All results / Stories / Jeremy M. Lazarus
Despite defendants’ inability to pay court fees, many still incur costs
“Anyone charged with a crime that can result in jail or prison time is entitled to legal representation. In the familiar line from the Miranda warning, “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you.”
Hilbert to mayor: Don’t veto City Council budget
Money allocated to fix potholes or plow streets cannot be used for picking up trash unless Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney secures approval to shift the funds from Richmond City Council.
GRTC to pilot on-demand service for elderly, disabled
Taxicab, Uber and Lyft drivers soon could be taking elderly and disabled people shopping, to the doctor and to other places in Richmond and Henrico County.
$15M repaving effort underway in city
Cityscape: Slices of life and scenes in Richmond
The promised extra money is starting to flow into repaving streets across the city.
Troubled Essex Village apartments sold, renamed
Essex Village, once labeled Henrico County’s worst apartment complex, is now in the hands of a successful African-American property investment and development firm based in Baltimore.
Woman raises concern over fees charged by court
In the world of local courts that seems to have an endless list of fees and costs, one thing has always been free: Subpoenas and summonses for witnesses in a criminal case. However, a recent incident has left a Richmond woman concerned that the policy has changed in Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Possible funding increase for city schools?
Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration is hinting that it might propose a $5 million increase in support for Richmond Public Schools’ operations in the new 2020 budget it will present next month to Richmond City Council.
Coliseum’s success raises new questions about need to replace it
The 13,500-seat Richmond Coliseum has been the busiest arena in Virginia during the past six years, according to a Chicago-based consulting company that was paid $500,000 by the city to review a proposal to replace the facility.
Commonwealth Catholic Charities to lead city’s winter overflow shelter efforts
Homeless people needing shelter in Richmond beginning Friday, Oct. 1, through mid-April will have a place to stay if the private shelters are full during cold weather.
Judge suspends incorporation efforts at Fourth Baptist Church
A Richmond judge has temporarily blocked historic Fourth Baptist Church from taking any further steps to incorporate and reversed other actions approved during the pandemic.
Sheila K. Mandt, fundraising consultant and wife of former Councilman Chris A. Hilbert, succumbs at 55
Sheila Kavanagh Mandt, wife and political adviser to former 3rd District City Councilman Chris A. Hilbert and a fundraising guru for nonprofits, has died.
Center awaits end of bankruptcy
The 300-member Richmond Christian Center is poised to leave bankruptcy after nearly two years, with the finances of the South Side church restored.
Woodland, Evergreen cemeteries for sale
A Richmond foundation is pursuing the purchase of two historic, but privately held African-American cemeteries, the Free Press has learned.
Court ruling allows handgun sales to 18- to 20-year-olds
If you are old enough to vote, you are old enough to own a handgun, a panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided Tuesday.
‘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.”
RRHA reconsidering plan to demolish Creighton Court
The city’s key public housing agency is rethinking its vision of demolishing the six major public housing communities in Richmond and replacing them with “mixed-income” neighborhoods to end the concentration of poverty.
Virginia Ready launches new job training program with community colleges, bonuses
Get trained for a high-paying job, network with companies that are seeking to fill thousands of vacant positions and earn a $1,000 bonus. That’s the promise of a new Virginia Ready, that launched Monday.
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.
Richmond church burns
A devastating fire Jan. 9 appears to have dashed the hopes of the congregation of Seventh Street Memorial Baptist Church of returning to their long vacant “home location” in the Highland Park neighborhood in North Side.
Southside Hardware closing doors for last time Saturday
Southside Hardware was long a place to find the unusual, from replacement wicks for kerosene heaters to the special keys needed to operate radiators, antique radios and baby buggies.
