Richmond Free Press June 29-July 1, 2023 edition

Richmond Free Press

Ben Crump petitions DOJ to investigate Irvo Otieno’s death

Civil rights attorney Benjamin L. Crump and co-counsel Mark J. Krudys are requesting that the United States Department of Justice open a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the death of Irvo N. Otieno.

“The resources of the U.S. Department of Justice are necessary to ably and properly prosecute the defendants,” wrote Mr. Crump and Mr. Krudys, who are representing Mr. Otieno’s brother and mother.

“Unless the Department of Justice prosecutes this matter in federal court, the four-day cycle of violence brought to bear upon a young man

in mental health crisis will not be fully and ably addressed.”

Mr. Otieno’s death in early March while in the custody of Henrico County Sheriff deputies at Central State Hospital had already captured national attention due to the nature of his death, with deputies and hospital employees laying on top of him while he was face down and restrained on the floor.

Mr. Otieno’s death, which was later ruled a homicide, led to seven Henrico County deputies and three hospital employees being indicted by a Dinwiddie County grand jury. Former Dinwiddie

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H. Boone/Richmond Free

City Hall unions in place

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

A major share of City Hall’s 4,000 employees have selected their union bargaining agents who will take the lead in contract talks with the city on wages, benefits, health insurance, holiday pay, working conditions and other issues.

In results that were anticipated, city administrative and technical employees, whose more than 800 members include office staff and social workers, among others, chose the Service Employees International Union Local 512.

“This is a long time coming,”

Otissa Williams, an employee for Richmond’s Department of Social Services who has pushed for union, stated in a release she issued after the vote. “Now, we actually have a voice in what we receive as far as compensation.”

Election results were made available on June 22.

Along with SEIU, the group that has long represented Fire Department employees, Local 995 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, also won the formal endorsement to be the bargaining agent

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

of Richmond City Council and representatives from the

City Council again honors Richmond Free Press founders

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

City Council has approved a fresh honor for the founders of the Richmond Free Press.

Monday night, the governing body adopted the proposal of 8th District Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell for an honorary street sign bearing the names of the late editor and publisher Raymond H. Boone and his wife and current publisher, Jean P. Boone.

The future sign bearing Boone names is to be placed in the 5100 Beddington Road,

near the residence the Boones purchased more than 31 years ago when they returned to Richmond to launch the weekly.

Mr. Boone was previously recognized with an honorary street sign at 5th and Franklin streets, outside the Free Press’ office building.

The vote on the sign came just two weeks after council honored the Boones with their recognition award.

for the 447 fire personnel and emergency dispatchers listed in the unit.

With police officers already having voted to have the Richmond Coalition of Police represent them, that leaves only two city units without representation. Labor and Trades remains up in the air as neither of the two unions competing to represent the 610 employees in the Department of Public Works and Department of Public Utilities gained enough votes, requiring

George Copeland Jr. /Richmond Free Press Saraya Perry, far left, program officer for the Health Equity Fund, stands with the latest HEF partners on Tuesday in Richmond City Hall Tuesday afternoon. They are joined by Mayor Levar M. Stoney (sixth from right) and Richmond City Council President Michael Jones (seventh from right).

Health Equity Fund adds groups to combat disparities

By George Copeland Jr.

Six new community partners, $644,000 in grant money and a continuing effort to bring greater equity to Richmond’s marginalized communities were the focus Tuesday afternoon at Richmond City Hall, as city leaders announced the latest groups and projects that will be part of the Health Equity Fund.

The Nationz Foundation, REAL LIFE, the Happily Natural Day, Virginia Community Voice, The Hive and Sacred Heart Center are the lat-

est organizations to be added to the Richmond government’s effort to tackle the many disparities in the community that were highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic — and that continue to plague communities throughout the city.

Lawsuit claims Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement violates Reconstruction-era federal law

Please turn to A4 Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press Steady does it Kayden Cooper, 8, focuses on serving as he tries his hand at Pickleball for the first time during the Robinson Theater’s Annual Block Party on June 9 in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood. This was the first time that the popular Pickleball made its debut at the party that was attended by hundreds of people.

that automatically take away voting rights for convicted felons unless the governor restores those rights. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Richmond by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, alleges the state is violating a Reconstruction-era federal law that established the terms of Virginia’s readmission to representation in Congress after the Civil War.

