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Judge Jenkins brings message of redemption to Garland Ave. Baptist Men’s Day
Richmond Circuit Court Chief Judge Clarence N. Jenkins Jr. encouraged his fellow congregation members to get “a spiritual tuneup” during a Men’s Day address Sunday at Garland Avenue Baptist Church on North Side. His remarks were delivered on Palm Sunday, which Christians annually celebrate in marking Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem shortly before his crucifixion at Calvary.
School Board gives green light to charter school
Can Richmond Public Schools afford a pricey new charter school when it already claims to need tens of millions of dollars in additional spending to renovate, maintain and equip its 44 existing schools? Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden doesn’t think so. His leadership team recommended against approving the Metropolitan Preparatory Academy because the charter school’s supporters have not found a building to house it. Nor have they raised substantial funds to pay for a facility.
RPS threatens to close 5 schools
“It’s ridiculous.” That was the response Wednesday from Jakela Cannon, the mother of a John B. Cary Elementary School kindergarten student in the West End, to a cost-cutting plan introduced this week by the Richmond Public Schools administration that seeks to close Cary, three other elementary schools and Armstrong High School. The proposal would move those students to other existing schools in the district and consolidate three unidentified alternative schools into one.
Officer’s jobs program puts men on right side of law
Jeffrey Perry served 18 years in prison for his role in an armed robbery. Shaun Moore served two separate stints behind bars — seven months for possession of drugs with intent to distribute and, later, four months for failure to pay child support.
Cornelius Sherman, educator and mentor
Mr. Cornelius Wright Sherman is being remembered following his death Dec. 18, 2014, in Richmond. He was 80.
Meal program expanded
Schools’ decision to participate in a federal program that provides nutritious free breakfasts and lunches to the entire student body at Carver and the city’s 43 other public schools.
Planned school cuts causing pain
North Side resident Sherri Davis said she is concerned about planned budget cuts that may close schools, crowd classrooms and have parents scrambling to arrange transportation for their children. “It becomes a safety issue when you propose to put more kids in classes,” the mother of two Richmond Public Schools students told the Free Press on Wednesday. “It’s already hard enough for teachers to teach the large numbers of students they have in their classrooms.”
Free Press photographer honored with ‘Acts of Kindness’ award
“It’s not what you have, it’s what you give. And I have been blessed by doing that.” Rudolph “Rudy” Powell, a Richmond resident and part-time Free Press photographer, lives by that credo.
Redemption through food: Renowned chef changed life cooking behind bars
At 19, Jeff Henderson was running a $35,000 a week cocaine operation in San Diego. Now 51, he has become a New York Times best-selling author and stars in a nationally syndicated television cooking show. He credits 10 years in prison as his “blessing in disguise.” That’s where he learned to cook and appreciate that he had a lot to offer in the outside world.
Pilot program to provide free dinner for students
Beginning in March, Richmond Public Schools will provide free dinners to students at eights of its schools in underserved communities. Those students also will be given backpacks containing free meals to take home for the weekend and extended school breaks such as holidays and inclement weather closings.
Geronimo Aguilar gets 40 years
Forty years. That’s how much time former Richmond Outreach Center Pastor Geronimo “Pastor G” Aguilar will serve in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting two sisters — ages 11 and 13 — while he lived in their family’s home in Fort Worth and served as a youth pastor at their church in the mid-1990s.
Answer to church feeding program’s prayers was down the street
When leaders at Centenary United Methodist Church in Downtown were searching for a temporary site for their Friday feeding program for the homeless and working poor, little did they know the answer to their prayers was only a few yards away.
TIME features photo by Regina H. Boone
Award-winning photographer Regina H. Boone has pricked the nation’s conscience with her poignant photograph of a rash-covered child affected by the lead-contaminated water in Flint, Mich. The former Richmond Free Press photographer’s image of 2-year-old Sincere Smith is featured on the cover of the Feb. 1 edition of TIME magazine.
Local music minister treasures experience at Stellar Awards
James Johnson did not win any Stellar Awards in Las Vegas last Saturday night, but he said it was an experience he will forever treasure. “I had an amazing time,” the minister of music at Cedar Street Baptist Church of God told the Free Press Monday after returning to Richmond. “The outpouring of phone calls, text messages and Facebook posts I received in support from everyone back home in Richmond made me feel like nothing less than a winner.”
McDonnell seeks to discredit prosecution's case
The ex-governor and his defense team quickly went to work to shoot holes in prosecutors’ claims that Mr. McDonnell participated in a secret gifts-for-political favors scheme while in office.
Dr. Bedden gets $12,579 raise
That’s the new salary for Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden. With the start of the 2015-16 fiscal year on July 1, he is eligible to receive another $23,758 — up to 10 percent of his salary — based on performance incentives and $28,500 in a deferred compensation plan.
Creativity runs in the family
Father-son artists share gifts with the community
Jerome W. Jones Jr. and his son, Jeromyah, share a deep passion for painting. Their works, many featuring portraits of noted people, provides uplift, education and motivation to untold thousands who have viewed them at exhibits and online.
Dr. Bedden gets 2-year extension
The Richmond School Board presented Superintendent Dana T. Bedden with an early Christmas gift Monday when six of its nine members voted to extend his contract by two years — through June 30, 2019. The extension comes midway through Dr. Bedden’s initial 3½-year contract that began Jan. 13, 2014, and was scheduled to expire on June 30, 2017.
School Board weighs options to close schools
Richmond Public Schools is considering a seismic shift in how it attempts to solve overcrowding issues and meet other pressing demands related to its burgeoning student population. For the first time, Superintendent Dana T. Bedden and his leadership team are publicly admitting they could close up to six school buildings and move those students into existing schools even if no new buildings are constructed. Those findings are part of the thick new Richmond Public Schools Facilities Needs Report, which focuses on current and future building needs.
School Board votes 4-2 to back Bedden’s ‘leveling’ plan
Are arts and music programs and foreign language classes now an endangered species in some Richmond Public Schools? That’s what some School Board members, students, parents and supporters fear in the wake of Monday night’s 4-2 vote by the board to back Superintendent Dana T. Bedden’s “leveling” plan.
