Recent Stories

Missy Elliott gets Portsmouth street named in her honor
Portsmouth native and hip-hop star Missy Elliott returned to her alma mater, Manor High School, Monday afternoon for the dedication ceremony of “Missy Elliott Boulevard.”

Motown songwriter, producer Lamont Dozier dead at 81
Lamont Dozier, the middle name of the celebrated Holland-Dozier-Holland team that wrote and produced “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Heat Wave” and dozens of other hits and helped make Motown an essential record company of the 1960s and beyond, has died at age 81.

Richmond among 10 localities piloting Marcus Alert system
Virginia is launching a new system to improve the response to mental health emergencies.

9/11 artifacts share ‘pieces of truth’ in victims’ stories
For nearly six years, Andrea Haberman’s ashen and damaged wallet lay mostly untouched in a drawer at her parents’ Wisconsin home, along with a partly melted cell phone, her driver’s license, credit cards, checkbook and house keys. Flecks of rust had formed on the rims of her eyeglasses, their lenses shattered and gone.

Dr. Irving P. McPhail, president of St. Augustine’s University, dies from COVID-19 complications
Dr. Irving P. McPhail, president of St. Augustine’s University, died Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, of complications from COVID-19, just three months after taking the helm of the historically Black university in Raleigh, N.C.

Washington NFL team drops racist name
The most polarizing name in North American professional sports is gone.

Dr. Patricia Bath, whose patents advanced cataract treatment, dies at 76
Dr. Patricia Bath, a pioneering ophthalmologist who became the first African-American female doctor to receive a medical patent after she invented a more precise treatment of cataracts, has died. She was 76.

Mueller report may be available in April
U.S. Attorney General William Barr is combing through special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, removing classified and other information in hopes of releasing the report to Congress in April.

Breakdancing an Olympic sport?
Breakdancing, an art form started by African-American teenagers that has spread all over the world, may break into the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris as a new sport.

United Methodist Church keeps ban on gay clergy, same-sex marriage
“We’re in this to the end,” sang LGBTQ United Methodists and their allies.