
Congressional district change may cost city $60,000-plus
Call it an unexpected expense. Richmond might have to cough up between $60,000 and $80,000 to notify city voters that they have been moved from the 3rd Congressional District to the 4th Congressional District.

Repaved areas of Chamberlayne Ave. uncover more defects
A repaved stretch of Chamberlayne Avenue already is falling apart, less than a year after being repaved for the world bike races held in Richmond last September. The problem pavement also undermines Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ claim that such paving for the races would last up to 10 years.

Federal appeals court upholds $2M award
Thousands of women who suffered injuries from a transvaginal mesh product that was implanted to resolve pelvic problems could benefit from a federal court decision.

Dr. Franklin issues call to action at Community Leaders Breakfast
The state’s No. 1 cheerleader, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, drew enthusiastic applause as he delivered impassioned remarks and extolled a bipartisan approach to solving the state’s problems at the 38th Annual Community Leaders Breakfast last Friday honoring the life and legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Seniors wage fight against TV cable
I live in a high-rise building along with 200 senior tenants. We are forced to deal with Comcast and the cable company’s high prices.
Presidential candidates profess to love the Lord but ignore message
Re editorial “Fat Cat Tuesday,” Jan. 7-9 edition: Too many people who profess to love the Lord show by their actions that their true love is money when the CEO of Walmart has a salary 1,034 times that of the median employee salary. He is someone who doesn’t mind losing his soul so long as he can gain the whole world.
Is it really about the tree?
Several years ago, I was in Seattle and visited the African-American museum there. They had a display on Maggie L. Walker, and as a Richmonder, I was the proudest person in the museum.

The white man’s rage
Have you heard? Apparently large numbers of American adults are “angry” about their own circumstances and about where they think the country is headed. For months, numerous politicians, pollsters and pundits have touted this anger as an important factor in the line-up of who’s supporting who in both the Republican and Democratic presidential primary campaigns.

Flint: A lesson in callousness
Flint, Mich., is impoverished. The auto plants have closed. Forty percent of the city’s 100,000 residents live below the poverty level. It is majority minority. It has been in fiscal crisis since 2011, with the state taking over budgetary control and a state-appointed “emergency manager” driving policy focused on cutting spending.
Apology please
We are waiting for all the haters out there to apologize to President Obama. The “birthers,” as they have been dubbed, made such a clamor in challenging where President Obama was born and whether he legally was able to hold the office of president of the United States.
Primary vote
Like bad pennies, Sarah Palin and Bill Clinton have turned up again. This time, both are back on the campaign trail.
Accountability without games
We lodged our grave concern last week in this space about the uncomfortably close relationship between the city’s director of public works and Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ church.

Wyatt T. Walker to be honored at VUU events
Civil rights icon and Virginia Union University alumnus Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker will be honored at events on the campus of his alma mater Thursday, Jan. 28, through Saturday, Jan. 30.

Award-winning poet Sonia Sanchez to speak Saturday at Film Festival
The Afrikana Independent Film Festival is introducing its “Evening with an Icon” film series with award-winning poet Sonia Sanchez. Ms. Sanchez, 81, will participate in an audience discussion about her life and work after a screening of the documentary about her, “BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez.”

VMFA to continue jazz café
Enjoy the smooth sounds of jazz for free at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Lack of diversity prompts Oscar boycott announcement
Director Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith plan to boycott next month’s Academy Awards ceremony because black actors were shut out of nominations. The Academy acknowledged this week that it needs to do more to promote diversity after the Oscar nominees for acting that were announced last Thursday lacked black performers for a second straight year.

VUU takes game from VSU by 2 to claim Freedom Classic win
Long-limbed and athletic, Ray Anderson is gifted with excellent speed, quickness and jumping ability. Yet he does some of his best work standing still. In helping Virginia Union University win the Freedom Classic 70-68 over Virginia State University last Sunday at the Richmond Coliseum, Anderson left the Trojans in a “foul” mood.

VCU Rams prevail in overtime against UR
Anyone who has ever played the arcade game Whac-A-Mole can understand the frustration of Virginia Commonwealth University’s basketball foes. Each time you knock down one mole — in VCU’s case, containing one high scorer — another pops up. Consider:

Charles Oakley, Charlie Stukes among 2016 inductees into Va. Sports Hall of Fame
For the second year in a row, a former Virginia Union University basketball center has been named to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Charles Oakley, the NCAA Division II Player of the Year for VUU in 1985, will be inducted April 30 at the Renaissance-Portsmouth Norfolk Waterfront Hotel in Portsmouth.

Pistons retire ‘Big Ben’ Wallace’s No.3
Ben Wallace wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school in Alabama. Nor was his name called in the NBA draft following a career at Virginia Union University. Despite that, he goes down as one of basketball’s all-time greats on the low post.