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RRHA gets REAL about reducing gun violence
A crime-reduction initiative that Mayor Levar M. Stoney has spurned apparently will come to Richmond after all. The city’s housing authority is partnering with the nonprofit REAL LIFE to implement the same initiative in Richmond that is credited with dramatically cutting shootings and violent crime in Hopewell.
Food fight
Highland Springs-based food ministry scrambles to generate new food sources after being shut out by Feed More
For the past year, Brian Purcell has stopped by the Kroger store in Mechanicsville four days a week to pick up unsold prepared food and bakery items the store otherwise would have thrown away.
Re-entry training program locked out of former school building
The shutdown has come for a Richmond-based program that linked people released from jails and prisons to training for construction jobs.
Virginia Supreme Court hears arguments in Lee statue cases
Can a group of landowners block the governor and the legislature from removing a giant symbol of white supremacy?
Special prosecutor assigned in Confederate statue removal probe
A special grand jury soon will be convened in Richmond.
Slave memorial and museum gets jumpstart under mayor’s plan
A long-stalled effort to develop a museum and memorial park in Shockoe Bottom to tell the story of enslaved people in Richmond seems to have gained fresh momentum, but that could quickly evaporate.
Tough love
Task force recommends subpoena powers for police oversight board
A recommendation for creating a powerful new city office to police the police has been sent to Richmond City Council for review.
Garden at MLK Middle School is part of new city Food Justice Corridor
Richmond’s new Food Justice Corridor is starting to take root. On Saturday, nine new raised garden beds were installed in an interior courtyard at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, building on fledging steps begun last year.
Judge approves settlement dropping witness requirement in June 23 primary
As anticipated, a federal judge has approved a settlement that will allow voters to cast mail-in ballots without a witness signature for the June 23 primary elections. The ruling doesn’t apply to local elections taking place on Tuesday, May 19.
Confederate Avenue to be renamed
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton, soon will no longer live on Confederate Avenue.
‘Virtual school’ in Va.?
Advocates say it would boost educational choices; critics say it would strip students and money from public schools
Thousands of public school students in Virginia could have the option of taking all of their classes on a home computer in what is known as a “virtual school” — instead of making the daily trek to a building with bells and defined class times. Gov. Terry McAuliffe is mulling whether to sign House Bill 8, a largely Republican-backed piece of legislation that would allow Virginia to join Florida, Ohio and 28 other states in providing 12 years of public education in what enthusiasts describe as a “classroom without walls.”
Questions swirl around judge
Lawyers representing Mayor Levar M. Stoney and the city have rushed to the Virginia Supreme Court, requesting the state’s highest court overturn a Richmond Circuit Court judge’s 60-day injunction barring the mayor from using emergency authority to take down Confederate statues.
Bethlehem Baptist Church leaving East End for the suburbs
Bethlehem Baptist Church, which bills itself as “The church in the heart of the city with the city in our hearts,” is moving from Fairmount Avenue in the East End to the suburbs, according to Carolyn Demery, chair of the church’s Deacon Board.
Casino vote aftermath
Stoney, Spanberger declare bids for governor; Paul Goldman proposes charter change
Mayor Levar M. Stoney is brushing himself off after Richmond voters for the second time rejected the $562 million casino-resort plan he fully backed and gearing up to run for governor in 2025. Separately, Paul Goldman, who led both successful no casino campaigns, is now focusing on securing public support for a change to the City Charter or constitution that would require the mayor and the City Council to put the city’s children first when it comes to spending tax dollars.
William U. Booker Sr., entrepreneur, civic and spiritual leader, dies at age 95
Hard-working, honest, wise, industrious, caring’ were his trademarks
William Ulysses Booker Sr. sought to seize the opportunities that came his way.
VCU enrolls record freshman class
A record 4,050 freshmen started classes this week at Virginia Commonwealth University, with a remarkable 51 percent being African-American, Asian, Latino and other minority students, the school has reported.
Bank branch to close in Highland Park
The last Bank of America branch located in a majority African-American neighborhood of Richmond is scheduled to close in two months, according to the bank’s website.
Virginia General Assembly
Republicans still in charge
The General Assembly opened a new session Wednesday with Republican M. Kirkland “Kirk” Cox of Colonial Heights in the speaker’s chair in the 100-member House of Delegates.
Fight to preserve historic New Market Heights Battlefield from development wins white flag
Around 7 a.m., Sept. 29, 1864, five regiments of U.S. Colored Troops charged Confederate defenses under withering fire and dislodged troops dug in at New Market Heights in Eastern Henrico — about a mile east of what is now Interstate 295. Fourteen Black soldiers and two of their white officers ultimately were awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor in the savage fight that cost 161 Union lives and left another 666 soldiers wounded.
More time?
Civil rights group files lawsuit seeking extension of Va. voter registration deadline due to statewide computer crash
Virginia could become the latest state under federal court order to extend voter registration because of a disaster. The disaster in Virginia, however, is no hurricane, but a computer system.
