Michael Jones succeeds Cynthia Newbille as City Council president
City Council shook up its leadership Tuesday afternoon.
After months of behind the scenes talks, council replaced 7th District Councilwoman Cynthia I. Newbille as president after four years and installed 9th District Councilman Michael J. Jones in the top council post, even
Maryland artist will create Capitol statue of Barbara Johns
Now the 71-year-old Maryland-based artist has been chosen to immortalize Black teenage activist Barbara Rose Jones in a bronze statue in the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Weitzman was announced Wednesday as the winner of the competition to create the statue of Ms. Johns, who led a student walkout from an increasingly decrepit high school in Farmville and paved the way for the successful legal attack on government-enforced racial segregation of public schools.
Portsmouth state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, chair of the Virginia Commission for Historical Statues in the United States Capitol, noted that Mr. Weitzman was the unanimous choice during a meeting of the commission in Richmond.
“His obvious passion for this project and his articulation of Barbara John’s legacy evoked an emotional response from the commission,” Sen. Lucas said. “After his moving presentation, the decision to offer this commission to him was quickly and easily reached.”
Mr. Weitzman, the son of a graphic artist who began his professional art career in 1971, is excited about the project that will recognize a young woman who “led an extraordinary act of non-violent civil disobedience which helped to ignite
as he gears up to run for a House of Delegates seat.
Fourth District Councilwoman Kristen M. Nye was tapped as the new vice president, replacing 6th District Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, who had held the post for two years.
This appears to be the first time both posts will be held by representatives who live in South Side.
Both Dr. Jones and Ms. Nye are in their second terms, while Dr. Newbille is a 13-year veteran and Ms. Robertson has served 19 years.
Dr. Jones, a full-time minister, and Ms. Nye, a freelance writer and researcher, both said they were humbled at the
Absenteeism at RPS is down 1.8 percent, but remains high
Chronic absenteeism among school-aged children who miss 10 percent of days or more due to excused and unexcused absences continues to plague school systems, including Richmond Public Schools, throughout the country.While Dr. Shadae Harris, RPS’ chief engagement officer, said the COVID-19 pandemic and a year of online learning for RPS students further increased those numbers, data presented at Monday night’s school board meeting shows the school system has a long way to go before reaching numbers set forth in the Dreams 4 RPS strategic plan presented to the School Board in 2018.
In December of 2021, 27.7 percent of RPS students were chronically absent, the highest number during Superintendent Jason Kamras’s administration. The number barely budged a year later, dropping only 1.8 percentage points to 25.9 percent in December of 2022.
In a phone interview with the Richmond Free Press, Dr. Harris insisted RPS attendance rates continue to be impacted by the pandemic, and numbers need to be observed in the context of circumstances beyond the district’s control.
“We had a spike in these numbers last year - right after [many people were sick with] Omicron - to almost 37 percent,” she said. “From there, we have really improved those numbers.”
The data presented during Dr. Harris’s presentation to the School Board on Monday indicated that the small progress that has been made over last year’s chronic absenteeism rates mostly can be attributed to Black students, with 33 percent chronically absent in 2021 compared with 31 percent last month. In all other categories tracked by RPS — white students, Hispanic, disabled,
McCarthy rejected for House speaker with GOP in disarray
House Republicans flailed through a second day of multiple balloting Wednesday, unable to elect their leader Kevin McCarthy as House speaker or come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority.
For a fourth, fifth and sixth time, Republicans tried to vote Mr. McCarthy into the top job as the House plunged deeper into disarray. But the votes were producing almost the same outcome, 20 conservative holdouts still refusing to support him, and leaving him far short of the 218 typically needed to win the gavel.
In fact, Mr. McCarthy saw his tally slip to 201, as one fellow Republican switched to vote simply present.
Seeing no quick way out of the political standoff, Republicans voted abruptly late Wednesday
Pelé, Brazil’s mighty king of ‘beautiful game,’ mourned
He was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento but came to be known and admired worldwide as simply “Pelé.”
Among the most talented and popular athletes of all time, Pelé, the Brazilian soccer dynamo died Dec. 29 in Sao Paulo. He was 82 and had been in declining health for more than a year.
By age 17, he already stood out like a beacon of sunshine on the global stage, sparking Brazil to the 1958 World Cup title in Sweden.
The man who went by a single name scored a hat trick (three goals) in a semifinal win over the USSR and added two more vs. host Sweden in the final.
He was the youngest player to ever compete in a World Cup final. It would
be the first of three that he helped win for his native land. He is the only player to ever compete in three World Cup championships.
The event only takes place every four years.
With “Pelé” always the main attraction, Brazil also won the World Cup in 1962 in Santiago, Chile, and 1970 in Mexico City.
In a defensive-minded sport where 1-0 is a frequent final score, Pelé was a scoring machine with his wide array of talents, most famously his signature, oh-my-gosh “bicycle kick.”
Competing for the Brazilian National Team, he tallied 77 goals in 92 games. With the Santos Club Team, he racked
4, and Jameson, 6, admire a display of Afrocentic-themed buttons during the Elegba Folklore Society’s 2022 Capital City Kwanzaa Festival at the Greater Richmond Convention Center Friday, Dec. 30, 2022.
The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations: • Thursday, Jan. 5, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Southside Women, Infants and Children Office, 1519 Williamsburg Road.; 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. - Fulton Neighborhood Resource Center, 1519 Williamsburg Road. Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more 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/
to
The ultimate 10
Rupa Murthy has been named the next CEO of YWCA Richmond. She will succeed Linda Tissiere, who is retiring after leading the nonprofit for the last decade.
“The 10 years I’ve been at the YWCA have been some of the most rewarding I’ve experienced in my professional career,” Ms. Tissiere said in an announcement. “I am proud of the work we have done to significantly expand our programs and services. I’m equally as proud to have worked side by side with Rupa for the past seven years.”
“She is absolutely the right person at the right time to be the next CEO of the YWCA!”
During her tenure, Ms. Murthy has worked to more than triple the size of investment from private individuals and foundations, raising more than $25 million in funds to advance the nonprofit’s mission
Prior to her new position, Ms. Murthy served as the YWCA’s chief advancement and advocacy officer. She previously was director of development and communications for the department of psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University, and also served in the office of former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner.
“I joined YWCA Richmond because I was looking for a team committed to serving individuals in my community with a shared goal of creating gender and racial justice,” Ms. Murthy said.
“I am profoundly honored to lead this extraordinary team at YWCA and ensure our region continues to grow stronger with safe spaces for individuals to heal and increased access to high quality education, as we work together to uplift the voices of women leaders.”
YWCA Richmond works to empower women and eliminate racism through programs that promote racial, social and economic equity for women, girls and their families. The nonprofit also provides emergency and support services to empower survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence; educational programs to help prevent violence; advocacy for social justice and racial equity; and high quality early childhood education and infant care through the Sprout School.
Virginia Union University has selected Dr. Charletta H. Barringer-Brown as the new dean of The Evelyn Reid Syphax School of Education.
She joins the university after serving as a tenured professor at Virginia State University’s department of political science and public administration and as the faculty director of general education.
Dr. Barringer-Brown earned her bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and her master’s degree in special education from Virginia State
University. She earned her Ph.D. in public policy and public administration, with a concentration in law, from Walden University.
The recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Harris was most recently named one of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) recipients of the 2023 Outstanding Faculty Awards. Other professional distinctions include being selected as a member of the National Humanities Center TeacherAdvisory Council (2022-2023) and appointed to both the Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees (unexpired term 2022-2023) and the Fort Monroe Authority Foundation Board of Directors (2022-2025).
“All Things, Excellence,” is the theme for this year’s 45th Martin Luther King Jr. Community Leaders Celebration. The annual event hosted by Virginia Union University will take place 7:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 13 at the Downtown Richmond Marriott, 500 E. Broad St.
The breakfast, which highlights and recognizes local leaders and organizations whose contributions embody Dr. King’s spirit of selfless giving, also will reflect the late civil right’s leader’s legacy and impact on the local community, according to event organizers.
For additional information, please visit https://www.vuu. edu/mlk.
Two significant Richmond institutions, Senior Connections and the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, are in the process of moving to new addresses.
Senior Connections, as the regional Capital Area Agency on Aging is known, has sold its longtime home at 24 E. Cary St. in Downtown and is on the move to 1300 Semmes Ave. in making the first change of address in three decades.
CAAA, an advocacy and service provider to retirees, expects to reopen Monday, Jan. 9, in its new space, spokesman Christopher Leighten stated. The contact information will remain the same, he added.
RRHA is still in the process of moving its headquarters from 901 Chamberlyane Parkway to its new home in the city-owned Theater Row Building, 730 E. Broad St. Some officials are already using the space. RRHA had hoped to complete the move by the end of December, but the complete change of address could take 60 to 90 more days
Students who recently applied to Virginia Commonwealth University for fall 2023 received a message last week that led them to believe they had been accepted.
The miscommunication was in the university’s office of admissions invitation to applicants for an open house in February. The invitation was sent Dec. 27, 2022.
In a statement, VCU said, in part: “The message mistakenly addressed all of the email recipients as accepted students; however, admissions decisions had not been made for everyone who received the email. We issued an apology and clarification on the same day and sincerely regret the mistake.”
The statement also said students who completed applications by Dec. 27 will “hear from VCU by Jan. 23.”
The admissions website said the regular decision deadline for fall 2023 is Jan. 17, and students who apply by then can expect to get a decision from VCU by April 1. Students will be able to find out if they were accepted by logging into the school’s admissions portal.
VCU is not alone in making this mistake. In February last year, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that colleges and universities mistakenly send out acceptance letters every year. In 2021, the University of Kentucky accidentally sent acceptance letters to 500,000 high school seniors who were anxiously waiting to find out whether they were admitted, and many who received the correspondence were not accepted.
Four years earlier, Columbia University sent letters of acceptance to 277 graduate students who had not, in fact, been accepted.
The cause for error ranges from accidental oversight of staff to technical mishaps. VCU did not specify the cause of the error in their communication with applicants.
By Jeremy M. LazarusRichmond police officers, firefighters and City Hall employees have moved a step closer to having labor unions.
Almost unnoticed at the final December meeting, City Council approved a resolution supporting Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s decision to hire attorney Keith D. Greenberg as the new labor relations administrator for the city.
A veteran mediator and arbitrator based in Maryland, Mr. Greenberg will work part-time and be paid a fee of $350 an hour for taking on the role, according to the resolution.
His first task is to issue rules for holding elections for employees to select a bargaining agent to begin contract negotiations with the Stoney administration.
At this point, the Richmond Coalition of Police and Local 995 of the International Association of Fire Fighters have filed the required paperwork and are waiting to be officially recognized.
Their elections could be held by the spring, with the first collective bargaining expected to begin in the summer, with a potential impact on the 2023-24 city budget.
Three other bargaining units have been authorized, one for labor and trades employees, one for professional and administrative employees and one for technical employees. The status of bargaining units
for those workers remains unclear.
