
Kudos to Rep. Spanberger and others for standing up for environmental protections
Letters to the Editor
Even as the Trump administration continues its reckless push to dismantle important environmental safeguards that protect public health, members of Virginia’s congressional delegation continue to stand up for clean air, clean water and public lands.

Stats show college players at the top of the game
There is no official NCAA team champion this basketball season due to COVID-19, but there are many individual national champs. One, in fact, has a local address. Jacob Gilyard, the junior point guard for the University of Richmond, led the nation this season with 3.16 steals per game.

Injury not a setback for soccer standout who wins UR scholarship
When an aspiring young athlete suffers a devastating setback, he or she has two choices: They can moan “Why me?” and cry a river so deep they drown in it. Or they can grit their teeth, tighten their laces and bounce back.

Personal health guidelines are good for many 'nasty bugs'
Letters to the Editor
School closings, sporting event cancellations, food hoarding. We live in a new coronavirus-induced world. Yet some personal health facts remain unchanged.

Remembering VUU’s glory days as NCAA champions
There will be no national college basketball championships to celebrate this season. As unfortunate as that is, the pause in sports because of the coronavirus pandemic offers an opportunity to reflect on past glory.

Personality: Dawn-Marie Bey
Spotlight on leader of nonprofit that provides free feminine hygiene products to homeless
Stories on the plight of the homeless and marginalized can inspire feelings of sadness, empathy and solidarity. For attorney Dawn-Marie Bey, an article she read on social media sparked her to create Period Patch in 2015, an organization that provides feminine hygiene products to the homeless and displaced “to get them through those monthly rough patches with dignity.”

Selma Online offers free civil rights lessons amid virus
The first attempt of the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965 led to police violence against peaceful African-American demonstrators. The police beatings on what became known as “Bloody Sunday” generated anger across the nation 55 years ago this month and prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson to push the Voting Rights Act through Congress. It was one of the most significant moments in U.S. history but remains almost absent from public schools’ social studies lessons.

Duncan resigns as head of RRHA
He came from Illinois brimming with optimism about leading the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Candidates emerge in Richmond mayor’s race and other city contests
The initial candidates are starting to emerge in the race for Richmond offices despite the unprecedented disruptions from coronavirus that are impacting every aspect — from collecting signatures to get on the ballot to fundraising and knocking on doors to meet voters.

GRTC officials seek to limit ridership to essential trips
Teens and younger children might have a harder time taking advantage of free rides on GRTC. On Tuesday, the bus company announced that unaccompanied minors no longer can ride the public transit buses unless they are dressed in work uniforms or can show proof of employment, such as a badge.

City Council setting up procedures for public meetings online
The Richmond City Council is moving to set up processes and procedures for holding online public meetings, including ways to gain resident comments on legislation, it was announced Tuesday.

General Assembly's criminal justice reform just the first step
Letters to the Editor
Bishop Desmond Tutu once said, “There is only one way to eat an elephant: One bite at a time.”

Businesses adjust to social distancing, governor's executive order on COVID-19
Anita Hill-Moses, an entrepreneur and natural hair stylist, is among the thousands of small businesses in the Richmond area feeling the effects of the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown.

Faces of leadership: Pandemic puts U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams in spotlight
He has issued warnings about the dangers of e-cigarettes and gone on record supporting needle exchanges to limit disease related to opioid addiction.

Do your job, FDA by Dr. Marilyn M. Singleton
While on lockdown to save our neighbors from a lonely death from the disease called COVID-19, many of us have turned to movies. I beg you not to rent “Pandemic,” “Contagion” or “28 Days Later.” Try “Harriet” instead. Harriet Tubman was the epitome of bravery and courage in the face of insurmountable odds. Her escape from slavery and returning again and again into the belly of the beast to save others should inspire us all.

Unusual, extraordinary times
This edition of the Richmond Free Press is a labor of commitment and care.

We jeopardize our freedoms when we take them for granted by Ken Woodley
Delivering newspapers as a boy growing up in Richmond during the late 1960s and early ’70s, headlines and stories flew from my right hand onto front porch steps and stoops.

Are we worthy of the sacrifice? by A. Peter Bailey
Recently, while delivering a lecture on my extensive, overwhelmingly black magazine collection, I showed students the June 28, 1963, issue of Life Magazine, the cover of which showed a grieving Myrlie Evers consoling her young son at funeral services for her husband, the great warrior Medgar Evers.

March Madness to Miserable May? by Julianne Malveaux
Basketball fans were looking forward to March Madness, those weeks when the best college teams face off against each other. Madness is replete this March, but it isn’t on the basketball courts.

Out with the status quo by Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III
As America muddles its way through these perilous times, too many in the African-American community appear to be more confused than ever.