Richmond Free Press April 6-8, 2023 edition

Hope for healing Richmond Free Press

Affordable housing for whom?

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Bon Secours Richmond is starting to receive positive feedback from advocates who had harshly criticized the hospital system for allegedly failing to re-invest income from a federal discount pricing program into low-income communities, most notably Richmond Community Hospital and low-income residents living nearby.

In a statement released Monday, the Richmond Coalition for Health Equity reported “signs of progress” following behindthe-scenes talks between advocates and Bon Secours’ Richmond leadership over the use of savings from the federal 340B program.

“Those talks were frank, candid and often encouraging,” according to the statement issued by Brian W. Bills, a coalition leader and director of federal policy and advocacy for Upstream USA, which promotes ways to reduce unplanned pregnancies.

According to the statement, financial information

Next week, City Council plans to declare an affordable housing crisis in Richmond as rents and house prices soar, leaving many with below average incomes unable to afford housing.

However, neither the council nor Mayor Levar M. Stoney who has pushed the resolution to be voted on Monday, April 10, plan to mention the ways he and the governing body have quietly reduced funding to support development of housing for families with incomes of $40,000 or less a year.

The new Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital’s

End

Building that opened in January was a positive step toward healing after last September’s New York Times article that criticized Bon Secours for failing to re-invest funds into low-income communities. shared during the talks indicate Bon Secours is committed to improving health services for low-income people using the savings gained through the 340B program, which allows certified hospitals to charge insurance companies full price primarily for cancer drugs after buying them at a program discount.

not respond to a Free Press request for comment. Still, Bon Secours did not offer any significant objections ahead of the statement’s release. The coalition acknowledged that financial information that Bon Secours shared during the talks does appear to show that Bon Secours is re-investing the millions of dollars received from 340B into Rich-

Bon Secours, which received the statement in advance of its release, did not include any comment in the coalition’s message. The health system also did

City leaders, groups propose housing crisis solutions

By George Copeland Jr.

Following months of rising rent costs, a high number of evictions and growing housing scarcity, Richmond officials have declared that the city is in an affordable housing crisis.

City leaders made this issue official with a resolution passed during last week’s Richmond City Council meeting, followed the next day with a press conference during which Mayor Levar M. Stoney and council members outlined the details to address the crisis.

Potential solutions the city has developed so far include rewriting the city’s zoning ordinance to increase housing density, financial assistance for city employees who are first-time home buyers, and a taxable bond program that would allocate $50 million across the next five years, with bonds

Autopsy finds cause of death for Irvo Otieno was asphyxia

By Sarah Rankin The Associated Press

Irvo Otieno, a 28-yearold Black man whose death last month at a Virginia mental hospital has sparked outrage and led to second degree murder charges against 10 defendants, died of

issued by the city in the form of loans.

City officials also hope the declaration and initial plan will bring experts from nonprofits, the private sector and philanthropic groups to the table to provide ideas and methods to increase the city’s available affordable housing.

“It’s a call to action,” Mayor Stoney said. “We need all hands on deck. We’re going to throw the entire kitchen sink at the crisis.”

The new plan was unveiled amid an increase in evictions in the city, a shortage of over 23,000 housing units, and as housing costs account for more than 30 percent of the average median income in the Metro Richmond area. The plan also was outlined as national figures and local groups offered their own support and ideas to

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

For example, with council’s backing, the mayor has ignored a 2020 ordinance requiring general fund dollars to be used for affordable housing.

The result has been to strip a total of $6.1 million from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) that provides last-dollar financing for affordable housing developments, according to city budget documents.

In addition, with council’s support, the mayor instead plans to have the city borrow $10 million a year in each of the next five years for affordable housing.

The $50 million to be raised by selling taxable bonds over the five-year period, is projected to cost $138 million to repay, including $88 million in interest, according to Lincoln Saunders, the city’s chief administrative officer.

In other words, the city plans to spend $1.76 in interest for

Grief

Death can be confusing for young children who may not grasp the sudden absence of a loved one or comprehend the tears of an older child or adult. In Richmond, the faces of too many children resemble, on a daily basis, that of this youngster who attended the March 23 prayer vigil for Binford Middle School student Marquan “Quan” Mitchell-Nash, 13. Marquan was accidentally shot and killed by a relative on March 10. The vigil at the corners of 17th and Stockton streets on Richmond’s South Side was organized by United Citizens Against Crime. It drew dozens of Marquan’s family members, friends, classmates, teachers and Richmond Public Schools officials. Recognizing the deep sadness brought on by Marquan’s death, Charles Willis of UCAC, shared comforting reflections of the youngster’s brief life. “Marquan was a very happy young man, a loving son, a protector, a provider, was loved by his friends and community,” Mr. Willis said. “He loved playing football and playing jokes on friends.” More photos on B3.

Trump charged with 34 felony counts in hush money scheme

The Associated Press NEW YORK

A stone-faced Donald Trump made a momentous courtroom appearance Tuesday when he was confronted with a 34-count felony indictment charging him in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his first White House campaign.

The arraignment in a Manhattan courtroom was a stunning — and humbling — spectacle for the first ex-president to ever face criminal charges. With Mr. Trump watching in silence, prosecutors bluntly accused him of criminal conduct and set the stage for a possible criminal trial in the city where he became a celebrity decades ago.

The indictment centers on allegations that Mr. Trump falsified internal business records at his private company while trying to

Dr. Young

Mr. Bills

The Associated Press Former President Donald Trump waits in a New York courtroom to hear his charges related to falsifying business records in a hush money investigation, the first president ever to be charged with felonies. Please turn to A4

George Copeland/Richmond Free Press

From left, Richmond City Council members Stephanie A. Lynch, Andreas D. Addison, Ann-Frances Lambert and Ellen F. Robertson address members of RISC at Saint Paul’s Baptist Church on March 28 during the RISC Nehemiah Action Assembly.

Mr. Otieno

Regina H. Boone/ Richmond Free Press

East

Medical Office

Cityscape

Henrico to offer free instruction on CPR, AEDs

Free Press staff report

Henrico County will hold a series of open houses from April 15 through 26 to teach residents to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) to potentially save the life of someone in cardiac arrest. More than 356,000 cardiac arrests occur outside a hospital in the U.S. each year, according to the American Heart Association.

“We are excited to be able to give our residents an opportunity to learn and practice skills that could potentially help them save someone’s life,” said Jenn Welch, emergency management coordinator for the Department of Emergency Management and Workplace Safety. “In cardiac emergencies, every second counts. Our community will be stronger and safer if we have knowledgeable residents who can step in during an emergency and render aid until first responders arrive.”

The open houses are free, with no registration required. Participants will receive instruction in noncertification CPR, which involves the delivery of chest compressions.

Each open house will include an opportunity for questions and a demonstration, which will allow participants to practice chest compressions on a mannequin and follow the prompts of an automated external defibrillator. Each portion will last about 15 minutes and be offered continuously during the two-hour open houses, allowing participants to arrive and leave at their convenience. The sessions are sponsored by the Henrico Department of Emergency Management and Workplace Safety in partnership with Community Safety and Response Educators

The open houses will be held these locations:

Saturday,April15,10a.m.-noon, pickleball courts at Pouncey Tract Park, 4747 Pouncey Tract Road;

Wednesday, April 19, 5-7 p.m., Deep Run Recreation Center, 9900 Ridgefield Parkway;

Wednesday, April 19, 5-7 p.m., Dorey Park Recreation Center, 2999 Darbytown Road;

Wednesday, April 19, 5-7 p.m., Hidden Creek Recreation Center, 2417 Brockway Lane;

Saturday, April 22, 10 a.m.noon, Lakeside Volunteer Rescue Squad, 2007 Timberlake Ave.;

Saturday, April 22, 10 a.m.noon, Sandston Branch Library, 23 E. Williamsburg Road;

Wednesday, April 26, 5-7 p.m., Glen Allen Branch Library, 10501 Staples Mill Road; and

Wednesday, April 26, 5-7 p.m., Tuckahoe Area Library, 1901 Starling Drive.

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Stoney

Even as Mayor Levar M.

and City Council revive a citizen commission to help Richmond eliminate slaverydefending Confederate names from streets and bridges, the city Department of Public Utilities has created a new shrine to fallen Civil War rebels.

DPU has spent more than $16,000 to create the shrine on the grounds of its substation in the 2400 block of Wise Street in South Side, according to department records.

April Bingham, DPU director, did not respond to Free Press requests for comment about the activity that was undertaken without any apparent review or approval from the council or elements of city government that are charged with considering alterations to public property.

Ornamental fencing now surrounds a marker the United Daughters of the Confederacy placed on the site in 1939 to remember 100 South Carolina Confederate soldiers who died at a makeshift Civil War hospital that once filled the home at 2408 Wise St., across from the marker.

A bench costing $1,068 has been placed in the enclosure facing the marker and remains covered with wrapping.

At the time it was installed more than 73 years ago, the city promised to maintain the marker in perpetuity. However, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that such promises are unenforceable.

Michael “Mike” Sarahan, a community

It is not clear why the Confederate marker has been allowed to remain. DPU, itself, has stated that the marker is not located where anyone was buried. DPU information on the Wise Street substation states that the department “relocated the graves to the rear of the site several decades prior to erecting the utility building,” meaning there are no dead bodies on the grounds.

The department’s action appears to counter efforts of the mayor and the council to eliminate the last vestiges of the Confederacy from city property.

At the March 27 meeting, council approved the mayor’s plan to revive the History and Culture Commission that was launched in 2018 to advise on dealing with the city’s Confederate statues, but largely remained a paper advisory group.

Most of the statues were removed in 2020 during an outbreak of protests over police brutality, though the final one did not come down until two years later due to legal complications. Confederate markers also were removed, notably one at the Manchester Courthouse that Mr. Sarahan had lobbied for the city to eliminate.

The revived commission is to have nine members, five appointed by the mayor and four by the council, according to the newly passed ordinance.

Once the

advocate who has pushed for removal of the Wise Street marker along with others, has been raising concern about the shrine development, seeing it as flouting the new city policy of removing Confederate memorials from public spaces.

Planning Commission rejects fire training facility

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

A controversial proposal to install a training facility for Richmond firefighters on a major section of lawn at the Hickory Hill Community Center again has been rejected.