Mr. Greenberg is well known in the field and handles labor relations for numerous clients, including governments. He serves on the board of governors of the National Academy of Arbitrators and also is listed on panels and rosters for the American Arbitration Association, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Labor Relations Connection and the National Mediation Board.
Currently, Richmond Public Schools is the only entity in the city with an active union, the Richmond Education Association, for its bargaining units. As the Free Press reported last week, the initial contracts for the RPS employees have been negotiated and are expected to impact the budget proposal that Superintendent Jason Kamras is to present later this month.
Dominion Energy Educational Equity Scholarship recipients are on the path to success. Because our communities are only as strong as our next generation, we’re investing in hundreds of young scholars across the states we serve by committing millions of scholarship dollars to help students in minority and underserved communities attend college and realize their potential.
Students can learn more and apply at DominionEnergy.com/EquityScholarships.
trust their colleagues had placed in them and promised to be accountable and available to the members.
Mayor Levar M. Stoney congratulated the new leadership team, citing them as “tireless advocates for the residents of South Richmond. I look forward to collaborating with them and the rest of council to bring equity, inclusivity and prosperity to all corners of the city.”
The council provided a soft landing for Dr. Newbille and Ms. Robertson, who will be chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Finance and Economic Development Committee, the positions Dr. Jones and Ms. Nye previously held. The committee oversees city spending.
Dr. Newbille also will replace Ms. Robertson as vice chair
of the Education and Human Services Committee.
Separately, 2nd District Councilwoman Katherine Jordan will replace Ms. Nye as chair of the Government Operations Committee.
The changes had been set in motion months ago as some members began privately expressing their dissatisfaction with Dr. Newbille and Ms. Robertson, the Free Press has been told.
Those involved expressed concern that the leadership team was too cozy with the mayor and was not sharing policy information they were privy to with the rest of council. Several members felt Dr. Newbille also was giving their policy concerns short shrift.
Asked about those concerns, Dr. Newbille did not directly respond.
Instead, she repeated what she said during the meeting after the election in her response.
“It has been my honor,” she stated, “to serve Richmond City Council as its vice president for two years and for the past four years as its president,” including the COVID-19 pandemic period that she noted has created unprecedented challenges at all levels of government.
“I am thankful and appreciative of everyone’s collective efforts over the past four years to work together to navigate these challenges,” Dr. Newbille stated.
The only major surprise was the election of Dr. Jones to the top post, given his political ambitions.
Ms. Nye had been the consensus choice, but, the Free Press has been told, decided she has too much going on in her life to take on the top role at this point.
Dr. Jones emerged when a suggestion that Dr. Newbille be allowed to serve for another year was rejected.
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the American Civil Rights Movement.
“As was the case for numerous Black youths of the Jim Crow era,” he continued, “this brave young woman has not been celebrated in the great halls of America until now.”
Well known for the work in creating public art, Mr. Weitzman’s proposed concept depicts Ms. Johns as a 16-year-old standing on a school stage, beside a lectern. The spines of books can be seen beneath the wood floorboards and Johns is holding a book in her uplifted hand.
During the meeting, Mr. Weitzman promised that members of the Johns family would serve as consultants to ensure he develops an accurate likeness of Ms. Johns when she led the strike.
Once the commission approves the final design has been approved, the concept will be submitted to the Architect of the U.S. Capitol and Congress’ Joint Committee on Libraries for final approval.
In 2020, Ms. Johns, now deceased, became the commission’s choice of a Virginia hero to replace the statue of slavery-defending Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. The general had long been one of two statues representing the state until the late Congressman A. Donald McEachin, among others, began raising concern, calling the Lee
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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:
• Tuesday, Jan. 10, 9 to 11 a.m. - Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St., JYNNEOS shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.
• Wednesday, Jan. 11, 3 to 6 p.m. - Second Baptist Church, 3300 Broad Rock Blvd., Primary Moderna shots for ages 6 months to 5 years old and ages 12 and older, bivalent booster for ages 6 and older, Primary Pfizer shots for ages 6 months and older and bivalent boosters for ages 5 and older, Novavax primary shots for ages 12 and older and boosters for ages 18 and older and Flu shots, 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) 205-3501 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 aged 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 to 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 dropped by roughly 21 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 by 24 percent since last Wednesday.
Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield and Hanover are still at medium levels of community COVID-19, while Henrico County has reached high levels as of last week. Thirty-three localities in Virginia are ranked at high community COVID levels, while 49 were ranked at medium as of last week.
A total of 1,919 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Tuesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,213,867 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Wednesday, there have been 457,422 hospitalizations and 22,687 deaths were reported statewide on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, state health officials reported that over 18.1 million COVID-19 doses had been administered, with 73.6 percent of the state’s population fully vaccinated at the time. State data also showed that over 5.1 million people in Virginia have received booster shots or third doses of the vaccine.
Among ages 5 to 11 in Virginia, 341,925 have received their first shots as of Tuesday, accounting for 47.2 percent of the age group in the state, while 300,768 children, or 41.5 percent, are fully vaccinated. In this age group, 54,453 children have received a monovalent booster, making up 7.5 percent, while 35,024 have gotten a bivalent booster shot, accounting for 12 percent of this group.
As of Tuesday, 62,541 children from the ages of zero to four have received their first doses, making up 13.8 percent of the population in Virginia, while 48,488 are fully vaccinated, or 10.7 percent of the population. On Wednesday, fewer than 1,630,680 cases, 7,640 hospitalizations and 105 deaths were recorded among children in the state.
State data also shows that African-Americans comprised 18.6 percent of cases statewide and 18 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 9.3 percent of cases and 3.6 percent of deaths.
As of Monday, Richmond reported a total of 60,624 cases, 1,262 hospitalizations and 547 deaths; Henrico County, 86,564 cases, 1,691 hospitalizations and 1,051 deaths; Chesterfield County, 96,481 cases, 1,740 hospitalizations and 861 deaths; and Hanover County, 28,025 cases, 865 hospitalizations and 336 deaths.
statue a symbol of division, oppression and racism. The other statue honors the nation’s slave-holding first president, George Washington, which remains. The General Assembly approved the choice of Ms. Johns and also allocated nearly $500,000 to cover the cost. The commission then went through a lengthy selection process.
Ms. Johns, who went on to become a librarian in Philadelphia before her death in 1991, organized and led the protest in a bid to call attention to the decaying building she and other Black students had to attend and to generate support for a modern building comparable to the one white students attended.
Instead, the two NAACP attorneys from Richmond, Oliver W. Hill Sr., and Spottswood W. Robinson III, persuaded parents
and other adults to use the Farmville situation in a federal lawsuit to overturn the “separate but equal” doctrine that allowed educational disparity.
The case they filed and four others became part of the 1954 landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., that barred government-enforced separation of children by race in school.
Ms. Johns left the area after white supremacists burned the family’s home in Farmville after the decision was handed down.
Virginia has previously honored Ms. Johns in a monument celebrating the Civil Rights Movement that stands in Capitol Square in Richmond. A building in the state’s capitol complex also has been named for her.
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disadvantaged and English-learning students — the numbers of chronically absent students increased year-over-year by as much as 10.9 percent.
When the superintendent put forth his strategic plan in 2018, the pandemic was unanticipated. But, the goal was to bring chronic absenteeism down from 19 percent to 9 percent by the end of the 2022-2023 school year. However, during Mr. Kamras’s tenure, chronic absenteeism was increasing before the pandemic. In the 2018-2019 school year, his first year, the division was at 15.7 percent; in 2019-2020, the number jumped to 19 percent and in 2020-2021, to 19.5 percent.
What changed?
Kenya Gibson, 3rd District School Board representative, said the pandemic is a factor but not a main cause of chronic absenteeism. “We do ourselves a disservice to blame the pandemic for this — these issues go back for some time,” she said in a statement to the Richmond Free Press. “In 2019, the district eliminated 17 attendance officers from the budget to save money . . . when attendance dropped, the administration requested funding to add the positions back, but it came at a cost.”
She went on to explain that “state funding hinges on kids showing up at school.” She also said the school board has changed school start times and bus routes — a real hurdle for some families.
During her presentation, Dr. Harris said the goal for RPS is to be more data-driven and focus on students trending toward chronic absenteeism.
The school district also plans to work more with the students and their families to deter them from that path. Her team is now using a data portal that has tracked their engagement strategy, which has included 700 documented outreach attempts to 200 students. The outreach includes phone calls, home visits with students and their families and community events. The approach has worked well, decreasing chronic absenteeism by 10 percent at Fairfield Court Elementary, Albert Hill Middle and Lucille Brown Middle schools over the past year. John Marshall High School was the shining start of improvement, decreasing chronic absenteeism by 19 percent in the last year.
“The first step was finding tools to support leaders, and now we can use those tools to drive the work,” Dr. Harris said during Monday’s meeting. “We are seeing that begin to happen, but not in all of the
schools just yet.”
Jonathan Young, 4th District, said the solution needs to come from a deeper place than data-driven strategies.
“This is a colossal failure,” he said, of the reported data.
In a phone interview with the Richmond Free Press, Mr. Young said he is frustrated, but remains sure the district can reach the 9 percent strategic goal. “The goals are achievable, but the strategy, the approach we’ve adopted isn’t doing it,” he said. “Let’s prioritize relationship- building where, above all, our students are treated like individuals.”
The district’s ultimate failure in approach, he said, is a centralized focus for a solution.
“What matters most is the student as a whole child; the relational value with the student.”
While Dr. Harris said she believes collecting and analyzing data is necessary to further address the problem, she agrees that relationship development also is key.
“We want to continue with the highimpact engagement practices where we are seeing impact, and in co-creating support plans with families,” she said. “We want to make sure the quality of these plans is top-notch.”
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to adjourn as they desperately searched for an endgame to the chaos of their own making. They were due back at 8 p.m.
“Well, it’s Groundhog Day,” said Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., in nominating Mr. McCarthy on the sixth ballot.
She said, “To all Americans watching right now, We hear you. And we will get through this — no matter how messy.”
But the right-flank conservatives, led by the Freedom Caucus and aligned with Donald Trump, appeared emboldened by the standoff — though Trump publicly backed Mr. McCarthy.
“This is actually an invigorating day for America,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who was nominated three times by his conservative colleagues as an alternative. “There’s a lot of members in the chamber who want to have serious conversations about how we can bring this all to a close
and elect a speaker.”
Mr. McCarthy, the California Republican, vowed to keep fighting despite the grueling spectacle, unlike any in modern times, that threw the new majority into tumult a day earlier. Animated private discussions broke out on the chamber floor between Mr. McCarthy supporters and detractors searching for an endgame.
The House gaveled in at noon, but no other work could be done — swearing in new members, forming committees, tackling legislation, investigating the Biden administration — until the speaker was elected.
“I still have the most votes,” Mr. McCarthy said at the start of the session. “At the end of the day, we’ll be able to get there.”
But the dynamic proved no different from Day One, as Democrats re-upped their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, for speaker, and Donalds offered his challenge to Mr. McCarthy in another history making moment.
Both Jeffries and Donalds are Black.
