‘Call to the Hall’ honoring Bob Dandridge canceled
The “Call to the Hall” honoring Richmond native Bob Dandridge has been canceled due to the current spike in COVID-19.
Mo Alie-Cox takes blocking from the basketball court to the football field
The NFL’s premier ball carrier has a former Virginia Commonwealth University Ram helping to clear his runways to first downs and touchdowns.
VUU’s transfers plan to make a difference in Saturday’s game against VSU
Coming out of high school, Robert Osborne and Keleaf Tate took the sce- nic route in arriving at Virginia Union University.
Executive producer of National Black Theatre Festival dies
Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, who succeeded her late husband as board chairman and executive producer of the National Black Theatre Festival, has died. She was 76.
Virginia to join vax mandate challenges under new GOP governor, AG
Virginia will join other Republican-led states and business groups in challenging Biden administration mandates intended to increase the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate once GOP Gov.-elect Glenn A. Youngkin and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares take office, the two said in a statement last week.
Area colleges make changes in wake of omicron variant
Virginia State University is moving its spring semester courses online for the first two weeks because of the surge in COVID-19 cases.
King holiday closings
In observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, Jan. 17, please note the following:
Sen. Lucas to receive $330K settlement
The City of Portsmouth will pay state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, the highest ranking Black in the Virginia Senate, $300,0000 under a settlement in a lawsuit she filed after she was charged with damaging a Confederate monument during a 2020 protest.
NAACP declines to challenge redistricting; encouraged by meeting with new GOP administration
The new boundaries for Virginia’s election districts for Congress and the General Assembly will not face any immediate legal challenge from the Virginia State Conference NAACP.
City workers launch campaign for collective bargaining
City Hall employees this week launched their campaign to gain the right to collectively bargain over wages and working conditions.
City CAO: Hold on; bonuses coming
Yes, we plan to award pandemic bonuses of up to $3,000 each to city employees who worked through the pandemic.
School Board votes in new leaders
The Richmond School Board voted in a new chair and vice chair—Shonda Harris- Muhammed, 6th District, and Kenya J. Gibson, 3rd District, respectively.
Councilwoman Trammell takes steps toward 2nd referendum on city casino
Richmond’s plans to allow a private company to create a gambling mecca in South Side collapsed in November when voters opposed to a casino narrowly defeated it by just under 1,500 votes. Now one of the biggest supporters of the project, 8th District City Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, wants a do-over.
Events to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the nation’s “drum major for justice,” will be celebrated in person, virtually and on television during the annual national holiday Monday, Jan. 17.
Henrico’s Andre McCallum Jr. shows why he’s ‘King of the Ring Jr.”
Andre McCallum Jr. is only 13 and already shares rights to the title of “King of the Ring Jr.”
Free Press mission to educate and empower continues
From its start, the Richmond Free Press has relentlessly sought to impact and improve life for Black Richmonders on a variety of issues.
Civil rights lawyer, legal scholar and professor Lani Guinier dies at 71
Lani Guinier, a civil rights lawyer and legal scholar whose nomination by President Bill Clinton to head the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division was pulled after conservatives criticized her views on correcting racial discrimination, has died. She was 71.
Personality: Shemicia L. Bowen
Spotlight on board chair of the Urban League of Greater Richmond
At a time of change and need locally, statewide and nationally, a 100-year-old advocacy organization in Richmond is in the midst of a revival, courtesy of Shemicia L. Bowen.
New quarters honor Maya Angelou
The United States Mint said Monday it has begun shipping quarters featuring the image of poet Maya Angelou, the first coins in its American Women Quarters Program.
‘I’m tired of fighting people who look like me’
Lt. Gov.-elect Winsome Sears rails against criticism she said is leveled against her by the Black community
Just days before Winsome Sears’ historic swearing in Saturday, Jan. 15, as Virginia’s first female lieutenant governor and the first African-American woman elected to statewide office in the Commonwealth, she sounds more like a woman under siege than someone poised to enter the history books.
