
VCU heads to A-10 Tournament; NCAA's a distant dream
Virginia Commonwealth University’s basketball team has arrived in The Big Apple with big upsets on its mind.

Armstrong High players make All-region
The Armstrong High Wildcats are well represented on the 3B All-Region boys basketball team.

MEAC Tournament starts at Norfolk Scope
Since switching from the CIAA to MEAC in 1997, Norfolk State University’s basketball team doesn’t come to the Richmond area anymore. But that doesn’t stop Richmond area fans from going to NSU.

Lady Panthers to play CIAA nemesis in NCAA 1st round
Virginia Union and Bowie State universities continue on a collision course.

VUU Lady Panthers 1983 team inducted into CIAA Hall of Fame
Some stories are so compelling that they need be told and re-told, over and over, so as not to be forgotten. The 1983 Virginia Union University women’s basketball team made news that still prompts goose bumps on Lombardy Street.

Beyonce Mass draws crowd, criticism
The worship service began with the voice of Beyoncé singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black National Anthem. Over the next hour, a choir-backed quintet of African-American women singers belted out other songs in the pop star’s repertoire. Beyoncé’s music filled the air between prayers, a sermon and a Communion-like time when congregants dropped rocks labeled “homophobia,” “body shaming” and “racism” into white plastic buckets that were placed before an onstage altar.

Jazz master pianist ‘McCoy’ Tyner dies at 81
“McCoy” Tyner, the ground- breaking and influential jazz pianist and the last surviving member of the John Coltrane Quartet, has died. He was 81.

John Merchant, who broke barriers at U.Va. law school and in golf, dies at 87
John F. Merchant broke racial barriers in the legal profession and in the game of golf.

NASA pioneer Katherine Johnson takes her place among the stars
Three African-American astronauts joined hundreds of other mourners Saturday, March 7, at a funeral service for trailblazing mathematician and NASA pioneer Katherine G. Johnson.

Personality: Patrice A. Beard
Spotlight on board chair of the National Alliance on Mental Illness – Central Virginia
There are millions of people managing mental illness in America, with 25 percent of adults and 20 percent of children diagnosed with a mental health condition. For the thousands in Central Virginia currently living with a condition, they have a helping hand in the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Central Virginia and Patrice A. Beard.

The Market @ 25th working to build success
The opening of The Market @ 25th last April was marked with great fanfare, Armstrong High School’s marching band, a balloon release and high hopes for a community known for being a food desert.

U.S. district judge to rule on whether NAACP lawsuit against Hanover School Board will proceed
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne is maintaining the suspense about the future of a federal lawsuit launched by the Hanover County Branch NAACP seeking to change the names of two schools named for Confederate leaders who fought to maintain slavery.

Robins Foundation grant aimed at helping homeless students
Every year, between 1,300 and 1,500 students attending Richmond Public Schools are listed as homeless.

Mayor Stoney unveils a $1.92 billion budget plan for 2020-21
Mayor Levar M. Stoney wants to increase total city spending an additional $135 million — or nearly $600 per resident — to beef up investments in street paving, public education, city worker pay, affordable housing and other priorities.

General Assembly wraps up with extraordinary changes
Tens of thousands of the lowest paid workers in Virginia are headed for a raise of at least $2.25 an hour next year — their first in 12 years.

Cooking up skills, dollars for RPS culinary program
Call it an eye-opening experience for Nicholas Pollard, Jaquan Wash- ington, TéAnna Warren and six other high school seniors in Richmond Public Schools’ culinary program at the Richmond Technical Center.

General Assembly green-lights preference for Pamunkey tribe in local casino
The General Assembly, eager for a flood of green from casino gambling, gave a Virginia Indian tribe with a well-documented history and continuing practice of racial bigotry, a leg up in two cities — Richmond and Norfolk.

Foul: Racial epithet aimed at Armstrong basketball team sparks investigations
Officials from Richmond Public Schools and the Richmond Branch NAACP are investigating allegations that the Armstrong High School boys basketball team, cheerleaders and fans were taunted with racial epithets during the state playoffs in Northern Virginia in late February.

COVID-19
Coronavirus hits Virginia, impacting people, events
With the coronavirus sweeping the globe, efforts to mitigate its surge and impact are being felt across the state. From elected officials to private company executives, small business operators, schools and universities, hospitals and clinics and individuals, people are bracing for what the World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic on Wednesday.

Cathy’s Camp to be shut down by March 31, displacing homeless
Complete closure and removal. That’s what’s ahead for Cathy’s Camp, the tent community that sprang up in recent months adjacent to the city’s winter overflow shelter and across the street from the Richmond Justice Center.