General Assembly delays minimum wage hike until May 1
Forget a Jan. 1 raise for the Virginia minimum wage.
Plasma from recovered patients may hold cure for others
If you have recovered from COVID-19, the antibodies you developed could help save someone who is struggling to survive.
Beating COVID-19
Delegate Delores McQuinn is on a mission to help others avoid getting the coronavirus after she and her family were stricken
When Delores Jordan Mc- Quinn was a promising youngster volunteering for voter registration efforts in the Bungalow City neighborhood of Eastern Henrico County, she would always do her best to get the word out — register and vote. She did so well that, one year, she was chosen Miss NAACP of Henrico County.
State officials stay the course on the coronavirus
Keep on keeping on. That’s the continuing message from officials as Virginia dramatically increased its coronavirus testing capability, data collection and access to health information.
COVID-19 testing to begin in high-risk areas of city
The Richmond City Health District plans to ramp up testing for coronavirus in neighborhoods that appear to be the most at risk — low-income areas of the city that are home to many African-Americans.
Popular Richmond musician Herbert Allen ‘Debo’ Dabney III dies at 68
Herbert Allen “Debo” Dabney III, a popular and beloved Richmond musician, died Thursday, April 9, 2020. He was 68.
UR president to present Facebook Live performance
Move over Andrea Bocelli and John Legend. University of Richmond President Ronald A. Crutcher is sharing his music with the world as well.
Personality: Chandler M. Hubbard
Spotlight on local playwright and finalist for national best new play award
“Disbelief. Shock. Gratitude. Confusion? Mostly gratitude.” That’s how local actor and playwright Chandler Marshall Hubbard describes his reac- tion after learning his play, “Animal Control,” was selected as a finalist for the American Theatre Critics Association’s Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award.
Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Famer Tim Brown dies
Former NFL great Tim Brown, who drew acclaim as an athlete, actor and singer, died Saturday, April 4, 2020, of complications from dementia. Mr. Brown was 82 and living in Palm Springs, Calif.
Get ready for Team Fiction
Baseball All-Stars put together from film and television
We still have peanuts and Cracker Jacks to munch on this spring, but there is no live baseball to enjoy with the snacks.
NBA one-on-one tournament would be interesting about now
Going crazy with no sports? Wouldn’t a live NBA one-on-one tournament be entertaining about now?
Varina High sophomore makes All-State Team
All-State boys basketball teams generally are reserved for experienced seniors, with perhaps a junior here and there. Alphonzo Billups is an exception to that largely because of his exceptional talent.
Kudos to the Free Press on RRHA coverage
Thank you for the Free Press’ continuing objective coverage of the public housing community in the city and for giving Richmond City Council an opportunity to make the needed changes at the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority for the residents and the employees.
No cure yet
Re “U.Va. enrolls first patient in COVID-19 medication study,” Free Press April 9-11 edition:
Beware of payday, car loans now, by Charlene Crowell
For the foreseeable future, “normal” life will be indefinitely suspended due to the global pandemic known as the coronavirus.
RRHA, Feed More and the pandemic
We don’t get it. Yes, we understand there is a pandemic going on and many workers have been furloughed or sent home to help stop the spread of COVID-19. But we don’t understand why Damon E. Duncan, the short-timer CEO of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, would stop the fresh food and grocery distribution program to the city’s public housing neighborhoods by Feed More, the area’s main food bank, at a time when people need help the most.
COVID-19 and inequities in health care system, by Kristen Clarke
In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”
Righting the wrongs of the past
Kudos to Gov. Ralph S. Northam for signing common sense legislation that takes first steps in getting rid of the Confederate flotsam and jetsam that litters Virginia communities, undermines our psyches and devalues the lives of generations of enslaved people who were kept in bondage for the benefit of white supremacists.
GRTC subsidy in question
Instead of a route number, GRTC is now sending a message on its bus displays urging people to avoid riding unless the trip is necessary to get to work, a grocery store or to health care. The purpose: To help prevent the spread of coronavirus by reducing the number of people joy riding on buses now that fares have been eliminated.
Registration is needed for some to receive federal stimulus money
If you didn’t file taxes in 2018 and 2019, you can still get a $1,200 stimulus payment from the federal government. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has launched a new online tool that is accessible by computer or cell phone with internet access to allow people to register and receive the stimulus payment, it has been announced.