The ACLU of Virginia and Protect Democracy — a nonprofit that focuses on voting rights — filed the lawsuit on behalf of three Virginia residents with felony convictions and Bridging the Gap in Virginia, a nonprofit organization that helps former inmates overcome barriers to their transition back into society.

Press

Crump

Otieno

Members

City’s administration honored Jean Patterson Boone, Richmond Free Press publisher and co-founder, and her husband, the late Raymond H. Boone, the founder and former editor and publisher of the Richmond Free Press, for their collective work on June 12. Mr. Boone died nine years ago after a brief illness.

The Associated Press People who have been disqualified from voting in Virginia because of their criminal records filed a lawsuit Monday against Gov. Glenn Youngkin and state elections officials challenging the state’s automatic disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions. Virginia is one of only a few states

July 4 holiday closings

In observance of the Fourth of July holiday on Tuesday, July 4, please note the following:

Cityscape

Slices of life and scenes in Richmond

to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4. ABC stores: All stores will close at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4. Banks and financial institutions: Most are closed

Tuesday, July 4. Malls, major retailers and movie theaters: Varies. Inquire at specific locations.

Free Press offices: Closed Tuesday, July 4.

Maggie Walker site names new superintendent

Free Press staff report

Scott Teodorski is the new superintendent for Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site.

Hampton University to benefit from new philanthropic initiative

Free Press staff report

Hampton University was awarded $750,000 as part of an inaugural $10 million plus venture capital fund, The Historic Fund. The new fund aims to bolster the endowments of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), as well as highlight their importance and the role they play in promoting equity and inclusion in higher education, according to a news release issued by the university.

of influence. The significance of a robust endowment cannot be overstated.”

The Historic Fund is a unique philanthropic initiative. Selected HBCUs can become limited partners without investing their own assets. Instead, the funds are raised from partners of the participating funds: Acrew Capital.

administrations exploring alternative asset class strategies with their endowments.

Mr. Teodorshi

Mr. Teodorski previously served as the first permanent superintendent for the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in South Carolina since 2018. He also worked as the chief of interpretation at Congaree National Park in South Carolina, a park ranger at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky, and at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada.

“I am very excited to be part of an amazing team managing these very special places,” said Mr. Teodorski, who assumes his new role in late July. “I look forward to working with park staff and community partners to showcase the wide range of stories represented at these sites.”

pet cause Infections temporarily close two local animal shelters

By Debora Timms

Henrico Police Animal Shelter temporarily closed its doors to the public on June 22 after seeing a rise in infections that could lead to canine influenza.

Lt. Matthew Pecka with the Henrico Police Department said in an email on June 28 that “nearly a half dozen animals are showing some sort of respiratory infection.” Those animals currently symptomatic are being quarantined.

Symptoms of canine influenza in dogs are cough, runny nose, fever, lethargy, eye discharge and reduced appetite. The H3N2 strain of the virus can also infect cats.

“The safety of all the animals housed in the care of our shelter is of utmost importance,” he wrote. “We continue to partner with medical staff as these animals are undergoing testing, which remains an active process. Results have not been received.”

The Henrico Police Animal Protection Unit won’t be able to pick up stray dogs or accept surrenders except for bite/cruelty cases, but community members should still report animal related matters or concerns as these calls will be reviewed by the unit.

While the shelter does not yet have a reopening date, adoptions are still able to proceed on a case-by-case basis.

“Community members are encouraged to contact our shelter and express their interest in available animals,” added Lt. Pecka. “Our team will evaluate adoptions based upon best practices and in conjunction with our veterinarian.”

In the days before the Glen Allen shelter’s temporary closure, Richmond Animal Care and Control also announced it would close its doors to the public for two-weeks.

According to RACC’s Facebook page, two dogs returned positive tests for the canine flu; however, the shelter is planning to resume canine adoptions with an event on July 1. The post notes that all the adoptable dogs “have either been treated and recovered, or were never symptomatic and have cleared quarantine.” It adds that no shelter cats were affected and can be adopted by appointment anytime. Normal operations are expected to resume on July 7.

Both shelters are reminding pet owners to make sure all animal vaccinations are current and to contact their veterinarian if they see any signs of canine influenza.

