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Laptop overload
Despite thousands of unused Chromebooks, RPS plans to buy 4,000 more
Three months ago, the Richmond School Board was told that the school system had enough Chromebooks to provide every student with a laptop “for years to come.” Now the board is being advised that Superintendent Jason Kamras’ administration plans to buy at least 4,000 more Chromebooks using a newly awarded federal grant.
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Invisible men, women and children
Slavery out in tours of Gov. Mansion
One topic is conspicuously absent from the current tour of Virginia’s historic governor’s mansion — slavery.
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Plan linking city traffic lights with regional emergency vehicle system stalled
When lights and sirens are activated, drivers of fire trucks and ambulances in Chesterfield and Henrico counties have equipment that can turn traffic lights from red to green as they respond to emergencies. The bottom line: Safer and smoother travel on congested streets, say officials in both counties, which began making the equipment standard in 2000. Not so in Richmond, which has far more traffic lights and more emergency calls.
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Council defeats proposal to change how Richmonders vote in elections
Ranked-choice voting — aimed at ensuring that election winners have majority support — has been booted from Richmond.
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Housing units’ new CEO
Steven Bernard Nesmith, former HUD official, has known poverty and prosperity, but considers RRHA role his dream job
Steven Bernard Nesmith is returning to public housing more than 40 years after leaving the Philadelphia projects where he grew up.
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Personality: Maureen Jules-Perez
Spotlight on Girls For A Change board president
Girls For A Change, a nonprofit youth development organization, empowers Black girls ages 9 to 18 in Central Virginia with experiences and resources that help shape their future. Maureen Jules-Perez became board president of the 20-year-old organization in the spring of 2021.
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City Council to weigh ranked-choice voting
Next week, City Council will likely decide whether to test a simple change in voting that would ensure a majority of voters elects every member of the governing body in the 2024 elections.
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City rejects South Side church bid for abandoned school
A church that has competed to buy the long vacant Oak Grove Elementary School property in South Side has been eliminated from contention — leaving an apartment developer as the only bidder with an offer still under review.
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Biden’s student loan plan needs more reforms, by Marc H. Morial
“By forgiving up to $20,000 in burdensome student loan debt, President Biden is giving working and middle class families the financial breathing room the desperately need. Buying a home, founding a business, starting a family, and so much more will now be a financial possibility for millions more Americans. But we cannot stop there. The Congressional Black Caucus remains committed to achieving additional reforms to ensure current, and future borrowers are not subjected to this cycle of burdensome debt.” – Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty
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On a roll
Petersburg’s casino prospects gain momentum
Petersburg has already started interviewing developers as the Cockade City’s prospects for replacing Richmond as a host city for an upscale casino-resort appear to be gaining momentum.
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$10,000
Biden announces big student loan forgiveness plan
President Biden on Wednesday announced his long-awaited plan to deliver on a campaign promise to provide $10,000 in student debt cancellation for millions of Americans — and up to $10,000 more for those with the greatest financial need — along with new measures to lower the burden of repayment for their remaining federal student debt.
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Excavation of graves begins at site of Colonial Black church
Archaeologists in Virginia began excavating three suspected graves at the original site of one of the nation’s oldest Black churches on July 18, 2022, commencing a month's long effort to learn who was buried there and how they lived.
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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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Democracy should not be a partisan issue, by Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
While the United States champions democracy across the world, our own democracy is under siege. Nothing is more fundamental to democracy than the right to vote – yet there is no explicit guarantee of the right to vote in the U.S. Constitution.
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Braves enjoy homegrown talent with Michael Harris
Rising star could be National League Rookie of Year
Major League Baseball teams toss their fishnets all over the globe in hope of landing talent. No distance is too far. Other times teams get lucky and find what they’re looking for in their own backyard.
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A first: African-American marine promoted to 4-star general
The first African-American four-star general in Marine Corps history, Gen. Michael E. Langley, credited his father with telling him to “aim high” and predicted that his recent rank would have an impact on younger people.
