City natural gas price going down
Richmond residents who cook and heat with natural gas will get a price break on its cost next month because of a sharp jump in production.
Joe Morrissey disbarred for violating State Bar rules
“Fighting Joe” has been hit with a knockout blow. For the second time in his career, Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey, a savvy attorney and former Richmond prosecutor who built a reputation as a courtroom battler, has lost his license to practice law.
Why is it flying?
The Confederacy may have been defeated, but the flags of the rebels who fought to separate from the United States to keep black people in bondage still fly in city-owned cemeteries.
Medicaid expansion to be key in state budget battle April 11
The high-stakes battle over Virginia’s next two-year budget resumes next Wednesday, April 11. On the line: Expansion of health care to 300,000 to 400,000 low-income Virginians, pay raises for state workers and teachers, and increased state support for education, mental health and workforce development.
City Hall fends off ransomware attack
The Richmond City Hall information technology staff has fended off the same kind of ransomware attack that crippled city computers in Atlanta for more than a week.
Annie Giles, community activist, dies at 81
As a minister’s daughter, Annie Marie Turner Giles felt driven to help others overcome problems and challenges in the Whitcomb Court public housing community in the city’s East End.
VUU president seeks dismissal of fraud lawsuit
Virginia Union University President Hakim J. Lucas is fighting back against an explosive lawsuit from his former employer, Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
U.S. Census Bureau: City population continues to grow
Richmond’s population has jumped above 227,000 people for the first time in at least 40 years, and current trends suggest the capital city’s population should easily exceed 230,000 residents when the mandatory 10-year census is taken in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Morrissey found to have violated a State Bar rule
Attorney Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey moved a step closer this week to being disbarred for the second time in his legal career after a three-judge panel upheld one count of serious misconduct against him.
Residency requirement could be scrapped for all but key city employees
Two members of Richmond City Council are seeking to largely scrap a 25-year-old policy of requiring city executives, managers and council appointees and staff to live in the city — ensuring they would be closer to the people they serve and also would contribute to the city through tax payments on their homes, cars and purchases.
City Council calls for Washington team to pay its way or end relationship
Will Washington’s pro football team continue to run a summer training camp in Richmond after 2020? That question is expected to be decided after Mayor Levar M. Stoney and team representatives hold talks, likely in May, on a potential extension of the current agreement.
Heating repairs still needed on 104 public housing units
Heat has been restored to more than 300 public housing units, but work still needs to be completed in more than 100 other units.
China’s new policy threatening recycling in U.S.
At least half the cans, bottles, plastics and paper collected for recycling used to end up in one place — China. Now China has decided to stop accepting most of the recycled materials that it once purchased. And that decision is having huge ripple effects on recycling programs in Richmond, as well as other communities in this country and overseas.
City Democratic Committee election overturned
The Richmond City Democratic Committee has been temporarily shut down and its current officers, including its politically connected chairman, James E. “J.J.” Minor III, removed after an arm of the state Democratic Party nullified the recent election, the Free Press has learned.
Wilder sues VCU president, dean of school named for him
He may be 86, but former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is showing Virginia Commonwealth University he is not to be trifled with.
Henry L. Marsh III to introduce his memoir
He had his sights set on making his living as a truck driver. Then Henry L. Marsh III went with a group of high school buddies to hear a school desegregation case in Richmond, and that experience changed his life.
Joe Morrissey fights to save his law license on March 26
Once again, Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey is in a fight to save his law license. A three-judge panel is gearing up to decide his future to practice law.
Former Highland Park church to become affordable housing
A derelict church building on North Side is headed for conversion into 76 apartments. The new apartments would replace the long vacant former Mizpah Presbyterian Church in the 1200 block of East Brookland Park Boulevard near the Six Points intersection in Highland Park.
VCU center developing master plan for historic Evergreen Cemetery
Richmond’s biggest university is taking a role in restoring the historic, but neglected Evergreen Cemetery. The Enrichmond Foundation, the new owner of the 127-year-old African-American cemetery, has hired the center for Urban and Regional Analysis in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs to create a master plan for the burial ground, which includes the graves of such notables as banker and businesswoman Maggie L. Walker and newspaper editor and banker John Mitchell Jr.
Proposed city budget includes $900,000 boost for GRTC
As construction is taking place on Richmond’s new bus rapid-transit system, City Hall is proposing to boost the GRTC subsidy to cover operating losses after July 1.
City vehicle registration fee headed to Attorney General
Richmond’s $33 annual vehicle registration fee for cars and $38 fee for trucks are the maximum allowed by law, according to City Attorney Allen L. Jackson.
City Council poised to revive Human Relations Commission
Richmond soon could have a new Human Relations Commission as a platform to hear and investigate residents’ complaints about bias, bigotry and discrimination in areas ranging from race and religion to gender orientation, disability and pregnancy.
General Assembly approves city charter change for school modernization
By Jeremy M. Lazarus 40-0 in the state Senate.
Winners and losers
Mayor Levar M. Stoney offers details of his $1.42B, 2-year budget plan
High school students would be able ride GRTC buses without charge on an unlimited basis for a year. After-school programs for city youths would be expanded by enabling six city recreation centers to stay open longer and through support for programs offered by the YMCA, the YWCA and several other youth-serving groups.
Put Schools First offers $650M plan to modernize city schools
The volunteer Put Schools First committee is rolling out a plan that calls for spending $650 million to modernize all of Richmond’s public schools — with a goal of having 19 completed within seven years and the remaining buildings done within 12 years.
City Council OKs expensive NFL training center refinancing
Taxpayers cannot escape paying for the Washington pro football team’s summer training camp, a reluctant Richmond City Council has decided.
