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Jobs and Justice Act new urban Marshall Plan
The Main Street Marshall Plan, the National Urban League’s comprehensive blueprint for addressing lack of opportunity and economic inequality in America’s urban communities, has been introduced as federal legislation by members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Smoking and public housing
Like many public housing residents, we were surprised to learn that smoking will be prohibited in all public housing apartments in Richmond beginning Aug. 1. The smoking ban was put in place nationally by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and will affect more than 1.2 million households, including 4,000 families living in Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority properties in the city.
Honor victims with action
“From 1986 to 1996, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored high-quality, peer-reviewed research into the underlying causes of gun violence. People who kept guns in their homes did not — despite their hopes — gain protection … Instead, residents in homes with a gun faced a 2.7-fold greater risk of homicide and a 4.8-fold greater risk of suicide. The National Rifle Association moved to suppress the dissemination of these results and to block funding of future government research into the causes of firearm injuries. … As a consequence, U.S. scientists cannot answer the most basic question: What works to prevent firearm injuries?” — Mark Rosenberg, former director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC and former U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey, an Arkansas Republican who sponsored (to his later regret) the amendment that blocks the CDC from funding gun injury prevention research. The April 22 tragedy at a Nashville area Waffle House brings the nation’s gun death toll to 4,422 in 2018 and the number of mass shooting victims to 69. The relentless pace of gun violence in America threatens to dull our outrage and focus on the perpetrators threatens to bury the memory of the victims and the heroism of those who showed grace under pressure. The Nashville shooter snuffed out the lives of four young people: Taurean Sanderlin, 29; Joe Perez, 20; DeEbony Groves, 21; and Akilah DaSilva, 23.
May Day and pay inequities
Rallies and marches took place on Tuesday across the United States and the globe to highlight the rights of workers and labor issues.
Dirty clothes become golden opportunity for local businessman
For many, washing clothes is a chore. But what many people may view as drudgery is Devon Chester’s doorway to opportunity.
‘Integrity is what you do when no one is watching,’ actress tells VUU grads
Virginia Union University graduates were encouraged to focus on a life of substance, and not one of superficiality, during the school’s 119th commencement last Saturday at Hovey Field on the campus.
‘There’s no success without failure,’ actor and alum Boris Kodjoe tells VCU grads
Actor Boris Kodjoe inspired Virginia Commonwealth University graduates to find the courage to see failure as a friend, instead of something to be feared along the road to success.
Historic city credit union seeks new growth
Amid the recovery from the Great Depression, 10 African-American Richmond educators organized a new credit union for teachers in the city that would provide the personal touch and financial services then largely unavailable to them at most banks in segregated Richmond.
100 days
New schools chief still energetic, optimistic
Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras has spent the last 100 days engaging with school community while trying to calm the storms from previous administrations.
$3.4B:City Council approves 2018-2020 spending plan
Richmond high school students will be able to take unlimited free rides on GRTC buses beginning July 1. Organized activities for city youths also will be beefed up starting in July, with city recreation centers operating longer hours and after-school programs at elementary and middle schools being upgraded.
Richmonders offer names to replace J.E.B. Stuart Elementary
Barack Obama. Henry L. Marsh III. Spottswood W. Robinson III. Mary Elizabeth Bowser and Elizabeth Van Lew. Arthur Ashe Jr.
Cool in the hot seat
Christy Coleman, co-chair of the Monument Avenue Commission, is no stranger to controversy or leadership, even on issues of slavery and the Civil War
The Clarks, who were slaves rooted in Tennessee, outlasted brutal bondage, fled the wrath of white supremacy shortly after Emancipation and became founding settlers of Eatonville, Fla., one of the country’s earliest self-governing black municipalities.
Fair housing for all an elusive dream
In the classic movie “Gone with the Wind,” the owner of Tara plantation admonished his daughter for remarking that she didn’t care about her home. In a sharp rebuke, Gerald O’Hara declared that “land was the only thing worth living for, worth fighting for … worth dying for.”
Black tech consumers, but not employees
A nationwide assessment of the digital economy has found that black Americans are overrepresented as tech consumers, but drastically underrepresented as tech employees, according to the 2018 State of Black America.
Priest caught in political fire reinstated as House chaplain
Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan has announced he will reinstate the Rev. Patrick Conroy as chaplain for the House of Representatives after the controversial Jesuit priest challenged the stated rationale for removing him.
Virginia Premier to offer health plans on ACA exchange this fall
Virginia Premier, the insurance arm of VCU Health, will start selling individual plans beginning this fall to Richmond area residents who buy coverage through the health insurance exchanges of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, it was announced Monday.
City resident awaits word on trash fees
That has been City Hall’s response to Free Press reports about its failure to relieve qualifying Richmond residents of the $23.79 a month cost for trash collection and recycling service.
The late Oliver Singleton to be honored with street sign
The 2700 block of East Grace Street will be named to honor the late Oliver R.H. Singleton, who worked to boost opportunities for and the profiles of black-owned businesses before his death in 2016.
City Council poised to scrap residency requirement for top officials
For nearly three decades, City Hall executives have been required to move into the city within a year of being hired.
Calvin Farr named new director of city Department of Public Utilities
Calvin D. Farr Jr., 43, will be the next director of the Richmond Department of Public Utilities. Mayor Levar M. Stoney announced the appointment of Mr. Farr last week. Mr. Farr currently is assistant commissioner for watershed management in Atlanta.
