Fallout continues over Short Pump Middle School graphic locker room video
An assistant athletic coach at Henrico County’s Short Pump Middle School has been fired and parents of some students are obtaining lawyers since the release on social media of a graphic video showing white football players on the middle school’s team simulating sex acts on at least two black teammates while shouting racist comments.
Finalists interviewed for city schools top job
Richmond soon could have a new public schools superintendent. The Richmond School Board interviewed finalists last Friday — although the names were not disclosed — and continued discussions Monday during a closed session.
St. Luke Building tagged with graffiti
The owner of the vacant St. Luke Building is furious after a brick annex attached to the historic Gilpin Court structure was vandalized with graffiti.
Va. NAACP elects new officers
The Rev. Kevin L. Chandler is the new leader of the Virginia State NAACP. The pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in South Boston, Rev. Chandler was elected president of the civil rights group Saturday at its 82nd annual convention at a Henrico County hotel.
Turnout may prove key in Va. gov. race
Now it’s up to the voters. Tuesday, Nov. 7, is Election Day — when ordinary citizens will troop to polls in Richmond and across Virginia to decide who will become the commonwealth’s 73rd governor and succeed the current chief executive, Democrat Terry McAuliffe. The main choices: Democrat Ralph S. Northam, 58, a pediatrician who specializes in children’s nerve diseases, a military veteran and the current lieutenant governor; and Republican Ed Gillespie, 56, a corporate lobbyist and former Republican Party chairman.
Dems bring out big names to get out vote
More than 150 Democratic supporters crammed into Blue Bee Cider in Scott’s Addition on Sunday to hear former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California campaign for Virginia’s Democratic ticket for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
‘Do not sell your soul or your vote for a chicken box’
The fight for justice doesn’t end with the removal of Confederate monuments. “If the Negro is to be free, we must sign our own proclamation,” Wes Bellamy, Charlottesville’s vice mayor told the audience at the state NAACP Youth and College Division’s Leadership Breakfast on Sunday. He was quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “People give us what they want to give us because they believe it’s all that we will take,” he said. “Do not sell your soul or your vote for a chicken box.”
Lt. gov. candidates hoping to win votes
The two major party candidates seeking to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor are hoping to make their mark in history.
Attorney general’s race pits incumbent against political newcomer
Virginia has the only attorney general race in the country this year, and it has attracted a lot of attention and a lot of outside money from both parties.
3 of city’s 5 reps in House of Delegates face challengers
Richmond voters will help fill five of the 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates that will be up for grabs on Election Day.
School referendum on city ballot
Do you believe City Hall needs to focus on modernizing city schools? For the first time, Richmond voters will be able to register their opinion on that question when they go to the polls on Election Day.
Richmond ties for indicted Gates
Richmonder Rick Gates, a former Trump presidential campaign official, and his business partner, Paul Manafort, who was chairman of the Trump campaign, pleaded not guilty to a 12-count indictment charging them with conspiracy against the United States, tax fraud and money laundering.
Johnson named national NAACP president, CEO
Derrick Johnson has been elected president and chief executive officer of the national NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.
Indicted
Former Trump campaign chairman and deputy face conspiracy, money laundering charges
President Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his former deputy, Rick Gates of Richmond, were indicted in federal court on Monday in a sharp escalation of U.S. Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s five-month-old investigation into alleged Russian efforts to tilt the 2016 election in President Trump’s favor and into potential collusion by his aides.
Hilbert critical of city’s handling of St. Luke project in Gilpin Court
Richmond City Council President Chris A. Hilbert is “utterly distressd” at City Hall’s handling of the proposed $3.6 million redevelopment of the historic, but vacant St. Luke Building in Gilpin Court.
City tax amnesty program to reap nearly $2.8M
Richmond expects to collect nearly $2.8 million in delinquent taxes as a result of a tax amnesty program, Mayor Levar M. Stoney announced this week.
Small $ for a moral education
With increasingly tragic results for our culture and our future, we witness on an almost daily basis the use of Twitter-launched diversions from President Trump designed to divert our attention from the real issues and crises of our time. This is an old trick, used by card sharks, magicians, circus imprimaturs, con men and the occasional politician.
Show the world a new Richmond
I was fortunate to come of age as the Civil Rights Movement was coming to a climax in the 1960s. As an observer and participant, and later an amateur historian, I was witness to the destruction of Jim Crow. I know why local officials put the statues on Monument Avenue and what they still represent.
NFL must address racial justice
“We want to make sure we are understanding what the players are talking about, and that is complex.” — National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell
Class and crass
I never thought I would miss our 43d President, George W. Bush. And I’ve never thought of him as a great, or even good, speaker. But the speech he gave Oct. 19, at a conference convened by the George W. Bush Institute was simply eloquent, excellent, thoughtful and compelling.
