As Richmond City Council wrestles with the critical task of completing a budget for the city for 2015-16, we call on Mayor Dwight C. Jones to address unsettling issues regarding the expensive outsourcing of city work to outside companies.

The fires that burned Monday and Tuesday night in Baltimore have pushed the nation toward the crucial, but much avoided introspection necessary to address critical issues of race and justice in America.

News this week of the traumatic death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray of Baltimore at the hands of police is both dismal and emotionally bruising. Mr. Gray, whose biggest crime in life was perhaps being a “joker,” as close friends reported, …

What are we going to do about our public school buildings? This is the biggest single infrastructure problem on our plate — the elephant in the room, so to speak. The sad shape of our streets, our sidewalks and even …

The political horse race known as the presidential election started in earnest this week with the announcements that Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Marco Rubio had entered the track. Mrs. Clinton, a former U.S. senator and secretary of state, so …

Tag as many schoolchildren as possible with criminal records. That appears to be Virginia’s new method to ensure that it can keep its expensive prisons full in the years to come. Across the state, schools are bringing police officers on …

We congratulate and offer wishes for much success to Coach Shaka Smart and his family, who have relocated to Austin, Texas, where he just became the new basketball coach for the University of Texas Longhorns. In the six years Coach …

The lion’s tale “Until the lion tells the story of the hunt, the tale will always glorify the hunter.” We evoke this African proverb in reflecting on last weekend’s wonderful events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the liberation of Richmond …

Shame on the governors and legislatures of Indiana and Arkansas for supporting their states’ so-called “religious freedom” bills that essentially would allow business owners to refuse to serve people they dislike. Members of the gay and lesbian community — and …

When health-threatening mold was found in Elkhardt Middle School, Richmond Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden and his staff took action. They ultimately closed the building and moved the teachers, students and staff to the reopened Clark Springs Elementary School building …

Do you believe black lives matter? Here’s one good way to show it: Turn out for the “Blue Coats Parade” on Saturday, April 4, to show support for the U.S. Colored Troops who led the Union army in liberating Richmond …

Talk about a missed opportunity to put Richmond in the spotlight. We are talking about the celebration next week of the liberation of our city from the grip of slave power and the human oppression that was taken for granted …

Congratulations to the city’s and region’s scholar-athletes and their coaches who already have made February-into-March Madness a basketball season to remember! Their hours of practice and discipline on the court have translated into victories in state and conference championships that …

Dr. Dana T. Bedden, Richmond’s public schools superintendent, is probably out of here. No, it’s not because he was a runner-up and not the winner of the Boston public school system’s top job. It’s because of the latest actions by …

There are places and moments in America where this nation’s destiny has been decided. Selma is such a place. In one afternoon 50 years ago, so much of our turbulent history — the stain of slavery and anguish of civil …