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Local organization part of federal suit challenging EPA's new lead standards
A Richmond woman who has fought to end lead contamination in homes and drinking water in the metro area is taking on the Trump administration for allegedly undermining the regulation of the health-damaging metal.
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Finding the silver lining
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented challenge to people and businesses during the last two years. But some Richmond area residents have been able to find a silver lining during the crisis.
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Criminal charges filed in Michigan water crisis
The Flint water crisis became a criminal case Wednesday when two state regulators and a city employee were charged with official misconduct, evidence tampering and other offenses over the lead contamination that alarmed the country and brought cries of racism.
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Ge’Shanti Atkins takes Maggie L. Walker to state semifinals
Call it the return of the Green Dragons. The girls’ basketball team at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School came so close to scratching a four-decade Green Dragons’ itch this season.
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Two years after George Floyd’s murder, racial trauma permeates Black Americans
Black Men Heal co-founder Zakia Williams was deeply moved as she watched a young Black man become emotional while speaking about the mental health toll the past few years have taken on him. “He said, ‘I just want to play basketball without fear of getting shot, I just want to live. I just want to be,’” Ms. Wil- liams recalled the young man saying at a virtual group therapy session, Kings Corner, that her Philadelphia-based group holds weekly for Black men across the U.S. and internationally. “A lot of our men report being overwhelmed, tired and feeling like they’re being at- tacked. They see themselves in George Floyd. Each one of them says, ‘That could have been me.’” Wednesday, May 25, marks the second anniversary of Mr. Floyd’s killing by a Minneapolis police officer, which sparked a global protest movement and calls for a racial reckoning to address structural racism that has created long-standing in- equities impacting generations of Black Americans. Mr. Floyd’s slaying, along with a series of killings of other Black Americans, has wrought a heavy toll on the emotional and mental health of Black communities burdened by centuries of oppressive systems and racist practices. Mental health experts say the racism that causes the trauma is embedded in the country’s fabric and can be directly linked to the mental duress many experience today. “Black mental health has always been a topic of concern,” said Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “Continuously seeing these images of Black people being killed ... can elicit trauma-like symptoms in Black people and others who feel somehow con- nected to what is going on,” she said. This “impact of vicarious
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102-year-old WWII veteran from segregated mail unit honored
Millions of letters and packages sent to U.S. troops had accumulated in warehouses in Europe by the time Allied troops were pushing toward the heart of Hitler’s Germany near the end of World War II. this wasn’t junk mail — it was the main link between home and the front in a time long before video chats, texting or even routine long-distance phone calls.
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Docuseries on Black church highlights history, links to biblical orthodoxy
“How I Got Over,” a five-part series, examines the history of seven historic Black denominations and highlights major Black Christian leaders — well-known and lesser-known — who have contributed to American society. Officials of the AND Campaign, a nonpartisan think tank that promotes Christian civic engagement, released the first episode on YouTube Feb. 13.
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African delegates denied visas to Calif. trade conference
An African trade summit held last week in California had no African delegates after the United States denied them visas to enter the country.
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Richmond’s Plunky Branch releases autobiography at June 23 event
James “Plunky” Branch’s music consistently contains elements of jazz, funk and soul linked with African concepts of “Juju” and “oneness.”
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Study shows some children don’t visit doctors despite having insurance
A majority of Richmond children from low-income families apparently are not getting annual checkups from doctors, even though the children have health insurance through Medicaid or other programs that would cover the cost. The result: Many youngsters are dogged by obesity or other treatable physical and mental health problems that are never dealt with, disrupting their education and well-being.
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System failure
RPS loses thousands of laptops
Richmond Public Schools wasted millions of federal support dollars buying 20,000 extra Chromebook laptop computers it didn’t need after going virtual during the pandemic, an internal audit has found.
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Banking, the Black community and the Durbin Amendment, by Taikein M. Cooper
Access to banking, and all the opportunities it affords, is an absolute necessity for historically disenfranchised and marginalized communities. It’s how we pay for our everyday essentials, take out loans to start businesses or buy homes and attempt to build generational wealth to make the American Dream a reality.
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Retiring HU president offers advice to graduates
Hampton University’s 152nd annual commencement celebrated graduates as well as the 44-year tenure of HU President William R. “Bill” Harvey, who is retiring on June 30. Dr. Harvey, 81, served as the keynote speaker for the commencement, which was held on Mother’s Day at the Hampton University Convocation Center on campus. Dr. Harvey highlighted a long list of accomplishments made by the university under his stewardship, such as the creation of the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute to treat cancer and increasing the university’s endowment from $29 million to more than $400 million today. Dr. Harvey told the graduates, “Don’t settle with being the employee; I want you to be the employer. Don’t settle with representing the firm or corporation; I want you to own the firm or corporation. See the horizon as not a limit, but an invitation….” He offered grandfatherly advice to graduates, ranging from the financial -- “Pay yourself first. Save something from every single paycheck. Buy some property”– to the social – “Stay away from drugs and drug dealers. They will destroy your life or make it miserable.” Dr. Harvey went on to tell graduates to “fight racism every time it arises” and to “be positive role models. Be somebody.” He closed out his address by telling graduates to support Hampton University with their money. During the ceremony, Rashida Jones, who became the first Black woman to lead a cable news network when she was named president of MSNBC in February 2021, received the Outstanding 20-Year Alumna Award. The Henrico High School graduate earned a bachelor’s degree in mass media arts from Hampton University in 2002. Earlier this year, she launched the Rashida Jones Scholarship Fund for journalism students at the university. Thomas Hasty III, senior executive vice president and chief regulatory risk officer of TowneBank, received the Outstanding Alumnus-at-Large Award. He graduated from HU in 1977 with a degree in business. Honorary degrees were awarded to former Virginia Supreme Court Justice John Charles Thomas, who was the first Black named to the state’s highest court in 1983, and Christopher Newport University President Paul S. Trible Jr., who represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate from 1983 to 1989.
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Our dollars as a form of resistance, by Julianne Malveaux
Our nation’s gross domestic product, or GDP, is a function of consumer spending. We are prodded, cajoled, enticed and engaged in the spending exercise, and all that happens because money makes the world go round.
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No debt deal = doom
The clock is ticking on a potentially serious financial crisis that could affect you and your family.
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Slavery memorial to gain in capital budget plan
The battle over the ballpark in Shockoe Bottom apparently is over. At the same time, hopes are fading for Richmond Public Schools to gain funding to develop essential new schools on South Side to relieve overcrowding.
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GRTC adding unlimited rides
Pay one fare and get unlimited bus rides for a day, a week or a month. That’s an option that cash-strapped GRTC expects to begin offering by the fall in a bid to pump up ridership. GRTC won a 9-0 vote Tuesday from Richmond City Council to inaugurate what is regarded as the biggest change in fare pricing since the start of public transit in the city.
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Young people and vaping
Nearly half a million people die every year from complications from smoking. About a tenth of them never put a cigarette to their lips; they die from exposure to second-hand smoke.
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Obamacare still vital
Signature health care law remains intact despite GOP assaults
Don’t panic if you bought individual or family health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. The ACA, a.k.a. Obamacare, is struggling but still alive and will continue to operate, according to experts in the field, despite President Trump’s decision last week to cut off premium subsidies to insurance companies.
