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NAACP officials call for continued probe into Chesterfield woman’s death
Richmond private investigator Perry Hicks began probing the mysterious disappearance and death of Ogechi Sarah Uwasomba three months ago at the behest of the Richmond NAACP and other concerned parties.
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.
Protesters seek year-round city-run homeless shelter
About 30 members of the city’s homeless community, advocates for homeless people and other concerned residents gathered behind the city’s old Public Safety Building early last Friday evening for a rally and sleep-in protest at the entrance of the emergency overflow shelter.
Violent crime in city down in 2015
Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Police Chief Alfred Durham trumpeted a major decrease in violent crimes committed in the city during 2015 at a news conference last Friday. But the grim reality of crime’s impact on the community was illustrated when Charlene Boone stepped to the podium during the officials’ announcement last Friday at the Richmond Police Training Academy.
Richmond Public Schools losing budget director during critical season
Richmond Public Schools is losing one of its chief budget architects as the School Board and Superintendent Dana T. Bedden prepare to kick off their budget negotiations for fiscal year 2017 with Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Richmond City Council. Betsy Drewry, RPS director of budget and planning, will leave her position Friday, Feb. 5, to become director of budget and finance for Prince George County, she told the Free Press at Monday’s School Board meeting at City Hall. Ms. Drewry is exiting after 18 months in the position. She was the Prince George school system’s budget chief for 14 years prior to coming to Richmond.
‘We need to rebuild, renew and refocus,’ Emancipation Day speakers say
One after another, speakers at the 75th Annual Emancipation Proclamation Day Worship Celebration at Fifth Baptist Church in the West End passionately implored listeners to get involved in community betterment. Lynetta Thompson, president of the Richmond Branch NAACP, drew shouts of “Amen” and “Hallelujah” when she said, “Black churches, we need your help. We need for you to be a voice for the voiceless,” she stressed. She urged audience members to step outside the walls of the church to perform community service and become active in groups such as the NAACP that work for social change. The Bible, she said, has more than 300 verses speaking to seeking social justice and helping the poor.
Pulpit to politics, remembering Leonidas B. Young II
The Rev. Leonidas B. Young II rose from the pulpit of historic Fourth Baptist Church in the East End to the pinnacle of Richmond political power, serving as the city’s mayor from 1994 to 1996. Elected to Richmond City Council representing the East End’s 7th District from 1992 to 1999, he was considered a rising political star by many at the time.
Student apologizes for playing racist song
The neatly attired African-American teenager somberly stepped to the podium at the Henrico County School Board meeting last week at New Bridge School in East Henrico.
Petersburg man holds memories from Selma march
As people across the nation flocked to the movies to watch “Selma,” 80-year-old Petersburg native Herbert V. Coulton Sr. already knew the story — because he was there.
Dr. Bedden gets 2-year extension
The Richmond School Board presented Superintendent Dana T. Bedden with an early Christmas gift Monday when six of its nine members voted to extend his contract by two years — through June 30, 2019. The extension comes midway through Dr. Bedden’s initial 3½-year contract that began Jan. 13, 2014, and was scheduled to expire on June 30, 2017.
Sharpton on GOP: ‘They entertain you with foolishness’
“And let us not be weary in well doing!” the Rev. Al Sharpton said. “For in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not!” Moved by those stirring words, more than 1,000 worshippers rose to their feet, cheering and applauding Rev. Sharpton on Sunday during his sermon at the Men’s Day service at historic Gillfield Baptist Church in Petersburg. “If you give up, think of those ahead of you. If they had given up, where would we be?”
Police brutality : ‘I will not tolerate it’
Chief talks tough on expectations of officer conduct
Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham minced no words about how he won’t tolerate brutality and excessive use of force by officers under his command. “I’m going to tell it like it is. If there is riffraff in my department and you’re wearing a gun and a badge, you’re gone,” he told an audience of about 50 people at a public forum Tuesday night at Richmond’s Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. “I will not tolerate it.” At this second “Peeps and Police Community Conversations” attended by mostly elderly and middle-aged adults, Chief Durham said that “several officers were disciplined” recently after they mishandled a situation inside a resident’s home. He did not elaborate.
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.
Former presidential candidate Wilder offers advice to Clinton campaign
Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder — the nation’s first elected African-American governor and one-time Democratic presidential candidate — issued a cautionary warning to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign prior to a talk and book-signing event Tuesday at his alma mater, Virginia Union University.
Fourth Baptist’s pastor leads by faith activism
Dr. Emory Berry Jr. calls himself a “walking miracle.” The 38-year-old is celebrating his fifth anniversary as pastor at Fourth Baptist Church in Richmond. When his mother was pregnant with him, doctors at a Miami hospital urged her to terminate her pregnancy because of health complications, he said. Instead, he said, his mother had faith that God would allow her to deliver the child safely and that he would make a difference in the world.
Call to action issued at Community Leaders Breakfast
“It’s not time for us to be silent!” Gov. Terry McAuliffe thundered. “It’s time to fire it up!” With smiling Baptist minister and Mayor Dwight C. Jones seated nearby at the 37th Annual Community Leaders Breakfast to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Gov. McAuliffe sounded every bit the mission-driven evangelist as he called for the com- munity to rally around his agenda for more jobs, a commitment to early childhood education and full restoration of rights for nonviolent ex-offenders.
NFL quarterback Russell Wilson gets hometown welcome
Seattle Seahawks All-Pro quarterback Russell Wilson scored a touchdown with a hometown crowd of 4,500 people at the Richmond Forum, where he was the special guest and speaker Saturday night at the Altria Theatre.
Rev. Wright: Faith traditions give hope for life’s journey
His voice didn’t reach the thunderous crescendo for which he is well known. Nor did he use the fiery cadences with which he has stirringly moved worshippers and other audiences for more than four decades.
Advocacy groups plan housing, services safety net for foster youths
Janeva Smith has seen many of her friends in foster care suddenly become homeless when they turn 18. They have nowhere to go, few life skills and little hope for the future. “I’ve had many friends who tried to commit suicide,” said Ms. Smith, who was 18 months old when she initially was placed in foster care in Plainfield, N.J. She was 14 when she entered foster care in Virginia, moving between foster families, group homes and shelters.
Playing the ‘Trump’ card
Richmond pastor of church in bankruptcy endorses billionaire despite controversial remarks