The Richmond City Planning Commission, with several members absent, voted 3-2 Monday to reject the city Fire Department’s plan to install the facility and replace 2 acres of green space at the center at 3000 E. Belt Blvd. in South Side

The thumbs down came three weeks after the Urban Design Commission, an arm of the Planning Commission, recommended disapproval for a project that would flout the Richmond Master Plan, the 2050 Climate Action Plan and a 2020 city policy to expand green space in South Richmond.

The proposal now heads to City Council. Under the City Charter, six

members would need to vote to overrule the Planning Commission.

The Fire Department has sought permission to develop the nearly $1 million facility to replace one it has used in Eastern Henrico County that has essentially been condemned. The department has been using vacant buildings in Richmond, such as Fay Towers in Gilpin Court, to hold required training while working to build a new space.

Eighth District Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell is the champion for the proposal, which she has strongly supported over the opposition of four civic associations, including Deerbourne and Cullenwood, which neighbor Hickory Hill. But she did not have a vote on the Planning Commission, which held a three-hour hearing before the vote.

First District Councilman Andreas D. Addison led the effort to deny the

Fire Department’s application and is expected to argue the case to his colleagues for supporting the Planning Commission’s decision.

Mr. Addison, impressed by the information that was presented by

opponents over two hours, said that there has to be a better site for the fire training facility and offered to help find a location.

He noted that the facility is to be built out of stacked shipping containers which Fire Chief Melvin Carter agreed could be easily set up at any location. The administration has claimed that Hickory Hill is the best site and rejected options that opponents have offered.

Supporters of Mr. Addison’s motion to reject the facility included Elizabeth “Meg” Greenfield, vice president of the Home Builders Association of Virginia, and architect Burchell “Burt” Pinnock. Both also appeared to be moved by those who opposed.

Opponents noted that Hickory Hill, a one-time school, provides the only significant public green space in an area of the city that ranks near the top of the state’s lists for asthma, chronic

disease and pollutants. They decried the Fire Department’s plan to put a building and an oversized concrete pad over land that is used for soccer and outdoor community events. The commission also was told the new training facility would interfere with efforts to improve a walking trail and add a 100-bed community garden outside the center, as well as negatively impact a 4-acre bird sanctuary located across railroad tracks from the center.

Commission Chair Rodney M. Poole supported the project to ensure that the Fire Department can meet training requirements in order to maintain its strong rating with the Insurance Service Office, an industry group that sets standards that can impact the cost of fire insurance. A representative of the city administration also voted to support the Fire Department.

Champions

appointees are in place, the advisory commission, among other things, would be charged with coming up with a list of streets, bridges and other places bearing Confederate monikers and offer recommendations for new names.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

The Virginia Department of Transportation continues its bridge rehabilitation project at 1st Street over Interstate 95 in Jackson Ward. This section of 1st Street will see new sidewalks, travel lanes and shoulders. The department plans to rehabilitate five bridges over I-95 in Richmond. Structure replacements and minor substructure repairs will be done on bridges on North 1st Street, North 4th Street, North 5th Street, North 7th Street and the East Broad Street overpasses.

Jeremy M. Lazarus/Richmond Free Press City workers installed a fence around a confederate marker at the Department of Public Works substation in the 2400 block of Wise Street. The upgrades to the shrine, which references Confederate soldiers who died at a nearby hospital, cost more than $16,000.

The John Marshall High School Basketball Team stands proudly at the Richmond City Council meeting March 27 to accept accolades. The team won the state championship and also has been ranked No. 1 among the nation’s high schools.

Photo courtesy of John Marshall High School Athletics

Community advocate raises concerns about City’s new Confederate shrine

Jeremy Lazarus/Richmond Free Press

The Rev. Monica Esparza stands on land at the Hickory Hill Community Center where the Fire Department wanted to build a new fire training facility. She is among the opponents who want to keep the space green and undisturbed.

City’s first Black pastor of a ‘megachurch’ and others still largely unknown

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

The Rev. James Henry Holmes remains one of the unsung notables of Jackson Ward who has not been recognized with a City Council resolution and honorary street sign.

In 1867, two years after the Union won the Civil War, Rev. Holmes became the first Black pastor of First African Baptist Church – a notable accomplishment since only white pastors led Black churches at the time.

A significant figure in civic affairs as well, Rev. Holmes helped create one of the first megachurches.

4th St., just across the street from Rev. Holmes.

Mr. Foster’s children and grandchildren would go on to make significant contributions to Richmond, such as the late Dr. Francis M. Foster Sr., a popular dentist and Richmond historian.

Sesha Joi Pritchett-Moon, executive director of the JXN Project that she and sister, Enjoli Moon, created to raise public awareness of Jackson Ward’s history as a center of the Black community, said the goal of the project was to arouse interest and get others to nominate people who deserved recognition.

At this point, the JXN Project has led a successful effort to honor 14 Jackson Ward residents who made contributions to Richmond, ranging from the creator of the first Black-owned bank in the country, the Rev. W.W. Browne, to the late social activist Lillie Ann Estes.

Rev. Holmes played a key role in social welfare endeavors outside the church.

He was a founder and first president of Colored Home of Richmond, which provided care for needy African-Americans at a time when government assistance did not exist.

He also served as president of the Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans, now the Friends Association for Children, and was an officer in the Educational and Historical Association of Virginia, a group that hosted discussions, lectures and educational programs on Black history.

Married at age 20, Rev. Holmes was sold to a New Orleans slave owner after he was accused of trying to escape when his father-in-law and mother-in-law successfully fled to freedom, the records indicate.

He survived a massive explosion of a steamboat in New Orleans that killed 49 people and returned to Richmond when his new owner

moved to Virginia’s capital.

Rev. Holmes worked in a factory and then for a Black grocer, according to contemporary accounts, and bought his freedom in 1863 for $1,800 in Confederate dollars.

When Rev. Holmes died in 1900 just a few days before Thanksgiving, First African Baptist listed more than 4,000 congregants on its rolls and ranked, according to contemporary sources, as the largest church by membership in Virginia and among the largest in the country.

Before his death, Rev. Holmes lived with his family in a modest two-story home at 1000 N. 4th St., which for nearly 25 years has served as the headquarters of the Cobra I Motorcycle Club.

Rev. Holmes is not alone in failing to secure recognition.

Another unsung hero is Christopher F. Foster, a founder of the Astoria Beneficial Club, one of Richmond’s oldest civic and philanthropic men’s

Rev. Holmes, who was born enslaved in December 1826 in King and Queen County, faced significant challenges before rising to church and community leadership.

According to newspaper articles and other records of the time, he was one of 15 children of Delphia and Claiborne Holmes, and initially worked with cattle on the plantation of Judge James M. Jeffries.

At age 11, he was hired out to a tobacco factory in Richmond and was baptized at age 16 at First African Baptist, then located at College and East Broad streets on what is now the medical campus of Virginia

By then a deacon at First African Baptist, he was named assistant pastor in 1866 after the departure of the last white minister, the Rev. Robert Ryland, also president of the University of Richmond. Rev. Holmes secured membership support for the top post, which he held for 32 years.

Under his leadership, Rev. Holmes led the church in replacing its sanctuary, which first served as home to integrated First Baptist Church and then became First African Baptist in 1841 after its white parishioners left. The old building was torn down and replaced in 1877 with the current structure, which served the church until 1955, when First African Baptist relocated

Ms. Moon

The Rev. James Henry Holmes

7 months after exposé, healthy equity advocates, Bon Secours report progress

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mond Community and in the Southside Medical Center, which serves low-income residents of Petersburg and surrounds.

(Bon Secours Richmond reported that on average it received about $50 million a year from the 340B program between 2019 and 2022. Those are the only numbers released and were provided by Bon Secours in January at the opening of the new building.)

Based on the discussions, the coalition believes Bon Secours will meet its demand to reinvest 100 percent of savings from the 340B program into improving health care in lowincome communities, particularly if it carries out the promises in its newly issued “Community Today, Community Tomorrow: Pathway to Wellness in the East End.

The coalition also praised Bon Secours for its efforts to diversify its workforce and for its pledge to buy more from minority-owned companies.

The coalition was created last fall in the wake of a September 2022 expose by the New York Times that alleged that Bon Secours was shift-

ing 340B savings that it earned through using Richmond Community as a financial vehicle to fund development of health clinics and other operations in wealthier suburbs while hollowing out services at the location on 28th Street in Church Hill. The Richmond Free Press reprinted the article in its Sept. 29, 2022 edition.

The Catholic health system rejected the New York Times’ allegations that tarnished its reputation, brought unwanted criticism from elected officials and generated a community backlash.

Bon Secours’ pushback began gaining traction in January when the hospital system opened a $16 million office building next door to Richmond Community that, among other things, improved wellness and prevention programs and upgraded mental health and addiction treatment services.

At the same time, Bon Secours unveiled the Community Today, Community Tomorrow plan that promised new investments in Richmond Community, including increasing the number of specialists in heart, lung, kidney and other major organs.

The plan also included a Bon Secours promise to develop an urgent-care clinic and to take other steps to improve health offerings and access.

One recent step involves the promotion of Dr. Paula A. Young to the new position of medical director of Richmond Community Hospital in addition to her role as medical director for the Care-A-Van and community outreach.

A Fredericksburg native, Dr. Young, who is Black, said her initial goals include expanding access to prenatal care to reduce the percentage of East End women who do not receive checkups prior to giving birth and to help make sure that children have the vaccinations and health checkups required by public schools.

Most of all, she said that she will be involved in rebuilding community trust in the offerings available at Richmond Community.

In its statement, the coalition also noted that Bon Secours has begun to remedy concerns about the long waits to move patients in critical condition who are brought to Richmond Community to better equipped hospitals. The most significant action involves Bon Secours freshly signed agreement with the Richmond Ambu-

lance Authority allowing RAA to more quickly transport patients to other locations.

The coalition also noted that Bon Secours “is actively collaborating with our coalition and city agencies to recruit a more diverse workforce” and is seeking to boost the proportion of purchases with Black- and minority-owned firms.

“These are all specific, tangible signs of progress,” the coalition stated, adding that Bon Secours also has promised to provide the public with quarterly progress reports on the progress of the Community Today, Community Tomorrow plan, though those have yet to begin being issued.