“This country needs leadership,” said Rep. Chip Roy, the Texas Republican noting the first time in history two Black Americans were nominated for the high office, and lawmakers from both parties rose to applaud.
It was the first time in 100 years that a nominee for House speaker could not take the gavel on the first vote, but Mr. McCarthy appeared undeterred. Instead, he vowed to fight to the finish.
The disorganized start to the new Congress pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House.
President Joe Biden, departing the White House for a bipartisan event in Kentucky with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, said “the rest of the world is looking” at the scene on the House floor.
“I just think it’s really embarrassing it’s taking so long,” President Biden said. “I have no idea” who will prevail.
Brazil said a final farewell to Pelé on Tuesday, burying the legend who unified the bitterly divided country.
Newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva paid his respects at Vila Belmiro, the stadium where Pelé played for most of his career.
Pelé died last week at age 82 and was laid to rest in Santos, the city where he became famous after moving there at age 15 to play for Santos FC. The funeral Mass was held at the team’s Vila Belmiro
stadium before his black casket was driven through the streets of the of Santos in a firetruck.
It was taken into the cemetery as bands played the team’s official song and a Roman Catholic hymn. Before the golden-wrapped casket arrived, attendees sang samba songs that Pelé liked.
Geovana Sarmento, 17, waited in a three-hour line to view Pelé’s body as it lay in repose. She came with her father, who was wearing a Brazil shirt with Pelé’s name.
“I am not a Santos fan, neither is my
up 643 goals in 659 outings.
For his overall professional career, he is credited with a Guinness record 1,279 goals in 1,363 games.
There was never anyone like him before, nor has there been since.
The FIFA voted Pelé as the Greatest Player of All time in 2012.
In 1999, the International Olympic Committee proclaimed him the Greatest Athlete of the Century.
Kylian Mbappe, a current international star for France (hat trick in ’22 World Cup Final), said this of Pelé: “His legacy will last forever.”
Pelé wore jersey No. 10. It was so fitting. On a scale of 1 to 10, he was a 10 — the ultimate 10.
father. But this guy invented Brazil’s national team. He made Santos stronger, he made it big, how could you not respect him? He is one of the greatest people ever, we needed to honor him,” she said.
Caio Zalke, 35, an engineer, wore a Brazil shirt as he waited in the line.
“Pelé is the most important Brazilian of all time. He made the sport important for Brazil and he made Brazil important for the world,” Zalke said.
Pelé in the 1960s and 1970s was perhaps the world’s most famous athlete. He met presidents and queens, and a civil war in Nigeria was put on hold so people could watch him play. Many Brazilians credit Pelé with putting the country on the world stage for the first time.
Rows of shirts with Pelé’s No. 10 were placed behind one of the stadium’s goals, waving in the city’s summer winds. A section of the stands filled up with bouquets of flowers placed by mourners and sent by clubs and star players — Neymar and Ronaldo among them — from around the world as loudspeakers played the song “Eu sou Pelé” (“I am Pelé”) recorded by him.
A person’s peace must never be lost in the process of preparing decisions for those we serve. Servant leadership has never been more important than right now in this season of understanding where we are in Richmond Public Schools.
Leadership is tough and servant leadership is by far tougher and extremely unpopular.
Throughout 2022, we have muscled through unpopular decisions as a school board to adopt and mirror positive and transparent change for students and staff. Not every decision voted on by the school board has been popular with the viewership. Over the past year, the Richmond School Board has gone to great lengths to model tiered levels of support for the entire staff and students in Richmond Public Schools. My foremost wish for 2023 is that we lead in peace while making decisions that ultimately impact our entire school division where student outcomes is a number one priority for me as a servant leader. Political rhetoric must come to an end in 2023 while leaders, appointed or elected, continue the path of providing support through decision making for our families we all serve. Peace and understanding can be found in listening and collaborating with an open mind. No matter the argument or disagreement, peace can be present.
My foremost wish in 2023 is that servant leaders continue to stand in political peace while making decisions serving as public officials. In addition, we continue to stand in what is right for the families we serve. Standing in what is right is not attractive, but it will strengthen the character of servant leadership. My foremost wish of 2023: I continue to serve with grace, poise, and a positive attitude regardless of the turbulence in the valley. Lastly, I continue to stand in what is right, support political peace, and the community that sees my heart.
My wish for our city in the coming year is simple: Love thy neighbor.
Loving thy neighbor means looking out for the health of our community. It means making sure everyone has access to free vaccines for Covid-19 and the flu, and basic medical care for common, preventable diseases. And it means that we take advantage of these resources to get ourselves vaccinated; to keep not only ourselves healthy, but also our families and loved ones healthy.
Loving thy neighbor means resolving our differences nonviolently with words, not weapons. It means being there for troubled family or friends to support them with programs and resources when they experience hardship, become immersed in conflict, or struggle with a mental health issue.
Loving thy neighbor means treating our homeless with dignity and showing grace to tenants struggling to meet
their rent. It means volunteering to feed the hungry or tutor children who need extra help after school.
And loving thy neighbor means rejecting hate and intolerance and embracing inclusivity and equity. It means standing up and speaking out against hate and bias in all its vulgar expressions and subtle insinuations. It means thinking of others before we think of ourselves, and recognizing that lifting up someone else does not put us down, but helps us all rise
These are just a few of the things we should strive to do in the coming year as Richmond continues along its journey to becoming a Capital of Compassion; a place where despair is short-lived, and hope reigns. This is a wish — but it doesn’t have to be. We have the power within each of us, in gestures small and large, to make this happen this year in our city. Today is a good day to start.
My number one wish for 2023 is to bring hope, jobs and security to the residents of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (“RRHA”).
As the CEO, I oversee nearly 4,000 units of public housing — that’s almost 4,000 families living in conditions that many would find untenable. These are families with children that want the same things that other Richmonders want — a safe, stable, clean environment with opportunities for self-sufficiency. They want communities where they can feel secure walking the street and where children can be safe playing outside.
HOPE – Many of our residents feel “stuck” in a cycle of poverty, miseducation, fear and low self-esteem. To give HOPE there will be programs designed to instill pride to get families “unstuck” and address the mental and emotional challenges that families may be experiencing.
JOBS – We will bring in job training for youth and adults, second chance job opportunities for “returning citizens” who have paid their debt to society, create mentor/ mentee training programs, and educational opportunities for growth and advancement.
SECURITY – We have too many mothers and fathers crying because their sons and daughters have been killed in our six public housing communities. I am running a “city within a city” and my first responsibility is the safety and security of the residents. In 2023 I plan to bring back community policing and a security force that will give residents a sense of security in their homes and neighborhoods.
As a product of public housing, I understand that there is no one cure-all, but these issues are solvable. It is said, “it takes a village to create change,” and I will work to create a “village” consisting of committed partners, leaders and concerned citizens to get it done.
Dr. Elaine Perry Director
My wish: That our health and well-being was not dependent on the color of our skin.
So many of the ways we measure health and wellness are still, to this day, dependent on our race or ethnicity. Racial disparities persist in maternal and infant mortality, rates of diabetes and asthma, access to healthy foods, rates for certain cancers, health insurance coverage, and even life expectancy — with our Black and Brown neighbors experiencing worse health outcomes in each of these categories. Just one example: In 2020, the average life expectancy for non-Hispanic white people in Virginia was 78.7 years compared to only 73.9 years for non-Hispanic Black people.
Unfortunately, I can’t just wish and make these health disparities go away. It will take hard work — and not just from your local health department. We need to work with our state and local governments, health care systems, philanthropic partners, and local nonprofit organizations that are also working toward achieving health equity.
In Richmond we are very fortunate that the City has dedicated $2.5 million of the money it received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to create the Richmond Health Equity Fund. This fund has already started investing in local community-led programs, initiatives, and leaders that will improve the health and quality of life in communities experiencing deep health disparities and the longstanding impacts of racism.
The Richmond Health Equity Fund is just one example of how RHHD is working to dismantle the impacts of racism and improve health outcomes. We strive toward that same goal throughout all of our programs and services — like our neighborhood Resource Centers and COVID-19 mobile vaccination clinics, to name a few. RHHD will continue this work and will push for a day when health outcomes are not dependent on the color of our skin.
be in their life’s journey.
During the holiday season, people appear to be more polite, thoughtful and generous. However, as we usher in the new year, things quickly return to our normal accepted way of life. Therefore, my foremost wish is for humanity to stay in this space of goodwill, care and sincerity — where the best of all people is displayed 365 days a year. I also wish for a time of individual reflection and the willingness to extend a sincere measure of grace to all people, wherever they may
Finally, as a fire service professional, it is my goal and responsibility as the fire chief of the City of Richmond to encourage a lifestyle that promotes a fire-safe existence for ourselves, those we love and the community at-large by strategically reducing risk in our community.
Thank you for supporting your Richmond Fire Department and Happy Holidays from the men and women of RFD.
Where there is servant leadership, there is peace
With the start of 2023, the Richmond Free Press invited select local officials to share their foremost wishes for the new year. Here are their responses:Melvin
D. Carter Fire Chief, City of Richmond Fire Department
In closing out 2022, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) issued facts that which Black Americans and others may find interesting.
The NNPA is the trade association representing more than 230 African American-owned newspapers and media companies that comprise the Black Press of America.
Below are some of last year’s seminal moments that the NNPA’s Stacy Brown recently shared with Black Press audiences. Thank you, Mr. Brown, for your diligence in compiling these valuable nuggets to carry with us in 2023.
• Reeling from the deaths of American icon Sidney Poitier, Civil Rights leader and legal scholar Lani Guinier, Helen Chavis Othow, and many others, the Black Press challenged Congress. Many urged lawmakers to eliminate the racist filibuster that suppressed needed laws such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) responded, calling for a vote to change the filibuster on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The vote failed, but America heard the clarion call from the Black Press.
• When the Black Press noted President Joe Biden’s declining approval ratings among African Americans, the commander-inchief responded on several fronts.
First, the Biden-Harris administration took a historical approach to advancing racial equity, including directing every agency across the federal government to address the lasting impacts of systemic racism on Black communities.
• Maya Angelou became the first Black woman on the U.S. quarter, and Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman appointed and confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• With the help of federal authorities, the killers of Ahmaud Arbery received life in prison.
• In December, the Jan. 6 Commission referred criminal charges to the Department of Justice, emphatically stating that the former president should face a judge and jury for inciting the insurrection.
• Having already spearheaded a lawsuit against prison officials in Mississippi over conditions there, hip-hop superstar Jay-Z and his team publicly demanded that authorities investigate racism and corruption in the Kansas City Police Department.
• In February, the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) began facing bomb threats, while Howard University’s Lacrosse team met racial slurs during a game in South Carolina.
• As critical race theory proved all the rage, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton called on Congress for $30 million to combat implicit bias in schools.
• In a year of Black achievement, Snoop Dogg purchased Death Row Records, the label that made him, Dr. Dre, and many others famous.
• The three officers involved in the murder of George Floyd finally received the justice many had sought, each pleading guilty for their role in killing the Black Minneapolis man.
