Who will be D.C.’s next QB?
Watch your step. Few revolving doors have spun as fast as the door leading to the Washington Commanders’ quarterback room.
Dale Farino appointed CEO of state ABC
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has appointed Dale Farino as the new CEO of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC), effective April 29.
USDA updates rules for school meals that limit sugars
The nation’s school meals will get a makeover under new nutrition standards that limit added sugars for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture an- nounced Wednesday. The final rule also trims sodium in students’ meals, although not by the 30% first proposed in 2023. And it con- tinues to allow flavored milks — such as chocolate milk — with less sugar, rather than adopting an option that would have offered only unflavored milk to the youngest kids. The aim is to improve nutrition and align with U.S. dietary guidelines in the program that provides breakfasts to more than 15 million students and lunches to nearly 30 million students every day at a cost of about $22.6 billion per year. “All of this is designed to ensure that students have quality meals and that we meet parents’ expectations,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters. The limits on added sugars would be required in the 2025-2026 school year, starting with high-sugar foods such as cereal, yogurt and flavored milk. By the fall of 2027, added sugars in school meals would be limited to no more than 10% of the total calories per week for breakfasts and lunches, in addition to limits on sugar in specific products. New WIC rules include more money for fruits and veggies. They also expand food choices Officials had proposed to reduce sodium in school meals by as much as 30% over the next several years. But after receiving mixed public comments and a directive from Congress included in the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill approved in March, the agency will reduce sodium levels allowed in breakfasts by 10% and in lunches by 15% by the 2027-2028 school year.
Herbs Galore descends on Maymont
Maymont’s Herbs Galore plant sale event on Saturday promises that herb lovers will find everything they need to freshen up their gardens. The fun occurs between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the Carriage House Lawn, 1700 Hampton St.
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden plans $31M expansion
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is breaking ground on a two-year expansion project. Called “Thrive,” the $31 million project will nearly double the size of the existing Conservatory, add 7.5 acres of new gardens, and incorporate an additional lake into the Garden experience.
State employees get free admission to VMFA’s ‘Samurai Armor’ exhibit
Commonwealth of Virginia employees and preschool and K–12 teachers (public and private schools) will receive free admission to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ new exhibition “Samurai Armor from the Collection of Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller.” Active duty military personnel and their immediate families also will receive free admission to special exhibitions through the museum’s year-round participation in the Blue Star Museums program.
Loss of support from Republican evangelicals suits MAGA crowd just fine, by Clarence Page
Black voters traditionally have been pivotal to the fortunes of the Democratic Party, but some recent polls have suggested that they are proving less bankable for President Biden than in the past. Whether or not as many as 20% of Black voters have in fact deserted the Democrats, as some recent polls suggest, is a contested matter. But it’s probably fair to say that Democrats currently are in more of a defensive than a growth mode with that portion of the electorate.
Chicago is feeling Sky high
With the third and seventh picks of the WNBA draft, the skies brightened over Chicago.
Price is right for HBCUs
Morgan Price has made gymnastics history – just like her coach did decades earlier.
50 years of service and sisterhood
Women who attended Virginia Commonwealth University and were initiated into Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Theta Rho Chapter celebrated their 50th Chartering Anniversary April 20 at the university with a commemorative bench dedication on the university’s main campus.
Journette stands out at NSU
Only one college offered Justin Journette a baseball scholarship while he was in high school. As it turned out, that one was enough.
Lots of baseball talent used to flow through HBCUs
Fans don’t often see them now in Major League baseball, but HBCU players have left a star-shaped mark on the sport. The illustrious list of long-ago standouts includes numerous Major League Hall of Famers and several others with local connections.
Convenience stores shut down Virginia Lottery sales in protest for skill games
Organizers say hundreds of stores participate
At Krunal Patel’s convenience store outside Richmond, a row of Queen of Virginia skill games has been powered off and turned around against a wall.
Discriminatory laws have driven Black voters from the polls, by Marc H. Morial
“If the United States wants to make good on its foundational claims of a democratic system of governance open to all citizens, it must find ways to close the racial turnout gap. Wider now than at any point in at least the past 16 years, the gap costs millions of votes from Americans of color all around the country. Perhaps most worrisome of all, the gap is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under the pre-clearance regime of the 1965 Voting Rights Act until the disastrous Shelby County ruling.” – Brennan Center For Justice
Better public understanding of domestic violence was the one silver lining from O.J. Simpson’s fall, by Clarence Page
Has the search for Nicole Simpson’s “real killer” officially ended? Not that I expected to find out more than we already know. The leading suspect in the slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman continued to be nobody else but O.J., up to his dying day.
VUU works to retain accreditation status
Virginia Union University is continuing to address financial issues months after receiving probation that, if not resolved, could lead to the loss of its accreditation.
Jonathan Young resigns from RPS School Board
Jonathan Young resigned from the Richmond Public School Board April 12 after it was revealed that a December 2023 incident between him and a 15-year-old female student resulted in the student filing a harassment complaint against him.
Uber helps investigate Ohio driver’s shooting death
Uber is helping investigators look into the account that sent a driver to the Ohio home where an 81-year-old man allegedly shot a woman to death because he erroneously believed she was part of a scam, the ride-hailing company said Wednesday.
Personality: Sheri Shannon
Spotlight on Southside ReLeaf cofounder
Sheri Shannon has long believed that focused community-action work can battle climate change head on.
