Confederate pedestals out
Grass and landscaping to soon replace dead soldiers
Richmond’s streets and parks will soon lose virtually all vestiges of the white-supremacist Confederate statues and monuments that once loomed so large.
RRHA will meet with groups opposed to evictions
So help us. That is Stacey Daniels-Fayson’s response to critics of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s resumption of the eviction process for hundreds of public housing residents who have fallen behind in rent payments.
A vote may soon come on George Wythe High School contract design
The Richmond School Board is poised to award a design contract for a new 1,600-student building to replace aging George Wythe High School in South Side, the Free Press has learned.
Fort Lee barbers win strike for full pay
Unionized barbers at Fort Lee and Fort Pickett are again providing military haircuts after winning a prolonged strike that began in July.
Double down
City Council's yes vote is still a gamble for South Side casino
If at first you don’t succeed, ...
Bonuses arriving for bypassed city employees
Pandemic bonuses of up to $3,000 apiece are on the way to Richmond city employees who were excluded from the first round.
Housing authority suspends evictions for now
The board of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority has temporarily halted its administration from filing eviction lawsuits before its next scheduled meeting Feb. 16.
No jail time for community organizer and housing advocate
Veteran community organizer and housing advocate Omari Al-Qadaffi will not have serve any jail time for his role in an anti-eviction protest July 1, 2020, at the John Marshall Courts Building in Downtown.
Comfort Anderson-Miller, who charity helped thousands in Liberia, dies at 60
For 30 years, Chesterfield County resident Comfort Yjakpai Anderson-Miller led a charity that shipped essential supplies and educational materials to her native Liberia. The founder of the nationally recognized Robert and Mary Anderson Charitable Organization succumbed to cancer after a 16-month fight on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. She was 60.
Turning back time
Thousands of people attended last Saturday’s inauguration of Virginia’s new GOP leaders – Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares
“The spirit of Virginia is alive and well,” Glenn Allen Youngkin declared as after being sworn in as Virginia’s 74th governor.
Rayford L. Harris Sr., longtime educator, policymaker, adviser and GOP activist, dies at 97
Rayford Lee Harris Sr., who touched the lives of untold thousands of Virginia students as an educator and policymaker, has died.
Judge rules pastor improperly fired church trustees, finance committee chair
A Richmond judge ruled Tuesday that the pastor of historic but embattled Fourth Baptist Church in Church Hill acted without proper authority when he fired six members of the church’s Trustee Board and the chair of the Finance Committee 19 months ago.
RRHA re-starts eviction process, impacting hundreds of families
More than 700 families now living in Richmond’s public housing communities could be facing eviction in the coming months.
Inmate receives conditional pardon by former governor, freeing him after 15 years of inequitable sentence
“Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.” For Henry C. Brailey, those words have real meaning after his release from prison a week ago.
NAACP declines to challenge redistricting; encouraged by meeting with new GOP administration
The new boundaries for Virginia’s election districts for Congress and the General Assembly will not face any immediate legal challenge from the Virginia State Conference NAACP.
Councilwoman Trammell takes steps toward 2nd referendum on city casino
Richmond’s plans to allow a private company to create a gambling mecca in South Side collapsed in November when voters opposed to a casino narrowly defeated it by just under 1,500 votes. Now one of the biggest supporters of the project, 8th District City Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, wants a do-over.
City workers launch campaign for collective bargaining
City Hall employees this week launched their campaign to gain the right to collectively bargain over wages and working conditions.
City CAO: Hold on; bonuses coming
Yes, we plan to award pandemic bonuses of up to $3,000 each to city employees who worked through the pandemic.
City utility field technicians miffed about exclusion from city bonuses
Field technicians from the Richmond Department of Public Utilities are upset that City Hall failed to include them among the first responders, such as police officers and firefighters, who received pandemic bonuses of up to $3,000 each during the holidays.
Sen. Kaine, Delegate Aird among thousands of motorists stuck in I-95 catastrophe
“I’m frustrated, but not in serious trouble.”
Capitol Square offices to be named for Dr. William Ferguson ‘Fergie’ Reid
Dr. William Ferguson “Fergie” Reid, a Richmond surgeon and activist for voting rights, made history in 1967 when he won election to the House of Delegates. He was the first Black person to break through the legislature’s whites-only ranks in more than 76 years.
An honest accounting
Richmond writer reveals story of her family’s interracial heritage that has been shrouded in history
Richmond novelist Ellen Glasgow gained fame for her realistic depictions of women, their relationships and their efforts to gain indepen- dence in a male-dominated world.
