Quantcast

Show advanced options

All results / Stories

Tease photo

Overall crime down in Richmond during pandemic

One silver lining during this pandemic is a reduction in crime, according to Richmond Police Chief Will Smith.

Tease photo

Local connection to Kansas City Chiefs

There is a local connection between the Richmond area and last Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Tease photo

Big mistake

Tear gas released on Lee statue protesters was in error

Twenty-five minutes before an 8 p.m. curfew was to go into effect, Richmond Police officers began firing tear gas and other noxious chemical agents to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered around the now removed Robert E. Lee statue in the city’s West End.

Tease photo

Chief Smith embraces police reform, but wants to control it from the catbird seat

New Richmond Police Chief Gerald M. Smith is raising a yellow caution flag for those pushing to reform the department and support budget cuts to “defund the police.”

Tease photo

Dr. James Edward Leary, who pastored churches for more than 60 years, dies at 86

Dr. James Edward Leary, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in civil rights protests in the 1960s and provided pastoral services for 60 years to at least 12 churches in Richmond and other states, died Friday, July 23, 2021.

Tease photo

Honoring Pocahontas

Chief Anne Richardson, leader of the Rappahannock Indian Tribe, speaks during a ceremony Monday honoring Pocahontas, or Matoaka, the young Native American woman whose influence aided the survival of the English settlers at Jamestown in the early 1600s and bolstered relations with the English when she traveled to England later with her white husband, John Rolfe, and son, Thomas.

Tease photo

Council approves $1.7M for new police hires

During the next eight months, Richmond expects to add 75 new police officers to beef up its declining force. That includes two classes of recruits at the Training Academy and two additional classes of recruits to begin the six to seven months of training within two months, according to Police Chief Alfred Durham.

Tease photo

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.

Tease photo

Where are we?, by Faye Williams

As children, when my siblings and I did something good, my mother never failed to compliment us. On the other hand, when we did something bad, she never failed to chastise us by providing a bit of corrective action!

Tease photo

Riverfront brawl brings unwelcome attention to historic civil rights city in Alabama

Three white boaters in Alabama’s capital city will be charged with misdemeanor assault for a riverfront brawl with a Black boat captain that drew nationwide attention, with more charges likely to come, police said.

Origin of student civil rights group clarified

Re “Student civil rights workers recall efforts,” June 25-27 edition: We appreciate the Richmond Free Press devoting an article to the Civil Rights Movement and the 50th reunion of the Virginia Students’ Civil Rights Committee (VSCRC). There is one point that we would like to clarify about the origins of the VSCRC and its relationship to other groups active at that time.

Tease photo

Henrico cemeteries to get county historic marker

Tommy Edwards, the late R&B vocalist best known for his hit song, “It’s All in the Game,” is buried there. So are the late state Sen. Benjamin J. Lambert III and his brother, the late Richmond attorney Leonard Lambert, as well as the descendants of Jesse Pryor Sr., a former slave.

Tease photo

Cheryl Burke sworn in to hold School Board seat through 2020

Retired elementary school principal Cheryl L. Burke was sworn in Tuesday as the official 7th District representative on the Richmond School Board. Mrs. Burke, 65, who was appointed by the board in 2017 to fill the seat on an interim basis, won a special election on Nov. 6 to fill the seat for the remainder of the term through December 2020.

Tease photo

City Council committee again closes door on private ambulance service

Richmond City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted to kill legislation that would give Fire Chief Melvin Carter greater decision-making authority over permits for the operation of private ambulance service within the city.

Tease photo

Chiefs, 49ers primed for Super Bowl rematch

This year’s Super Bowl matchup features franchises with plenty of experience on football’s grandest stage.

Tease photo

A heroine honored

April 23 now designated as Barbara Johns Day in Virginia to honor 1951 student activist who helped dismantle public school segregation

Today’s students need to continue to speak out when they see injustice. That was the message from Joan Johns Cobbs, the younger sister of the late Barbara Johns, and Mrs. Cobbs’ classmate, Joy Cabarrus Speakes, as Virginia prepares to celebrate the first Barbara Johns Day on Monday, April 23.

Tease photo

School Board approves Kamras’ smaller, better-paid cabinet

A divided Richmond School Board voted 5-4 on Monday night to approve the hiring of four members of Superintendent Jason Kamras’ new cabinet, overruling members who objected to the enlarged salaries they are to be paid.

Tease photo

One HBCU alum to play in Super Bowl

The Kansas City Chiefs are returning to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years, and much has changed in the last half century.

Tease photo

August spells spirit of giving

Churches, corporations and RPD provide resources for schools, students

In the weeks and days leading up to Richmond area students entering a new school year, several churches, businesses and other organizations stepped up to provide backpacks, clothing, shoes, lunchboxes and even cash in an effort to ensure that children have the basics for learning.

Tease photo

RPS graduation rate improves; no longer the lowest in state

Richmond Public Schools no longer has the lowest on-time graduation rate in Virginia.