All results / Stories / Free Press wire reports
Out like Flynn
Concerns grow amid reports that Trump campaign aides were in frequent contact with Russian officials before Nov. 8 election
President Trump is facing a deepening crisis over the relationship between his aides and Russia, with senior Republicans vowing on Wednesday to get to the bottom of the matter and Democrats demanding an independent probe.
Katherine G. Johnson, trailblazing NASA mathematician immortalized in the film 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 101
Katherine G. Johnson, the mathematical genius whose calculations took her from a behind-the-scenes job in a segregated NASA as portrayed in the film “Hidden Figures” to a key role in sending humans to the moon, died on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, at her residence at an assisted living facility in Newport News.
Mo’ne Davis wins ESPY Award
Mo’ne Davis continues to add to her already crowded trophy shelf. The teen sensation’s latest accolade?
Biden signs historic Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act
In a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, President Biden sat at a small desk and put his signature on the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act that now makes lynching punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, lion of anti-apartheid movement, dies at 90
Mourners held a candlelight prayer ceremony outside the Soweto home of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Wednesday, weeping over the memory not only of a world-renowned lion of the anti-apartheid movement but of a kind and loyal neighbor.
Scathing DOJ report finds discriminatory, unconstitutional police practices in Baltimore
African-American residents in Baltimore are routinely subjected to unconstitutional stops, arrests and excessive force by the Baltimore Police Department, a scathing federal report released on Wednesday states. The 163-page U.S. Justice Department report details an investigation launched after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray last year that found the Baltimore Police Department engages in a pattern of conduct that violates the Constitution and federal law.
KKK in Charlottesville outnumbered
Klan rally draws more than 1,000 counterprotesters
More than 1,000 people turned out to shout down a group of Ku Klux Klan members last Saturday at a Charlottesville park where a few dozen hate group members and supporters waving Confederate flags and signs with anti-Semitic messages held a rally.
Dr. George T. Walker, composer, music educator and Pulitzer Prize winner, dies at 96
George Theophilus Walker was long ranked among the top American composers of modern classical music.
Sidney Poitier suffered from multiple health problems
Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier, who died Jan. 6 at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 94, suffered from several health issues, according to information listed in his death certificate that was obtained Tuesday by TMZ and several other media outlets.
First wave of Afghan evacuees arrive at Fort Lee
It has been nearly two weeks since the first flight evacuating Afghans who worked alongside Americans in Afghanistan brought more than 200 people, including scores of children and babies in arms, to resettlement in the United States, and officials at Fort Lee are calling the operation a success so far.
Delta Air Lines snubs black women physicians
When Tamika Cross tried to help another passenger in distress on a recent Delta Air Lines flight, she said she was dismissed by a flight attendant who doubted that the black woman was actually a physician. Dr. Cross, an OB-GYN based in Houston, chronicled the incident on Facebook on Oct. 9. The post has since gone viral, with more than 15,000 comments, and sparked the Twitter hashtag #whatadoctorlookslike.
Grief unifies nation
Richmond mourns in solidarity following Orlando massacre
In what has become all too common, several Richmond churches and community groups gathered this week to hold vigils and pray for victims of gun violence. This time, the songs of solace and tears of despair were for the slaughter unleashed Sunday morning when 29-year-old gunman Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 others at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub frequented by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patrons.
Tennis champion Naomi Osaka brings racial justice to her Grand Slam win
Naomi Osaka capped a transformative U.S. Open by winning her third Grand Slam title and challenging millions of people watching across the globe last Saturday to “start talking” about racial justice.
Menaced by Florence
Changing forecast for hurricane keeps Virginians on alert
More than 1 million people along the Virginia and Carolina coast fled toward higher ground this week in a mass evacuation ordered just days before the expected arrival of Hurricane Florence, a Category 3 storm and the most powerful to menace the region in nearly three decades.
Farewell to the champ
Muhammad Ali fought for justice, equality and title
More than 62 years ago, an anonymous bicycle thief in Louisville, Ky., unknowingly set in motion the amazing career of a boxing legend and remarkable world figure who would live up to his self-billing as “The Greatest.”
Stoney demands DOJ investigation
Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney doesn’t believe that a “coding error” is the reason 3,400 voters were removed from Virginia’s voter rolls, as stated by Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin last week.
Morehouse College grad named new interim president
Harold Martin Jr., a 2002 Morehouse College graduate and secretary of its Board of Trustees, has been named interim president of the all-male institution that is celebrating its 150th anniversary. The board announced the selection of Mr. Martin on June 26. He replaces William J. “Bill” Taggart, who died in June from an aneurysm.
Charlottesville City Council votes to sell Lee statue
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee has taken one more step toward leaving the city of Charlottesville. Despite a pending court case, the Charlottesville City Council voted 3-2 Monday to sell the city’s statue of the Confederate general which now stands in the center of the city.
Richmonder debuts his film June 22
While growing up in Richmond, Jai Jamison knew that he wanted to be a film director. Next week, the 30-year-old’s award-winning feature film, “Tri,” will premiere in Richmond. The film, chronicling the efforts of two female triathletes, will be shown 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, at Bow Tie Cinemas, 1310 N. Boulevard.
City Council authorizes mayor to accept Lee monument and land from state
The traffic circle at Monument and Allen avenues where the giant monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee once stood will soon belong to the City of Richmond.