Still, the coalition plans to “trust, but verify” that Bons Scours is keeping its promises.

In addition, the coalition is urging Virginia’s delegation to Congress to reform 340B to require beneficiary hospital systems to report their investments into low-income communities.

For more information, please visit The Richmond Free Press’ reprint of The New York Times’ expose “Profits Over Patients” https:// richmondfreepress.com/news/2022/sep/29/ profits-over-patients/

City leaders, groups propose housing crisis solutions

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address this issue.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner recently presented a $14 million check to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority to increase affordable housing options for residents. Meanwhile, Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities sought to ensure that other, pre-existing solutions weren’t left untapped during the group’s Nehemiah Action Assembly at St. Paul’s Baptist Church Tuesday, March 28.

During the event, City Council members Ellen F. Robertson, 6th District, Ann-Frances Lambert, 3rd District, Andreas D. Addison, 1st District, and Stephanie A. Lynch, 5th District, supported the addition of a budget amendment tying the bond program to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

The nature of this amendment and the connection to the Fund, according to RISC member and Second Baptist Church Pastor Ralph Hodge, would also direct one-third of the bond’s revenue towards building housing for residents earning 30 percent or less of the AMI in Richmond.

“Bond programs work, they work in other cities,” RISC CoPresident Don Coleman said. “Guess what? They worked while they kept doing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.”

Councilmembers also promised to support a resolution filed by Councilmember Reva M. Trammell, 8th district, seeking to

Free COVID-19 vaccines

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information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com.

The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/ coronavirus/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites.

Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?

The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free vaccines for COVID-19 and more at the following locations:

• Wednesday, April 12, 2 to 4 p.m., Henrico West Health Department, 8600 Dixon Powers Dr., Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months to 5 years old and bivalent boosters for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent boosters for age 5 years and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older, and boosters for age 18 and older, JYNNEOS shots and baby bivalent boosters. Walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.

• Thursday, April 6 & April 13, 2 to 4 p.m. - Cary Street, 400

E. Cary St., Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months to 5 years old and bivalent boosters for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent boosters for age 5 years and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older, and boosters for age 18 and older, JYNNEOS shots and baby bivalent boosters. Walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged. People can schedule an appointment online at vase.vdh. virginia.gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or by calling (804) 205-3501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682). VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.

Those who are getting a booster shot should bring their vaccine card to confirm the date and type of vaccine received.

RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations by calling (804) 2053501 to schedule appointments.

New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for those age 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for those aged 18 and older.

As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID-19 vaccine.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are now offering bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11 in clinics in the near future. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.

New COVID-19 cases in Virginia rose by four percent during the last week, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health, while data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association showed hospitalizations statewide increased 13 percent since last week. Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico County are at low levels of community COVID-19. No localities in Virginia are ranked at high community COVID levels, and none were ranked at medium as of last week.

A total of 206 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Wednesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,301,694 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Tuesday, there have been 459,400 hospitalizations and 23,718 deaths reported statewide. Compiled by George Copeland Jr.

release an allocated $300,000 in funds to local nonprofits for mobile home repair and replacement.

RISC members repeatedly have called for more decisive action from city leaders in response to a potential housing crisis for years, and have criticized how decisions made by Mayor Stoney’s administration have affected initiatives meant to address housing issues such as the AHTF.

“The city administration has dammed up the stream,” said Martin Wegbreit, a RISC member and city council appointee to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Supervisory Board, during the public comment section of Monday’s City Council meeting.

“Our citizen-supervised, proven local tool for the past eight years ... where developers have applied for two times more money than available, has been abandoned. City Council can un-damn the stream.”

Along with seeking the input of public and private interests, city officials are also looking to state leadership, including Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin, for assistance in tackling affordable housing.

“We need the state to not simply sit back and boast of a great surplus when so many of our citizens are struggling to live,” City Council President Michael J. Jones, 9th District, said during last week’s press conference.

“We need to ensure that they have a place to live and our governor, and the general assembly, the Richmond delegation, they’ve got to get serious about ensuring that our most vulnerable have a place to live.”

City Council’s resolution, and more information on Mayor Stoney’s proposed budget are expected to be discussed and approved during the next City Council meeting this month.

Affordable housing for whom?

every $1 raised to support development of affordable housing, an unusual scenario.

City Hall, with council support, has invested in affordable housing. In each of the past two fiscal years, 2021-22 and the current 2022-23, the Mayor Stoney, with council approval, has provided $10 million in support of affordable housing creation.

The total of $20 million for the two years came from the $156 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds the city, the mayor has said.

Martin Wegbreit, director of litigation for Central Virginia Legal Aid Society and a member of the AHTF board, said that the city could have done more by adding the $6.1 million in general fund money to the ARP dollars.

Without any funds, the AHTF has essentially become a dead letter.

In January, 6th District Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, who championed the AHTF’s creation in 2008 and lobbied for increased city funding for affordable housing, told the AHTF board that there was no need for a supervisory trust fund for affordable housing “when there is nothing to supervise” due to a lack of funds. It was not supposed to be that way. Back

in 2020, Mayor Stoney announced and the council approved his plan to provide a dedicated stream of general fund dollars to the AHTF.

The goal of the mayor’s plan was to finally build the Trust Fund into a $10 million a year operation by 2025 using general fund dollars from unique source.

The funding was to come from a now revamped program that promoted rehabilitation of blighted property by offering a partial exemption from city real estate taxes for up to 10 years for apartments, homes and commercial properties.

Essentially, owners who invested in improving properties were exempted from any increase in real estate taxes for up to seven years before starting to pay higher tax bills.

According to a 2017 audit report, the program resulted in $11.1 million a year in tax abatements for 7,400 properties, or about 10 percent of the 72,000 properties that the city assessor’s office values each year for tax purposes.

As properties rolled off the program over time, the plan called for taking the

difference between the old tax payments and the new tax payments and shifting that money to the AHTF.

The roll-off dollars from a past year would continue to flow into the AHTF, with the next year’s roll-off dollars adding to the amount. For example, if the roll-off amounted to $2 million in fiscal 2021-22, that money would continue to flow to the AHTF each year, with new roll-off funds from fiscal 2022-23 and each additional year thereafter adding to it.

But the council did not carry out that approach.

In the fiscal 2021-22 budget, the council designated $2.4 in roll-off money to a special reserve that it could transfer to the AHTF. However, the council never used its authority to make the transfer.

In the 2022-23 fiscal year budget now in effect, the council did not designate any money to go to the special reserve for AHTF. The amount was projected at $3.7 million, but without being part of a line item, it could never be available for the AHTF.

In addition, the council appears to have failed to enforce a requirement that Assessor Richie McKeithen submit an annual report stating the amount of dollars that the roll-off would produce. No report appears to have been produced or made public.

Autopsy finds cause of death for Irvo Otieno was asphyxia

Continued from A1

“positional and mechanical asphyxia with restraints,”’ a medical examiner’s office said Monday.

Arkuie Williams, the administrative deputy in the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, confirmed the cause of death findings to The Associated Press after attorneys for Otieno’s family first shared them in a statement. The manner of death was homicide, Mr. Williams wrote in an email.

Mr. Otieno, who struggled with mental illness, died March 6 after he was pinned to the floor while being admitted to Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County.

Video released earlier this month showed sheriff’s deputies and hospital employees restraining a handcuffed and shackled Mr. Otieno for about 20 minutes after he was forcibly led into a hospital room. For much of that time, Mr. Otieno was prone on the floor, pinned by a group so large it blocked the camera’s view of him at times.

Personnel who realized he appeared limp and lifeless eventually began resuscitation efforts, the video showed.

“The official cause and manner of death is not surprising to us as it corroborates what the world witnessed in the video,” family attorneys Ben Crump and Mark Krudys said in a statement. “In a chilling parallel to George Floyd’s killing, Irvo was held down and excessively restrained to death, when he should have been provided medical help and compassion. It is tragic that yet another life has been lost to this malicious and deadly restraint technique.”

Seven deputies and three hospital workers have been charged with second-degree murder in Mr. Otieno’s death. The local prosecutor who brought the charges has previously said in court that Mr. Otieno was smothered to death. No additional information from the autopsy beyond the cause and manner of death can be released by the medical examiner’s office, Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Otieno was laid to rest last week. Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton and other speakers at his funeral said his death shows the need for mental health and policing reforms.

Mr. Otieno’s family and their attorneys have said Mr. Otieno was experiencing

mental distress at the time of his initial encounter with law enforcement, days before he was taken to the state hospital. He was first taken into police custody in Henrico County on March 3, when he was transported to a local hospital for mental health treatment under an emergency custody order.

Police have said that while at the local hospital, he “became physically assaultive toward officers,” at which point they arrested him and took him to a local jail, something Mr. Otieno’s family says should never have happened given that he was in need of treatment. On the afternoon of March 6, he was transferred to the state hospital, which has a unit that provides care for people admitted from jails or by court order.

Some of the attorneys for the defendants charged in his death have said their clients were only trying to restrain Mr. Otieno. Mr. Otieno’s family and their attorneys have said he posed no danger to them and was simply trying to breathe during the encounter at the hospital shown on video.

All defendants have been granted bond and court records show pre-trial hearings in April or May.

Trump charged with 34 felony counts in hush money scheme

Continued from A1

cover up an effort to illegally influence the 2016 election by arranging payments that silenced claims potentially harmful to his candidacy. It includes 34 counts of fudging records related to checks Trump sent to his personal lawyer and problem-solver to reimburse him for his role in paying off a porn actor who said she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.

“The defendant, Donald J. Trump, falsified

New York business records in order to conceal an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election and other violations of election laws,” said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy.

Mr. Trump, somber and silent as he entered and exited the Manhattan courtroom, said “not guilty” in a firm voice while facing a judge who warned him to refrain from rhetoric that could inflame or cause civil unrest. All told, the ever-verbose Mr. Trump, who for weeks before Tuesday’s arraignment had assailed the case against him as

political persecution, uttered only 10 words in the courtroom. He appeared to glare for a period at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor who brought the case.

As he returned to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, where he delivered a primetime address to hundreds of supporters, Mr. Trump again protested his innocence and asserted on his Truth Social platform that the “hearing was shocking to many in that they had no ‘surprises,’ and therefore, no case.”