• As Russia invaded Ukraine, the Black Press reminded the world why Black lives should matter in Ukraine. Russia responded to America’s assistance to Ukraine by taking WNBA star Brittney Griner hostage, charging her with possessing a small amount of cannabis oil. A Russian court found her guilty, and the basketball player received a more than 9-year sentence. However, in a December prisoner swap, Griner finally returned home in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
• The P.G.A. Tour reiterated its commitment to the Black Press and continued offering scholarships and grants to HBCUs and other initiatives to people of color.
Meanwhile, an emotional Tiger Woods opened up for the first time.
During his induction into the Pro Golf Hall of Fame, Woods spoke candidly about the racism and discrimination he faced as a child.
• As African-American homeowners continued to face bias in real estate, Vice President Kamala Harris released a plan to stop appraisers from putting an unfair low value on the homes of Black people.
• Congress also passed the Crown Act, which ends discrimination against natural Black hairstyles.
• In Entertainment, despite the controversial Will Smith slap of Chris Rock, Florida A&M graduate Will Packer led an all-Black production team for the 94th annual Academy Awards.
• Deion Sanders, who survived life-saving surgery that resulted in the amputation of his toes, led Jackson State University’s football team to another successful season.
Mr. Sanders then signed a multi-million-dollar contract to lead Colorado State in 2023.
• William Garth, Sr., a philanthropist, community leader, activist, political influencer, and freedom fighter, earned posthumous enshrinement into the Black Press Archives and Gallery of Distinguished Black Publishers at Howard University’s historic Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.
• Karine Jean-Pierre became the first Black woman to hold the White House press secretary job, while colleague Erica Loewe continued to open doors for Black media at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
• White Supremacy again reared its racist head with the massacre at Tops Supermarket in Buffalo.An 18-year-old white male, Payton Gendron, killed ten people and injured three others on Saturday, May 14, in a venue where Blacks make up the most significant percentage of shoppers and count as the majority of those who died.
• When the U.S. Supreme Court abolished Roe V. Wade, individuals like the Rev. William Barber held a “Moral March on Washington,” helping to push the Biden administration and local governments into action to protect women.
• In 2021, Rihanna, 34, achieved billionaire status. In 2022, Forbes acknowledged that the Barbadian beauty is now the youngest self-made billionaire in America.
• For the first time in its 246-year history, the Marines have a Black four-star general. In addition, lt. Gen. Michael Langley was confirmed to lead all U.S. military forces in Africa as chief of U.S. Africa Command.
• Democrats elected New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as the party’s leader, making him the first Black ever to head a major political party in Congress.
• Incumbent Raphael Warnock, who won a runoff in January 2021 against Republican Kelly Loeffler, defeated G.O.P. nominee Herschel Walker on Tuesday in a close contest that saw both candidates earn nearly 2 million votes.
• Harvard University has announced Claudine Gay as its new president. The dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Ms. Gay, becomes the first African-American to serve as the university’s leader and the second woman president in the institution’s illustrious history.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love said to me, “You ought to write about the family that took in the South Korean tourists who were stranded near Buffalo.”
Indeed, Alexander Campagna and his wife, Andrea, deserve to have good things placed in their stockings.
As deadly blizzard conditions piled up on the Friday before Christmas, trapping cars and emergency vehicles across the Buffalo area in New York state, the couple tried to help a group of tourists from South Korea dig their passenger van out of a ditch.
As the weather got worse and their snow shoveling couldn’t catch up, the Campagnas gave up and immediately invited the travelers in to share a big Christmas Eve dinner of Korean home-cooking and watch the Bears lose—I feel your pain, Chicago—to the Buffalo Bills.
Their heartwarming story gave news people and the nation just what we needed: some actual good news to soften the misery of a major disaster.
I needed to hear that story because I was enraged by another disaster, the busloads of migrants that Texas Gov. Greg
The group of about 130 men, women and children arrived short of coats or shoes as many clutched only blankets in the freezing 18-degree cold.
It was the latest stunt by Republican governors to protest
is the point.”
Whether she meant to, her comment echoes the title of a 2021 book by writer Adam Serwer of The Atlantic magazine: “The Cruelty is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America.” That sounds about right to me.
Yet a spokesperson for Abbott fired back: “The White House is full of a bunch of hypocrites” whose immigration policies have overwhelmed Texas border towns.
Unfortunately, that’s not entirely wrong, either, as evidenced by the visible—and growing— presence of scores of migrant children and families sleeping on the streets in El Paso, Texas, and other border towns.
time of year, it reminds me of a classic column by the late, great Tribune columnist Mike Royko.
Often headlined “Mary and Joseph in Chicago,” the 1967 column had the unique distinction of being reprinted for years by all three Chicago newspapers for which Royko worked, including this one.
It describes how the parents of Jesus might have been treated by our police and social services system if they had arrived “flat broke” and expecting a child in modern-day Chicago instead of biblical Bethlehem.
Fortunately, mutual aid organizations in Texas notified volunteers in the District of Columbia, who scrambled to meet the asylum-seekers. A church on Capitol Hill agreed to shelter the group while the mutual aid organization SAMU First Response arranged 150 breakfasts, lunches and dinners by the restaurant chain Sardis, according to The Washington Post.
For his callous lack of notice, the Texas governor deserves a lump of coal. Or as Bianca Vasquez, an organizer for Washington’s Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, put it, “The goal is really to dump people in a place where it will make a big political impact. The cruelty
Abbott and other border policy critics caught a break from the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. Justices voted 5-4 to allow Title 42 to remain in effect for now, putting a judge’s ruling that would have ended it on hold.
Title 42, strongly backed by Republicans alarmed by the number of people crossing the southern border and opposed by immigrant rights groups who call it inhumane, is a Trump-era COVID-19-related immigration policy to quickly expel asylumseekers at the border.
That debate will go on — as immigration debates historically have a habit of doing. At this
As we greet 2023, I’m feeling more than the typical seasonal optimism. America is primed once again for a historic achievement. Call it our “Earth shot.”
In the 1960s and early 1970s, the United States spent the current dollar equivalent of just under $300 billion on “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth,” as President Kennedy proposed in 1961. Ever since, that combination of aspiration and expenditure has made us call any well-financed goal that seems improbable, if not impossible, a “moonshot.”
President Biden and Congress committed almost $700 billion in the next 10 years to reducing pollution, particularly in marginalized communities most likely to suffer, and to making the transportation and energy sectors cleaner to preserve the climate. We need to appreciate the investment to save our fragile planet made in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act as our Earth shot.
This is a moment of unprecedented opportunity to combat the climate crisis, lessen the impact of environmental decay in communities that unfairly bear its brunt, and build a cleaner economy. We need to come together to seize it. It’s a moment long awaited by people of color in particular, who always have been
strong voices for environmental protection and who have been the most demanding of political leaders on these issues at the ballot box.
What’s behind this optimistic outlook? First, the landmark investment since 2021 moves us beyond the point of simply imagining what could be done to handing us the tools
to build what it will take to avert climate catastrophe and environmental decay. It’s up to us now to take up those tools and get to work. We can accelerate the arrival of a green economy. We can rebuild our manufacturing sector, not just our roads and bridges. We can create good jobs for people who need them and have struggled to find them. And we can do it all at once. In fact, we must do it all at once.
Second, that historic investment comes at a particularly opportune moment for changing the course of our climate and environment. It’s a moment when innovation is matching our resolve to make change. From batteries to LED lights to energy production, we have better, cleaner options across the economy.
This intersection of investment and innovation means we can move past the old either-or thinking that has held us back for too long, the mistaken notion that the only way to have a flourishing economy is to force some people in some places to
pay the cost of prosperity. The new reality of this time is that we can have thriving businesses and good jobs without sacrificing the planet. Getting to the moon led to everything from the silicon chip to more PhDs in science and engineering. Our Earth shot can have the same spillover effect.
While the federal government has set the stage for unprecedented progress, the work of implementation will play out in every state and community. There were no corporate lobbyists fighting to keep the Apollo rockets grounded, but we can expect fights everywhere to divert investment in a cleaner environment or to minimize its impact. We need to match those opponents in statehouses and city halls with our people power.
Environmental, labor and civil rights advocates need to come together as all our interests align in this cause.
As we close out this holiday season, let’s give ourselves the gift of belief. Let’s believe that we can do this, we can save the planet. Let’s believe that we can figure out tough challenges that our inspiration has yet to crack. And let’s believe we can move beyond old, harmful patterns of division and discrimination to ensure everyone enjoys a livable planet.
Happy New Year.
The writer is incoming executive director of the Sierra Club, America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, and professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Richmond Free Press respects the opinions of its readers. We want to hear from you. We invite you to write the editor. All letters will be considered for publication. Concise, typewritten letters related to public matters are preferred. Also include your telephone number(s). Letters should be addressed to: Letters to the Editor, Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, 422 East Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23261, or faxed to: (804) 643-7519 or e-mail: letters@richmondfreepress.com.
The Buffalo folks who welcomed the strangers into their home, rescuing them from the storm, illustrate how we Americans like to think of ourselves at our best.
Abbott’s treatment of asylumseekers does not.
The writer is a syndicated columnist and senior member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board.
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JACKSON, Miss.
In Mississippi, where elected officials have a long history of praising self-sufficiency and condemning federal anti-poverty programs, a welfare scandal has exposed how millions of dollars were diverted to the rich and powerful — including pro athletes — instead of helping some of the neediest people in the nation.
The misuse of welfare money rankles Nsombi Lambright-Haynes, executive director of One Voice, a nonprofit that works to help economically vulnerable communities in Mississippi.
“It’s shameful and disgusting, especially when we’ve been a state where we hear discussion every year about poor people not needing resources and poor people being lazy and just needing to get up to work,” she said.
The state has ranked among the poorest in the U.S. for decades, but only a fraction of its federal welfare money has been going toward direct aid to families. Instead, the Mississippi Department of Human Services allowed well-connected people to fritter away tens of millions of welfare dollars from 2016 to 2019, according to the state auditor and state and federal prosecutors.
Former Human Services Director John Davis has pleaded guilty to charges tied to welfare misspending in one of the state’s largest public corruption cases.
The scandal has ensnared high-profile figures, including retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who is one of more than three dozen defendants in a civil lawsuit that the current Human Services director filed to try to recover some of the welfare money wasted while Mr. Davis was in charge.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families money helped fund pet projects of the wealthy, including $5 million for a volleyball arena that Mr. Favre supported at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, said Mississippi Auditor Shad White. Mr. Favre’s daughter played volleyball at the school starting in 2017.
Another $2.1 million of TANF money went toward an attempt to develop a concussion drug by a company in which Mr. Favre was an investor, Mr. White said. Mr. Favre has asked a judge to dismiss him from the lawsuit, with his attorney arguing that the Department of Human Services — not Mr. Favre — is responsible for “grossly improper and unlawful handling of welfare funds.” Mr. Favre is not facing criminal charges.
Some of the money that was intended to help low-income families was spent on luxury travel for Mr. Davis, on people close to him, drug rehab for a former pro wrestler and boot camp-style gym classes for public officials.