“An endowed university is not only an institution of learning, but a beacon of endurance and limitless possibilities. It grants us the flexibility to adapt to emerging challenges, seize new opportunities and invest in the long-term sustainability of our institution,” said Hampton University President Darrell K. Williams. “We are grateful to have the support of this special venture capital fund. To be in the inaugural cohort of The Historic Fund is an honor. It allows us to foster an environment of intellectual curiosity, empowering students to become globally astute leaders

B Capital, Cowboy Ventures, First Round Capital, FirstMark Capital, Foundry, General Catalyst, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. The schools will function as traditional limited partners and will be free to use the returns as they wish.

The partnerships also will foster connections between the HBCUs and the venture capital community, expanding opportunities both for funding and for employment. The Historic Fund hopes to develop programming for students interested in entrepreneurship, as well as support

“As we continue to combat the racial inequities that Black students face, The Historic Fund aims to relieve the disproportionate financial pressure on Black families, while also providing essential funding for research and innovation at each of these institutions,” said Ken Chenault, chairman and a managing director of the venture capital firm General Catalyst. Mr. Chenault was the CEO and Chairman of American Express from 2001 until 2018.

Along with Hampton University, the inaugural cohort of HBCU partners will be Benedict College, Bennett College, Fisk University, Florida A&M University, Morehouse College, Virginia State University, Virginia Union University and Xavier University of Louisiana.

VUU elects new board members

Free Press staff report Virginia Union University Board of Trustees announced that it has elected new members to serve as trustees of the University:

• Lawrence P. Bancroft, president and CEO, Bivium Capital Partners;

• Kenya Blake, managing director and General Manager, Horizon Inno-

vations;

• Carolyn Jacobs ‘64, retired guidance coordinator, Richmond Public Schools;

• Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins, Sr. ‘65, president emeritus, Livingstone College;

• Darius A. Johnson, vice president and treasurer, Dominion Energy;

• Rev. Dr. Lance D. Watson ‘85, senior pastor, The St. Paul’s Baptist Church.

Richmond police provide Monroe Park shooting update

By George Copeland Jr.

It’s been three weeks since the shooting in Monroe Park after Huguenot High Schools graduation that killed a graduate, Shawn D. Jackson, his stepfather Renzo Smith and injured five others. Since then, official information about the investigation has been scarce, with the Richmond Police Deparment canceling a planned in-person briefing last Friday and releasing information in statements instead, after a consultation with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.

According to a statement from Richmond police, one victim of the shooting is still recovering in the hospital and may be released soon. A second suspect was cleared of involvement in the shooting, after video evidence was reviewed, police say.

Police reports also note that none of the guns confiscated in the aftermath were brought into the Altria Theater, where the Huguenot High graduation ceremony took place. The police also reiterated that the shooting sprang from a confrontation between Mr. Jackson and the shooter, Amari Pollard.

“While we understand the public’s right [to] know, we must balance that with the case we present to the Commonwealth Attorney,” RPD said. “It is our priority to turn over the best case, and releasing too much information can jeopardize the final result.”

The police ask that anyone with information related to the shooting contact officials at 804-780-1000, while those injured in the shooting or those who know someone who was injured may call the Victim/Witness Services of the Commonwealth’s Attorney office at 804-646-7665.

“Virginia Union University welcomes these visionary leaders to join our work of building the university of the future in the present, for the present,” said the Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, chairman of VUU’s Board of Trustees. “These individuals have devoted their lives to community service, and we are excited to have them join our team that is shaping the future of higher education.”

Mr. Chenault

Mr. Williams

Mr. Bancroft Ms. Blake Ms. Jacobs Dr. Jenkins Mr. Johnson Rev. Dr. Watson

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Sobering sentiments in a block along Grove Avenue in Richmond’s West End.

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

During a June 11 vigil at Abner Clay Park, Rennada Smith Bass, center, of Monroe La. is consoled as she and her family grieve the loss of their brother, Renzo Dell Smith, who was killed Tuesday, June 6 along with his stepson Shawn Jackson, 18. Before being shot, Mr. Jackson had just walked across the stage and received his diploma during his Huguenot High School graduation at Altria Theater. Richmond police note that none of the guns confiscated in the aftermath were brought into the Altria Theater. Police also said that the shooting sprang from a confrontation between Mr. Jackson and the shooter, Amari Pollard.