RRHA heating problems, repairs continue
Three steps forward and one step back. That’s how it seems to be going for the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority in dealing with the heating problems afflicting nearly 10 percent of its 4,000 public housing units.
City Council votes to expand bulk and brush pickup
Richmond residents can now dispose of used mattresses, old sofas, broken chairs and worn-out kitchen tables, along with brush and tree limbs from their yards, at no additional charge. A divided Richmond City Council voted 5-4 Monday night to expand the bulk and brush program to include items that previously were banned.
City apparently losing money on vehicle registration fees
Last year, the City of Richmond charged city vehicle owners a $33 annual registration fee for each of their cars, a $38 fee for each pickup or heavy-duty truck and $18 for each motorcycle.
Taxpayers on hook for $11.25M for NFL training camp
Richmond taxpayers are being handed an $11.25 million bill for the Washington pro football team’s summer training camp on Leigh Street.
Ora Lomax matched with new dialysis center
The saga of Ora Lomax and her search for a new dialysis center has a happy ending after weeks of drama. The 86-year-old NAACP activist has been reassigned to a new center after being booted from the West End Dialysis Center after 12 years.
City receives only one proposal for Coliseum replacement
That remains the unanswered question as City Hall moves to review the one and only proposal submitted to replace the 46-year-old Richmond Coliseum with a modern $200 million arena and tackle other development in a 10-block area around the building, including a new hotel and housing.
Divine sounds: Foote family celebrates gospel radio station's first anniversary
Foote family celebrates gospel radio station’s first anniversary
Richmond radio station WQCN is marking its first anniversary of delivering gospel to fans in the area on 105.3 FM. Better known as “The Choice,” the station is the growing broadcast arm of the 150-member Faith & Love Fellowship Church based on South Side.
Councilwoman seeks to expand bulk trash pickup service
Richmond City Councilwoman Kim B. Gray wants the city to include mattresses and upholstered furniture among the items routinely picked up without charge as part of the new biweekly bulk-and-brush collection program.
Police officers, city settle overtime lawsuit
City Hall has agreed to pay a bit more than $27,000 to four police officers who claimed they were denied overtime pay while assigned to former Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ security detail.
African dance company eyeing former Jackson Ward church building
Could the vacant former Sharon Baptist Church in Jackson Ward become a performing arts center for an African dance company and other arts groups?
Dr. Grace E. Harris, whose leadership helped transform VCU, dies at 84
Grace Edmondson Harris was rejected when she first sought admission to what is now Virginia Commonwealth University because she was African-American.
Dialysis transfer up in the air for Ora Lomax
Ora M. Lomax expects to be transferred to another dialysis clinic, but it won’t be DaVita Dialysis Henrico in the Brookhill Azalea Shopping Center as she first expected.
Salsa classes may offer wider lessons
Is salsa coming to Richmond Public Schools? Attorney Brent A. Jackson is pushing to make it happen.
Feeding schools’ budget
City Council approves 1.5% meals tax hike for schools construction
On July 1, people dining out in Richmond will pay an extra 1.5 percent in tax on their prepared meals. The projected extra $9 million in annual tax revenue will be used to repay $150 million the city plans to borrow to build up to four new schools in Church Hill and South Side to replace aging and decaying buildings.
Richmonder takes tech talent for transportation across country
Transportation planning used to involve a lot of educated guesswork on how, when and where people drive in cities and the countryside.
Former owner of WCLM radio settles, withdraws lawsuit
Preston T. Brown is ending his legal fight with his partners who bought the former WCLM-1450 AM radio station he co-owned and operated for 21 years.
State auditor concludes city doesn’t need state intervention
Richmond can handle its financial problems without the state needing to hold its hand. That’s the conclusion the state auditor of public accounts reached after reviewing the city’s information on its financial operations and holding discussions with the city’s finance officials.
Church to become regional private school for children with disabilities
A former church is about to become the new home of a regional private school that serves children with autism and other mental challenges.
City Council vote on meals tax hike set for Feb.12
Proving more adept at corralling a majority of City Council votes on a big issue than former Mayors L. Douglas Wilder and Dwight C. Jones, Mayor Levar M. Stoney is rushing to gain quick approval of his plan to raise the city’s current 6 percent meals tax by 1.5 cents.
Ora Lomax to be treated at North Side dialysis center
After weeks of stress, Ora M. Lomax has learned a new clinic has accepted her for the life-saving dialysis treatments she needs.
RRHA tenants to get refunds in lawsuit settlement
The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which is the landlord for Richmond’s public housing, has agreed to refund nearly $1 million to current and former tenants who were overcharged for electricity over four years. In addition, the RRHA plans to return nearly $80,000 to tenants as it implements new utility allowances that will increase the amount of power tenants can use before they must pay.
City Council approves Larus Park water deal
Richmond City Council this week lifted an 18-year-old ban on development in a 106-acre city park in South Side to enable the city Department of Public Utilities to sell more water to Chesterfield County.
Creighton Court heating work to take longer than expected
Spring will have arrived before heat is fully restored to apartments in the Creighton Court public housing community, according Orlando Artze, interim chief executive officer of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Mr. Artze confirmed Tuesday that the work to install new baseboard heat in the 78 units where radiator heating failed likely will not be complete until March 29.
Private contractors costing city big $ for snow removal
When snow falls in Richmond, City Hall is forced to pay big bucks to private contractors to clear the streets. The reason: Up to half of the aging fleet of city dump trucks that double as snowplows are usually parked, awaiting repairs, according to a new report from the Department of Public Works.