In contrast, some welfare recipients say they found little relief but plenty of bureaucratic headaches from collecting modest monthly TANF payments.
“What may seem like an easy handout program is not,” said Brandy Nichols, a single mother of four children age 8 and younger.
Mississippi requires TANF recipients to prove they are actively looking for employment and Ms. Nichols, of Jack-
son, said proving the job search is timeconsuming.
“It’s work, and sometimes work takes away my ability to find a true, stable job,” she said.
TANF is for families that have at least one child younger than 18. To qualify in Mississippi, the household income must be at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. The current upper income limit for a family of three is $680 a month.
The Associated Press researched poverty statistics for 1982 through 2021, which show Mississippi was the poorest state for 19 of those 40 years and among the five poorest for 38 years. In 2021, the U.S. poverty rate was 11.6 percent and Mississippi’s was the highest in the nation, 17.4 percent.
Federal statistics show a dramatic decrease in the number of Mississippi residents receiving individual TANF aid starting in 2012, the first year Republican Phil Bryant was governor, and continuing
into the term of current Republican Gov. Tate Reeves. Former Gov. Bryant chose Mr. Davis to lead the Department of Human Services.
During the 2012 budget year, 24,180 Mississippians received TANF. By the 2021 budget year, that was down to 2,880 in a state with nearly 3 million residents.
Robert G. “Bob” Anderson, the current Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director, told Democratic state lawmakers in October that about 90 percent of people who apply for TANF in Mississippi don’t receive it, either because their applications are denied or because they abandon their applications.
Those who do qualify get the lowest payments in the country, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
April Jackson, a single mother with children ranging in age from a few months to 13 years old, said she received about $190 a month in TANF when she was pregnant with her third child.
Eleven years ago, the monthly payment “bought diapers and stuff like that.” But she said that after she started receiving child support from the father of her oldest son, Human Services ended her TANF benefits because she was suddenly over the income limit for the aid.
“It messed me up real bad,” said Ms. Jackson, who lives on a tight budget. “I wasn’t able to pay my part of the bills. I couldn’t buy my kids clothes for school or the shoes they needed.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said that in 2020, New Hampshire had the highest TANF payment in the country, $862 a month for a single parent and one child. Mississippi’s monthly payment for a family of two was $146.
In 2021, Mississippi increased its TANF payments by $90 per month, per family — the state’s first increase since 1999 — at Mr. Anderson’s recommendation. The increase cost $2.8 million, and Republican Sen. Joey Fillingane said during a Senate debate that it was all paid by federal money, not state money.
“We’re not talking about a lot of money,” Sen. Fillingane said. “These are the poorest of the poor in our state.”
WASHINGTON
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday finalized a rule change that broadens availability of abortion pills to many more pharmacies, mpanies.
The Biden administration partially implemented the change last year, announcing it would no longer enforce a long-standing requirement that women pick up the medicine in person. Tuesday’s action formally updates the drug’s labeling to allow many more retail pharmacies to dispense the pills, so long as they complete a certification process.
The change could expand access at both brick-and-mortar stores and online pharmacies.
Women can get a prescription via telehealth consultation with a health professional, and then receive the pills through the mail, where permitted by law.
Still, the rule change’s impact has been blunted by numerous state laws limiting abortion broadly and the pills specifically.
Legal experts foresee years of court battles over access to the pills, as abortion-rights proponents bring test cases to challenge state restrictions.
Boxes of the drug mifepristone sit on a shelf at the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on March 16, 2022. On Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, the Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule change that allows women seeking abortion pills to get them through the mail, replacing a long-standing requirement that they pick up the medicine in person.
For more than 20 years, the FDA labeling had limited dispensing to a subset of specialty offices and clinics, due to safety concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA temporarily suspended the in-person requirement. The agency later said a new scientific review by agency staff supported easing access, concurring with numerous medical societies that had
long said the restriction wasn’t necessary.
Two drugmakers that make brand-name and generic versions of abortion pills requested the latest FDA label update. Agency rules require a company to file an application before modifying dispensing restrictions on drugs.
Danco Laboratories, which sells branded Mifeprex, said in a statement the change “is critically important to expanding access to medication abortion services and will provide healthcare providers” with another option for prescribing the drug.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists called the update an “important step” forward.
“Although the FDA’s announcement today will not solve access issues for every person seeking abortion care, it will allow more patients who need mifepristone for medication abortion additional options to secure this vital drug,” the group said.
More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
Thank you for the very detailed information you provided in the Dec. 29--31,2022 edition of the Richmond Free Press concerning the homeless entitled “Why?”
When seeing (the homeless) underneath bridges and other places trying to stay warm in that frigid temperature my heart would drop. I saw many of them trying to stay warm with plastic over them. In this article pertinent questions were asked, and who is responsible for the ball being dropped? I totally agree with the article that some city officials must think legal niceties are more important than people.
Many of us are one or two paychecks away from joining (the homeless population). We seem to be more worried concerning building a casino and other buildings than we are about human beings. This should not be happening. Where are we when we say “I am my brother’s and sister’s keeper?”
Remember we are family and many (homeless people) are someone’s relative (whether) you realize it or not. City of Richmond, have a heart and show compassion when dealing with these people. They deserve better than what you are providing.
ERNEST PARKER JR. Richmond
Kudos to the January 6 House Committee for the outstanding work they did the last 18 months on investigating the Donald Trump-incited insurrection. All the committee members are heroes/ sheroes, especially Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for rightly standing up against former President Trump. Both are profiles in courage, particularly Ms. Cheney, because her stance cost her House seat in the midterm elections, while Mr. Kinzinger did not run again.
Due to Donald Trump’s serious, multiple transgressions, Ms. Cheney was correct in saying he should not be allowed to hold public office again. Actually, the greedy self-absorbed narcissist was never ever fit for holding any public office. The 90 percent white racist Republican Party should be held accountable for making Trump their nominee in 2016.
Every single day of his time as president was bizarre and chaotic. Today, two years after he lost the 2020 election, sickening “Trump fatigue” pervades our divided country. The best thing Donald Trump can do for himself, his family, the GOP and the country is to stop spreading “The Big Lie,” concede the election, and ride off into the sunset to study politics no more.
PAUL L. WHITELEY SR. Louisville, Ky.
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
President Joe Biden said he promised to lower costs for families and ensure that all Americans have access to quality affordable health care.
On Tuesday, Dec. 27, the president proclaimed that he’d delivered on that promise.
A record number of people – nearly 11.5 million – signed up for insurance on HealthCare.gov – about 1.8 million more than last year, an 18 percent increase.
The increase comes 12 years after the landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Officially called the Affordable Care Act, the legislation frequently is referred to as “Obamacare.”
With enrollment remaining open through Jan. 15, and not counting those who signed up for coverage through their state marketplaces, President Biden said gains like those have helped to drive down the uninsured rate to eight percent, the lowest level in U.S. history.
“In recent days, we received further proof that our efforts are delivering record results and bringing families the peace of mind that comes with health insurance,” the president said.
“Right now, four out of five people who sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act can find health care coverage for $10 a month or less. These lower rates were set to expire at the end of this year, but thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we were able to extend them and save millions of Americans on Obamacare an average of $800 a year.”
The Biden administration noted that, on Jan. 1, Americans will see the benefits of additional cost-saving measures because of the Inflation Reduction Act.
That includes seniors realizing a month’s supply of insulin capped at $35, Medicare beneficiaries paying $0 out of pocket for recommended adult vaccines covered by their Part D plan, and prescription drug companies needing to pay Medicare a rebate if they try to raise their prices faster than inflation for drugs administered at a doctor’s office.
“We’re not finished working to make health care a right, not a privilege,” President Biden declared.
The administration continues to encourage individuals to visit HealthCare.gov by Jan. 15 to take advantage of lower rates and sign up for health care for the coming year.
Nearly 11.5 million people opted for Obamacare last yearThe Associated Press Associated Press photo Stories by Fred Jeter
The HBCU trend toward hiring celeb rity football coaches continues.
NFL Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed is the new head coach at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Coach Reed, 44, was a five-time All-Pro and ninetime Pro Bowl selection with Baltimore, helping the Ravens to the Super Bowl crown in 2013.
The University of Miami alumnus had 64 career NFL interceptions that he returned for a league record 1,590 yards. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.
At B-C, Coach Reed replaces Terry Sims, who was 2-9 this past season and 38-39 overall. In 2021, B-C moved from the MEAC to the SWAC.
It is apropos that Jamarion Sharp plays basketball for the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers.
Stretching to 7-foot-5, Sharp appears to be standing on a hill even when on flat land. He is currently the tallest player in all of college basketball.
From Hopkinsville, Ky., Sharp is averaging seven points, seven rebounds and an NCAA best 4.5 blocked shots per game for 8-4 WKU.
Last season as a junior, Sharp led the nation with 4.6 blocks per and was Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year.
Sharp’s take-notice height makes sense in that his father, Mario Sharp, is 6-foot-9 and his mother, Shiby Watkins, is 6-foot-5.
Coach Reed’s previous coaching experience included one season as an assistant with the NFL Buffalo Bills and one season as an assistant with his alma mater, Miami.
Most recently he was the Hurricane’s chief of staff, an administrative position.
Coach Reed isn’t alone as a former NFL star now employed by an HBCU. Eddie George, a former Heisman Trophy winner and long-time NFL running back, is entering his third season at Tennessee State.
NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders served as Jackson State’s coach the past three years before moving on to Colorado.
Turning back the clock, Virginia Union’s head coach in 1994 was former NFL All-Pro wide receiver Harold Jackson.
Do you believe underdog Texas Christian University can win the College Football Playoff against powerhouse Georgia?
If not, doubters might listen to the Hypnotoad.
Through its against-all-odds run to the CFP championship game, TCU’s Horned Frogs, with their giddy fan base, have come up with a mascot of sorts, the Hypnotoad.
According to its creator, cartoonist Matt Groening (of “The Simpsons” fame), “a Hypnotoad has the power to make you believe what it wants you to believe through hypnosis.”
So far, it’s worked, somehow, some way.
The original Hypnotoad appeared in the sci-fi cartoon “Futurama” that started in 1999.
Horned Frogs’ Hypnotoad differs in that it is mostly TCU purple in color. Drawings are
popping up all over Fort Worth and at game locations.
A rags to riches tale, TCU was just 5-7 a year ago and failed to qualify for any bowl. The program started this season completely unranked.
Meanwhile, Georgia won it all last year and has been a clear No. 1 this entire season.
Bulldogs are a prohibitive
Associated Press AUCKLAND, New Zealand
Venus Williams is back in the win column.
The 42-year-old Williams beat qualifier Katie Volynets 7-6 (4) 6-2 in the first round at the ASB Classic on Monday for her first singles victory since Wimbledon in 2021.
The seven-time major champion has been awarded a wild-card entry to play at the Australian Open.
on the WTA tour dating back two years. Her only singles victories in that time came at Grand Slam level, most recently in a first-round win at the All England Club in 2021. She was 0-4 in singles last year.