In his speech, Mr. Trump lashed out anew at the prosecution and attacked in bitter terms

the prosecutor and the judge presiding over the case despite being admonished hours earlier about incendiary rhetoric. In a sign of that other probes are weighing on him, Mr. Trump also steered his speech into a broadside against a separate Justice Department investigation into the mishandling of classified documents.

“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Mr. Trump said of the New York indictment. “This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped immediately.”

Continued from A1

Mayor Stoney

Bubba’s Block Party

Nascar driver Bubba Wallace was back in town for his second block party at Richmond Raceway on March 31. Despite the rain, Mr. Wallace took the stage to share what he enjoys about Richmond during his “Bubba’s Block Party.” Partygoers stood in line for the party’s various food trucks outside of the amphitheater and free performances by The Art of Noise and Backyard Band that were inside the facility. Mr. Wallace raced Sunday, April 2, in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Will Spencer, center, of Chesterfield, a diehard NASCAR and Bubba Wallace fan, brought his nephews, brothers Taio Merrill, 9, left, and Will Spencer, 11 to the block party. Virginia artist Gina Net painted a stylized portrait of Bubba Wallace and had him sign it during the block party.

Maymont’s spring break includes baby goats and three little chicks

Nature Center will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., to take in the arrival of five baby goats and three Brahma chicks to the Maymont Farm. Also, the Dominion Energy Family Easter returns on April 8. With the arrival of spring, free exploration of the Maymont

grounds is available 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Free parking is available at the Farm lot at 1001 Spottswood Road. General admission is free, though a $5 donation is suggested and welcome. For more information, visit www. maymont.org

Being seen, being heard

Bri (they/them) helped organize the Transgender Day of Visibility that took place March 31 at Monroe Park. “The point of today is showing up for trans youths and trans community as a whole,” said Bri, 23. “We’re not looking for a win, we just want a chance to live so we can find our happiness, comfort, and joy.” Shannon McKay, (she/her) executive director of He She Ze and We, distributes pins for the Transgender Day of Visibility to make known resources She Ze and We provides for the transgender community and others in need.

Young ballers are more connected at home than ever. Unlike last season’s crew, this generation has it easy thanks to the Xfinity 10G Network. Now, today’s players are scoring reliable connections from every yard line, running at faster speeds, and using the most cutting-edge WiFi to soar their imagination. Introducing the Xfinity 10G Network. The future starts now.

Julianne Tripp/Richmond Free Press

Say Amen, somebody

In delivering the eulogy for Irvo Otieno’s funeral on March 29 at Richmond’s First Baptist Church’s Chesterfield location, civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton promised retribution for Mr. Otieno’s death at the hands of law enforcement and Central State Hospital employees.

Mr. Otieno, who struggled with mental health challenges, was taken to the Dinwiddie County facility after first being taken into police custody in Henrico County on March 3. He then was transported to a local hospital for mental health treatment under an emergency custody order, according to the Associated Press.

Video released earlier this month showed 10 sheriff’s deputies and hospital employees piling on a handcuffed and shackled Mr. Otieno on March 6 for about 20 minutes after he was forcibly led into a hospital room, as has been reported by the Associated Press and numerous media outlets. For much of that time, Mr. Otieno, 28, was prone on the floor, pinned by a group so large it blocked the camera’s view of him at times.

In today’s Free Press, a front-page story relays the cause of Mr. Otieno’s death: he died of “positional and mechanical asphyxia with restraints,” a medical examiner’s office said earlier this week. Arkuie Williams, the administrative deputy in the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, confirmed the cause of death findings as “homicide.”

For those who attended Mr. Otieno’s funeral or watched the video of him struggling to breathe, the medical examiner’s news was no surprise. And it certainly was old news for Rev. Sharpton, who has preached at pulpits throughout this country as murders similar to Mr. Otieno’s have occurred.

Comparing the murder to a chapter in the Bible where Jesus broke through crowds that stood around debating rather than seeking resolution, Rev. Sharpton plaintively asked, “What’s wrong with ya’ll? Why are you debating if you can’t help him? Jesus would break through the debate and hold them accountable.”

Rev. Sharpton said those who tortured Mr. Otieno will be held accountable, and he cautioned Gov. Glenn Youngkin that if he aspires to run for president, he’s “got to go through Caroline,” referencing Caroline Ouku, Mr. Otieno’s mother who sought help for her son whom she has said had not taken medication for his mental health episode, which led to him being taken into custody.

“This is inexcusable … he should have been doctored and not treated with brutality,” Rev. Sharpton said before promising there will be an “Irvo Law” and that he will return to Virginia when the case goes to court.

All 10 defendants have been granted bond and court records show pre-trial hearings in April or May.

“We’ll be here for the trial,” Rev. Sharpton said. “I’m not leaving not to come back. I want to look at the jury. I want all the ministers to go to court with us. We have to stand in Irvo’s name.”

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, introduced during the funeral as Black America’s attorney general, said an international call to action, based on Mr. Otieno’s birth in Kenya and rearing in Richmond and Henrico County, is simple.

“When Black people in America have Mental Health issues, we cannot treat them like criminal issues. When you are having a mental health crisis, you should not be relegated by the color of your skin. Irvo’s Law would be to not treat (Black) brothers and sisters like criminials or degenerates but with dignity and respect.”

Somebody say, “Amen.”

Equal justice, even for Trump

Yusef Salaam, whom you may remember as one of the exonerated Central Park Five, had only one word to tweet to those who wanted to know his feelings about the indictment of Donald Trump: “Karma,” he offered.

Karma? I’ve heard about it.

Drawn from concepts of re birth in Indian religions, I’ve been advised to think of kar ma as a form of cosmic justice: Good deeds and intent lead to good karma and happier re births while bad karma may lead to times that are not so jolly.

Mr. Salaam was one of five Black and Hispanic teenagers wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white woman in New York’s Central Park, a case that later was explored in a 2019 Netflix series “When They See Us” and a PBS documentary “The Central Park Five.”

In 1989, before any of the five teens had been tried, Mr. Trump, then a major Manhattan real estate developer with a bottomless appetite for selfpromotion, took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the death penalty to be reinstated in New York.

Adding kerosene to public anger at the time, the ads were

reported to have played a major role in securing a conviction. So did false confessions, it turned out, since no DNA linked them to the crime scene and their descriptions of the victim didn’t match.

Mr. Salaam served nearly seven years in prison before he and the other wrongfully accused teens—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise—were

exonerated in 2002. Serial rapist Matias Reyes, already in prison, confessed to the assault and DNA confirmed his admission.

Ah, how the mighty have fallen. The presumption of innocence until proved guilty seemed almost nowhere to be seen in Mr. Trump’s world when the Central Park Five case raged across the headlines and boiled over into a national media frenzy.

Yet, as Mr. Salaam mentions in his tweet, Mr. Trump—for whom “apologetic” is not part of his brand—never has apologized. Still, he seeks the presumption of innocence he has denied to others. So be it. Let’s see how well his innocence claims hold up.

For now, Mr. Trump’s chants of “Lock her up” in his 2016 race against Hillary Clinton come to mind. Now that it is he who faces what has been reported to be more than 30

counts related to business fraud in a sealed indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, I wonder: Can chants of “Lock HIM up” be far behind?

Still, the stress test to which the former president has put our criminal justice system offers a valuable opportunity to view fairness in our system with new eyes.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the ultraconservative Republican from Georgia, suddenly has become a major advocate for inmates of the District of Columbia jail, now that their ranks were joined by detainees from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Interesting, I said to myself. Since the alleged insurrectionists are mostly white and the D.C. jail’s traditional population is overwhelmingly Black, maybe now they can see how the other half lives.

Unsurprisingly, they were shocked. The jail’s conditions, were so bad that 34 of them suggested in a letter to federal court last fall that they would rather be moved to Guantanamo Bay.

Detainees, through their lawyers, raised concerns that included threats from guards, standing sewage, and skimpy food and water. A federal judge held top jail officials in contempt after they delayed prompt medical care for a Capitol defendant in their custody.

Things have gotten better, spurred partly by Rep. Greene

Why are we ignoring our chidren?

The recent massacre of three students and three adults in Nashville, Tenn., is alarming.

How and why did a former student invade the school locked and loaded with an automatic weapon and ruthlessly kill innocent students and their caretakers?

While it is useless to speculate on the thought process that leads someone to kill people, perhaps to make a statement, it is clear that the multiple school shootings that have taken place in the last several months have encouraged many to continue the trend by executing shootings of their own. In the wake of the March 27 Nashville shooting, we were treated to the usual rhetoric of “thoughts and prayers” and even calls for stronger gun legislation.

But the gun lobby is so strong and gun-toting zealots so politically powerful that attempts to limit the availability of automatic weapons get caught in the political crossfire. Anyone can offer thoughts and prayers. Who is willing to change policy to protect our students?

While I am wondering how students are reacting to the ever-present school shootings, the American Association of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association declared

a national emergency in children’s mental health two years ago, citing the severe toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of existing challenges.

While their report does not explicitly reference school shootings as part of the problem, Lee Savio Beers, AAP President, said, “Young people have en-

dured so much throughout this pandemic, and while much of the attention is often placed on its physical health consequences, we cannot overlook the escalating mental health crisis facing our patients.” The mental health crisis shows up through increasing incidences of child suicide, the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24 in 2018.

The number has likely increased since we have experienced much disruption since the COVID epidemic that shifted life paradigms between 2019 and 2021. If adults have problems handling this disruption, how do we think our children and young adults are faring? “We are caring for young people with soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness and suicidality that will have lasting impacts on them, their families, their communities, and all of our futures,” said AACAP President Gabrielle A. Carlson, M.D. “This is a national emergency, and the time for swift and deliberate action is now.”

The 2021 report noted that young people in communities

of color had been impacted by the pandemic more than others and how the ongoing struggle for racial justice is inextricably tied to the worsening mental health crisis. When young people witness the heinous killings of Black motorists or people simply “walking while Black,” how does it affect their mental health? While our attention is focused on young people who are students, we have often ignored the children who, as young as 12 or 13, are working in unsafe environments. There are federal child labor laws that restrict the hours that those under age 16 can work, especially during school hours. Too many employers ignore the rules and are rarely held accountable.

