LaVerne Byrd Smith, 89, longtime educator, church historian, dies
Dr. LaVerne Charmayne Byrd Smith had a passion for education and writing. On the education front, she touched thousands of students and educators as a schoolteacher, university professor and reading specialist for the state Department of Education in a career that spanned 47 years.
Personality: James E. ‘J.J.’ Minor III
When James E. “J.J.” Minor III, the newly installed president of the Richmond Branch NAACP, was pulled over while driving more than 15 years ago, he never imagined he’d be in fear for his own life.
Smarter than a third-grader?
Local students could give Trump some lessons
Facts trump fiction. They always have; they always will, even when it’s the president of the United States spinning a tale that threatens truth.
Historic aviator inspires others
Jamaica native Barrington Irving moved to Miami with his family when he was 6, excelled on the gridiron and as a student and had several football scholarship offers when his career ambitions suddenly changed from football to flying.
Bourne sworn in
Jeff M. Bourne headed this week to the General Assembly as the city’s newest representative to the House of Delegates, ending his four-year tenure on the Richmond School Board.
Dr. Kinney retiring as dean of VUU’s School of Theology
After 27 years, Dr. John W. Kinney is preparing to step down as senior vice president and dean of Virginia Union University’s Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology.
Trespassing charge dismissed against TJ student
Stephanie Priddy, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School, is no longer facing a charge of trespassing at the school.
DeVos, Sessions confirmed
Two of President Trump’s controversial picks for his cabinet have been confirmed by the Senate and are ready to take office.
Murder of Emmett Till based on lies
The woman at the center of the trial of Emmett Till’s alleged killers has acknowledged that she falsely testified he made physical and verbal threats, according to a new book.
Pastor delivers ‘fake news’ at White House Black History Month meeting
The Rev. Darrell Scott, pastor of the New Spirit Revival Center in the Cleveland, Ohio, area, a speaker at the Republican National Convention and a member of the Trump Transition Team Executive
Charlottesville votes to remove Lee statue
A divided Charlottesville City Council voted this week to move a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the city’s Downtown and to rename Lee Square where it stands.
GOP lawmakers to meet with HBCU presidents
Republicans are planning to meet with leaders of historically black colleges and universities in the nation’s capital to discuss ways to help the schools survive in challenging times.
Giving sanctuary?
Mayor Stoney stops short of designating Richmond a ‘sanctuary city’
Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney is taking a cautious centrist approach in addressing the uproar over national immigration policy.
GRTC to honor local historymakers
During Black History Month, GRTC will honor local historymakers by displaying their names on bus destination headers. The transit company, which received more than a dozen submissions from the public for this year’s honorees, has chosen three individuals and a family to honor during varying weeks in February. The honorees, and the days their names will be displayed on the buses, are:
South Side church property sold in bankruptcy
A big CBRE real estate sign seeking buyers now stands in front of the former home of Southside Baptist Ministries at 5515 Bryce Lane in South Side.
Thanks for serving real journalism
Thank you to the Richmond Free Press for your article “More payouts: 3 City Council aides receive $97,000 total in severance, vacation pay,” Jan. 26-28 edition.
Immigration ban no profile in courage
President Trump’s most recent provocation — suddenly issuing an order banning the admission into the United States of refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries — created chaos and fury that had to be expected. Airports across the world were engulfed with demonstrators. Judges issued emergency orders staying enforcement of parts of the order. Families found their children studying abroad unable to return home, or their loved ones attending a funeral stranded in an airport. Translators who had risked their lives for American soldiers in Iraq suddenly found their green cards useless and their lives at great risk. Both intelligence professionals and State Department diplomats have protested the order.
Remembering Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King died on Jan. 30, 2006. Yet her legacy is very much alive as a coalition builder, a strategist and a moral voice that confronted detractors but insisted upon nonviolent approaches, such as dialogue, protests and economic boycotts, with the end goal of peaceful reconciliation.
Remembering Raymond H. Boone
Richmond Free Press Founder and Editor Feb. 2, 1938 – June 3, 2014
Richmond Free Press Founder and Editor Feb. 2, 1938 – June 3, 2014
Resistance is power
Since taking office two weeks ago, President Donald Trump has proven day in and day out why he is unfit to hold office. Since Jan. 20, he has thrown America into a state of chaos with half-baked executive orders and other actions that: • Trapped permanent U.S. residents, including students, researchers and workers, in airports across the nation, denying them entry into the United States, and barring people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — all largely Muslim nations — for 90 days;
