All results / Stories / Jeremy M. Lazarus
City Council approves 1% pension hike for retirees starting Jan. 1
As anticipated, Richmond City Council unanimously approved a 1 percent pension increase for retired city employees, beginning Jan. 1, during a special meeting on Monday.
Medicaid expansion, state budget talks continue
Virginia’s budget impasse remained unresolved Wednesday as the Virginia House and Senate adjourned about 90 minutes into the special session called by Gov. Ralph S. Northam without taking any action.
Federal unemployment checks ease money worries for newly laid off during pandemic
Just a few weeks ago, journalist-turned-bartender and server Lyndon German was feeling desperate. In the past year, the 26-year-old Mechanicsville native has seen his reporter jobs in Hopewell and Petersburg end as a result of newsroom cutbacks, and now his restaurant job in a popular local café has disappeared as a result of COVID-19.
Public sentiment divided on renaming the Boulevard for Arthur Ashe
Call it a preview of the coming fireworks over a proposal to rename the historic West End street now simply known as the Boulevard in honor of Arthur Ashe Jr., the late great Richmond-born tennis star and humanitarian.
GRTC Pulse service delays start
The new GRTC Pulse bus rapid transit no longer is expected to be completed, tested and operating by the end of October. GRTC had advertised on its weekly updates that Pulse would arrive in 2017, but that changed in recent updates to “arriving soon.”
Case against VUU president in Florida appears stalled
Bethune-Cookman University in Florida appears to have halted its legal effort to hold former top officials accountable for their alleged role in saddling the Daytona Beach school with an overly expensive dormitory.
Move toward collective bargaining for city employees on pause
Richmond City Council hit the pause button on collective bargaining Monday in a bid to gain answers to questions about the potential cost.
GOP surprise
Cuccinelli then McCullough poised for Va. high court
Ending a long-running dispute with the governor, the Republican majority in the General Assembly will cap the legislative session by filling a vacant state Supreme Court seat with their own choice. However, as has been traditional, the choice will be a seasoned jurist — Stephen R. McCullough of the Virginia Court of Appeals, GOP leaders in the House and Senate announced Wednesday.
Markers to honor late city native Dorothy I. Height on March 24
Dorothy Irene Height left segregated Richmond at age 5 and went on to earn national recognition as a civil rights and women’s rights activist who devoted her life to uplifting people.
Greening project at South Side church designed to reduce pollution
Nearly 50 trees are now growing in a portion of the parking lot of Branch’s Baptist Church, 3400 Broad rock Blvd. in South Side.
City wants to know residents’ wish list for spending $77M
“How would you spend $77 million on your city?”
Free school supplies for RPS teachers
Free school supplies will be available to Richmond Public Schools teachers when classes begin, thanks to a nonprofit called HandsOn Greater Richmond (HOGR).
Speaking Spirit Ministries says praise the Lord, pass the popcorn
Go to church and stay for a movie. That’s now possible at a satellite sanctuary of the independent Speaking Spirit Ministries.
Day of reckoning
The U.S. House of Representatives votes to impeach President Trump for a second time, charging him with “incitement of insurrection” over the deadly mob takeover of the U.S. Capitol
The reckoning has begun. Even as his followers were being arrested and he prepares to leave office in a few days, President Trump was labeled a “clear and present danger” to the nation’s security in becoming the first chief executive in U.S. history to be impeached twice – this time for the failed Jan. 6 insurrection in which he incited followers to carry out the biggest attack on the U.S. Capitol since 1814 when British troops burned it.
City Council continues talks on school funding
Richmond City Council appears to be stuck between a rock and a hard place as it seeks to craft a balanced $709 million operating budget that would become effective July 1. On one side are passionate supporters of Richmond’s public schools who want the council to shift more local tax dollars into public education to avoid the potential shutdown of Armstrong High School and four elementary schools. Find the money, they say.
CoStar to expand in Richmond, building a new riverfront office tower and creating up to 3,000 new jobs
Up to 3,000 new jobs and a new 26-story riverfront office tower that will rank as the tallest office building in Virginia.
A mountain of problems uncovered in city finance division
Unpaid bills piled up and bank statements went unreconciled for months, creating uncertainty in the cash flow. Then after half the staff left, temporary workers had to be hired to try to clear the backlog of unpaid invoices from vendors who begged to be paid.
City joining preservation effort for historic African-American cemetery
City Hall is finally joining an effort to recognize, preserve and protect a historic African-American cemetery that city government spent more than 120 years trying to erase.
Challenger seeks to overturn results of postal union election
One of Richmond’s oldest labor organizations — the Old Dominion Branch Local 496 of the National Association of Letter Carriers — is engulfed in an election fight. The fight is over the election of Thelma J. Hunt as the first female president in the branch’s history, which dates back to 1893.