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Ben Crump petitions DOJ to investigate Irvo Otieno’s death

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill would later drop the charges against two of the hospital employees as part of her work as the leading prosecutor in the case.

Ms. Baskervill resigned from the case and exited her role last week, and Jonathan Bourlier was selected as interim commonwealth’s attorney by Dinwiddie Circuit Court judges. Mr. Bourlier’s selection is cited as the major cause for

3 City Hall unions in place

another election.

Teamsters Local 322 won 113 votes, one vote short of the 114 needed to win outright in an election in which 227 unit members participated. Local 804 of the Labors International Union of North America received 92 votes, with the remaining votes reflecting opposition to any union.

At this point, too few members of the final bargaining unit, professional employees, have agreed to unionize. Initially, 30 percent of the unit would need to sign union cards before an election for a bargaining agents could be held. SEIU had been the only union seeking to represent that group.

City Council has strongly backed unions for all rank-and-file employees, overriding Mayor Levar M. Stoney who sought to limit unionizing to those in labor and trades.

While bargaining is expected to soon begin for the three units that now are represented, the impact of union negotiations on city expenditures will not be felt until next year.

The 2023-24 budget has already been approved and will go into effect on Saturday, July 1, ensuring any changes in personnel costs due to unionizing would affect the 2024-25 budget that will be considered next spring.

Roughly 4,000 full-time, part-time, and temporary workers work for the city of Richmond. It is the fourth largest employer in the city, according to Virginia Employment Commission figures cited in Richmond’s budget.

Although Richmond’s new budget won’t be considered until early next year, planners already are drafting the upcoming budget, which may have to include new costs from collectively bargained contracts.

Free COVID-19 vaccines

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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/ 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:

• Thursday, June 29, 1 to 4 p.m. - Lucille Brown Middle School 6300 Jahnke Road, TDAP, Meningitis and HPV 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) 2053501 to schedule appointments.

New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for ages 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for ages 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 also offer bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.

the petition, which was filed Monday, days before he was set to begin work on the case Wednesday.

As a defense attorney with most of his experience in family law, alongside work in real estate and criminal law, Mr. Crump and Mr. Kurdys assert that Mr. Bourlier doesn’t have the experience necessary for the

role or the case.

“In our opinion, the newly appointed CA and his similarly new, small staff – with an ample caseload apart from the indictment of Mr. Otieno’s killers –are not adequately prepared to prosecute the eight defendants, all of whom have separate, experienced counsel,” Mr. Crump and Mr. Krudys wrote.

Mr. Crump and Mr. Krudys also noted that Mr. Otieno experienced days of improper treatment leading up to his death, including being taken from Parham Doctors’ Hospital and restrained for hours in jail without medication, and being beaten by officers, as cause for the DOJ to take on the case themselves. Federal laws ban-

ning excessive force by police also was cited as a reason for the DOJ’s involvement.

Mr. Bourlier is currently running for the office of commonwealth’s attorney for Dinwiddie against Amanda Nicole Mann, with the election still set for Nov. 7 later this year. The DOJ has not yet responded to the petition.

City Council again honors Free Press founders

The vote came at short meeting at which the council also authorized:

The city to spend more than $17 million in federal funds on multiple affordable housing developments and programs.

The funding the city plans to use is from the American Rescue Plan, the Community Development Block Grant and other grants.

Mayor Levar M. Stoney praised the council for taking action and enabling City Hall to fulfill its promise to” create at least 1,000 affordable housing units per year” to help address the affordable housing crisis.

Funding for ARP is earmarked for 12 projects, according to the ordinance, while, the CDBG and other federal grants will aid other housing initiatives,

That includes a housing counseling program that the 35-year-old nonprofit Southside Community Development and Housing Corp. will operate to help families

purchase homes, including the new eight dwellings in The Hollands located at 24th and Perry streets in South Side.

It also includes Pride Place, an initiative of the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls that serves homeless LGBTQ+ teens.

Payment of a 5 % bonus to thousands of city retirees and creation of a $1.7 million fund to enable the city to buy property for future developments as part of a reshuffle of more than $18 million in the current 2022-23 budget.

