All results / Stories / Jeremy M. Lazarus
City apparently losing money on vehicle registration fees
Last year, the City of Richmond charged city vehicle owners a $33 annual registration fee for each of their cars, a $38 fee for each pickup or heavy-duty truck and $18 for each motorcycle.
Price of new Wythe High School skyrockets to $140M
The price tag to replace aging George Wythe High School has jumped to $140 million, a 40 percent hike from the previous estimate of $100 million.
Dr. Ralph Reavis Sr., pastor, author and former president of Virginia University of Lynchburg, dies at 80
The private Virginia University of Lynchburg was teetering on collapse when Dr. Ralph Reavis Sr. left the pulpit at Riverview Baptist Church in Richmond to respond to a call to save his undergraduate alma mater.
City Council to deal with budget deficit
Mayor Dwight C. Jones wants Richmond City Council to allow him to tap the city’s piggy bank to keep red ink from staining the city’s books.
Private money dries up for Kanawha Plaza project
Last July, Richmond City Council gave Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration the green light to overhaul 35-year-old Kanawha Plaza, the three-acre park that sits across from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The council acted after being assured that virtually all of the $6 million cost would come from gifts from big corporations and law firms located near the park.
Health systems securing naming rights to GRTC’s Pulse
Richmond area taxpayers apparently will not have to spend as much to subsidize rides on GRTC’s new bus rapid transit service, also known as Pulse, thanks to two area health care giants, VCU Health System and Bon Secours Richmond Health System.
Grace Street changing to two-way in Downtown
Traffic alert: Expect disruption on East Grace Street from 4th Street to 9th Street in Downtown for two months. The reason: Five blocks of Grace Street are being transformed from a one-way street to two-way, the Department of Public Works announced this week.
Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club becomes temporary shelter for homeless
The Salvation Army this week turned its recently renovated Boys and Girls Club in Church Hill into a temporary 75-bed shelter for homeless people.
Pulse of the city
Ridership, confusion up as GRTC’s new bus rapid transit line starts
Mayor Levar M. Stoney calls it “progress” and “one of the most exciting and progressive public transportation projects in Richmond history.”
Richmond registrar needs money for Jan.10 special election
Richmond Voter Registrar Kirk Showalter is gearing up for the Richmond special election Tuesday, Jan. 10, when voters will pick a new state senator to replace A. Donald McEachin, who is heading to Washington to represent the 4th Congressional District.
Runoff election for mayor will require dollars
Richmond might need a runoff election for mayor if none of the eight candidates wins the Nov. 8 election outright. One problem: No money has been set aside to cover the projected cost.
Metropolitan Business League sells Jackson Ward headquarters
The Richmond area’s largest African-American business group has waved goodbye to its former home in Jackson Ward. The Metropolitan Business League last month sold its longtime headquarters at 2nd and Marshall streets to a subsidiary of Washington-based Douglas Development, which has been buying up chunks of Downtown for more than 10 years.
Grand Illumination, Love Lights to ignite holiday spirit
The holiday spirit will envelop Richmond this weekend with two big events — the joint Grand Illumination and Love Lights skyline lighting Friday night, Dec. 5, and the Dominion Christmas Parade on Saturday, Dec. 6.
RAA warns service in jeopardy without greater city subsidy
Richmond has long boasted of having one of the best ambulance services in the country. But the Richmond Ambulance Authority is warning City Council that the ability to maintain quality emergency response is being jeopardized by Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s decision to limit the city’s financial support.
Federal judge upholds city ambulance monopoly
Richmond has won its legal fight to maintain a monopoly over providing emergency and non-emergency ambulance service after Richmond City Council forced Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration to mount a vigorous defense.
New details emerge about Coliseum replacement plan
Richmond City Council President Cynthia I. Newbille, rushing to get the governing body to vote on the $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement plan in late February, authorized a $25,000 increase in the contract for a private consultant to conduct a review of the proposal for City Council without first gaining a council vote, the Free Press has learned.
What’s better: A Coliseum replacement or a facelift?
Here’s the choice: Spend $25 million to $35 million to revitalize the 13,500-seat Richmond Coliseum or spend $220 million to replace it with a brand new 17,500-seat facility and add another $20 million to $30 million to revamp East Clay and East Leigh streets.
Death sentence?
Virginia inmate files federal class action lawsuit to make Hepatitis C treatment available to prisoners
Terry A. Riggleman went to prison as a convicted robber. But 11 years into his 20-year sentence, he is working to change an alleged state practice of withholding life-saving medicine from Virginia prison inmates like him who are afflicted with the liver-destroying viral infection known as Hepatitis C.
$3.7B transportation deal to boost rail service from Richmond to D.C.
Richmond would be a major beneficiary of an unprecedented $3.7 billion deal announced by Gov. Ralph S. Northam to boost passenger rail service between Washington and other Virginia cities to avoid an even costlier expansion of Interstate 95.
Training program for released convicts faces shutdown
Rodney Brown had just served a six-year sentence in prison in 2018 when he found his way to the nonprofit Adult Alternative Program at 4929 Chamberlayne Ave. in the city’s North Side.
