Petersburg city attorney gets lesson in First Amendment
Citizens no longer will be barred from addressing Petersburg City Council solely because they owe money to the city. City Attorney Brian Telfair notified the ACLU of Virginia that the prohibition would be lifted, the constitutional watchdog group announced Tuesday. Mr. Telfair issued the response after the Richmond-based group demanded an end to the practice that he previously had deemed legal. “This prohibition violates the First Amendment and must be rescinded immediately,” Rebecca K. Glenburg, legal director of the Virginia ACLU, wrote to Mr. Telfair in a letter issued Feb. 5.
Richmond jail diversion showing results
The figures reflect the stepped-up efforts by the courts, prosecutors, police, government officials and community service providers to use less costly approaches to justice than jail. The impact on the population at the new Richmond Justice Center is evident. On Monday, Jan. 26, Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. reported holding 1,126 inmates, or 240 fewer than the 1,366 people who were being held in the old City Jail on the same day in 2014.
Fundraising growing at VSU
A $200,000 check shows Dr. Pamela V. Hammond is keeping her promise to rev up fundraising at Virginia State University. The university’s interim president received the contribution from the foundation of Thompson Hospitality Inc., which offers food service and catering at VSU’s Gateway Center.
Petersburg council to revisit jail closure plan
Will the Petersburg City Jail close as Mayor W. Howard Myers has announced? Stay tuned. Mayor Myers is facing a Petersburg City Council revolt over his announcement last week that the jail closing is a done deal and that arrestees would be housed outside the city at Riverside Regional Jail beginning March 1.
Personality: Maj. Daniel T. Fox III
Maj. Daniel Tré Fox III seeks to open musical doors to students as others did for him when he was a student in Richmond Public Schools. The 33-year-old vocal instructor at Franklin Military Academy in Church Hill sees the power of music as a bridge to uplift and mold young men and women.
VUU Panthers win game ahead of CIAA tourney
They’re toes are wiggling. After losing 10 games in succession in December and January, Virginia Union University’s basketball Panthers are showing evidence of recovery.
VUU’s Jones is burning up the track, aiming for Olympics
In years to come, law breakers will need to be in tiptop shape if they try to flee on foot from C’evon Jones. Pronounced “Say-Von,” C’evon is a junior criminal justice major and aspiring policewoman at Virginia Union University. She’s also among the fastest women in America.
JeQuan Lewis brings it for VCU in Weber’s absence
When the credits roll for Virginia Commonwealth University basketball, JeQuan Lewis is no longer among the supporting cast. The Tennessean with the distinctive fade haircut has popped up as a leading man for coach Shaka Smart’s short-handed but still Atlantic 10-leading Rams.
Bucks to retire NBA great Bobby Dandridge’s number
Bob Dandridge’s No. 10 jersey soon will be hanging from the rafters at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
City Council seeks regional efforts on new ballpark
Mayor Dwight C. Jones keeps saying that he might one day return with a revamped proposal to build a new ballpark in Shockoe Bottom. However, his prospects of gaining the six City Council votes he would need to move such a proposal forward — particularly after his initial plan to build a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom went nowhere — are growing increasingly dim.
Morrissey trial set for April 28
Delegate Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey hoped for a speedier trial. Now he must wait two months to fight new grand jury indictments — including a charge that he forged a document that he presented as evidence in the case that landed him in jail.
Elkhardt’s closing signals harsh reality for mayor, City Council
Elkhardt Middle School is a fresh reminder of the increasingly shabby and dilapidated condition of most of Richmond’s school buildings — a condition that the mayor’s office and City Council have yet to seriously address despite repeated reports and warnings in recent years. Set to be shut down this Thursday night, with students, teachers and staff moving 10 miles north across the James River into the vacant Clark Springs Elementary building, Elkhardt on South Side reflects the stark reality the city is facing — the need to provide big money to keep Richmond’s school buildings usable, a reality that no longer can be papered over with rosy talk about bike races, baseball stadiums and football training camps.
A home of her own
Agencies help homeless woman with new start
Joanne H. Murray greeted the visitor to her apartment with a warm smile. She sat on a small couch in the modest one-bedroom dwelling on the city’s North Side.
Equal rights for women should be in constitution
For the third time in four years, the Virginia Senate has voted to ratify the long overdue Equal Rights Amendment. If ratified by the House of Delegates, Virginia would become the 36th out of the 38 states needed to ratify this important economic and civil rights constitutional amendment for women.
All movements are connected
As we celebrate Black History Month, we have the opportunity to reflect on our culture, our history, our triumphs and all the mountains we still have yet to climb. From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we have learned that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” In Richmond, several organizations and individuals are carrying the torch toward an equal and just society. We realize that all movements are connected as they all are symptoms of deeply engrained societal issues such as racism, classism, sexism and corporatism.
Real realities of poverty
The racial differential in the poverty rate is staggering. About 12 percent of the people in the United States, one in eight people are poor. Depending on race and ethnicity, however, poverty is experienced differently. Fewer than one in 10 white people are poor; more than one in four African- Americans and Latinos are poor. Differences in occupation, income, employment and education are considered the main reasons for poverty, with current and past discrimination playing a role in educational, employment and occupational attainment. We see the discrimination when we consider that African-American women with a doctoral degree have median earnings of about $1,000 a week, compared to about $1,200 a week for black men and white women, and $1,600 a week for white men. White men earn 60 percent more than African-American women, and a third more than black men and white women.
Each generation offers something
Whether it is in an inner-city neighborhood across America, the Caribbean, in Europe or in a sprawling mass of people in an African or Brazilian urban area, millions of black youths throughout the world are crying out for a better quality of life. They should always have a better life than their parents. I always try to keep my eyes and ears open to see and hear what our youths are saying and doing. The axiom that the future is in the hands of the young is certainly true today. I admire and support young people who stand up and speak out for freedom and equal justice.
Enhancing all lives
We applaud the Richmond Police Department brass and Chief-to-be Alfred Durham for initiating and carrying out a confab with more than 150 people in response to the #BlackLivesMatter protests across the city. We also applaud the scores of Richmond area young people who are actively committed to ensuring social justice is given more than lip service by public servants — accountable to the people — who hold elected and appointed offices.
Christians are no exception
It has been exasperating to read and listen to the attacks against President Obama for the comments he made during last week’s National Prayer Breakfast. In case you missed the speech, or the resulting dust-up, here are the comments that drew the ire of his critics: “And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”
Reuben V. Burrell, 95, Hampton University photographer
Reuben V. Burrell captured the history and essence of Hampton University during more than 65 years of service as the university’s staff photographer. He was affectionately known as “One-Shot Burrell” for skills developed during the 1940s wartime when film, flashbulbs and photographic resources were hard to get.