Development of a 17-story apartment complex with 533 units that is proposed for 301 W. 6th St. in Manchester; and Creation of a day-care center called The Cottage School at Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, 3601 Seminary Ave., which is proposed to serve up to 64 children.

The council also cleared the way for Central United Methodist Church to sell off its vacant parsonage at 1211 Porter St. for conversion into three apartments to gain funds to maintain the church that sits next door.

Health Equity Fund adds groups to combat disparities

The Nationz Foundation, a nonprofit which focuses on HIV education and prevention, community wellness and LGBTQ+ inclusivity, will use the Fund’s resources to improve access to care for STI testing, health education resources, emergency support and expanded outreach efforts.

REAL LIFE aids those impacted by incarceration, homelessness or substance use in rebuilding their lives, and will prioritize substance use and recovery as part of their work with the Fund.

They will use their grant money to support nine of the 12 transitional housing sites they provide to help those looking to restabilize their lives through skill building, drug recovery and more.

Happily Natural Day, a summer festival and organization centered on African culture and business, holistic health and social change, will seek to improve food access and security through a three-season farming program, with a goal of serving around 100 youth at three locations throughout Richmond.

The group also will develop the Central Virginia Urban Farm Fellowship, teaching agricultural and community-building practices through a 12-week, online program.

Virginia Community Voice works to engage underrepresented communities along the Richmond highway corridor, and its project with the fund will focus on public engagement and underlying health conditions.

The Hive, a youth-centered community organization offering support in the transition to adulthood, will use HEF funding to onboard six youth innovators as parttime staff members of the Hive, as part of its Young Innovator Squad, alongside a transition plan for each.

Sacred Heart Center will continue its long-term work supporting Richmond’s Latino community as part of the Fund, and their project will support their efforts

addressing COVID-19’s ongoing impact for Latinos, including vaccination, resource and referral services.

Saraya Perry, program officer for the Health Equity Fund, said more than 110 organizations were considered for this latest group of partners, with the six groups selected by the fund’s community advocacy community.

“They have already been in the trenches,” said Mayor Levar M. Stoney of the groups selected. “They’ve already been rolling up their sleeves, and we are pleased to be in partnership with them for the long term.”

Previously, $562,000 was invested across nine local organizations since the initiative’s start in 2022, including Crossover Healthcare Ministry, the Waymakers Foundation, Nolef Turns, Daily Planet

Health Services, Birth in Color RVA and the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority.

Like previous partner organizations, this funding is being provided by a $5 million investment from the American Rescue Plan Act, with ARPA rules dictating that the funding must be obligated by 2024 and spent by 2026.

Five more partner groups already are working to develop program plans with the Fund and will be announced soon, said Ms. Perry.

The nomination period for future HEF funding is open for community members interested in highlighting particular groups, and will end on Monday, July 9. Organizations and individuals interested in partnering with the HEF can also apply on their own starting on Monday, July 17 and ending Sunday, Aug. 13.

Lawsuit claims Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement violates Reconstruction-era federal law

The lawsuit relies on the Readmissions Act of 1870, which prohibited former Confederate states from including in their constitutions any provision that would disenfranchise their citizens other than people convicted of committing crimes that were common law felonies at the time.

In 1870, “common law” felonies were widely understood to be a distinct category of crime from “statutory” felonies and included murder, manslaughter, arson, burglary, robbery, rape, sodomy, mayhem and larceny, the lawsuist states. Virginia later amended its constitution to disenfranchise citizens for conduct that was not a common law felony in 1870. Today, Virginia’s criminal code designates numerous crimes as felonies, including drug offenses.

Gov. Youngkin’s administration recently confirmed it had shifted away from an at least partly automatic rights restoration system used by three of the governor’s predecessors.

The lawsuit says the impact of Virginia’s

disenfranchisement provision “has been exacerbated” by Gov. Youngkin’s recent actions.

“While Virginia’s prior three governors restored voting rights to disenfranchised citizens with felony convictions based on specific criteria, Governor Youngkin has ended his predecessors’ restoration programs and resurrected an opaque and arbitrary rights restoration policy without any objective criteria or set timeframe for rendering restoration decisions,” the lawsuit states.

Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Gov. Youngkin, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Tati Abu King, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, has applied to have his voting rights restored after spending 11 months in prison on a 2018 felony drug possession charge. “I feel like I don’t have anybody to speak for me. I have no say on who represents me,” Mr. King said. He went on to say he thinks voting rights “should be automatically re-afforded

to the people once they have served their time. I feel like it’s a God-given right to have the right to vote.”

The lawsuit says Virginia has the fifth-highest number of citizens disenfranchised for felony convictions — at over 312,000 — and that Black residents have been disproportionately affected. Black Virginians comprise less than 20% of Virginia’s voting-age population but account for nearly half of all Virginians disenfranchised due to a felony conviction, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the Virginia Constitution violates the Virginia Readmission Act and to prohibit the defendants from “denying the fundamental right to vote to Virginia citizens who have been convicted of crimes that were not common law felonies” when the law was passed in 1870.

A separate lawsuit filed in April alleged that a discretionary process being used by Gov. Youngkin to decide which felons can have their voting rights restored is unconstitutional.

The couple’s son, Raymond H. Boone Jr., stands next to his mother, Mrs. Boone.

George Copeland Jr./Richmond

Mayor Levar M. Stoney announces new partners for the Health Equity Fund during a meeting at City Hall on Tuesday. He was joined by City Council President Michael Jones.

VMHC hosts new citizens swearing-in ceremonies July 4

Approximately 75 candidates will be sworn in as newly naturalized citizens during a July 4 ceremony in partnership with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Citizenship

Circuit, and begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 428 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard. It will be free and open to the public.

Following the ceremony, guests are invited to participate in a special July 4th celebration that will take place outside on the Dominion Energy Plaza. Live music, face painting, a bounce house and birthday cake will commemorate the 247th anniversary of American Independence.

Inside the museum, visit the VMHC Library to see a selection of Early American artifacts or test your knowledge with civics-related activities.

Visit VirginiaHistory.org/July4 for a list of items that are prohibited inside the ceremony venue. Admission to the museum galleries will be available from 10a.m. to 5p.m. on July 4 and tickets can be purchased through VirginiaHistory.org

Supreme Court rejects GOP argument in North Carolina case that could have transformed U.S. elections

WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that state courts can curtail the actions of their legislatures when it comes to federal redistricting and elections, rejecting arguments by North Carolina Republicans that could have dramatically altered races for Congress and president in that state and beyond.

The justices by a 6-3 vote upheld a decision by North Carolina’s top court that struck down a congressional districting plan as excessively partisan under state law.

The high court did, though, indicate there could be limits on state court efforts to police elections for Congress and president, suggesting that more election-related court cases over the issue are likely.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court that “state courts retain the authority to apply state constitutional restraints when legislatures act under the power conferred upon them by the Elections Clause. But federal courts must not abandon their own duty to exercise judicial

review.”

The decision was the fourth major case of the term in which conservative and liberal justices joined to reject the most aggressive legal arguments put forth by conservative state elected officials and advocacy groups. Earlier decisions on voting rights, a Native American child welfare law and a Biden administration immigration policy also unexpectedly cut across ideological lines on the court.

Major rulings are expected by Friday on the future of affirmative action in higher education, the administration’s $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan and a clash of religious and LGBTQ rights.

The practical effect of Tuesday’s decision is minimal in North Carolina, where the state Supreme Court, under a new Republican majority, already has undone its redistricting ruling. Another redistricting case from Ohio is pending, if the justices want to say more about the issue before next year’s elections.

Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch would have dismissed the North Carolina

case because of the intervening state court action.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that the decision “preserves state courts’ critical role in safeguarding elections and protecting the voice and the will of the American people.” The Democratic administration defended the power of state courts in the case.

Former President Barack Obama, in a rare public comment on a court decision, applauded the outcome as “a resounding rejection of the far-right theory that has been peddled by election deniers and extremists seeking to undermine our democracy.”

At the same time, the leader of a Republican redistricting group said he was pleased the court made clear there are limits on state courts. The decision “should serve as a warning to state courts inclined to reach beyond the constitutional bounds of judicial review. This is a first, positive step toward reining in recent overreaches of state courts,” Adam Kincaid, president and executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, said in a statement.

Immigration drove white, Asian population growth in U.S. last year Harris County, Texas gains largest number of Black residents

The Associated Press

Without immigration, the white population in the U.S. would have declined last year.