The National Child Labor Coalition has documented the reckless use of children in manufacturing plants, especially automobile manufacturing plants in Alabama (Kia and Hyundai are especially egregious violators).

Nearly half of all employed children work in agriculture, where they are exposed to, among other things, life-threatening pesticides. While laws prevent child labor, enforcement is lax when regulatory agencies are understaffed.

Can we expect the young people we have ignored to protect our Medicare or Social Security? Why should they care for us when we have not cared for them?

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA.

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and other congressional visitors. But the irony of how it took 40 or so Capitol rioters to get more attention and action than the jail’s roughly 1,400 total inmates is not lost, especially on the inmates of color.

Rep. Greene, seldom known for understatement, visited the jail and likened the rioters inside to “prisoners of war,” implying that they were being punished for their politics.

Actually they’re being held for a lot more than that. Don’t forget the physical assaults on Capitol Police with pepper spray, bear spray and riot shields, just for starters.

Equal justice for all is a cherished ideal in the American system, a system they tried to disrupt. We must do all that we can to preserve that ideal, even for those who try to destroy it.

The writer is a syndicated columnist and senior member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board.

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When making exceptions for Ramadan is no longer the exception

Scrolling Twitter on the first evening of Ramadan 2023, I was greeted (well, as all Muslims were) by Elmo. “Ramadan Mubarak to all of Elmo’s friends!” the red toddler Muppet said. “Elmo loves you!”

In Chicago, the marquee at famed Wrigley Field displayed a Ramadan Mubarak message for the second year in a row to Cubs fans and all Chicagoans. Even Michaels — the craft and last-minute decoration store destination for all parents who are told by their kids in the nth hour that they need special markers or poster board or some craftsy thing — offered up Ramadan stickers to me yesterday when I rushed in for some Command Strips to finish hanging up our Ramadan decorations. (And yes, items for my youngest son’s last-minute school project.)

It’s no secret that businesses, educational institutions, workplaces, even Sesame Street celebrities have been acknowledging and sharing Ramadan greetings for several years now. We’ve gone from special Ramadan Mubarak (blessed Ramadan) and Ramadan Kareem (generous Ramadan) ads on television featuring hijab-wearing women to hijabi women appearing as just another person in the background of numerous marketing campaigns. (Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad comes to mind.)

And I am joyfully here for it all.

A few years ago I completed my lunar cycle of fasting, the 33-year journey following the ever-shifting lunar calendar as it migrates through the solar-based Gregorian calendar. I fasted my first full 30 days of Ramadan as a 13-year-old seventh-grader in her first (and only) season of track, when Ramadan occurred in May. Thirtythree years later (two years ago for

me), Ramadan again fell in May, having shifted backward in yearly 10-day increments over that span.

Then, I was one of the only kids fasting (my older brother was the other one) in a Midwestern school community that didn’t really get what we were doing as Muslims but allowed us to hang out in the counselor’s office or library at lunchtime. By the time I completed the lunar fasting cycle,

Dilshad D. Ali

my ninth grader son was texting our family group chat a photo of the “Ramadan Mubarak” sign hanging in his school library.

And, here’s the best part.

Last week at my son’s first ever school tennis match, one of the coaches approached me as I watched him play doubles and asked if I was his mom. When I replied yes, she asked me if he would be fasting for Ramadan.

“I’m trying to talk with the parents of all the kids who will be fasting on the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams,” she told me. “I want to know what their fasting plans will be so we can make sure to best accommodate them and keep an eye on them as they play — make sure they aren’t getting too tired or anything.” I was floored. The coach approached me. I didn’t have to set up a meeting or send an email (as I always have) to talk through spring sports and the fasting month and how we could make it work. I also didn’t have to ask the PE teacher to go easy on my guy. (He already knew about Ramadan, and besides my son asked me to not say anything, that he could handle gym class. You know: Butt out, Mom.)

This shift is the result of so many American Muslim organizations taking on this fight over the years, so many grassroots efforts by parents and other

American Muslims educating our communities around the country. We have built awareness about our faith and about humanity. It has been extremely hard-fought and messy, and, to be sure, it isn’t this way everywhere. There is always more growth to be had in our schools, workplaces and community structures. I’m not taking it for granted. But Ramadan is at last becoming baked into American life, and yeah, it feels good.

My aspiring tennis star is not the only one who is being recognized. In the United Kingdom, where Ramadan lights are up for the first time in Piccadilly Circus, officials in the Premier League, soccer’s major leagues, have been advised to allow for stoppage of play for Muslim players to break their

fast at sunset I reached out to Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago Chapter of the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations and avid soccer fan, to ask him about the magnitude of what this means. “For the longest time,” he explained, “Muslims watched certain levels of sport in the West as pure spectators, distant from the superheroes on the pitch. Over time we began to be those superheroes on the pitch, on the fields and on the greatest sports platforms.

“As that happened, our values and our lifestyles became less foreign and less distant. It’s not that we need validation; it’s an assertion of who we are and what matters to us. For major sports to acknowledge us, it’s

President Biden says tech companies must ensure AI products are safe

By Zeke Miller The Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Biden said Tuesday it remains to be seen if artificial intelligence is dangerous, but that he believes technology companies must ensure their products are safe before releasing them to the public.

President Biden met with his council of advisers on science and technology about the risks and opportunities that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence pose for individual users and national security.

“AI can help deal with some very difficult challenges like disease and climate change, but it also has to address the potential risks to our society, to our economy, to our national security,”

President Biden told the group, which includes academics as well as executives from Microsoft and Google.

Artificial intelligence burst to the forefront in the national and global conversation in recent months after the release of the popular ChatGPT AI chatbot, which helped spark a race among tech giants to unveil similar tools, while raising ethical and societal concerns about technology that can generate convincing prose or imagery that looks like it’s the work of humans.

While tech companies should always be responsible for the safety of their products, President Biden’s reminder reflects something new — the emergence of easy-to-use AI tools that can generate manipulative content and realistic-looking synthetic media known as deepfakes, said Rebecca Finley, CEO of the industry-backed Partnership on AI.

The White House said the Democratic president was using the AI meeting to “discuss the importance of protecting rights and safety to ensure responsible innovation and appropriate safeguards” and to reiterate his call for Congress to pass legislation to protect children and curtail data collection by technology companies.

Italy last week temporarily blocked ChatGPT over data privacy concerns, and European Union lawmakers have been negotiating the passage of new rules to limit high-risk AI products across the 27-nation bloc.

By contrast, “the U.S. has had more a laissez-faire approach to the commercial development of AI,” said Russell Wald, managing director of policy and society at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

President Biden’s remarks Tuesday won’t likely change that, but the president “is setting the stage for a national dialogue on the topic by elevating attention to AI, which is desperately needed,” Mr. Wald said.

The Biden administration last year unveiled a set of farreaching goals aimed at averting harms caused by the rise of AI systems, including guidelines for how to protect people’s personal data and limit surveillance.

The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights notably did not set out specific enforcement actions, but instead was intended as a call to action for the U.S. government to safeguard digital and civil rights in an AI-fueled world.

President Biden’s council, known as PCAST, is composed of science, engineering, technology and medical experts and is co-chaired by the Cabinet-ranked director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Arati Prabhakar. Asked if AI is dangerous, President Biden said Tuesday, “It remains to be seen. Could be.”

really amazing. It’s another milestone of belonging,” he said.

For me, it’s just as big as my son’s tennis coach approaching me to have a Ramadan discussion about how to balance sports and fasting. It wasn’t about my son not playing or about drastically changing team schedules to accommodate the Muslim kids. It was about how to best help him make all parts of his life work in harmony. When I excitedly related the conversation to my son after his match was over, he was nonplussed, as if that was to be expected.

Yes. Exactly.

The writer is a journalist and blog editor for the website Haute Hijab, an e-commerce company that works to serve Muslim women.

Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press

President Biden adjusts his microphone Tuesday during a meeting with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in the State Dining Room of the White House.

We stand for Equality Justice Opportunity Freedom and we fearlessly ght for Equality Justice Opportunity Freedom

Overcoming San Diego State, UConn wins 5th NCAA title

Call it double-digit domination.

The University of Connecticut rolled through the NCAA basketball tournament without even breaking stride.

Coach Dan Hurley’s Huskies closed the deal Monday with a 76-59 rout of San Diego State at NRG Stadium in Houston.

It was 36-24 at halftime and the outcome was never in much question.

Running the table

VUU’s Osborne is HBCU Player of the Year

Robert Osborne is going to need to expand his trophy case to handle all of his awards from the most recent season.

The Virginia Union University senior forward out of Hermitage High has been named HBCU Player of the Year by BoxtoRow.

Joining Osborne on the AllAmerican first team is teammate Raemaad Wright, a senior from Suffolk. Osborne also was named CIAA and Atlantic Region Player of Year. He led the Panthers this season with 20.2 points per game, while adding 8.8 rebounds per contest, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals.

Wright averaged 11.3 points and 9.8 rebounds as VUU won the Northern Division title and later claimed their first NCAA tournament win in 17 years.

Led by Most Outstanding Player Adama Sanogo, UConn won its six games by an average of 20 points.

From the West Africa nation of Mali, the 6-foot-9, 245-pound junior had 17 points and 10 rebounds against the Aztecs, and averaged 20 points and 10 boards for the six games.

Tristen Newton added 19 points and 10 rebounds against San Diego, with Jordan Hawkins scoring 16 and Alex Karaban scoring five points, snagging five rebounds and blocking three shots.

This marks UConn’s fifth NCAA crown, following triumphs in 1999 (defeating Duke in final), 2004 (Georgia Tech), 2011 (Butler) and 2014 (Kentucky). UCLA is the all-time NCAA

champ

and Indiana with five each.

With most of the headliners returning, the Huskies loom as a

main contender in 2024 when the Final Four moves to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

LSU ends season winning 102-85 over Iowa in NCAA finals

Jasmine Carter leads scoring with 22 points

One of the first things Kim Mulkey did upon becoming women’s basketball coach at LSU was to study the available talent in the transfer portal.

She obviously made some wise personnel decisions.

In just her second season in Baton Rouge, La., Coach Mulkey used nine transfers plus one freshman to help the Tigers to their first NCAA crown.