City Council expected to provide $300,000 ‘seed money’ for planned slavery museum in Shockoe Bottom
Richmond is poised to pour $300,000 into a new attempt to create a national slavery museum.
Twist of fate
Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia to get Confederate statues removed from Monument Avenue
What do you do when you don’t want to make a difficult decision? Let someone else make it.
Dr. Carolyn N. Graham, former Richmond deputy CAO for human services, dies at 75
Dr. Carolyn Nadene Graham, a top social services executive in Richmond, Washington and Florida and creator of the Washington-based Mary Elizabeth House to aid young mothers aging out of foster care, has died.
State NAACP weighing appeal of new redistricting maps to U.S. Supreme Court
Will there be an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court?
Into the future
Heading into 2022, Mayor Stoney details his focus for Richmond’s growth and opportunities in the coming years
Mayor Levar M. Stoney is bullish on Richmond as he prepares to begin his sixth year in the city’s top elected office.
Gerald G. Poindexter, a Surry County county attorney and prosecutor, dies at 80
Gerald Glenn Poindexter, a legal institution in Surry County where he served 23 years as county attorney and another 20 years as commonwealth’s attorney, has died.
Richmond gets grants to improve park accessibility
City Hall has received two grants totaling $351,000 to improve handicap access to the James River and to a trail near Byrd Park that previously have been off limits to many with disabilities.
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.
The Rev. Franklin D. Harvey Sr., inventor of the Afro Master and former owner of Harvey’s Progressive Barber Shop, dies at 88
For decades, the Rev. Franklin Deheart Harvey Sr. ran one of the largest barbering operations in Richmond.
City worker unionization efforts begin as police coalition calls for Chief Smith’s ouster
Should City Hall follow the lead of the Richmond School Board and authorize its employees to organize and collectively bargain over wages and working conditions?
State NAACP, others lodge criticism of proposed redistricting lines
Flawed data and too little assurance of fair representation for Black voters in Richmond, Hampton Roads and other sectors of the state.
State grant helps keep GRTC rides free
A new $8 million state grant could help GRTC keep fares at no cost to riders for at least another three years.
Richmond, VLBC stand to lose under redrawn district maps
A major political shake-up. That’s the expected result when the Virginia Supreme Court approves new boundaries for the state’s 100 House of Delegates districts, 40 state Senate districts and 11 congressional districts.
The shake-up
Here is how the Virginia Supreme Court’s new redistricting maps would shake out for Richmond and the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.
Woodland Restoration Foundation hopes descendants will help with continuing cemetery upkeep, plans
Call him the headstone hunter.
Lightning rod Alice Massie to step down from Monroe Park Conservancy
A key figure in the management of Monroe Park who was the focus of much of the criticism of the park’s operation is stepping down.
Mayor appoints first woman to lead city Department of Public Utilities
For the first time, a woman is in charge of the Richmond Department of Public Utilities.
Khalfani returns to Richmond in advocacy role
The former executive director of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP is the newest member of the lobbying team of the Richmond- based Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, a coalition of 750 faith groups that advocates for economic, racial and social justice.
RPS would need $44M to cover Gov. Northam’s proposed teach pay hike
If Gov. Ralph S. Northam’s proposal to increase teacher and school staff pay by 10 percent over the next two years wins support from the General Assembly, Richmond taxpayers could feel the impact.
GRTC to reduce service on some bus routes beginning Dec. 19
GRTC will play the Grinch just before Christmas and cut service as it struggles with a shortfall of about 50 full- and part-time drivers and shortages in the maintenance staff of mechanics and body shop personnel.
Herring: ‘No evidence of recklessness’ warranting indictment in Lawhon death
The decision not to bring criminal charges against two Richmond Police officers and two paramedics in connec- tion with the fatal smothering of Joshua L. Lawhon three years ago was made by Michael N. Herring, former Richmond commonwealth’s attorney.
Sources: $12.8M city budget error found by outside auditor
Richmond’s outside auditor has uncovered a $12.8 million error that has inflated the amount of surplus the city has reported for several years, the Free Press has been told.
Efforts start to reconnect parts of Richmond
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg promoted a new program to spend $1 billion to reconnect neighborhoods torn apart by the construction of the interstate highway system 66 years ago during a visit to and tour of Richmond last Friday, Dec. 3.
‘Skill games’ back in business in convenience stores, truck stops statewide
“Skill games” are suddenly legal again.