“This is one of my favorite places to come and I was so excited that I made it here,” the former No. 1 player said in her on-court interview. “It is so great to be back and thank you for staying so late and I am glad that I managed to get a win.”
Williams will next face Chinese player Zhu Lin, who beat Madison Brengle.
opened her 2023 season with a 6-1, 6-1 win over 15-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova.
The 20-year-old Canadian said life had been tough since her final appearance at the 2021 U.S. Open, where she was beaten by Britain’s Emma Raducanu, who also is in the main draw at Auckland.
“It’s been tougher more mentally and emotionally because you don’t really know what the future holds for you and you have these big dreams and sometimes you get knocked down and you feel like that’s the end of the journey,” the third-seeded Fernandez said.
Venus Williams
She ended a nine-match losing streak
Fred Valentine, among the first HBCU alumni to play Major League Baseball, died Dec. 26 at age 87.
The switch-hitting outfielder from Clarksdale, Miss., used Tennessee State University in Nashville as a springboard to a sevenseason big league career.
Mr. Valentine was also among the first Black players to suit up for the Baltimore Orioles when he debuted in 1959. He later played for the expansion Washington Senators.
His best season was in 1966 when he hit .276 with 16 homers, 59 runs batted in and had 22 stolen bases for the Senators under manager Gil Hodges.
For his career, spanning 533 games, Mr. Valentine had 360 hits with 56 doubles, 10 triples and 47 stolen bases.
He later played one season with Hanshin in the Japanese pro league.
The list of HBCU alumni in Major League Baseball lore isn’t a long one, but it is impressive. Here is a sampling:
Andre Dawson, Marquis Grissom and Vince Coleman (Florida A&M), Lou Brock and Rickie Weeks (Southern), Ralph Garr and Tommy Agee (Grambling), Earl Battey (BethuneCookman), Joe Black (Morgan State) and Al Bumbry, “The Bumblebee” (Virginia State).
Larry Doby, who followed Jackie Robinson in 1947 as the second African-American to break the color barrier, played one season of basketball at Virginia Union, but did not play baseball for the Panthers.
Earlier Monday, Leylah Fernandez
Willie Taylor, who thrilled VCU fans with his theatrical dunks and three-point swishes, died Dec. 31. The native of the Nashville, Tenn., area was 42.
After transferring from Georgetown, Mr. Taylor scored 1,367 points in just 87 games for the Rams between 2000 and 2003.
As a senior, the bouncy 6-foot-6 forward averaged 17.3 points and 4.1 rebounds while hitting 41 percent from threepoint range and earning All-CAA honors.
Mr. Taylor’s career high of 41 points (including 28 by halftime) was set in 2000 against Evans-
John Marshall High School ran through a strong field on its way to its first Chick-fil-A Classic championship. During the Dec. 27-30 tournament, John Marshall defeated two nationally-ranked opponents, including Friday’s 68-55 win over Wheeler (Ga,) to win the American Bracket title at River Bluff High School.
The Justices defeated Columbus (Fla.) last Thursday to make it to the championship game. Columbus High was No. 12 in ESPN’s high school rankings while Wheeler was 17th.
North Carolina State - bound Dennis Parker led John Marshall with 23 points in the win. Guard Damon Thompson, Jr. added 17 points and was named the bracket’s MVP.
ville. Only Charles “Jabo” Wilkins (45 in 1968) and Chris Cheeks (42 in 1989) have ever scored more in a single game.
Rams’ legend Don “Cisco” Ross scored 55 in a 1967 game when VCU was still called Richmond Professional Institute (RPI).
Mr. Taylor’s 15.7 career scoring average ranks sixth among all-time Rams. Only Wilkins scored more in a three-year VCU career (1,716 points, 196871.)
He wore No. 4 for the Rams under Coach Mack McCarthy and Coach Jeff Capel.
13-point favorite to repeat as champs this go-round. Could be a blowout.
Still, the Hypnotoad might convince you otherwise.
For all the marbles
What : College Football Playoff Finals When : Monday, Jan. 9, 2023
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., EST Where : SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif.
Matchup: No. 3 seed Texas Christian University vs. defending champion No. 1 seed University of Georgia TV: ESPN and ESPN app Betting line : Caesars Sportsbook favors Georgia by 13 points.
Georgia Bulldogs Record: 14-0
How they got here: Won Southeastern Conference and defeated Ohio State, 42-21, in CFP semifinals
Coach: Kirby Smart
Star quarterback: Stetson Bennett (28-1 record over past two seasons)
National championships: 1942, 1980, 2021
Heisman Trophy winners: Frank Sinkwich, 1942, and Herschell Walker, 1982 Texas Christian Horned Frogs Record: 13-1
How they got here: Finished second in Big 12 and defeated Michigan, 51-45, in CFP semifinals
Coach: Sonny Dykes
Star quarterback: Max Duggan (Heisman finalist; Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award)
National championships: 1935, 1938
Heisman Trophy winners: Davey O’Brien, 1938
Jerome Legions Jr. hopes to bring new energy to one of Richmond’s oldest civic and civil rights groups in the new year.
Elected as president of the Richmond Crusade for Voters last November, Mr. Legions’ two-year term starts this year. He has several major ideas for his new role as the Crusade gears up to engage more voters by increasing voter education and the voting strength in Richmond.
“We’re still trying to strategize how to have a stronger Get Out the Vote campaign,” Mr. Legions says, “(and) how to have a stronger community engagement vehicle for the organization.”
Mr. Legions joined the Crusade in 2021. After serving as treasurer, he soon was chosen to continue the trajectory set by previous president Jonathan Davis.
Mr. Legions says his experience and skill sets, which include work with the Moore Street School Foundation, the Carver Area Civic Improvement League and other organizations, was key to the Crusade selecting him as president.
Improving Richmond’s economic development opportunities through community and voter engagement, with an emphasis on information gathering and sharing, are highlights of Mr. Legion’s agenda. He cites the need for the organization to embrace change and encourage more young people to become members.
“All too often you can hear someone say, ‘This is the way we have always done it’,” Mr. Legions says. “Well, if we are to attract younger members, we have to adapt to what potential younger members have become familiar with and accustomed to in order to get things done.”
Mr. Legions emphasizes the importance of having the Crusade recognized as a nonpartisan organization. The organization should be able to reach out to officials across the political spectrum while ensuring that the local community is well-served by its leaders, he says.
Although the type of political work the Crusade seeks to accomplish is substantial, Mr. Legions believes that some headway already has been made through its efforts with Mayor Levar M. Stoney. He sees many commonalities between the Mayor’s office and the Crusade’s agenda, particularly when it comes to a focus on community.
“Mayor Stoney, on several occasions, has been on the same side of the bench (with the Crusade) especially in the areas of community safety, community growth, education and economic development,” Mr. Legions says.
“I believe that the mayor will continue to be receptive to the agenda of RC4V because many of his tenets will be in our agenda.”
In a city filled with similar civil rights and civic organizations, the Crusade is one of many groups working to change and bring about change. Mr. Legions isn’t worried about this crowded field, however.
“We all want the same thing,” Mr. Legions says. “We may be going at it just a little differently, but I think what’s happening is that we all aspire to keep our legacy alive.”
Meet the newest leader of the Richmond Crusade for Voters and the week’s Personality, Jerome Legions Jr.:
Volunteer position: President of Moore Street School Foundation, President of Carver Area Civic Improvement
league, Chair of Upsilon Nu Chapter Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Fatherhood and Mentor Initiative.
Date and place of birth: August 9, Philadelphia, Pa.
Where I live now: Richmond’s Carver Community.
Education: John Bartram High School, Philadelphia, and English major at Virginia Union University.
Family: My three brothers and sisters live in Philadelphia. However, I have wonderful friends who have taken on the role of family.
Richmond Crusade for Voters is: A nonpartisan organization with a thrust on voter advocacy.
When and why founded: This organization was founded in 1956 with the purpose of increasing voter strength as well influencing political decisions to improve the living conditions in Richmond.
Founder(s): Dr. William S. Thornton, Dr. William Ferguson Reid and John Mitchell Brooks, a Richmond businessman.
When you were elected president: November 2022.
Why I accepted position: There were members in the organization who felt that I have the experience and skill sets to maintain the trajectory that was set by the previous president, Jonathan Davis.
Length of term: Two years.
Number one goal or project as president: Through community and voter engagement the number one goal is to improve economic development.
Strategy for achieving goals: The best strategy for achieving this goal is through sharing of information, planning and, more importantly, execution.
Crusade’s agenda for Richmond City Council members: First and foremost, let’s have another discussion about Rank Choice Voting and become more focused on solving the homeless problem instead of seeing our most vulnerable displaced by new developments throughout the city.
Expectations for Richmond Public School Board: Put policy and people in place that can improve every educational aspect that will prepare our students to be productive citizens.
Get out the vote strategies for the Feb. 23 4th Congressional District special election: Currently we are in the process of strategizing to have a more robust GOTV and Voter education campaign.
Ways Crusade will mobilize voters for the 2024 elections: We plan to use every possible vehicle available.
How the Crusade plans to engage young and new voters: Go to where they are and ask for their suggestions, strategies and support in programming and project execution.
How to get involved: Come to a meeting which is the third Tuesday of each month, or join the Crusade via the website, https://www.richmondcrusadeforvoters.org/.
A perfect day for me is: A perfect day is just spending time relaxing at home, watching TV.
Something about me that people may not know: I was a sprinter in high school. Most would never suspect that considering how slow I walk (laughter).
A quote that inspires me: “Excuses will always be there for you, opportunity won’t.
At the top of my “to-do” list is: Find more funding sources for Moore Street School.
Best late-night snack: Does beer count as a snack?
The best thing my parents ever taught me: “Get engaged and stay engaged.”
The person who influenced me the most: There are just too many people that fall in that category.
Book that influenced me the most: “The Code of the Samurai” by A.L. Sadler.
What I’m reading now: Actually, I am again reading, “The Code of the Samurai.”
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Born in 1924 during the harsh racial segregation regime, the Rev. Curtis White Harris Sr. rose to become a key figure in the fight for Black equality in Virginia and the country.
Rev. Harris was an unlikely figure to help lead the fight against white supremacist control of Black people in the Old Dominion. He was the sixth child of an impoverished tenant farmer, who would later desert his wife and children.
Undeterred by his background and the intense hostility of those who sought to block the way, the Baptist minister became a dogged advocate for equality and would propel himself to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, becoming a top lieutenant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in this state and later the first Black Mayor of Hopewell, which was his base.
Rev. Harris’ rise from obscurity to prominence is detailed in the first biography about him, ‘Virginia’s Civil Rights Hero: Curtis W. Harris Sr.” that The History Press of Charleston, S.C., just released ahead of the 2023 celebration of Dr. King’s birthday on Monday, Jan. 16.
Florida-based author William P. Lazarus wrote the 144-page book, which both describes the role that Rev. Harris played and also delves deeply into the history of both the community and state in which he lived and worked before his death in December 2017.
