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Richmond to get millions under federal American Rescue Plan package
The American Rescue Plan, which provided a $1,400 check to almost every adult in the country, is about to rain even more money on City Hall.
Sabrina Joy-Hogg named city’s deputy CAO for finance and administration
In 2018, Mayor Levar M. Stoney boasted that his new administration had accomplished a feat that his predecessor could not — complete the city’s audited comprehensive annual financial report, or CAFR, on time.
New courts, new spirit
Call it Sharmar “Simba” Hill Jr.’s new house. Last Saturday, a huge, colorful basketball court was dedicated in honor of the 3-year-old who was killed by a stray bullet in February 2020 while playing outside his family’s home in the Hillside Court public housing community in South Side.
Woman seeks to visit deceased son’s daughter as holidays near
All that 69-year-old Richmonder Yolanda D. Fox wants for Christmas is to see her granddaughter, Mariah.
Council approves new shelters for homeless
Proposals for two new city-supported homeless shelters – including one at 1900 Chamberlayne Ave. that drew fire from area businesses — cleared City Council Monday.
Audit report dings Finance Department
More than a quarter of registered vehicle owners wrongly assessed penalties, late fees
The Richmond Finance Department wrongly hit owners of 66,057 vehicles with late payment fees and interest in 2022 even though the owners paid by the deadline, a new audit has found.
VCU’s rat de-bait
State senator sounds alarm over Monroe Park rodents
Virginia Commonwealth University claims that rats in Monroe Park can rip open metal trash cans to get to discarded food—even though an inspection of the metal cans show that the bottoms are undamaged. The university, which handles maintenance of the park, issued that claim in response to a query from Richmond state Sen. Ghazal Hashmi about VCU’s expenditure of $2,400 a month to spread poison-bait rat traps throughout the city’s oldest park.
Changes in Youngkin administration
Kay Coles James has stepped down as Secretary of the Commonwealth, and Harold W. Clarke is retiring as director of the state’s prison system. The departure of the two senior Black state officials will usher in new leadership at several agencies in Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin’s administration.
VCU now working on new children’s hospital
Virginia Commonwealth University plans to take the lead in developing a new inpatient children’s hospital in Richmond. After rebuffing a private group’s concept of an independent, freestanding hospital on the Boulevard, VCU is moving to create a plan for a dedicated hospital for children on its medical campus in Downtown.
New United Way head faces fundraising challenge
Giving to United Way is continuing to shrink. Ten years ago, the umbrella charity could raise at least $20 million between Labor Day and Thanksgiving through its workplace campaign to benefit nonprofit partners.
Dr. Berry leaving Fourth Baptist to lead Georgia megachurch
Dr. Emory Berry Jr. is bidding Richmond farewell after nearly six years of leading the 600-member Fourth Baptist Church in Church Hill.
Mayor hires new fire chief; fires interim chief
Melvin D. “Hank” Carter has reached the summit of the city’s Fire Department. The 53-year-old Richmond native has been named the 21st chief of the Richmond Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
Petersburg police chief ousted
Dironna Moore Belton may carry the title of interim Petersburg city manager, but she’s using her authority to shake up the city government.
City Council to strip Mayor Jones’ detail
Will Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones have to handle his own commute to and from City Hall rather than being chauffeured by a police officer when the new budget year begins July 1?
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.
City Council bids Agelasto adieu with award and tough new ordinance
City Councilman Parker C. Agelasto got a rousing sendoff from his colleagues after joining them Tuesday night in votes to maintain the real estate tax rate at $1.20 per $100 of assessed value and to approve a public safety measure Mayor Levar M. Stoney spearheaded to fine residents who fail to report a lost or stolen gun within 24 hours.
New VUU president
Dr. Hakim J. Lucas of Bethune-Cookman tapped as school’s 13th president
They’ve been rivals forever, but Virginia Union and Virginia State universities soon will have one thing in common — a first-time president with executive credentials honed at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. Twenty months after VSU hired Bethune-Cookman Provost Makola M. Abdullah as its 14th president, VUU announced that the Florida university’s chief fundraiser, Dr. Hakim J. Lucas, would become its 13th president, effective Sept. 1. Dr. Lucas’ appointment was announced Tuesday by Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, VUU’s board chairman, following a 14-month search to replace former President Claude G. Perkins, who stepped down in June 2016, first taking a sabbatical and then retiring.
City Council poised to revive Human Relations Commission
Richmond soon could have a new Human Relations Commission as a platform to hear and investigate residents’ complaints about bias, bigotry and discrimination in areas ranging from race and religion to gender orientation, disability and pregnancy.
