Lawsuit claims Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement violates Reconstruction-era federal law
People who have been disqualified from voting in Virginia because of their criminal records filed a lawsuit Monday against Gov. Glenn Youngkin and state elections officials challenging the state’s automatic disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions.
Free community testing for COVID-19 continues
The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:
Thousands more prisoners across the US will get free college paid for by the government
The graduates lined up, brushing off their gowns and adjusting classmates’ tassels and stoles. As the graduation march played, the 85 men appeared to hoots and cheers from their families. They marched to the stage – one surrounded by barbed wire fence and constructed by fellow prisoners.
July 4 Holiday Closings
In observance of the Fourth of July holiday on Tuesday, July 4, please note the following:
Hampton University to benefit from new philanthropic initiative
Hampton University was awarded $750,000 as part of an inaugural $10 million plus venture capital fund, The Historic Fund. The new fund aims to bolster the endowments of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), as well as highlight their importance and the role they play in promoting equity and inclusion in higher education, according to a news release issued by the university.
Maggie Walker site names new superintendent
Scott Teodorski is the new superintendent for Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site.
VUU elects new board members
Virginia Union University Board of Trustees announced that it has elected new members to serve as trustees of the University:
A pet cause
Infections temporarily close two local animal shelters
Henrico Police Animal Shelter temporarily closed its doors to the public on June 22 after seeing a rise in infections that could lead to canine influenza.
Richmond police provide Monroe Park shooting update
It’s been three weeks since the shooting in Monroe Park after Huguenot High Schools graduation that killed a graduate, Shawn D. Jackson, his stepfather Renzo Smith and injured five others. Since then, official information about the investigation has been scarce, with the Richmond Police Department canceling a planned in-person briefing last Friday and releasing information in statements instead, after a consultation with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
VMHC hosts new citizens swearing-in ceremonies July 4
Approximately 75 candidates will be sworn in as newly naturalized citizens during a July 4 ceremony in partnership with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Immigration drove white, Asian population growth in U.S. last year
Harris County, Texas gains largest number of Black residents
Without immigration, the white population in the U.S. would have declined last year. Immigration also propelled the expansion of the Asian population, which was the fastest-growing race or ethnic group last year in the U.S., while births outpacing deaths helped propel growth in Hispanic, Black, tribal and Hawaiian populations. Population estimates released June 22 by the U.S. Census Bureau show what drove changes in different race, ethnic and age groups last year, as well as since the start of COVID-19’s spread in the U.S. in April 2020. The country had grown to 333.2 million people by the middle of last year, a 0.4% increase over the previous year, according to the 2022 population estimates.
Why do so many Black women die in pregnancy?
One reason: Doctors don’t take them seriously
Angelica Lyons knew it was dangerous for Black women to give birth in America.
A history of abuse, neglect and torture surrounds Black women’s maternity and mortality
For decades, frustrated birth advocates and medical professionals have tried to sound an alarm about the ways medicine has failed Black women. Historians trace that maltreatment to racist medical practices that Black people endured amid and after slavery.
The big payback
This week Virginia Commonwealth University will conduct another public forum about how the Medical College of Virginia, now known as VCU, can atone for being “embedded” in slavery since its beginning in 1838. The forums follow a report which revealed the college rented, owned and sold Black people, stole bodies from Black cemeteries and experimented on Black folks without their consent.
A Supreme surprise: How the Right rescued the Voting Rights Act, by Clarence Page
Although largely upstaged by former President Donald Trump’s federal indictment, the Supreme Court’s voting rights decision earlier this month is likely to have a game-changing impact for many years to come.
Good jobs will come from a cleaner economy, by Ben Jealous
My father’s family once operated woolen mills in New England. Those factories no longer exist, across America like 63,000 factories that have shuttered since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed three decades ago.
Let’s be clear: Teamsters Local 322 and Teamsters Local 592 are not the same
I am writing to bring attention to some factual inaccuracies that were present in Jeremy Lazarus’s article titled “RPS bus drivers choose a new union,” published on June 15, 2023.
Leveling up
Monacan’s Olivia Woodson settles in at Auburn
Finally, area high school goalkeepers can take a deep breath. Soccer sensation Olivia Woodson is moving on.
VCU heads to Greece
Befitting a team brimming with international talent, the VCU basketball Rams will soon be making an international excursion.
