
U.N. creates permanent body to address racism
The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Monday establishing a Permanent Forum of People of African Descent to provide expert advice on addressing the challenges of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance.

Blanche Moore named Henrico County Christmas Mother
Blanche Moore has been selected to a very exciting and much needed Henrico County volunteer position – the 2021 Henrico County Christmas Mother.

Biles makes comeback, wins bronze on balance beam
Simone Biles isn’t going home with a fistful of gold medals. A mental block — one brought on by exhaustion or stress or something the American gymnastics star still can’t quite grasp — that forced her to pull out of four Olympic finals saw to that.

Hundreds arrested in D.C. at faith-led protest for voting rights
As police escorted a demonstrator in a wheelchair away from the chanting throng descending on the U.S. Capitol on Monday, fellow protesters turned to watch the person go. The group paused for a moment, then altered their call. They screamed in unison: “Thank you! We love you!” The lone protester nodded, fist raised. The crowd erupted in applause. It was a moment that played out again and again over the course of the afternoon.

Robert P. “Bob” Moses, who crusaded for civil rights and later math education, dies at 86
Robert P. “Bob” Moses, a civil rights activist who was shot at and endured beatings and jail while leading Black voter registration drives in the South during the 1960s and later helped improve minority education in math, died Sunday, July 25, 2021.

School Board insists on going it alone on Wythe
Construction of a new George Wythe High School is still in limbo as the Richmond School Board needs to work out some design decisions for the request for proposal, or RFP, in order to move the construction process forward.

Personality: Ronnie Hicks
Spotlight on board president of the Woodland Restoration Foundation
For years, Woodland Cemetery languished in neglect.

State still has $788M available to help families facing eviction
Confronted by the prospect of a flood of evictions, President Biden’s administration acted Tuesday to of- fer temporary relief that will impact struggling renters facing ouster for overdue payments, including those in Richmond and most of Central Virginia.

Woman unaware she had $39M lottery ticket in purse for weeks
Lottery officials say a woman in Germany carried a winning ticket in her purse for weeks without realizing it was worth about 33 million euros, or roughly $39 million.

For Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush, eviction fight is personal
Roughly two decades before she was elected to Congress, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri lived in a Ford Explorer with her then-husband and two young children after the family had been evicted from their rental home.

No wrongdoing
Mayor Levar M. Stoney cleared in special prosecutor’s probe of the city’s awarding of $1.8 million contract to remove Confederate statues
No bribes. No kickbacks. No evidence of corruption in the use of taxpayers’ dollars. That’s the conclusion of a six-month probe to determine if Mayor Levar M. Stoney engaged in any wrongdoing in the award of a $1.8 million contract to a contractor to take down the city’s Confederate statues in July 2020.

Mandate: All city employees must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1
Richmond city employees are now required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, in a move announced Wednesday amid nationwide efforts to stem the rising surge in cases.

Dr. James Edward Leary, who pastored churches for more than 60 years, dies at 86
Dr. James Edward Leary, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in civil rights protests in the 1960s and provided pastoral services for 60 years to at least 12 churches in Richmond and other states, died Friday, July 23, 2021.

MJBL to host annual Inner City Classic baseball championship and symposium Aug. 4-8
The Metropolitan Junior Baseball League will host its annual Inner City Classic championship week of activities with a virtual Bobby Bonds Memorial Symposium, an in-person home run derby and nine in-person baseball games at fields around Metro Richmond.

3-day women’s business conference begins Aug. 5
A three-day program to encourage women to open or expand a business is to take place Thursday, Aug. 5, through Saturday, Aug. 7, it has been announced.

Kanye hosts Atlanta ‘listening party’ for new album ‘Donda’ ahead of Aug. 6 release
Kanye West barely said a word during his impromptu album listening session on July 22, but the mercurial rapper still had most attendees standing on their feet while hanging on every word of his new project.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Walker!
Richmond area residents took time recently to remember pioneering Richmond businesswoman Maggie L. Walker in honor of what would have been her 157th birthday on July 15.

‘From monument desecration to grave robbing’
Re “Wrinkle in removal: City doesn’t own Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill’s statue,” Free Press July 22-24 edition:

Insurance giant prioritizing profits over patients, by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.
In the past year, a reckoning has happened across the country.

The “New Normal’, by Marc H. Morial
Few events have shaped American history and our national perspective on racial inequity as profoundly as the grief, civil unrest and economic devastation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.