“I became very interested in the topic for several reasons,” said Mr. Lazarus, 73, who is the brother of a Richmond Free Press reporter.
“The resurgence of racism in this country has obscured the efforts made by many people, including Rev. Harris, to overcome the entrenched hatred in this country,” Mr. Lazarus continued. “I felt Rev. Harris deserves to be remembered because of the continuing overt racism in this country as well as the efforts by conservative politicians to bury the past.”
As the book notes, before he began leading Union Baptist Church in Hopewell and Gilfield Baptist Church in Southampton County, Rev. Harris was a janitor at what was then an Allied Chemical plant in Hopewell to support his family.
He got his first taste of advocacy in leading a successful fight to force the company to hire Black people for jobs in offices, as truck drivers and in positions that paid more than janitors made.
Initially president of the Hopewell Branch NAACP and then a local, regional and national officer in Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Rev. Harris stayed on the front lines.
He would lead demonstrations and protests in which he was arrested 13 times in seeking to end racial barriers at restaurants, swimming pools, cemeteries and other locations, the book recounts. He was beaten and spat on among other indignities, but the dogged minister refused to be cowed. He even faced down the Ku Klux Klan in a march on Hopewell’s City Hall, the book notes.
Along with protests in Hopewell, Danville and other communities, he also participated with Dr. King in the 1963 March on Washington for
When Ben Jealous takes the reins as the Sierra Club’s executive director on Jan. 23, he plans to begin leading by “listening.”
The former head of the NAACP was the unanimous choice of the 130-year-old environmental organization’s board of directors when appointed to lead the Sierra Club last month. He becomes the first Black person to hold the position, according to the volunteer-led nonprofit.
“Too many leaders still think that we can only create a growing economy if we sacrifice people, the wild, and even the planet itself,” said Mr. Jealous, who served as NAACP president and CEO from 2008 to 2013.
“This flawed ‘either/or’ mindset — with its roots deep in our nation’s history of colonialism — has led our planet to the brink.”
Mr. Jealous will use his first month to reach out and listen to the organization’s base of millions of volunteers, state chapters, staff, donors and partners, according to the Sierra Club. He plans to share his findings with the board of directors at its February meeting.
Sierra Club President Ramón Cruz said Mr. Jealous joins the organization at “a critical juncture”
as it seeks more “equitable and just ways to fight for a healthy and sustainable future.”
“At the same time, he can point us to a future where we recognize the disproportionate impact of climate change and environmental decay, based on race, gender, class and other identities.”
After leaving the NAACP, Mr. Jealous ran, unsuccessfully, in 2018 as the Democratic candidate for governor of Maryland. Since 2000, he has been president of People for the American Way. His columns frequently appear in the Free Press’ opinion pages.
“Ben has demonstrated a personal commitment to our core values throughout his career as a community organizer,
environmental and civil rights leader,” Mr. Cruz said. While at the NAACP, Mr. Jealous launched its climate justice program, and in 2012 issued a report assessing the impact of the nation’s 378 coal-fired power plants on communities of color and low-income communities.
Said Jealous: “New technologies and recent major progress in our nation’s capital have us poised to reduce carbon emissions faster than ever before. As a nation, we are on the cusp of finally cutting bait with dangerous ‘either/ or’ strategies and embracing a ‘both/and’ future in which all communities become more prosperous and we help save the planet in the process.
racial equality and the Selma-to-Montgomery, Ala., march for voting rights.
The book also recounts the successful fight Rev. Harris led to end Hopewell’s whites-only City Council after he ran and lost seven times in a bid win a seat. That fight led to the creation of a ward system and, later, his winning an election to represent a majority-Black section of the city.
He would serve 26 years, including making history after winning enough council votes to become the city’s first Black mayor.
Mr. Lazarus said that he briefly talked with Rev. Harris prior to his death and said the minister expressed interest in the work.
Five years ago, “I then began researching, happily finding oral tapes Rev. Harris had previously made. I also gathered research on racism, Virginia law, the civil rights movement and legal decisions. I also found books that detailed life in Hopewell, as well as Dedron, Rev. Harris’ birthplace in Surry County,” and gained additional help from a historical society in Dedron and from historians and librarians in Hopewell.
He brought his own extensive experience to the work, including previous books on Biblical history and a history of racing in Daytona Beach.
He also is a former reporter for the New Haven Register and Daytona Beach News-Journal, and a past editor of Halifax Magazine. Mr. Lazarus is the recipient of numerous awards, including feature writer of the year in Florida.
Mr. Lazarus said the research findings for his book were eye-opening.
“I was not aware previously of the role Virginia played in creating racism and institutionalizing it,” he said.
While slavery has been around for millennia, “I could find no evidence of racism in ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian or Babylonian cultures. Nor does it show up through the Middle Ages. People were aware of racial differences, but did not associate that with belief in the inferiority of one or another race,” he said.
Mr. Lazarus said that the philosophy of white supremacy “emerged in the1600s and is directly traceable to Virginia laws that identified anyone with dark skin as a slave.”
He sought to interweave such history into his book.
“People need to be reminded of life prior to the Civil Rights Movement and to what these brave men and women endured,” he said.
As he discovered, Virginia’s leadership in bigotry went beyond creation of the laws that supported racial segregation and the fight against court rulings that struck down racial separation.
The state also led in the effort to sterilize women, mostly Black, who were deemed unfit to reproduce because of alleged mental retardation or other alleged defects, winning attention from Adolph Hitler and the Nazis.
Mr. Lazarus said he hopes that his book increases the understanding of the civil rights movement and the important role that Rev. Harris played.
“While Dr. King, Rosa Parks and Rev. Abernathy rightly received the lion’s share of recognition,” he said, “it was individuals like Rev. Harris, struggling and fighting on the local level, who made national success possible.”
“The
For more than a half-century, she was on the air, placing in front of her audience world figures, big shots and celebrities whose names and faces might have changed from year to year. But hers never did.
She first found her way to prominence in a visually oriented business where, typically, women were adornments or otherwise secondary.
And there she stayed, stayed so long and reliably she came to serve as a trusted reference point: What Barbara thought, what she said and, especially, what she asked the people she interviewed.
Ms. Walters, whose death at age 93 was announced Dec. 30, 2022, was a heroic presence on the TV screen, leading the way as the first woman to become a TV news superstar during a career remarkable for its duration and variety.
Late in her career, she gave infotainment a new twist with “The View,” a live ABC weekday kaffee klatsch with a diverse all-female panel for whom any topic was on the table and who welcomed guests ranging from world leaders
to teen idols. A side venture and unexpected hit, Ms. Walters considered “The View” the “dessert” of her career.
Ms. Walters made headlines in 1976 as the first female network news anchor, with an unprecedented $1 million salary that drew gasps.
During nearly four decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, Ms. Walters’ exclusive interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers brought her celebrity status that ranked with theirs, while placing her at the forefront of the trend in broadcast journalism that made stars of TV reporters and brought news programs into the race for higher ratings.
Her drive was legendary as she competed — not just with rival networks, but with colleagues at her own network — for each big “get” in a world jammed with more and more interviewers, including female journalists who followed the trail she blazed.
“I never expected this!” Ms. Walters said in
2004, taking measure of her success. “I always thought I’d be a writer for television. I never even thought I’d be in front of a camera.” But she was a natural on camera, especially when plying notables with questions.
In May 2014, she taped her final episode of “The View” amid much ceremony and a gathering of scores of luminaries to end a five-decade career in television (although she continued to make occasional TV appearances). During a commercial break, a throng of TV newswomen she had paved the way for — including Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and Connie Chung — posed with her for a group portrait.
“I have to remember this on the bad days,” Ms. Walters said quietly, “because this is the best.” Her career began with no such signs of majesty.
Ms. Walters graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1943 and eventually landed for a “temporary,” behind-the-scenes assignment at
“Today” in 1961.
As she appeared more frequently, she was spared the title of “‘Today’ Girl” that had been attached to her token female predecessors. But she had to pay her dues, sometimes sprinting across the “Today” set between interviews to do dog food commercials.
She had the first interview with Rose Kennedy after the assassination of her son, Robert, as well as with Princess Grace of Monaco, President Richard Nixon and many others. She traveled to India with Jacqueline Kennedy, to China with Nixon and to Iran to cover the shah’s gala party. But she faced a setback in 1971 with the arrival of a new host, Frank McGee. Although they could share the desk, he insisted she wait for him to ask three questions before she could open her mouth during joint interviews with “powerful persons.”
By 1976, she was a “Today” co-host and was earning $700,000 a year. But when ABC signed her to a $5 million, five-year contract, she was branded “the million-dollar baby.”
Walters is survived by her daughter, Jacqueline Danforth.
Earle Palmer Taylor, a renowned Richmond photographer who ran a nonprofit Shockoe Bottom art gallery for two decades and taught hundreds of people the art of taking and developing pictures at the city’s Pine Camp art center, has died.
Mr. Taylor died Monday, Dec. 26, 2022, according to Scott’s Funeral Home. He was 94.
The Richmond native who grew up in Navy Hill was to be paid final tributes at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 5, at St. Paul’s Catholic Church.
Mr. Taylor was best known for portraits, including of such notables as sculptor Selma Burke, jazz artist Miles Davis and actress Jasmine Guy.
As he put it in a Free Press Personality feature, “I am a serious people watcher. That’s why I do photography.”
Part of a family of six children, he got his start with a camera while taking art lessons in an after-school program that Black sculptor Leslie Garland Bolling offered at the historic Craig House at 19th and East Grace streets.
Mr. Taylor initially took drawing lessons, but
found that effort to create art too slow and frustrating. “I wanted to be too good, too fast,” he stated in the feature.
His life changed when he bought a basic photography kit that included a developer and a little light box and began teaching himself the rudiments. “I cannot paint as well as my camera can make picture,” he stated in the feature.
In an article about his life, he stated that he continued to hone his camera skills while serving with the U.S. Army Signal Corps and later took courses at a University of Virginia extension program offered in Richmond.
Turning professional, Mr. Taylor eschewed weddings and other group affairs and focused on developing a portfolio that could be displayed in art exhibits locally and across the country and overseas, particularly in Brazil and the Caribbean islands.
Seeking to help promote the work of what he saw as underappreciated Black artists, he was a longtime member of the Richmond Chapter of
VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis praised Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s “acute and gentle thought” as he presided over a packed Wednesday general audience in the Vatican, while thousands of people paid tribute to the former pope on the final day of public viewing in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Francis was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in the Paul VI auditorium and shouts of “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope” as he arrived for his weekly catechism appointment with the faithful.
This week’s audience was conducted while tens of thousands of people continued to flock to the Vatican to pay their respects to Pope Benedict XVI before the official viewing of his body ends Wednesday evening.
From Monday through midday Wednesday, nearly 160,000 people had passed through the basilica, the Vatican said.
“It is my duty to come,” said Małgorzata Nowska, a Polish resident of Rome as she paid tribute Wednesday. She said she wanted to give Pope Benedict XVI “a last hug, a last prayer.”
