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Culinary historian Michael W. Twitty is LVA’s literary awards speaker
James Beard award-winning author and cu- linary historian Michael W. Twitty will be the featured speaker during the Library of Virginia’s 25th Annual Literary Awards Celebration on Oct. 15.
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Personality: Barbara S. Brown
Spotlight on Coming Together Virginia’s board chairwoman
Coming to the Table was founded in 2006 when a small group of descendants of slaves and slave holders met at a table in Harrisonburg with a goal of “Taking America Beyond the Legacy of Enslavement.”
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Renowned Virginia Tech professor and poet retires
Internationally known poet Nikki Giovanni retired Sept. 1 as an English professor at Virginia Tech University, bringing an end to a celebrated career at the university that spanned more than 30 years and earned her accolades inside and outside the university.
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Va. Executive Mansion open to public again
After being closed for more than two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Executive Mansion, located in Capitol Square in Downtown, will reopen to the public Sept. 2.
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After much labor, city workers can bargain for better wages
Labor Day has mostly marked the end of summer in Richmond, a day off for most best known for pool parties and retail shopping sales. But this year, the national holiday celebrating worker contributions to American progress will have new meaning, particularly among City Hall and School Board employees, when it arrives Monday, Sept. 5.
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Richmond Community High School grad’s vegan cooking satisfies hungry New Yorkers
Middleburg Chef Shenarri Freeman started cooking 10 years ago at the 9:30 Club, a concert hall in Washington, D.C. Then a pre-physical therapy student at Howard university, she took the gig to get free concert tickets.
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Personality: Lynette Lewis Allston
Spotlight on the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees president
When the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts named its newest Board of Trustees president, Lynette Lewis Allston became the first Native American elected to the role in the museum’s 86- year history. The current chief and chair emeritus of the Tribal Council of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia also will be the first Native American board chair of a top 10 U.S. comprehensive art museum.
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Delegates Filler-Corn and McQuinn launch interfaith reproductive coalition
Two Democratic members of the House of Delegates are seeking to rally Christians, Jews, Muslims and other people of faith who support abortion.
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‘Defund the FBI’? Seriously?, by Clarence Page
Yes, I had to polish my eyeglasses and put them back on for a second look before I could believe what the always provocative and occasionally rational Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had just tweeted. In a takeoff on the Black Lives Matter slogan, she tweeted “Defund the FBI.” Cute. Barely a step ahead of other like- minded law- makers, the Georgia Re- publican went on to sell hats and other sou- venir merchan- dise online with the slogan, all in response to the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home of her hero, former President Donald Trump. Although more than a dozen other Republicans publicly shared Rep. Greene’s sentiments, others, like Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, were not amused. Although he was “impressed Democrats finally got us to say, ‘Defund the FBI,’” he said sarcastically, the slogan “makes you look unserious, when you start talking like that.” On that, I agree. I have ex- pressed similar criticism of the original “Defund the police” sloganasitemergedamid global protests by the Black Lives Matter movement follow- ing George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020. Although apologists defended the slogan as a call for construc- tively rethinking policies that pile too many social service burdens on police, conservatives easily turned it into a call for softness on crime. Now, in another ironic twist, a disturbing number of Repub- licans are using it to call for softness on Donald Trump. After the FBI search at the Mar-a-Lago estate, many Trump supporters have turned a slogan they hate into one that they love, Clarence Page even at the cost of the GOP calls to “Support the police” and “Back the Blue” going back at least to Richard M. Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign. Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, whom I call Rep.Greene’s brother in shameless grandstand- ing, threatened to give “not one more damn penny” to the FBI and other such agencies. To which BLM tweeted back with “you are corny..... But we’ll work with you to defund and dismantle the FBI. Welcome to #DefundThePolice.” While most of the GOP’s establishment leaders stayed out of the fray, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Cali- fornia tweeted after the search, “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.” Thisisthesameleaderwho, during a Police Week speech in May, said “hateful rhetoric” and policies have helped create an “environment of rising crime and put our officers in danger.” The search came after Mr. Trump failed to comply with polite invitations to return clas- sified government documents he had taken to his home. Instead, he claimed to have declared the documents “declassified” without any documentation to back that up. That’s not how declassification is done, especially when you’re no longer president. Now we see some Republi- cans finding virtue in “Defund the FBI” as a rallying cry for Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) base. They’re hungrily looking for some solace amid the pile of scandals threatening their favorite potential candidate. So far, echoing Mr. Trump’s FBI attacks appears remarkably to be working, even in the wake of shocking revelations uncovered by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. After the committee took its summer break, a poll by The New York Times and Siena College showed Trump support had weakened. But after the search at Mar-a- Lago, a new poll by the Trafalgar Group and the Convention of States Action revealed more than 80 percent of Republican respondents said the feds’ action made them more motivated to vote in this November’s midterm elections. Regardless, our justice system is being tested in this case, along withourdemocracy.Let’stake our time and do it right. Our system of justice isn’t perfect but, for now, it’s all we’ve got. The writer is a syndicated columnist and senior member of the Chicago Tribune edito- rial board.
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Happily Natural Day offers music, speakers, self-sufficiency tools
Live music, speakers, vendors and more will be featured at the 19th annual Happily Natural Day and Garden Expo from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Fifth District Mini Farm, 2208 Bainbridge St., it has been announced.
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Legal weapon
City’s plans for Ashe Center unlikely to win in court, says pro bono lawyer
City Hall would violate state and city laws if it moves to tear down the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center and sell the site without the permission of the Richmond School Board.
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VUU appoints director of global and online learning
Tunesha Witcher has been appointed director of VUU Global and Online Learning in the Division of Academic Affairs.
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Fearmongering, by David Marshall
During the Trump presidency, the pontiff continued to speak out. He said the president was “not Christian” because of his views on immigration and ought to extend protections to undocumented young immigrants if he is actually “pro-life.”
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Entrepreneurs hear from guest speakers during the inaugural BLCK Street Conference at The Collaboratory of VA on Monday, Aug. 8.
Published on August 11, 2022
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Clarence ‘Ollie’ Oliver of Supreme Hairstyling, dies at 53
Clarence Edgar “Ollie” Oliver, a professional barber who worked in the family business with his father, died on Monday, July 25, 2022, a little more than a week shy of his 54th birthday.
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BLCK Street sessions inspire entrepreneurs
A common thread throughout the inaugural BLCK Street Conference earlier this week was encouragement and advice on everything from organizing finances to mentoring.