LSU finished off a 34-2 season April 2 with a 102-85 win over Iowa in the finals before 19,842 fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas and a national ABC audience.

It was the highest score ever in an NCAA championship game.

Coach Mulkey had previously won three NCAA titles at Baylor in 2005, 2012 and 2019.

Jasmine Carter, a transfer from West Virginia, led the scoring against Iowa with 22 points. Arriving from Maryland, Angel Reese had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the finals and was the team leader throughout the playoffs.

LSU advanced to the finals by defeating Virginia Tech, 79-72, two days earlier in Dallas.

Iowa was led by Caitlin Clark, who had 30 points in the final and a record 191 points for the six postseason games. That broke the mark of 175 set by Sheryl Swoopes of Texas Tech in 1993. Clark, a junior, had 41 points in the region final against Louisville and another 41 in helping the Hawkeyes eliminate 2022 champ South Carolina in the semifinals.

Ryan Odom replaces VCU’s Mike Rhoades

VCU’s basketball forecast has gone from sunny and bright to overcast and complicated.

Here’s the deal:

Last week Mike Rhoades, after six outstanding seasons, resigned to coach at Penn State.

Within hours, VCU replaced Rhoades with Ryan Odom from Utah State.

Immediately, the Rams’ roster for 202324 began to take on an “iffy” look.

Standouts Ace Baldwin (Atlantic 10 Player of Year), Jayden Nunn, Jamir Watkins, Jalen DeLoach and Nick Kern all placed their names in the NCAA transfer portal.

They could all return to the Siegel Center, or they could all land elsewhere (possibly

at Penn State to join Rhoades).

Decisions will likely be made throughout April.

VCU went 27-8 this past season with A-10 regular season and tournament titles and an NCAA berth. With most key players expected to return, prospects for 2023-24 were off the charts.

Coach Odom, 48, coached Utah State to a 26-9 record and the NCAA tournament this past season. He may be best known for leading Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) to a stunning win over Virginia in the 2018 NCAAs. It was the first time a No. 16 seed had defeated a No. 2 seed.

The son of longtime Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom, Ryan was a standout guard at

Hampden-Sydney College. He left H-SC as the school’s all-time three-point shooter.

VCU has endured numerous coaching changes in the past with little, if any, reduction in success. There was a smooth transition from Jeff Capel to Anthony Grant to Shaka Smart to Will Wade to Rhoades.

The Rams have enjoyed 23 straight winning seasons (with 11 NCAA bids since 2009) and sellout crowds at The Stu have become commonplace.

Still, there are worries along Broad Street.

Instead of putting on their dark glasses to view what figured to be a glistening 2023-24, Rams fans are holding their breath.

NFL’s John Brockington, 74, dies

John Brockington, among the NFL’s top running backs in the early 1970s, died Friday, March 31, 2023, in San Diego. He was 74.

Following a brilliant career at Ohio State, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1971 with the ninth overall pick.

He then became the first running back in NFL his tory to rush for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons – 1,105 in ’71, 1,027 in ’72 and 1,144 in ’73.

That was all in 14-game seasons.

Mr. Brockington was NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in ’71 and was a three-time All-Pro selection.

For his career (including one season with Kansas City), Mr. Brockington ran for 5,024 yards and 29 touchdowns. He also caught passes for another 1,297 yards and four more TDs.

In 2002, Mr. Brockington underwent a kidney transplant. That led to his formation of the John Brockington Foundation to assist patients with kidney illness.

Mr. Brockington was selected to the Packer’s Hall of Fame in 1984 and was named to the

John Marshall loses to Central Cabarrus 67-65 in ATL

John Marshall High’s magical ride on the basketball court hit a patch of turbulence and fell back to Earth in Atlanta.

Competing in The Throne National Basketball Tournament at Morehouse College (with a 35second shot clock), JM lost 67-65 on March 30 to Central Cabarrus High of Concord, N.C.

Missing from JM’s lineup was 6-foot-8 AllState freshman sensation Latrell Allmond, who was practicing with Team USA in Colorado Springs.

To abide with Virginia High School League guidelines, JM Coach Ty White handed over the coaching reins to Mike Blackwell. Cabarrus Coach Mike Baker also had a fill-in on the sidelines (female parent Bronwyn KentGlover).

Also, to conform with VHSL rules, JM was playing under the name Judges (written on jerseys) while central Cabarrus went by its nickname, Vikings.

Seeded No. 1 in a 16-team field, JM won its

first game in Atlanta with an 84-77 win over Douglasville, Ga.

Cabarrus went 32-0 during its regular season and won the North Carolina 3A title. The North Carolinians, led by 6-foot-1 All-State Jaiden Thompson, had no true post player.

They are primarily a team of highly athletic guards who were efficient in handling JM’s usually overwhelming pressure defense.

Cabarrus advanced to the finals of the event before losing 65-62 to the Explorers of Christopher Columbus High in Miami. Columbus featured Cameron and Cayden Boozer, sons of former NBA standout Carlos Boozer. JM was 28-0 during its regular season that ended with the State Class 2 crown. Virginia State Player of Year Dennis Parker Jr. had 25 points in his final appearance in JM blue.

Look for more of the same next season with guards Damon “Redd” Thompson and Dominique Bailey returning with Allmond, who ranks with the nation’s finest for the Class of ’26.

with 11 rings, followed by Kentucky (eight), North Carolina (six) and UConn, Duke

LSU finished off a 34-2 season April 2 with a 102-85 win over Iowa in the finals before 19,842 fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas and a national ABC audience.

UConn’s Tristen Newton cuts down the net after winning NCAA title.

Stories by Fred Jeter

Robert Osborne

Coach Odom

Personality: Ryan Andrew Dickinson

Spotlight on Miss Gay United States challenging perceptions of drag performers

“Shocked, and overwhelmingly crippled.”

That was the reaction of Ryan Andrew Dickinson, aka Bianca Blake Starr, to his victory in the 2023 Miss Gay United States Pageant last Sunday. As the 18th drag performer to win the title, Mr. Dickinson’s new role comes with a large platform and several responsibilities.

Miss Gay United States, as Mr. Dickinson describes it, is an important symbol and “role model for the LGBTQIA+ community,” whose duties include advertising the organization, helping oversee its operations and appearances in various pride events and related pageants.

Mr. Dickinson assumes the role at a time when drag performers have been under attack across the country. From threats leveled at performances and the locales that host them, to legislation that seeks to restrict or ban drag performances, Mr. Dickinson is aware of the environment his new role exists in, and is looking to “change the mindset of people who aren’t as exposed to the community.”

“We’re not clowns, we’re not child predators, we’re not any kind of danger,” Mr. Dickinson says. “What we are is gatekeepers, and we set the standard of excellence for our community.”

Mr. Dickinson, who first began performing in drag 17 years ago in Richmond, has a number of pageant titles from Virginia and the United States. While these pageants provide money and prizes, Mr. Dickinson was attracted to the shows as a way to push himself “to be the best (he) could be” in the craft of drag performance, with this newest victory standing as the culmination of years of work unique to this community and space.

“Pageantry forces you to focus on details,” Mr. Dickinson says, “and allows you the opportunity to make a difference in the community.”

Mr. Dickinson’s winning performance emphasized this value of the event in several ways. Alongside a showcase of a “stunning beauty in an evening gown,” Bianca Blake Starr also provided a proposal focused on marketing the pageant to a younger, wider range of performers.

It’s a persona that is a sharp contrast to Mr. Dickinson’s life outside of drag, where he works as a property manager and business owner, and lives as a caring partner and father in Chesterfield. With the title under his belt, Mr. Dickinson has his sights now set on becoming Miss Gay America in 2026, when his responsibilities as Miss Gay United States are complete and he will be eligible to compete again. For now, the thrill of his victory in the Miss Gay United States Pageant hasn’t faded, however, and will likely remain with him.

“I have worked for the past decade for this dream, and to finally achieve that dream is surreal and it takes a few moments to realize what’s actually happening in that moment,” Mr. Dickinson says. “It was an experience I will never forget.”

Meet the new Miss Gay United States title holder and this week’s Personality, Ryan Andrew Dickinson:

Stage name: Bianca Blake Starr.

Pronouns: Out of drag my pronouns are he/him/his. In drag, my pronouns are Cashapp and Venmo.

Latest achievement: I was just recently crowned Miss Gay United States.

Occupation: Property manager at Rivers Bend Apartment Homes.

Date and place of birth: Aug. 4 in Washington, D.C.

Where I live now: Chesterfield County.

Education: Associate degree, University of Virginia.

Family: Mother Laurie, my partner, Kevin, and our daughter, Haileigh. Miss Gay United States is: A symbol of excellence, a leader, and a role model for the LGBTQIA+ community. Miss Gay United States puts the needs of others before herself, and is there to speak up for those who have no voice within the community.

When and why founded: Miss Gay United States was founded in 2004 by Tim Clark and Dale Thomason in Roanoke. The system was created to provide an opportunity for entertainers to showcase their talents on a national level. To this day The Gay United States Pageantry

System strives to provide some of the highest quality in gay, lesbian and trans entertainment through pageantry nationwide.

Where did the 2023 pageant take place: The 2023 Miss Gay United States Pageant was held in Roanoke at The Park Nightclub, as this has been the home of the national Gay United States Pageantry System for the past several years.

Richmond and the pageant scene: Historically, Richmond has had a rich tradition in pageantry. Many regional and national titleholders have either come from the Richmond area, or continue to perform in the area. Currently, there are only a handful of pageants that still occur in the Richmond area as there has been a shift to include more alternative styles of drag. We still have several major systems that operate out of Richmond, including the Nationz Pageantry system, which is owned and operated by our very own Zakia Jemaceye.

Thoughts about the state of Tennessee banning drag performances: Wow, where to begin. To sum it up in one word, inhumane. Laws such as this are meant to do one thing, and that is to deny the rights of our brothers and sisters to live their lives as their true authentic selves.

How I qualified to compete: I competed and won Miss Gay Gatsby’s, Maryland United States, which was a city preliminary held in Baltimore. That qualified me to compete at the state level at the Miss Gay Maryland United States pageant, which I won as well. That qualified me to compete

at the National Pageant.

