Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden plans $31M expansion
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is breaking ground on a two-year expansion project. Called “Thrive,” the $31 million project will nearly double the size of the existing Conservatory, add 7.5 acres of new gardens, and incorporate an additional lake into the Garden experience.
State employees get free admission to VMFA’s ‘Samurai Armor’ exhibit
Commonwealth of Virginia employees and preschool and K–12 teachers (public and private schools) will receive free admission to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ new exhibition “Samurai Armor from the Collection of Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller.” Active duty military personnel and their immediate families also will receive free admission to special exhibitions through the museum’s year-round participation in the Blue Star Museums program.
Loss of support from Republican evangelicals suits MAGA crowd just fine, by Clarence Page
Black voters traditionally have been pivotal to the fortunes of the Democratic Party, but some recent polls have suggested that they are proving less bankable for President Biden than in the past. Whether or not as many as 20% of Black voters have in fact deserted the Democrats, as some recent polls suggest, is a contested matter. But it’s probably fair to say that Democrats currently are in more of a defensive than a growth mode with that portion of the electorate.
Chicago is feeling Sky high
With the third and seventh picks of the WNBA draft, the skies brightened over Chicago.
Price is right for HBCUs
Morgan Price has made gymnastics history – just like her coach did decades earlier.
50 years of service and sisterhood
Women who attended Virginia Commonwealth University and were initiated into Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Theta Rho Chapter celebrated their 50th Chartering Anniversary April 20 at the university with a commemorative bench dedication on the university’s main campus.
Journette stands out at NSU
Only one college offered Justin Journette a baseball scholarship while he was in high school. As it turned out, that one was enough.
Lots of baseball talent used to flow through HBCUs
Fans don’t often see them now in Major League baseball, but HBCU players have left a star-shaped mark on the sport. The illustrious list of long-ago standouts includes numerous Major League Hall of Famers and several others with local connections.
Convenience stores shut down Virginia Lottery sales in protest for skill games
Organizers say hundreds of stores participate
At Krunal Patel’s convenience store outside Richmond, a row of Queen of Virginia skill games has been powered off and turned around against a wall.
Discriminatory laws have driven Black voters from the polls, by Marc H. Morial
“If the United States wants to make good on its foundational claims of a democratic system of governance open to all citizens, it must find ways to close the racial turnout gap. Wider now than at any point in at least the past 16 years, the gap costs millions of votes from Americans of color all around the country. Perhaps most worrisome of all, the gap is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under the pre-clearance regime of the 1965 Voting Rights Act until the disastrous Shelby County ruling.” – Brennan Center For Justice
Better public understanding of domestic violence was the one silver lining from O.J. Simpson’s fall, by Clarence Page
Has the search for Nicole Simpson’s “real killer” officially ended? Not that I expected to find out more than we already know. The leading suspect in the slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman continued to be nobody else but O.J., up to his dying day.
VUU works to retain accreditation status
Virginia Union University is continuing to address financial issues months after receiving probation that, if not resolved, could lead to the loss of its accreditation.
Jonathan Young resigns from RPS School Board
Jonathan Young resigned from the Richmond Public School Board April 12 after it was revealed that a December 2023 incident between him and a 15-year-old female student resulted in the student filing a harassment complaint against him.
Uber helps investigate Ohio driver’s shooting death
Uber is helping investigators look into the account that sent a driver to the Ohio home where an 81-year-old man allegedly shot a woman to death because he erroneously believed she was part of a scam, the ride-hailing company said Wednesday.
Personality: Sheri Shannon
Spotlight on Southside ReLeaf cofounder
Sheri Shannon has long believed that focused community-action work can battle climate change head on.
Faith Ringgold, pioneering Black quilt artist and author, dies at 93
Faith Ringgold, an award-winning author and artist who broke down barriers for Black female artists and became famous for her richly colored and detailed quilts combining painting, textiles and storytelling, has died at 93.
Fashion forward
Former banker now balances her life as a business owner and new mom
Chanel Nelson-Green is the owner of Liznel, a Richmond-based fashion boutique that has showcased designs in Hampton, New York and Washington, D.C.
Robinson Day means so much to many
Jackie Robinson Day honors the courageous and wondrously talented man who broke baseball’s color barrier.
Virginia lawmakers agree to extend timeline of budget negotiations
Leaders of the Democratic-controlled Virginia General Assembly said Wednesday that they reached an 11th-hour compromise with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to extend negotiations over the state budget in an attempt to avert gridlock.
