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Personality: Angela Kelly-Wiecek

Spotlight on board chair of Richmond Region Tourism

It’s easy to tell Angela Kelly- Wiecek loves the Richmond region. The Hanover County resident was born in Petersburg and lived for a time in Chesterfield as a teen. She also has served as the Chickahominy District Representative on the Hanover County Board of Supervisors since 2011. Those combined experiences, including her current role as board chair for Richmond Region Tourism, have provided what Ms. Kelly-Wiecek describes as a “regional perspective.”

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Vagabond to reopen with Mama J’s flair

Vagabond, a stylish restaurant at 7th and Broad streets, is reopening Friday, Sept. 1, with some Mama J’s flavor and flair. Restaurateurs Velma R. Johnson, owner of Mama J’s Kitchen on 1st Street, and her son, Lester Johnson, are blending their experience and several signature dishes from the Jackson Ward location and adding a dash of entertainment to create a new vibe at the Broad Street eatery.

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Fans give millions to Damar Hamlin’s toy drive for kids

Damar Hamlin’s goal was simple: He wanted to raise $2,500 online to buy toys for needy kids.

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Planned school cuts causing pain

North Side resident Sherri Davis said she is concerned about planned budget cuts that may close schools, crowd classrooms and have parents scrambling to arrange transportation for their children. “It becomes a safety issue when you propose to put more kids in classes,” the mother of two Richmond Public Schools students told the Free Press on Wednesday. “It’s already hard enough for teachers to teach the large numbers of students they have in their classrooms.”

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Poor People’s Campaign vows to continue push to end poverty, racism, militarism

A multiracial, intergenerational crowd of thousands of social justice activists, union workers and people of faith prayed, cheered and listened intently last Saturday as speakers on the National Mall called for a re-energized approach to fighting poverty and other social ills they say are plaguing the country.

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Impeachment: Just another reality show

Growing up in Spotsylvania County, I was labeled a retard in my adolescence. In my 20s, I was branded a pansy with many other derogatory titles for unmanliness. Now, I have matured into obsolescence. Whatever branding life has bestowed upon me, I know enough to realize that the current impeachment hearings are no more than appeasement, not only to the losing Democrats of four years ago, but also to all the so-called tolerant who’ve disrespected the president.

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A bit of turkey with your football on Thanksgiving Day?

Thanksgiving can be a day for excesses. Three plates of goodies and a triple helping of NFL are forecast for homes all over Richmond.

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Sen. Lucas flip-flops in Va. Supreme Court battle

Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. is still one Senate vote short of winning a General Assembly election that would move him from the Virginia Court of Appeals to the state Supreme Court.

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Council defeats proposal to change how Richmonders vote in elections

Ranked-choice voting — aimed at ensuring that election winners have majority support — has been booted from Richmond.

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Biden and Trump poised for a potential rematch that could shake American politics

U.S. presidential elections have been rocked in recent years by economic disaster, stunning gaffes, secret video and a pandemic. But for all the tumult that defined those campaigns, the volatility surrounding this year’s presidential contest has few modern parallels, posing profound challenges to the future of American democracy.

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‘Young, gifted and dead’

The gregarious 9-year-old Alabama girl was just that, a girl, a little girl, a brown-skinned baby girl with braids or, in one picture, a side ponytail. Her family described her as “bubbly,” but bubbles burst, sometimes in the worst way.

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Cathy’s Camp razed, but people keep coming during pandemic

Homeless people keep coming despite the destruction last week of Cathy’s Camp, the tent community in Shockoe Valley, and the relocation of its residents to area motels and hotels.

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Personality: Clary W. Carleton

Spotlight on Richmond’s 2017 Teacher of the Year

Clary W. Carleton, Richmond Public Schools 2017 Teacher of the Year, could be a prototype for encouraging students to use their spirit of protest productively.

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After winning 2 court cases, Henrico tenant may face a third

‘I pay my rent like clockwork every month. I don’t know why they won’t let me alone.’

Donald J. Garrett is a rare figure among the sea of Richmond-area residents being hauled into court for eviction proceedings.

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Metropolitan Opera makes history with first work by a Black composer

“We bend, we don’t break. We sway!” sings the chorus in the second act of Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.”

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Kyle Jean-Baptiste, 21, rising Broadway star

Kyle Jean-Baptiste appeared to be headed to acting stardom. This summer, the talented 21-year-old became the first African-American and the youngest performer to play Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables” on Broadway.

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Personality: Omari Kijana Al-Qadaffi

Spotlight on recipient of Housing and Racial Justice Commendation from the National Housing Law Project

During a time where millions of people remain at risk of eviction in a pandemic, in a city that gained notice nationally for the second highest eviction rate in the country before COVID-19, Omari Kijana Al-Qadaffi has been a constant presence as a community organizer and housing advocate.

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Two faces of Ben

Ayauna King-Baker loved Ben Carson’s “Gifted Hands” memoir so much that she made her daughter, Shaliya, read it. So when Dr. Carson showed up in town to sign copies of his new book, Mrs. King-Baker dragged the giggly 13-year-old along to the bookstore so they could both meet him.

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Re-entry training program locked out of former school building

The shutdown has come for a Richmond-based program that linked people released from jails and prisons to training for construction jobs.

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Josiah Harrison’s skills add up to a promising future in baseball

According to baseball math, power plus speed equals Josiah Harrison.