Pope Francis is due to preside over the late German pope’s funeral on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, an event that is drawing heads of state and royalty despite Pope Benedict XVI’s requests for simplicity and Vatican efforts to keep the first Vatican funeral for an emeritus pope in modern times low-key. Only Italy and Germany were invited to send official delegations, and Ger-
man President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian President Sergio Mattarella confirmed their participation.
But other heads of state and government decided to take the Vatican up on its offer and come in their “private capacity.”
As of a late count Wednesday, seven heads of state, four prime ministers and two delegations of royal representatives were attending as private citizens, including the president of Togo, the prime minister of Gabon and royals from Belgium and Spain.
And in a further sign of officialdom, the Italian government announced it was lowering all Italian and European Union flags to half-staff on public buildings across the country Thursday.
Pope Francis drew applause when he opened his remarks by giving a shout-out to all those who were outside paying tribute to Pope Benedict XVI, whom he called a “great master of catechesis.”
“His acute and gentle thought was not self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us in the encounter with Jesus,” Pope Francis said.
Later Wednesday, Vatican officials were to place Pope Benedict XVI’s body in a cypress coffin — the first of three coffins —along with a brief, written summary of his historic papacy, the coins minted during his pontificate and his pallium stoles.
After the funeral in the piazza, the remains will be carried back into the basilica, where the
coffin will be placed inside a zinc one, and then finally into another made from oak.
In keeping with Pope Benedict XVI’s wishes, his remains will be placed in the crypt once occupied by the tomb of St. John Paul II in the grottos underneath the basilica. Pope John Paul’s tomb was moved upstairs into the main basilica ahead of his 2011 beatification.
Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected pope in 2005
the National Council of the Arts, a Black organization that started in Atlanta in 1959.
Mr. Taylor was instrumental in 1974 in organizing with other artists the Last Stop Gallery on Main Street near the Farmers’ Market to exhibit the works of local, regional, national and international artists.
In 1980, the Last Stop started opening on Fridays to the public, beginning a tradition that other galleries in the city later emulated. He became a key figure in operating the gallery until it closed in 1995. He was most proud of hosting in 1993 a touring show featuring the works of 18 internationally known Black artists.
Mr. Taylor also was well known for the photography courses he offered at Pine Camp. He began offering instruction in 1978 and continued them until he retired in 2014 at the age of 86. He also taught photography in Virginia State University’s Community College of Fine Arts.
He also was involved in Scouting and the Washington-based Very Special Arts, which provides art education for mentally and physi-
cally disabled children and adults.
“I have been about supporting the cultural, political and Catholic life,” he once said.
Mr. Taylor also participated in creating memorials to the Catholic Van de Vyver School and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church that he once attended in Jackson Ward, as well as his former stomping ground of Navy Hill. All were demolished, with Navy Hill razed to make space for government buildings.
He led the effort to create a small park on 1st Street that features a bell from the long-gone church, and wrote the inscription on a stone marker to the neighborhood that now sits at 4th and Jackson streets. The original inscription read: “Love and memories never die as days roll on and years pass by. Deep in our hearts memories are kept of the ones we loved and shall never forget.”
While he promoted Black artists, Mr. Taylor never wanted to be pigeon-holed. He was quick to say his forebears were “African, Cherokee, Powhatan and Irish. We’re all mixed and always have been.”
Mr. Taylor’s only immediate survivor is his brother, Willard Taylor.
By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press
Damar Hamlin’s goal was simple: He wanted to raise $2,500 online to buy toys for needy kids.
It took about two years.
Then came Monday, when the Buffalo Bills safety was critically injured and needed his heart restarted on the field in a chilling scene that unfolded during a nationally televised game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He instantly became one of the biggest stories in sports, and thousands of people found his GoFundMe page.
The result: roughly $4.4 million donated in the first 17 hours after his injury. And the number is climbing.
A fundraiser that as of last month had raised $2,921 was up to $5.5 million by 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday — with about 157,000 people going online in that span to donate, on average, about $28. Some of the donations were smaller. Some were more than $5,000. Some were even from New England Patriots players, who are scheduled to play at Buffalo on Sunday for the regular-season finale.
On average, about 2.5 donations were being made every second in that initial 17-hour span. And many came with messages of hope for a 24-year-old player in his second season, sedated in a Cincinnati hospital, listed in critical condition and with some teammates unwilling
VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER MARION THOMAS, Plaintiff v. JONATHAN THOMAS, Defendant. Case No.: CL22003671-00
ORDER OF PUBLICATION
The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.
It is ORDERED that the defendant, who is a nonresident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, appear here on or before the 7th day of February, 2023 at 9:00 AM, and protect his interests.
A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667
VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER RANAN GARRISON, aka ROMAN GARRISON, Plaintiff
to return to Buffalo just so they could remain close to him.
“There are moments in life that stop the world,” wrote Michael Lynch, who donated. “We all pray for two things. Your speedy recovery and that your impact to the world is enhanced by your GoFundMe.”
The messages poured in from different fan bases, many of the donors letting the world know that they support other teams. One came with a hashtag that read, “we are all Bills fans.”
Hamlin started the GoFundMe in December 2020. He was just wrapping up his college career and getting ready for the NFL draft process. And he wanted to have a toy drive at Kelly and Nina’s Daycare Center — a facility co-owned by his mother — in his hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, a place with about 6,000 residents along the south bank of the Ohio River.
“As I embark on my journey to the NFL, I will never forget where I come from and I am committed to using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me,” Hamlin wrote when setting up the drive. “I created The Chasing M’s Foundation as a vehicle that will allow me to deliver that impact, and the first program is the 2020 Community Toy Drive. This campaign gives you the opportunity to contribute to our first initiative and positively impact children who have been hardest hit by the pandemic.”
months.
It is ORDERED that the defendant, who has been served with the Complaint by posted service appear here on or before the 8th day of February, 2023 at 9:00 AM, and protect her interests.
A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Counsel VSB# 27724 The Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667
VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE COUNTY OF HENRICO Mahmoud Elsayed Plaintiff, v. Flintayvia GB Williams Defendant, Case No. CL22006794-00
ORDER OF PUBLICATION
The object of this suit is for the Plaintiff to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the grounds that the parties have lived separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption, and with Plaintiff’s intent to terminate the marriage, for a period exceeding twelve (12) months, namely since June of 2020.
It appearing by affidavit that Plaintiff has no knowledge
what is necessary to protect his interests herein.
A Copy Teste: HEIDI S. BARSHINGER, CLERK Richard J Oulton, Esq VSB #29640 America Law Group, Inc 8501 Mayland Drive #106 Henrico VA 23294 (804)308-0051 Fax: (804)308-0053
VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND JOHN MARSHALL COURTS BUILDING CITY OF RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v. DIANA METzGER BROOkE, et al, Defendants. Case No.: CL22-4384 ORDER OF PUBLICATION
The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 3700 Iron Bridge Road, Richmond, Virginia, Tax Map Number C0081065012 to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, Diana Metzger Brooke An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, Diana Metzger Brooke who is not a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose last known post-office address is 836 Stevenson Road, Severn Maryland 21144, has not filed a response to this action,
forward to appear on or before FEBRUARY 16, 2023 and do what is necessary to protect their interests in this matter.
An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, Clerk Gregory A. Lukanuski, Esq. City of Richmond, Office of the City Attorney 900 E. Broad Street Richmond, VA 23219 804-646-7949
Trustees’ Sale of 13301 Fern Run Montpelier, VA In execution of that certain deed of trust dated November 19, 2015 securing payment in the original principal amount of $500,000.00 recorded in the Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Court of the Hanover County, VA as Instrument Number 20151123000154100 at page 0001, (the “Deed of Trust”), default having occurred in payment of the indebtedness secured by the Deed of Trust, the undersigned Substitute Trustee, at the direction of the secured party will offer for sale at public auction at the main entrance to the building housing the Circuit Court of Hanover County, VA, 7530 County Complex Road, Hanover VA on February 3, 2023 at 12:00 Noon. the property described in the referenced Deed of Trust located at the above address and more particularly described as follows: ALL that certain Lot, piece or parcel of land, with the improvements thereon, and appurtenances thereto belonging, lying and being in the South Anna District, Hanover County, VA known and designated as Lot 7, Section “B”, Riverview Estates containing 10.004 acres, more or less according to a plat of survey recorded in the Clerk’s Office, Circuit Court, Hanover County, VA in the Subdivision Plat Book 7, pages 190-191. TERMS OF SALE: CASH. A bidder’s deposit of $30,000.00 or 10%
of the sale price, whichever is lower, in the form of cash or certified funds payable to the Substitute Trustee must be presented at the time of sale. The balance of the purchase price is due within fifteen (15) days of the date of sale, otherwise Purchaser’s deposit may be forfeited to the Substitute Trustee(s) to be disbursed in accordance with VA law. The Property and appurtenances thereto, if any, will be sold “as is” without warranty of any kind and subject to any and all judgments, liens, covenants, conditions, restrictions, easements or other matters of record or not of record which may take priority over the referenced Deed of Trust. Time is of the essence. The sale is subject to post-sale confirmation by the secured party or the Substitute Trustee of the terms and acceptability of the sale, at the sole discretion of the secured party or Substitute Trustee. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser’s sole remedy will be the return of the deposit paid without interest and the Purchaser will have no further recourse against the Substitute Trustee, the Mortgagee or the Trustee’s attorney. Additional Terms of Sale will be announced at the time of sale and will be set forth in the Trustee’s Memorandum of Foreclosure Sale to be executed by the successful bidder at the time of the sale. This is a communication from a debt collector and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. Sale is subject to seller confirmation. Substitute Trustee: RVA Recovery, LLC,. Contact Stephen B. Wood at The Wood Law Firm, 6720 Patterson Ave., Suite D. Counsel for Trustee. For information contact: Stephen B. Wood TEL: (804) 335-0888. File #GF2022010 Ad. Dates.
Thank you for your interest in applying for opportunities with The City of Richmond. To see what opportunities are available, please refer to our website at www.richmondgov.com.
EOE M/F/D/V
Senior Data Analysis Associate – Capital One, National Association in Richmond,VA; Mult pos avail: Perform quant & qualt analysis of econ data, relating constants & objectives, & their num parameters. To apply, visit https://capitalone.wd1.myworkdayjobs. com/Capital_One and search “Senior Data Analysis Associate” or “R159857”
calls.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to 24 CFR 903.17, that Virginia Housing will hold a public hearing on the Public Housing Agency (PHA) Annual Plan for FY 2024. The hearing will be conducted virtually on Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 1:00 pm. To obtain the weblink to the public hearing, please send an email to diana.crosswhite@ virginiahousing.com by 5:00 pm on February 14, 2023.
The proposed PHA Plan and information relevant to the hearing is available for review by the public by emailing diana.crosswhite@ virginiahousing.com.
Written comments may be submitted prior to the public hearing by mail to the attention of: HCVP Policy & Training Manager, Virginia Housing, PO Box 4545, Richmond, VA 23220. Written comments not presented at the public hearing must be received by Tuesday, February 14, 2023.
Virginia Housing does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin or disability.