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Former Lady Panthers coach accused of abuse by Detroit Mercy players

Coach Ann Marie Gilbert, who took the Virginia Union University Lady Panthers to the NCAA Division II championship game in 2017 before leaving last April for the University of Detroit Mercy, has run into major problems.

Chef and hip-hop artist-producer Joshua “Freeze” Reed succumbs at 37

Joshua Lawrence “Freeze” Reed, a talented chef and well-known Richmond hip-hop artist and music producer, has died.

2020 early voting requiring city registrar to think outside the ballot box

Lines of voters wrapped around City Hall waiting to cast ballots? That’s a distinct possibility, according to Richmond Voter Registrar Kirk Showalter as she looks ahead to the 2020 presidential election.

Tennessee city adds statue honoring Black Civil War soldiers

Four years ago, a deadly white supremacist riot in Charlottesville, Va., led pastors in the Tennessee city of Franklin to call for the removal of a Confederate monument in their town square. A lawsuit and political maneuverings made that impractical, but a local leader of a Civil War history nonprofit had a different idea.

Virtual Emmy Awards ceremony has history-making wins and social messages

It was a virtual night of glamour for some, go-as-you-are for others, social justice messaging and family affairs.

Murder of Emmett Till based on lies

The woman at the center of the trial of Emmett Till’s alleged killers has acknowledged that she falsely testified he made physical and verbal threats, according to a new book.

Sheila D.H. Scott, former RPS school principal, dies at age 69

Shelia Diane Harris Scott, a career educator who touched the lives of thousands of schoolchildren, has died. Best known for her 12 years as principal of Miles Jerome Jones Elementary School in South Side, Mrs. Scott died Monday, Nov. 7, 2022. She was 69.

Martha Brown Wall, educator with the Va. Dept. of Corrections, dies at 54

Martha Augusta Brown Wall counseled and taught hundreds of Virginia prison inmates during her more than 30-year career with the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Payout for Bedden

Richmond Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden will receive $294,571.81 in severance pay when he departs on June 30. Dr. Bedden was not present at Monday night’s Richmond School Board meeting when the board voted 7-1, with one abstention, to approve his final payout.

VSU Trojans aim to corral Fayetteville State Broncos

If you went for a hot dog and soft drink during punt plays, you’d have missed the day’s most exciting action. Virginia State University’s two touchdowns came on punts in its 14-7 victory over Kentucky State University last Saturday at Rogers Stadium.

Burkini to be featured in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue

This year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue is going to feature trailblazer Halima Aden. Ms. Aden will be the first woman to sport a hijab and burkini in the magazine, which hit newsstands on Wednesday, SI revealed this week.

Armed guards in the Richmond Public Library?

Frightening incidents spark the possibility

Are armed security guards needed in Richmond’s public libraries? Two recent unsettling incidents at the North Avenue Branch have convinced Richmond City Councilman Chris A. Hilbert that having an unarmed security guard is not enough at that branch to ensure that people “have a sense of safety and are safe.” On Oct. 28, a man with a rifle slung over his shoulder and a long knife strapped to his leg walked into the library as little children were engaged in a storytelling program, setting off alarms among the staff.

Richmond native returns as star of film, helping others at Richmond International Film Festival

The Richmond of Tamika Lamison’s youth has evolved into a thriving artistic hub. Ms. Lamison, an actor and director who now lives and works in Los Angeles, grew up in South Side in the 1980s. “When I come home, I certainly see a huge effort to completely infuse a great deal of artistic life into Richmond,” Ms. Lamison told the Free Press in a telephone interview last week.

SOL scores remain low for RPS

Illness, isolation, trauma faulted for dismal test results

Richmond Public Schools’ Standard of Learning test scores remain below pre-pandemic levels, coming in the same for reading, but falling in math and science when compared with scores from last year.

Chuck Berry, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, dies

nd lyricists, creating raucous anthems that defined the genre’s sound and heartbeat, died Saturday, March 18, at his Missouri home. He was 90.

Falwell apologies for tweet with racist photo

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. apologized Monday for a tweet that included a racist photo that appeared on Gov. Ralph S. Northam’s medical school yearbook page decades ago.

GOP at it again

Republican leaders seek to hold Va. governor in contempt for restoring voting rights of 13,000 former felons last week

Gov. Terry McAuliffe once again is under attack from Republican leaders in the General Assembly who are determined to halt his efforts to restore the voting and political rights of hundreds of thousands of felons who have served their time. In a new filing Wednesday, GOP leaders asked the Virginia Supreme Court to hold the Democratic governor in contempt for restoring the political rights of 13,000 felons last week and for trying to do so in coming months for more than 200,000 others who have completed their sentences.

Upbeat about Armonii Burden

Armonii Burden would love to be known as the second-best defensive player to ever come out of Williamsburg’s Lafayette High School. The incomparable Lawrence Taylor, of course, is No. 1 on that list.

Personality: Jake Rowell

Spotlight on LiftPD’s board president

In 2020, Jake Rowell found inspiration to help an underserved part of the Richmond community.

State education official disputes findings of state inspector general

Virginia Inspector General Michael C. Westfall has reported that a top official in the state Department of Education set up a private consulting business that used resources developed through her state job and tweeted an announcement after setting up two websites to advertise her business.