Previous pageant titles: Miss Gay Fredericksburg, Miss Gay Harrisonburg, Miss Gay Shenandoah Valley, Miss Impulse Gay Social Club, Miss Gay Arlington, Miss Godfreys, Miss Virginia Pride, Miss Gay Virginia America, Miss Gay Virginia Commonwealth United States, Miss Gay Southeast Regional United States, Miss Gay Capital City United States, Miss Gay Cosmopolitan United States, and Miss Gay Maryland United States.

Number of participants in the 2023 Miss Gay United States: There were 18 qualified contestants, of which nine competed for the title of Miss Gay United States 2023

How I wowed the judges: With my stunning beauty in evening gown, and with my plan of action and business proposal for moving the system forward. My stage persona vs. my everyday persona: My stage persona is loud and glamourous and outlandish, while my everyday persona is kind of reserved. They are polar opposites.

How I decide on my pageant wear: I design everything myself within the guidelines of each category, and I put my own, unique flare into each design. Each category is drastically different, so the process is different for each category.

My beauty secrets are: My biggest beauty secret is always take care of your skin underneath all of the makeup. That and have a good plastic surgeon on standby.

How much time goes into getting ready for a pageant: Depending on what pageant, it can take months of preparation. For local smaller pageants, usually about two months, but for national pageants, it can take

six months to a year to prepare a winning package.

How I felt when I was crowned Miss Gay United States: Shocked, and overwhelmingly crippled. I have worked for the past decade for this dream, and to finally achieve that dream is surreal and it takes a few moments to realize what’s actually happening in that moment. It was an experience I will never forget.

Best late-night snack: Cookies.

A quote that I am most inspired by: “Always treat people the way you want to be treated.”

At the top of my “to-do” list:

1) Have a successful reign as Miss Gay United States and 2) Build my pool.

The best thing my parents ever taught me: To be self-sufficient and not to rely on others, but to create my own success.

The person who influenced me the most: My daughter, Haileigh. She made me grow up and take responsibility for every action and from an early age, she made me be a better person for her.

Book that influenced me the most: “You’re the F*cking Problem: A Guide to Getting Out of Your Own Way by Adam Marburger.” You have to take responsibility for your own actions. You can’t pass blame or make excuses. If you want to succeed, you have to accept the fact that you are only competing with yourself and you determine whether you win or lose.

What I’m reading now: “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. Always remember what the end goal is and have a plan to reach that goal.

Next goal: To become Miss Gay America.

SPARKS

been a long time coming’

VSU hopes its All-Steinway School designation will attract ‘high caliber’ piano players

By George Copeland Jr.

After 20 years, more than $1 million, and nearly 40 pianos, Virginia State University has elevated its approach to music education. The university has replaced many of its old pianos with new instruments from the Steinway & Sons piano company.

As such VSU is the ninth college and the first historically black college in the state to receive the All-Steinway School recognition. The designation was made in January.

For Samuel L. Rowley, chairman of VSU’s department of music and director of bands and winds activities, the designation is the culmination of years of interest for him, and decades of work by his predecessor. He believes it will pay dividends for years to come.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Dr. Rowley said. “This is an amazing honor for us. We’re going to definitely use this not only to improve the curriculum offerings, but also to make sure that we actually recruit high caliber piano players who come and study piano performance here.”

Dr. Rowley’s interest in Steinway can be traced back to his time at Huston-Tillotson University in Texas, an All-Steinway

With some Steinway pianos costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the final total currently valued at $1.5 million, the path to reach this designation has been costly. Nevertheless, Dr. Rowley convinced VSU leadership to continue the replacement process, leading to an additional 19 pianos being purchased recently, according to Susan Lutz, director of education and performance for Steinway in Richmond.

“(Dr. Rowley) got there really quickly on this last push,” said Ms. Lutz, who worked with VSU to purchase the pianos, and whose work covers piano usage for performances and teaching in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and parts of the Midwest. “I’ve never met anybody as committed to this project as he was from day one.”

The pianos purchased are now located throughout VSU’s department of music and campus, which currently hosts 56 music majors and features five music degree programs, the older equipment now in storage. Dr. Rowley sees this new equipment as a boon not just for these students, but also as a way to attract high-level piano majors, who will be looking to attend colleges with the best possible equipment to refine their skills.

Dr. Rowley also hopes the new equipment will help bring celebrated musicians to VSU for entertainment and education. Among the pianos purchased is a Spirio, which can record performances and replay them, and can also remotely mimic performances on other Spirio pianos from long distances. Dr. Rowley hopes this purchase will enable the college to bring renowned musical artists and their work to students in a new way.

“A person can actually be presenting a musical recital from the other side of the world,” Dr. Rowley said.

“It’s that sort of advanced approach that we are definitely wanting to take, to make sure that our students receive the best education, but also have exposure to the best artists.”

for the entire semester. That’s why the life span is shorter in a school than it is in a home.”

An All-Steinway dedication event will be April 22 from 2 to 7 p.m. on VSU campus. The school will ring in the designation with a ribbon cutting ceremony, concert and a reception with live music, with the concert and reception to be ticketed events.

Beyond the celebration, Dr. Rowley has big ambitions for the Steinway pianos and the future of the department of music, including expanding interest in VSU beyond Petersburg through this new equipment. These plans and others under development are what he believes have the potential to bring the college to greater heights of success and prominence.

“It is my goal to build a world class, comprehensive music program that will compare to other renowned performance institutions like the University of Texas, Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan and University of North Texas,” Dr. Rowley said. “As a graduate of an HBCU, I have heard from several of my colleagues at other black colleges that this is a dream that will never be achieved.

“My goal is to prove those critics wrong and bring this dream to life at Virginia State University.”

School where he served for two years as director of bands and assistant professor of music. There he saw firsthand the impact the equipment had on students and the local community.

“I really grew this love and passion for wanting to become an All-Steinway School during my two years there, because I saw how all piano majors really took off,” Dr. Rowley said. “I said to myself, ‘If I ever become a chair of a music department, I would love for this designation to be a part of the overall core vision and direction’.”

When Dr. Rowley became chairman of VSU’s Music Department last August, he arrived to find some of the groundwork had already been laid for designation in the early 2000s. Thanks to former music chairman Mark W. Philips, VSU had started evaluating which pianos needed to be replaced and already were purchasing new ones from Steinway.

VSU’s relationship with Steinway doesn’t end with these purchases, according to Ms. Lutz, who says the school and the company are “partners forever.” The company will advise VSU on when best to rotate used equipment into less prominent positions and when they need to be replaced.

Ms. Lutz said this sort of attention and care is necessary for the upkeep of the pianos, given how often they’ll be used for instruction, practice and more by students and faculty. It’s also the kind of attention she said pianos used in colleges rarely receive compared to other equipment, musical or otherwise.

“Universities are notorious for not purchasing new pianos because they don’t realize that pianos should be replaced just like any other piece of university equipment,” Ms. Lutz said. “They think that if a piano is there, it’s sufficient. But what happens over time, if they’re used 12, 15, 18 hours a day for 50 or 60 years, parts on the insides of the piano wear out.”

“These pianos are used from 7:30 a.m. or 8 o’clock in the morning, till 9 or 10 o’clock at night, every day of the week,

I’m Having a Party at My Father’s House and You’re All invited!

‘It’s

Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Virginia State University recently was designated an All-Steinway School, making it the ninth college and the first historically Black university in Virginia to achieve the recognition. Dr. Samuel L. Rowley, the university’s music department chairman listens to Dr. Tim Thompson, a VSU music professor, test the brand new Steinway Spirio Player Piano Model D that is capable of live performance and playback.

A close-up view of the Steinway Spirio Player Piano Model D.

Rites of passage

By Bonnie Newman Davis

Rites of passage ceremonies traditionally mark important transitional periods in a person’s life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, having children, and death. In recent weeks, Richmond and surrounding communities have witnessed far too many rites of passage for young Black men whose lives were cut short by horrific tragedy.

The March 29 funeral for 28-year-old Irvo Otieno. A March 23 prayer vigil for 13-year-old Marquan “Quan” Mitchell-Nash. A March 16 prayer vigil for 21-year-old Tyrek Brandon. Each young man was denied rites of passage filled with joy and new beginnings. Yet, new beginnings remain possible for our youths when it comes to their overall health and well-being. In celebrating a ribbon-cutting for The Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s Children’s Tower on March 28, Richmond’s new home for pediatric inpatient, emergency and trauma care stands as a beacon of hope.

The 16-story Tower, which houses the region’s only Level 1 pediatric trauma center and emergency department with 24/7 access to any pediatric specialist a child may need, was built to help families and providers in the community, according to VCU. It provides amenities and 72 spacious private acute and intensive care rooms.

The wonder of it all wasn’t lost on Richmond’s mayor.

“I had the pleasure of attending the groundbreaking for the Children’s Tower and what a difference a few years has made,” Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney said. “As I watched this building rise from City Hall next door, I thought about the kids and families from our city and beyond who will benefit from the beautiful space and dedicated teams inside. Children are our future, and the future of Richmond is bright.”

Indeed, bright moments and Black Excellence were evident on March 18 when members of Concerned Black Men of Richmond, Va. led a session on effective communications for young Black males at Franklin Military Academy. The session was designed to build public speaking skills, a vital tool for any young Black male as he navigates life while pursuing rites of passage that promise him a bright future.

Following the funeral of 28-year-old Irvo Otieno of Henrico County on March 29, at First Baptist Church, Ironbridge, in Chesterfield County, Vernell Williams, who has a 25-year-old son who suffers from mental health issues, below, shared a message about the need for better mental health services. Mr. Otieno was suffocated while shackled and handcuffed at Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County, a psychiatric hospital while suffering from a mental health crisis on March 6. Ten people including deputies and hospital workers have been charged with second degree murder in his death. Above, Leon Ochieng, brother of Irvo Otieno speaks during the funeral with his mother, Caroline A. Ouko, at his side. In delivering the eulogy, the Rev. Al Sharpton promised retribution for Mr. Otieno’s death.

Kenyetta Nash, center, mother of Marquan “Quan” MitchellNash, 13, attends a prayer vigil on March 23 held in honor of the seventh-grade Binford Middle School student who was accidentally shot by a family member on March 10. She is supported by her daughters Soliel MitchellNash, 16, and Cherish Hope 18, both John Marshall High School students. The vigil was held at the corner of 17th and Stockton streets on Richmond’s South Side.

