
VUU Coach Gilbert wins Gaines Award for second year
Success on the basketball court has led to success off the court for AnnMarie Gilbert, coach of the Virginia Union University Lady Panthers basketball team.

Personality: Elizabeth Lee ‘Bee’ Wright
Spotlight on Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden top volunteer
When Elizabeth Lee “Bee” Wright started volunteering at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Lakeside more than 25 years ago, she did not have her sights set on receiving an award.

Cuba Gooding Sr., former lead singer of The Main Ingredient, dies at 72
Cuba Gooding Sr., who sang the 1972 hit “Everybody Plays the Fool,” has died.

Reclaiming history
St. Luke building, first home of Maggie L. Walker’s bank, is being turned into upscale apartments to spur development in Gilpin Court
Upscale apartments are taking shape in the long-empty St. Luke Building, the once vital four-story headquarters of a mutual aid society where renowned Richmond businesswoman Maggie L. Walker once had a bank.

City Council continues to wrestle over budget
More than 60 people trooped to the microphone Monday to plead with Richmond City Council not to cut programs they need.

Postal service managers, supervisors ready to fight terminations
The battle over pay practices of the U.S. Postal Service in the Richmond area is about to become even more heated.

Henrico supervisor holds meeting on opioid epidemic
The Rev. Tyrone E. Nelson, the Varina District representative on the Henrico County Board of Supervisors and pastor of Richmond’s Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, will hold a district meeting Tuesday, May 2, to discuss the heroin and opioid epidemic in Henrico County.

tear those
A monument to a deadly white supremacist uprising in 1874 was removed under cover of darkness by workers in masks and bulletproof vests Monday as New Orleans joined the movement to take down symbols of the Confederacy and the Jim Crow South.

Serena’s pregnant!
Tennis superstar Serena Williams is pregnant and taking maternity leave through the rest of 2017, with the baby due this fall, her spokeswoman announced last week.

Bedden out
Richmond School Board to meet Monday on selection process for superintendent’s replacement
Just weeks after proclaiming that progress was on the horizon for Richmond Public Schools and that he had no intention of leaving the school system, Superintendent Dana T. Bedden is out. The Richmond School Board announced last weekend that his contract will end June 30, a full two years before it was set to expire June 30, 2019.

Nonprofit counseling group to move into East End Family Resource Center
A nonprofit with deep roots in Church Hill expects to move soon into the East End Family Resource Center, 2401 Jefferson Ave.

152,694
Number of felons whose voting rights have been restored by Gov. McAuliffe
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has restored the voting rights of 152,694 ex-convicts since taking office. That’s more people than the combined populations of Petersburg, Hopewell, Charlottesville and Danville, and enough to create the fifth largest city in the state.

U.S. Postal Service shakeup continues
The U.S. Postal Service is continuing to shake up the management of postal stations in the Richmond area as the fallout continues from a scandal over overtime pay, sources have told the Free Press.

City school buses being equipped with safety cameras
Fifty city school buses now are equipped with additional cameras to beef up security inside and to help identify scofflaw drivers who illegally pass the buses when students are getting on or off.

Solar streetlights to stay in Randolph West
Solar streetlights will continue to light the Randolph West subdivision in the West End, according to developer A. Hugo “Al” Bowers Sr.

CBC Foundation announces scholarship opportunity
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, in conjunction with Rep. A. Donald McEachin of Henrico, is offering the CBC Spouses Education Scholarship to qualified students.

New AKA chapter to be chartered for Henrico, New Kent and Charles City
In January 1993, Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan scored the 20,000th point of his career with the National Basketball Association, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was observed in all 50 states for the first time and the Tau Phi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. was chartered in Ettrick.
What God wants
I believe God gives people the mental and physical ability to make money. The way people use this money is very important to God.
Why I met with Jeff Sessions
Re “April fools: Va. SCLC lauds racist U.S. attorney general for civil rights work on anniversary of Dr. King’s death” and editorial, “Buffoonery,” April 6-8: