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Highland Park women offer children ‘safe haven’
The sounds of happy children fill the air behind the two-story home of Lena Robinson and Loretta Wallace in Highland Park. Sixteen neighborhood children — ages 6 to 10 — alternately are playing board games and basketball and reading in the backyard of the home at 2000 Fourth Ave.
Schools to stay open during bike races
Richmond Public Schools is not going to shut down during the international bike races that will engulf much of the city next month. Assistant Superintendent Tommy Kranz told the School Board on Monday night that he is anticipating “business as usual” during the upcoming 2015 UCI Road World Championships, scheduled to run from Saturday, Sept. 19, through Sunday, Sept. 27.
Lumpkin’s Jail site to get new life
After years of neglect by the city, the site at Lumpkin’s Jail is headed toward a multimillion-dollar makeover. The jail site was a holding pen for enslaved people in Shockoe Bottom that later served as the launching ground for Virginia Union University.
Mobile home residents file lawsuit against Richmond
Current and former residents of two South Side mobile home parks have accused the City of Richmond of waging a deliberate campaign to force them from their homes through an aggressive code enforcement campaign. Now they are fighting back.
Embraced by Wings enfolds young people in spirit of service
LinGina Moe has a heart to help others. “Growing up, I saw a lot of things and a lot of people in need,” said Ms. Moe, a 36-year-old native of New York City who now lives in Chesterfield County. “I decided I wanted to make a difference any way I could.” That’s why she says she founded the all-volunteer, community-helping organization Embraced by Wings Youth Outreach Ministry in 2008.
City readying community for September bike races
Hundreds of bike riders will pedal at break-neck speeds along Richmond area streets past cheering spectators during the upcoming UCI Road World Championships. Elite bicyclists from around the world are scheduled to compete in 12 races over nine days from Saturday, Sept. 19, through Sunday, Sept. 27. Courses will range from 14 miles to 160 miles and will wind through Richmond and Henrico and Hanover counties.
‘Dialogue’ pages create feedback for School Board
Richmond Public Schools wants to make it easier for parents, students, teachers and the public to ask School Board members questions, make suggestions, express concerns or compliment their work — and get responses in a timely manner.
Designs for Broad St. rapid transit unveiled
Travelers along Broad Street will see a far different thoroughfare through the heart of the city in October 2017. That’s when the highly anticipated bus rapid transit known as “GRTC Pulse” is scheduled to whisk riders along a 7.6- mile route from Willow Lawn in the West End to Rocketts Landing in the East End.
Dr. Bedden gets $12,579 raise
That’s the new salary for Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden. With the start of the 2015-16 fiscal year on July 1, he is eligible to receive another $23,758 — up to 10 percent of his salary — based on performance incentives and $28,500 in a deferred compensation plan.
Movement grows to eradicate Confederate symbols
A growing number of Virginians are enlisting in a grassroots movement spreading across the nation to remove from the public square the vestiges of the traitors who fought against the nation during the Civil War to preserve slavery. Less than a week after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and thousands of people of all ethnicities assembled July 10 to cheer the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia, many Virginians are signaling they are fed up as well with Confederate symbols of hate and are saying “enough is enough.”
Charles City native a first at state’s executive mansion
Kaci M. Easley is carrying on a proud family tradition of public service. Her late maternal grandmother, Iona W. Adkins, served as clerk of Charles City County Circuit Court from 1967 to 1988. She was the first African-American woman to be elected clerk of a court of record since Reconstruction. The Virginia House of Delegates honored her in a resolution shortly after her death in 2004.
Forums deliver security tips to church leaders
Richmond area faith leaders and congregation members are on heightened alert following the mass killing of nine worshippers at a historic Charleston, S.C., church last week and a frightening incident that followed at a church in South Richmond.
School Board votes 4-2 to back Bedden’s ‘leveling’ plan
Are arts and music programs and foreign language classes now an endangered species in some Richmond Public Schools? That’s what some School Board members, students, parents and supporters fear in the wake of Monday night’s 4-2 vote by the board to back Superintendent Dana T. Bedden’s “leveling” plan.
Celebrating Father’s Day
What is your fondest memory of your father?
On Sunday, June 21, we celebrate Father’s Dayand all the love, lessons and gifts they give to their families and children.In honor of this special day, the Free Press asked people: What is your fondest memory of your father?
Protests erupt over teacher cuts, reassignments
Teachers, students, parents and supporters mobilized via social media when they learned Richmond Public Schools officials began instituting cost-cutting changes affecting the jobs of some of their most beloved teachers. “Please help!” read one urgent Facebook post.
Rayvon to sing in city this weekend
Spread the word: American Idol heartthrob Rayvon Owen is coming to Richmond this weekend.
First 100 days
Police chief reflects on good, bad, ugly
Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham marked his 100th day in office last Sunday. It was not the kind of day he had hoped for or envisioned.
Mechanicsville pastor, church receive $50,000 renewal grant
Dr. R. Neal Siler, pastor of First Shiloh Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, is taking a leave of absence from his congregation beginning this month for some recreation, relaxation and spiritual renewal. The 63-year-old pastor, who has led First Shiloh for 27 years, is scheduled to spend time in Italy, France, Chicago and New Mexico before returning to the pulpit in mid-August.
