Personality: Maureen Jules-Perez
Spotlight on Girls For A Change board president
Girls For A Change, a nonprofit youth development organization, empowers Black girls ages 9 to 18 in Central Virginia with experiences and resources that help shape their future. Maureen Jules-Perez became board president of the 20-year-old organization in the spring of 2021.
Abrams, Georgia Dems call midterms ‘unfinished business’
Four years ago, Georgia Democrats had a contested primary for governor because the party’s old guard didn’t believe in Stacey Abrams. She routed their alternative and, in a close general election loss, established herself as de facto party boss in a newfound battleground state.
Housing units’ new CEO
Steven Bernard Nesmith, former HUD official, has known poverty and prosperity, but considers RRHA role his dream job
Steven Bernard Nesmith is returning to public housing more than 40 years after leaving the Philadelphia projects where he grew up.
Council poised to launch charter review commission
Would Richmond be better off returning to a City Council-manager form of government? Or would the city operate better if the elected mayor were a member of the council as is the case in Norfolk? Should members of the governing body receive higher salaries so they could serve full time rather than juggling full-time jobs along with their government service?
‘House of the Dragon,’ HBO’s top series premiere ever
Fearsome dragons stay in more diverse scripting
Nearly 10 million people saw the premiere of “House of the Dragon” on Sunday, Aug. 21, making the “Game of Thrones” spinoff HBO’s most-watched series premiere in the network’s history.
Happily Natural Day offers music, speakers, self-sufficiency tools
Live music, speakers, vendors and more will be featured at the 19th annual Happily Natural Day and Garden Expo from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Fifth District Mini Farm, 2208 Bainbridge St., it has been announced.
TJ goes against Armstrong in season opener
Thomas Jefferson High School football is a success story of which all Richmonders can be proud.
Burning Sands foundation to present $60,000 to VUU
VUU’s football season is kicking off with a financial boon, as the Burning Sands Alumni Football Foundation plans to present Virginia Union University $60,000 from its endowment fund to support football scholarships at the college.
Hopewell’s legendary coach Bill Littlepage dies
Legendary coach led a mostly Black team to state title
When the TV show, “The White Shadow,” debuted in 1978, it starred Ken Howard as the white coach of a mostly African-American basketball team. Bill Littlepage, who died Aug. 16 at age 87, beat Hollywood to it.
Hoops camp offers food, backpacks
The Armando Bacot Back to School Basketball Camp is set for Sept. 3-4 at Big Ben’s Home Court, 2206 Westwood Ave. The event is free.
Braves enjoy homegrown talent with Michael Harris
Rising star could be National League Rookie of Year
Major League Baseball teams toss their fishnets all over the globe in hope of landing talent. No distance is too far. Other times teams get lucky and find what they’re looking for in their own backyard.
‘Defund the FBI’? Seriously?, by Clarence Page
Yes, I had to polish my eyeglasses and put them back on for a second look before I could believe what the always provocative and occasionally rational Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had just tweeted. In a takeoff on the Black Lives Matter slogan, she tweeted “Defund the FBI.” Cute. Barely a step ahead of other like- minded law- makers, the Georgia Re- publican went on to sell hats and other sou- venir merchan- dise online with the slogan, all in response to the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home of her hero, former President Donald Trump. Although more than a dozen other Republicans publicly shared Rep. Greene’s sentiments, others, like Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, were not amused. Although he was “impressed Democrats finally got us to say, ‘Defund the FBI,’” he said sarcastically, the slogan “makes you look unserious, when you start talking like that.” On that, I agree. I have ex- pressed similar criticism of the original “Defund the police” sloganasitemergedamid global protests by the Black Lives Matter movement follow- ing George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020. Although apologists defended the slogan as a call for construc- tively rethinking policies that pile too many social service burdens on police, conservatives easily turned it into a call for softness on crime. Now, in another ironic twist, a disturbing number of Repub- licans are using it to call for softness on Donald Trump. After the FBI search at the Mar-a-Lago estate, many Trump supporters have turned a slogan they hate into one that they love, Clarence Page even at the cost of the GOP calls to “Support the police” and “Back the Blue” going back at least to Richard M. Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign. Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, whom I call Rep.Greene’s brother in shameless grandstand- ing, threatened to give “not one more damn penny” to the FBI and other such agencies. To which BLM tweeted back with “you are corny..... But we’ll work with you to defund and dismantle the FBI. Welcome to #DefundThePolice.” While most of the GOP’s establishment leaders stayed out of the fray, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Cali- fornia tweeted after the search, “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.” Thisisthesameleaderwho, during a Police Week speech in May, said “hateful rhetoric” and policies have helped create an “environment of rising crime and put our officers in danger.” The search came after Mr. Trump failed to comply with polite invitations to return clas- sified government documents he had taken to his home. Instead, he claimed to have declared the documents “declassified” without any documentation to back that up. That’s not how declassification is done, especially when you’re no longer president. Now we see some Republi- cans finding virtue in “Defund the FBI” as a rallying cry for Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) base. They’re hungrily looking for some solace amid the pile of scandals threatening their favorite potential candidate. So far, echoing Mr. Trump’s FBI attacks appears remarkably to be working, even in the wake of shocking revelations uncovered by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. After the committee took its summer break, a poll by The New York Times and Siena College showed Trump support had weakened. But after the search at Mar-a- Lago, a new poll by the Trafalgar Group and the Convention of States Action revealed more than 80 percent of Republican respondents said the feds’ action made them more motivated to vote in this November’s midterm elections. Regardless, our justice system is being tested in this case, along withourdemocracy.Let’stake our time and do it right. Our system of justice isn’t perfect but, for now, it’s all we’ve got. The writer is a syndicated columnist and senior member of the Chicago Tribune edito- rial board.
Democracy should not be a partisan issue, by Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
While the United States champions democracy across the world, our own democracy is under siege. Nothing is more fundamental to democracy than the right to vote – yet there is no explicit guarantee of the right to vote in the U.S. Constitution.
Will the winner break the house?
There are many ways to characterize Richmond politics: shrewd, calculating, personality-driven, or transactional are a few labels that come to mind.
Delegates Filler-Corn and McQuinn launch interfaith reproductive coalition
Two Democratic members of the House of Delegates are seeking to rally Christians, Jews, Muslims and other people of faith who support abortion.
RRHA takes steps to collect rent from tenants
Nearly 1,750 housing residents in arrears
Notices to pay past due rent have hit the mailboxes this month of public housing residents who have fallen behind.
Nonprofits urged to file complaint against defunct umbrella foundation
Richmond City Councilwoman Stephanie A. Lynch is encouraging organizations whose funds disappeared after the collapse of the Enrichmond Foundation to file a complaint with the Richmond Police Department.
Minister continues legal pursuit of control of Fourth Baptist Church
The battle for control of historic Fourth Baptist Church is once again headed to court.
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.