Elias Neujahr, president of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, welcomes families, hospital workers and elected officials to the hospital’s ceremonial ribbon-cutting on March 28. The new building, known as the Children’s Tower, is adjacent to the hospital’s Children’s Pavilion and will house in-patient, trauma and emergency care. The $420 million facility is scheduled to open April 30. In attendance and seated are from left: Dr. Michael Rao, president, VCU and VCU Health System, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Mayor Levar M. Stoney, Coleman Wortham III, chairman Children’s Hospital Foundation, Janice Roane, vice president of operations of CHoR, Dr. Shari Barkin, physician-in-chief CHoR and chair, department of pediatrics, and Anna Barglof, a mother of a young patient.

Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Members of the nonprofit organization Concerned Black Men of Richmond listen and applaud a presentation by Joel Green, 15, of Huguenot High School. Other students, Izay’a Roane, 11, and Raymond Allen, 15, both enrolled at Franklin Military School, gave their full attention to the men who led the educational program that is designed to help young boys become well-rounded young Black men. Concerned Black Men was formed in 1986.

Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

From Senate subcommittee to Easter sermon: Raphael Warnock on life as a pastor-politician

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service

WASHINGTON

Raphael Warnock, U.S. senator and Baptist pastor, was wrapping up his time on Capitol Hill before heading back to his native Georgia in time for what is perhaps the busiest week of the year for Christian clergy.

The Democratic senator spoke at a hearing Thursday, March 30, of the Senate Subcommittee on Conservation, Climate, Forestry and Natural Resources about the plight of forest landowners and how much they can deduct from their taxes if their timber harvests are destroyed by a natural disaster.

“The answer is zero,” Rev. Warnock, Georgia’s first Black senator said at the hearing.

From testifying to members of Congress about farming, to preaching Holy Week sermons from the pulpit of Atlanta’s famed Ebenezer Baptist Church, such is the back and forth life of the pastor-politician who won reelection to the Senate in 2022.

The heir of that pulpit from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated nearly 55 years ago on April 4, Rev. Warnock spoke to Religion News Service of how that day will always be a solemn one for him.

“I was born a year after his death and yet his commitment to service recruited me to Morehouse College,” said Rev. Warnock, little knowing at the time that he’d come to serve the same Atlanta church that Dr. King did. “I wanted to be at the school that inspired him.

“I would not be serving in the Senate and doing what I’m doing were it not for the sacrifice of Dr. King and those who worked alongside him,” he added. “And the best way I can express my gratitude for that is to continue the work of building what he called the ‘beloved community’ and for me, that means ensuring people have access to affordable health care and affordable housing, that their children can be educated without finding themselves so beleaguered with debt, and to promote peace and justice both here and abroad.”

Just after leaving the subcommittee hearing, Rev. Warnock spoke to RNS in his Senate

“My life is a sermon that I get to preach on Sunday and embody and make come alive in my work in the Senate,” said Georgia Sen. and Pastor Raphael Warnock.

office about preparations for Holy Week, juggling his pastoral, familial and political duties, and sharing his church’s 137th anniversary with the rabbi and congregants of a local historic synagogue.

RNS:We talked about your juggling act as pastor, politician and dad last year. So I’m wondering how you’re managing those three dimensions of your life and if they changed in any way, as you now have a six-year term commitment as a senator.

Rev. Warnock: My life is very scheduled. But, look, as dad, as senator, as pastor, all of those roles are important to me, none more important than dad. And so while they compete for my time, there is a continuity between those three things.

I’m used to walking with people, even as I work for people. When I can’t solve their problem immediately, I understand the importance of

Photo courtesy Religion News Service

what I call the ministry of presence, which is why I spend a lot of time with the people of Georgia, whether we’re talking about people who are trying to pay for their insulin, or farmers who are trying to save their farm or make sure they’re profitable or someone who wants to start a small business. My work in the parish has informed my work in the Senate. My work in the Senate has deepened my perspective for preaching. And (my children) Chloé and Caleb keep me grounded. They don’t allow me to take myself too seriously.

RNS: White evangelical churches, as well as Black churches, are sometimes criticized for their role in politics. And Black churches are known as a place people show up who are running for office the Sunday before election. What are your thoughts about that kind of tradition in Black churches, probably including your own? Do you think it should stay that way or change? Rev. Warnock: We got elected

officials who are members of my church. So they’re there every Sunday. And now you got an elected official in the pulpit. Look, I believe firmly in the separation of church and state. For me, that’s bedrock for how our democracy works, I have no interest in living in a theocracy of any kind. In my view, we live in our faith and under the law. The values of my faith writ large, that informs my work in the Senate, not the doctrine about particular religious tradition. And those values I think, are resonant in all of the great faith traditions: justice making, truth telling, compassion, love of neighbor. And it is my belief that we are all created in the image of God and for those who don’t have or are not given to a religious worldview, that we all have value. That’s why I fight for voting rights, and also because I think the best check against tyranny and abuse of power is democracy. RNS: Can you talk about the interfaith aspect of the 137th anniversary service of Ebenezer a couple of weeks ago?

Rev. Warnock: Rabbi Peter Berg and I work together all the time, mainly on the issue of mass incarceration. And our congregations have a long, storied history of peace and justice work together. So both are historic. The Temple (where Rabbi Berg is senior rabbi) was bombed in 1958 during the movement because of their stand around civil rights, both for African Americans and Jews. So for our church anniversary, one of the questions you have to ask yourself each year is whoís going to be the guest pastor? And the more I thought about it, I realized the guest pastor would actually be the rabbi.

RNS: I thought you had a different call at the end. Was it more interfaith, where you said people need community as opposed to saying people need Jesus?

Rev. Warnock: Yeah, people know I’m a Christian. And I always tease the rabbi when he comes to preach because it happened again. People came and joined our congregation. And so I jokingly said to Peter, “You brought a lot of people to Jesus today.” But Jesus was a Jew, so that’s appropriate. (laughs)

Stories by Fred Jeter

Game changer: Attendance, ticket sales surge since Squirrels arrival

The Richmond Flying Squirrels had a good season on the field in 2022 and a great season at the ticket booth.

Richmond won the Eastern League first half schedule and made the playoffs for just the second time in the franchise’s history.

Fans must have liked what they saw.

Some 406,560 spectators came to The Diamond in 2022, the highest total in all of Class AA baseball. The midweek playoff game against Erie drew 9,159.

Richmond has been at or near the top of Eastern and across-the-board AA attendance since the Squirrels arrived in town in 2010.

Home runs were hit at a rapid pace in ’22. The Squirrels connected on a franchise-best 169 long balls, 96 of which were stroked at The Diamond.

More of the same is expected this spring and summer with family-friendly promotions on a nightly basis.

Fans will need to bring plastic and not cash.

The parking, ticket booth and concessions are going cash free for the first time. Credit and debit cards will be accepted; plus, fans can purchase tickets online at richmondflyingsquirrels.com (go to tickets).

Richmond began the week with a mystery roster.

As of Sunday, the parent San Francisco Giants had not assigned their minor league players to cities.

Richmond is hopeful it will start the season with shortstop Marco Luciano in the lineup. Luciano played with the Squirrels in last year’s

playoffs and is considered the organization’s No. 2 prospect.

On the Giants’ pecking order, Richmond is one step below AAA Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League and one level above High-A Eugene, Ore., of the Northwest League. Richmond competes in the Eastern League’s Southwest Division with Akron, Ohio (Cleveland farm team), Altoona , Pa. (Pittsburgh), Bowie, Md. (Baltimore), Erie, Pa. (Detroit), and Harrisburg, Pa.(Washington.)

This figures to be the next to last season the Squirrels will play at The Diamond, which opened in 1985 as an Atlanta Braves’ affiliate.

In 2025, the pro team (along with VCU baseball) is expected to move into a new stadium in the Diamond District, just south of the existing stadium along Arthur Ashe Boulevard.

Nationals’ rebound likely depends on CJ Abrams, Keibert Ruiz, Josiah Gray

Looking to recover from three poor seasons in a row, the Washington Nationals hope to bounce back with an impressive list of young prospects.

At the tip top of that list is shortstop CJ Abrams.

The 22-year-old Georgian came to the Nats last August in the deal that sent sluggers Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego. Washington may wind up getting the best of the swap.

A left-handed hitter, Abrams was selected by the Padres with the sixth overall draft pick of the first round in 2018 and signed for $5.2 million.

Quickly rising through San Diego’s farm system, Abrams made his big league debut last year and hit a commendable .246 with the Padres and Nats combined.

Already, he is rated a brilliant defender with Golden Glove capabilities. His offense will come, many believe. Abrams began the season hitting ninth in manager Dave Martinez’ lineup.

Two other bright prospects came to D.C. in the 2021 trade that sent two All-Stars, pitcher Max Scherzer and shortstop Trae Turner, to Los Angeles.

Keibert Ruiz

CJ Abrams

Coming

Ruiz, a switch hitter from Venezuela, recently signed an eightyear contract extension worth $50 million.

With the Dodgers, Ruiz was stuck behind All-Star catcher Will Smith. In Washington, he’s the clear No. 1.

From New Rochelle, N.Y., Gray was originally a second round draft pick by Cincinnati. After being dealt to Los Angeles, he went

up and down between the Dodgers and the minor leagues.

With the Nats, he is likely the ace of the staff. The hardthrowing right-hander was 7-10 last season for Washington, not bad for a last place team.

Luis Victoriano Garcia, 22, figures to be the Nats’ second baseman for years to come. He is a second generation big leaguer; his father, Luis Rafael Garcia, pitched for Detroit in 1999.

The left-handed swinging Garcia hit .275 for D.C. a year ago with seven homers in 93 games. Garcia was born in New York but spent most of his youth in the Dominican Republic.

Few in The District are optimistic about a quick recovery. The NL East is perhaps the Majors’ toughest division with Atlanta, New York Mets and Philadelphia — all playoff qualifiers a year ago.

Under manager Dave Martinez, who guided the Nats to the 2019 World Series title, the key word is “patience.”

If losing is inevitable, it’s best to do so with a youthful bunch — not far removed from college age — with plenty of optimism.