St. Luke Building permits still elusive
Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration is blocking the first major development in decades in poverty-stricken Gilpin Court, the Free Press has learned.
Slave Trail unblocks applications to fill spots
A new City Council policy is opening the door for new appointments to the Richmond Slave Trail Commission. After blocking applications for more than a year, the council’s Land Use, Housing and Transportation Committee is now accepting applications from Richmond residents for the 16 vacancies.
VCU receives nearly $4M for business school and humanities
A gift of $1.1 million from best-selling author David Baldacci and his wife, Michelle, will enable students in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University to pursue internships, attend conferences, conduct research, travel abroad and explore entrepreneurial projects.
Local student wins national TV contest
Cooking is part of Emmy Sumpter’s DNA. Emmy’s earliest memories of cooking begin at age 6 when she would help her mother, personal chef Erica Sumpter, prepare recipes and meals in their kitchen.
Marching for accountability
I want to thank the Richmond Free Press for allowing your personnel to attend our Oct. 10 March for Accountability and thereby placing a photo of some of the marchers in your newspaper. However, the title given to the photo “Rallying for rights” — is totally off base.
ISIS like Lee, destroyers of America
The next time an ISIS follower comes to America to destroy America we should put up a statue to honor him on Monument Avenue. He would be in good company. If we don’t like destroyers of America why do we still honor them with statues?
Confederate statues belong in museums
As shown in Charlottesville, the monument controversy can have some dangerous results. Here in Richmond, the police and other law enforcement had time to prepare for the rally. There were no deaths and only a few arrests. I guess each side of the controversy is passionate in their beliefs.
We’re Americans, too!
Throughout #45’s campaign, he made a great issue about “Making America Great Again” and “America(ns) First.” Those who voted for him obviously believed him. Given his professed preeminence for everything American, it is reasonable to think that after a natural disaster he would take a no-holds-barred, equitable approach to providing relief to our citizens. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria have had dreadful impact upon millions. There are those, like #45, who believe that there has been an appropriate response to those affected. Just as many believe that his response to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands has been tepid and measured more critically than his response to mainland relief. The truth of this informs us who #45 considers “real Americans.”
What is a Black Identity Extremist?
While White men are beating Black men on the streets of Charlottesville, Va., while a lone White wolf is shooting people from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, while the word “terrorist” is hardly used to describe these men, the FBI, under the leadership of the racist Attorney General Jeff Beauregard Sessions, is thinking up a new way to oppress Black people. Despite the fact that there is no evidence of a “movement,” the FBI has described a group of black people as “black identity extremists” who pose a domestic terrorist threat to police officers.
Good luck
We congratulate the School Board on its selection of Cheryl L. Burke to succeed Nadine Marsh-Carter as the 7th District representative.
Yes on Proposition A
For decades, as our school buildings have grown older and begun to decay, we, the people, have had little say in whether city leaders should completely renovate them or replace them with modern structures. Unlike the counties, which must get public approval for bond issues, we have relied on our City Council representatives to determine how much of a priority our school buildings are.
VUU homecoming promises football, fun next week
“Panthers: Wild with Pride” is the theme for Virginia Union University’s 2017 homecoming festivities that begin Wednesday, Oct. 25. The five-day event promises something for everyone, including a Motown costume party, Chicago-style step dancing and a salute to the university’s “Golden Class of 1967.”
13th Annual Imagine Festival kicks off Saturday
Music, food and soccer will highlight Richmond’s 13th Annual Imagine Festival this weekend, it has been announced. Free and open to the public, the family-friendly event will be from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Broad Rock Sports Complex, 4802 Warwick Road.
Fall into Wellness this Sunday
The Richmond Behavioral Health Authority’s Fall into Wellness Community Festival takes place Sunday, Oct. 22, at New Market Corporation, 330 South Fourth St., at the corner of 2nd and Byrd streets.
Trio blends Bach, Brubeck and Kanye
The Richmond Symphony continues its 60th anniversary celebration with music by Time for Three in an 8 p.m. concert Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Dominion Arts Center’s Carpenter Theatre.
Trainers wanted
It’s time to get moving by signing up for Fitness Warriors, a program that trains Richmond residents to become fitness instructors for local communities with high rates of obesity. Sponsored by Sports Backers and the Richmond City Health District, Fitness Warriors trainees learn the basics of fitness instruction and coaching, develop leadership skills, and are taught multiple exercise class styles.
Chadwick Boseman in ‘Marshall’ is bulletproof
Thurgood Marshall, a titan of 20th century law and a civil rights pioneer, has until now largely eluded Hollywood’s notice. Despite its title, “Marshall,’’ too, is wary of taking on the Supreme Court justice in full, sticking to a minor case from Mr. Marshall’s early career as counsel for the NAACP. That makes, for better and worse, a sometimes slight, sometimes serious courtroom drama, shot through with bright certainty in the coming triumphs for Mr. Marshall and the civil rights movement. It’s a superhero-style origin story: Thurgood, pre- “Brown v. Board of Education,’’ pre-black robe.
Opening for ICA next year
April 21 is now the opening date for the new $41 million modern art center at Virginia Commonwealth University, it was announced Tuesday.
Stars continue to align for VUU
Virginia Union University is headed to Bowie State with a four-game winning streak, the wind at its back and yet another overnight sensation in its evolving rotation.
VSU’s yearlong wins unbroken
Virginia State University may have forgotten what losing even tastes like. It’s been more than a calendar year since it was on the wrong side of a football score.
