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Community advocate raises concerns about City’s new Confederate shrine

Even as Mayor Levar M. Stoney and City Council revive a citizen commission to help Richmond eliminate slavery-defending Confederate names from streets and bridges, the city Department of Public Utilities has created a new shrine to fallen Civil War rebels.

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Planning Commission rejects fire training facility

A controversial proposal to install a training facility for Richmond firefighters on a major section of lawn at the Hickory Hill Community Center again has been rejected.

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City’s first Black pastor of a ‘megachurch’ and others still largely unknown

The Rev. James Henry Holmes remains one of the unsung notables of Jackson Ward who has not been recognized with a City Council resolution and honorary street sign.

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Bagby wins Va. Senate special election

Henrico Democratic Delegate Lamont Bagby, as anticipated, crushed Republican rival Stephen J. “Steve” Imholt in Tuesday’s voting for a Richmond-area seat in the state Senate.

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Richmond’s Randall Robinson reshaped American’s foreign policy, forced change in South Africa

Seared by the segregation he grew up with in Richmond, Randall Maurice Robinson championed change in American policies toward African and the Caribbean nations that he considered unjust and undergirded by racial bias.

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Richmonders want funding for schools, housing, less gas

Fund the full request for Richmond Public Schools. Improve our parks. Fully fund the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and fund repairs for decaying mobile homes. Protect the environment by planning for elimination of the city’s gas utility. Those were among the ways that least 20 speakers urged City Council to amend the 2023-24 budget plan at a public hearing Monday night.

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Another death at Richmond jail

Another inmate has died at the Richmond City Justice Center.

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Hickory Hill community opposes planned fire training facility

In a retreat from a two-year-old policy of expanding parks and green space in overly hot South Side, Mayor Levar M. Stoney and his administration are quietly pressing to replace 2 acres of lawn at the Hickory Hill Community Center in South Side with a $1 million fire training building.

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RRHA seeks additional funds to maintain public housing

The city’s public housing authority needs to invest $42 million to fix the most urgent problems with roofs, boilers, plumbing, wiring and other aging infrastructure in the apartment communities it operates in Richmond, according the chief executive, Steven B. Nesmith.

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Lamont Bagby viewed as favorite in Tuesday’s special Senate election

Henrico Democratic Delegate Lamont Bagby is poised to become the newest state senator from the Richmond area.

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Helen Harris, a leading voice for Henrico County’s Black residents, remembered

‘Her leadership and tireless advocacy made the county a more inclusive and equitable place’

Thanks to Helen Virginia Epps Harris, Henrico County annually celebrates the holiday in honor of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and also has dramatically increased its hiring of Black employees. Her impact on public policy is just part of the influence she wielded during a life that her family said was devoted to service to others and fueled by a desire to see Black people advance and thrive. Mrs. Harris’ multiple contributions to community betterment are being remembered following her death on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at age 83.

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Ambulance charges may dramatically increase

$600 trips to medical centers could more than double

City Hall is pressuring the Richmond Ambulance Authority to nearly triple its charge for transporting patients to hospitals or other treatment centers based on a consulting firm’s recommendation, the Free Press has learned.

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Is popular PAL program ‘in limbo’?

Will the Richmond Police Athletic League offer spring and summer programs for the city’s youths?

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VDOE says it will work with federal special education office on compliance issues

The Virginia Department of Education is prepared to cooperate with a federal office that found the state agency failing to comply with elements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

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Youngkin appoints Lisa Coons as superintendent of public instruction

Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday announced the appointment of Tennessee Chief Academic Officer Lisa Coons as Virginia’s 27th superintendent of public instruction. Dr. Coons’ appointment as the commonwealth’s chief school officer is effective Monday, April 17.

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Enrichmond groups may receive City Hall funding

City Hall has tucked $250,000 into that proposed 2023-24 budget that could help dozens of nonprofits groups that lost money when the Enrichmond Foundation collapsed last year.

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Youngkin announces affordable housing loans

The state will lend more than $18 million to create 10 affordable, income-restricted housing developments in the Richmond area, Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin has announced.

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Bon Secours opening new South Side health clinic

Bon Secours is opening a new community health clinic in South Side to serve uninsured children and adults, although new nonprofits already operate similar clinics nearby.

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Rev. Clifford B. Chambliss Jr. dies at 81

The Rev. Clifford Boss Chambliss Jr. was just 25 when he was tapped to lead a new job training initiative that more senior Black min- isters were organizing to help people find work and escape poverty.

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Virginia Hayes remembered for her creative teaching

As a kindergarten and first grade teacher at Blackwell Elementary School, Virginia Hayes was concerned that too many children arrived with little knowledge of numbers, counting and the concepts of adding and subtracting. Ms. Hayes set out to change that in the early 1990s.