker Leonard Mc Millian had his home invaded by a police squad and spent more than an hour in handcuffs when police responded to calls about crimes at his home that proved bogus. Actor and songwriter Jerome Arrington spent a miserable seven weeks in jail after Richmond police arrested him for a street robbery he did not commit. Both men are African-American. Neither has received an apology for their ordeals, which appear to be relatively rare in a city where officers respond daily to dozens of calls. Still, their stories suggest that things can go dismayingly wrong even when police and prosecutors believe they are going by the book.
Adoption advocate and political campaign volunteer Annette ‘Nettie’ Gordon dies at 82
Annette White “Nettie” Gordon, who helped build an adoption program focused on Black children and volunteered in campaigns of Democratic candidates, has died.
Councilman-elect Jones not interested in leadership post
The Rev. Michael J. Jones says he is not campaigning to become vice president of Richmond City Council when the governing body begins a new term and selects new officers at its organizational meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 3. The incoming 9th District City Council member said Monday that he is not interested in a leadership post in response to a Free Press report last week.
Retired teacher Joyce Johnson dies at 73
Teaching children was Joyce Cole Johnson’s mission in life, according to her family. For 33 years, Ms. Johnson helped Richmond first- and second-graders learn to read, write and do arithmetic, first at Woodville Elementary and then at John B. Cary Elementary schools.
Bourne to push schools referendum in Gen. Assembly
A Richmond Democrat has volunteered to promote legislation to approve city voters’ call for Mayor Levar M. Stoney to craft a fully funded school modernization plan.
Morrissey announces Senate bid as G.A. officials close his House office
Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey once again is injecting drama into staid Virginia politics. In a fresh twist to his political career, the combative legislator quit the House of Delegates this week to begin his quest to replace incumbent Rosalyn R. Dance of Petersburg in the state Senate. His move comes barely two months after he defied Democratic and Republican House leaders and won a special election as an independent to keep his seat in the 74th House District after being convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor. That conviction forced him to commute to the legislature from jail on work release, the first Virginia delegate ever to do so.
Powered by faith and family, gospel queen Sheilah Belle triumphs over illnesses
Richmond gospel queen Sheilah Belle is “pressing forward” through the health challenges that have dogged her for six months.
Malveaux moves to Va. Court of Appeals
Henrico County Judge Mary Bennett Malveaux is a beneficiary of the judgeship fight between the governor and the Republican-dominated General Assembly. She is headed to the state’s 11-member Court of Appeals where she will make history as the court’s first African-American female member. She is officially to begin on April 16.
Chocolate Chip: A radio treat for 40 years
Chocolate Chip is still spinning records as a Richmond radio disc jockey. Every Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m., he takes listeners on an R&B stroll down memory lane with his oldies show on WCLM-AM 1450.
Henrico man awarded patent for golf cart cover
Golf carts have been part of John Houze Jr.’s life for decades.
Fish farming in Fairfield Court?
Nonprofit founder floats idea to improve lives of East End residents
Could fish farming be a way up for residents of public housing? Eric Samuelson believes it is a winning idea. And he’s hoping to find government officials who are willing to test it. “I get paid by private business to solve problems,” said Mr. Samuelson, a veteran management consultant. “I want to use my abilities to help solve the problems facing residents in public housing. And I think fish farming is one way to go.”
Thumbs down
City Council-appointed advisory commission rejects $1.5B Coliseum and Downtown redevelopment plan after 3-month review
Don’t do it. Don’t invest hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to replace the vacant Richmond Coliseum with a new 17,500-seat arena.
Questions, doubt about credibility of Rep. Robert C. Scott’s accuser
Instead, Marsheri Reese Everson appears to have completely fizzled with her claim that veteran Virginia Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-3rd, sexually harassed her when she worked in his office more than four years ago. Since Ms. Everson leveled the charge last Friday in the company of a Republican attorney and lobbyist known for embracing conspiracy theories, doubt has been raised about her credibility.
City General Assembly reps to face primary challengers
Three of the Democratic delegates representing Richmond in the General Assembly will have to get by challengers in the upcoming June 8 primary to keep their seats.
Rev. Delores R. Seay, associate minister at Triumphant Baptist Church, dies at 86
The Rev. Delores McFadden Robinson Seay, an associate minister at Triumphant Baptist Church who devoted herself to volunteer service at the church and in the community for decades, has died.
