Personality: Virginia ‘Ginger’ Workman Stanley
Spotlight on Virginia Press Association’s retiring executive director
For 32 years, Ginger Stanley has been an advocate for Virginia’s newspapers, so much so that her name is practically synonymous with the Virginia Press Association. That’s the organization that promotes the common interests of its member newspapers.
Friends, family offer final goodbyes to Orlando Shooting Victim
Darryl “DJ” Roman Burt II may have had premonitions about his impending death as he drove to meet four friends at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub to celebrate the master’s degree and certificate in business administration he had received just hours earlier in Jacksonville from Keller Graduate School of Management.
Interim president named at VUU
A former senior vice president of Virginia Union University is returning to serve as interim president. The VUU Board of Trustees on Tuesday tapped Dr. Joseph F. Johnson, 69, to take over from President Claude G. Perkins, who will start a yearlong paid sabbatical Friday, July 1, before retiring.
Mayor proposes tax hikes to fund improvements
Richmond has monster needs. Most of its schools are decaying, its streets are falling apart, its parks and public buildings need renovation — but it has maxed out its credit card and can’t afford to borrow any more money.
Help in the wings for Evergreen, East End cemeteries
Two historic, but neglected cemeteries where renowned African-Americans such as Maggie L. Walker and John Mitchell Jr. are buried may get a huge boost from the state.
City’s 2015 audit may be completed this week
Richmond City Hall, though months late, soon could be finished with an audit of its books for the 2015 fiscal year that ended a year ago.
Meter fees go up July 5 Downtown
Motorists will pay an extra 50 cents an hour to park at a street meter in Downtown beginning Tuesday, July 5, it has been announced.
New Virginia laws begin July 1
A host of new laws will go into effect in Virginia on Friday, July 1, including laws regulating concealed weapons, fantasy gaming, new age minimums for marriage and smoking in cars. Here are some of them:
Gravely still in at state NAACP
Jack Gravely is still the interim executive director of the 16,000-member Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. “I am not planning to resign this week,” Mr. Gravely said Monday, denying a Free Press report published in the June 23-25 edition in which a source indicated Mr. Gravely was poised to depart.
Former congressional delegate Walter Fauntroy arrested
Civil rights leader and former congressional delegate Walter Fauntroy was released from a Virginia jail Tuesday following his arrest Monday at Dulles International Airport on a 5-year-old charge of writing a bad check in Maryland, authorities said. Mr. Fauntroy, 83, had been living abroad for the past four years, and relatives and friends had expressed concerns about his health. He told The Washington Post in a telephone interview last week that he was coming home and that he believed the bad check issue was resolved.
Decision removes guns from domestic abusers convicted of misdemeanors
The U.S. Supreme Court expanded protection for victims of domestic violence Monday by ruling that every misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence triggers the loss of gun ownership rights. The justices, in a 6-2 ruling issued amid fierce debate about reducing firearms violence in America, rejected arguments that a federal gun ownership prohibition should apply only to knowing or intentional conduct, but not to impulsive or reckless conduct.
Case closed on 1964 murder of 3 civil rights workers
JACKSON, MISS. One day short of the 52nd anniversary of the disappearance of three civil rights workers’ during Mississippi’s “Freedom Summer,” state and federal prosecutors said that the investigation into the slayings is over. The decision, announced June 20, “closes a chapter” in the state’s divisive civil rights history, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said.
No jail
U.S. Supreme Court overturns corruption convictions of former Gov. McDonnell
Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell insisted that he never sold his office in exchange for the $177,000 in loans and gifts that a businessman seeking to promote a dietary product showered on him and his family.
Creighton Court area transformation moving forward
Gov. Terry McAuliffe is pitching in $2.5 million to assist Richmond in transforming the impoverished Creighton Court area of the East End into a model, mixed-income community. The governor went to the East End on Wednesday to announce Richmond as a winner of a Vibrant Community Initiative grant.
In clear: VSU accreditation
Virginia State University is back in the good graces of its accrediting agency. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) voted June 16 to remove VSU from “warning” status and restore the Petersburg area university to unblemished accreditation.
Student advocate arrested again
In the face of a federal probe, Chesterfield Public Schools is doubling down on its efforts to keep an advocate for disabled students from taking part in meetings to help develop individualized education programs (IEPs) for students. For the third time in the past 14 months, Kandise N. Lucas has been arrested at a Chesterfield school for trespassing. The latest arrest, on June 10 at Ecoff Elementary School in Chester, occurred when she went to the school for an IEP meeting a parent had invited her attend.
E-book purchasers may be due refund
Electronics giant Apple Inc. has begun coughing up refunds to e-book buyers in a price-fixing settlement. According to Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, the company began distributing $11 million to $15 million in account credits and checks Tuesday to state residents who purchased e-books, or electronic books, through the company’s site.
SOLD
Iconic Ebony, JET magazines no longer owned by Johnson Publishing Co.
Johnson Publishing Co. of Chicago has sold Ebony and JET magazines for an undisclosed price to Clear View Group LLC, an Austin, Texas-based private equity firm, to pay down debt and to concentrate on Fashion Fair Cosmetics.
First Amendment trampled by Trump
A free press has been the foundation of our democracy since the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1791. Yet, after 225 years, Americans may be taking it for granted. Donald Trump’s recent action “revoking” the Washington Post’s access to his campaign should remind us that the First Amendment is often under threat.
