Big sounds
VUU Ambassadors of Sound Marching Band gets first female drum major
Diamond McGhee’s usual wide smile projects confidence. But the smile disappeared last week as she pulled her hair into a ponytail and focused on the students standing before her playing their instruments — clarinets, cymbals, drums, flutes, trombones and trumpets. This was band practice, but not just any band.
Steph Curry scores golf team for Howard University
What started as an innocuous conversation during a public event has evolved into a golf partnership between NBA star Stephen Curry and Howard University.
Richmond native helping to diversify NASCAR pit crew
Raynard Revels II, a former linebacker, is now tackling a new assignment. The native Richmonder has been chosen for NASCAR and Rev Racing’s Drive for Diversity Pit-Crew Program in Charlotte, N.C.
VSU Coach Reggie Barlow looking to recapture past magic in Saturday’s game against NSU
Coach Reggie Barlow’s first two seasons at Virginia State University resembled a smooth ride with a finely tuned engine. Last season was more like smoke steaming from the hood.
After 25-year hiatus, VUU Panthers to meet HU Pirates on the gridiron this Saturday
Virginia Union University and Hampton University are about to dust off one of the HBCU’s oldest gridiron rivalries.
‘A heavy lift’: Religious black voters weigh Buttigieg’s bid
The Rev. Joe Darby, a South Carolina pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, pondered a sensitive question that he knew was on the mind of his congregation. Would black voters be able to reconcile their conservative religious doctrine with voting for a gay candidate for president?
In Mississippi Delta, Catholic clergy abuse cases settle on the cheap
A famed Catholic religious order settled sex abuse cases in recent months by secretly paying two African-American Mississippi men $15,000 each and requiring them to keep silent about their claims, the Associated Press has found.
Personality: Dr. Milondra B. Coleman
Spotlight on Richmond Education Association president
The new school year brings increased responsibilities for everyone connected to the Richmond Public Schools system, but only one person is both managing her curriculum and plans to improve the lives of an entire city of schools employees. That person is Dr. Milondra B. Coleman, who balances teaching modern world history and AP government at John Marshall High School with her duties as president of the Richmond Education Association.
Israeli company introduces recycling bins for CVWMA made from recycled waste
Plastic made from banana peels, dirty diapers, discarded vegetables, mixed paper and other household waste? That’s right.
Visitation policy change for state prison inmates
Inmates in state prisons will be able change a visitation list only twice a year instead of anytime they wish, the Virginia Department of Corrections has announced.
Clarification
Richmond City Councilman Michael J. Jones, 9th District, said Monday that he would abstain if he had to vote today on the $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement plan.
Community colleges to host driver training for CDLs
Community colleges in Richmond and across the state are moving to become hubs for obtaining a commercial driver’s license, or CDL. Under a program announced Aug. 27 by Gov. Ralph S. Northam, community colleges are to be a one-stop shop where students can get required classroom training and hands-on vehicle experience and take the tests to obtain learner’s permits and CDL licenses.
Free small business course to start Sept. 19
“Mine Your Business,” a nine-week course on creating and running a small business, launches Thursday, Sept. 19, and aims to bring business fundamentals, coaching by mentors and the chance to win money to pump into a new venture.
Opening Bell
Richmond Public Schools students, parents, teachers and officials were up bright and early and full of optimism Tuesday morning for the beginning of the new school year.
Activist to head U.N. AIDS Office
The United Nations Office on AIDS has named a longtime activist on women’s issues to head the global health agency.
Reframing the history of slavery in Angola and U.S.
If the United States has 35,000 museums, a writer asked in 2014, why is only one about slavery? And if the wealth of this country was built on the backs of enslaved people from Africa, why has that story been vastly under-reported in our media, in our schools and in our political discourse?
Obamas rock out with summer song playlist
Barack Obama may be the former president, but he’s still got it going on.
Media responsible for racial tensions
Letters to the Editor
The continual negative reporting of the Ferguson, Mo., killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by former police Officer Darren Wilson is a prime reason for racial tensions to increase on the part of white people.
Changing Hanover school names ‘won’t change a thing’
Letters to the Editor
Re “Hanover County NAACP files federal lawsuit over schools’ Confederate names,” Free Press Aug. 22-24 edition: The Hanover County Branch NAACP’s federal lawsuit over Hanover schools with Confederate names is on specious grounds.
Cityscape:Slices of life and scenes in Richmond
A line of people marches along a portion of the Richmond Slave Trail beside the James River on their way from the Old Manchester docks to Downtown.