Immigration also propelled the expansion of the Asian population, which was the fastestgrowing race or ethnic group last year in the U.S., while births outpacing deaths helped propel growth in Hispanic, Black, tribal and Hawaiian populations.

Population estimates released June 22 by the U.S. Census Bureau show what drove changes in different race, ethnic and age groups last year, as well as since the start of COVID-19’s spread in the U.S. in April 2020. The country had grown to 333.2 million people by the middle of last year, a 0.4% increase over the previous year, according to the 2022 population estimates.

For white residents in the U.S., immigration drove the expansion. Without it, the white population, including those who identify as more than one race, would have dropped last year by more than 85,000 people instead of growing meagerly by more than 388,000 residents, or 0.1%.

When the focus is narrowed to white people who aren’t Hispanic and identify only with a single race, there was a decline of more than 668,000 people in the white population since the number of immigrants couldn’t overcome the steep drop in natural decrease that came from deaths outnumbering births last year.

Population growth is propelled in two ways: through immigration and natural increase, when births outpace deaths. The data released Thursday speak to the complexity of the nation’s ever-shifting population patterns and reinforce a level of nuance not always reflected amid the political debate over immigration.

“Immigrant and refugee communities bring

The Associated Press People recite an oath during a naturalization ceremony on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in San Diego. Population estimates released Thursday, June 22 by the U.S. Census Bureau

talent, culture and a set of skills that are needed in our community,” said Arrey Obenson, president and CEO of the International Institute of St. Louis, which helps newcomers adapt to life in the U.S.

Since the start of the pandemic in April 2020, the white population has grown by 391,000 people, all of it driven by immigration.

Hamdullah Hamdard immigrated to St. Louis in September 2021 from Afghanistan, where he

had run a media production company, after threats from the Taliban and deteriorating conditions made it unsafe for his wife, son, brothers and parents. He started a production company in St. Louis, runs a news outlet for the local Afghan community and is a communications manager for the International Institute of St. Louis.

“I could start my own business once again, and I could pursue the dreams that I had in Afghanistan,” Hamdard, 31, said Wednesday.

The United States last year had 260.5 million people who identified as white, including those who identify as more than one race. Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, had the biggest jump in the white population of any county, gaining more than 35,000 new white residents last year. Arizona’s largest county also had the biggest gain in the overall population of any U.S. county, with a jump in 2022 of almost 57,000 new residents due to domestic migration.

Immigration also drove Asian growth last year, accounting for two-thirds of the 577,000-person increase in people who identify as Asian, including those who identify with more than one race. That 2.4% bump was the largest of any race or ethnic group, and there were 24.6 million Asians in the U.S. last year.

King County, Washington — home to Seattle — added almost 21,500 Asian residents, the most of any U.S. county last year.

The Hispanic population in the U.S. grew by more than 1 million people last year, the biggest jump in pure numbers of any race or ethnic group. Two-thirds of that expansion was driven by natural increase, or births outpacing deaths. More than 63.3 million people identified as Hispanic last year, a 1.7% increase over the previous year.

The biggest Hispanic growth in pure numbers was in Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, which added almost 35,000 Latinos last year.

Natural increase also drove almost twothirds of the 436,000-person jump in the Black population last year, a 0.9% increase from the previous year. The Black population stood at 50 million residents in 2022. Harris County, Texas, had the largest numeric gain of Black residents of any U.S. county, with almost 23,000 residents.

The Associated Press

Free Press staff report

and Immigration Services (USCIS). The ceremony will be officiated by the Honorable Roger L. Gregory, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth

Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Dr. Lisa Edward-Burrs sings The National Anthem at beginning of a ceremony honoring

Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory, administers the Oath of Allegiance to

Why do so many Black women die in pregnancy? One reason: Doctors don’t take them seriously

BY Kat Stafford The Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

Angelica Lyons knew it was dangerous for Black women to give birth in America.

As a public health instructor, she taught college students about racial health disparities, including the fact that Black women in the U.S. are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy or delivery than any other race. Her home state of Alabama has the thirdhighest maternal mortality rate in the nation.

Then, in 2019, it nearly happened to her.

What should have been a joyous first pregnancy quickly turned into a nightmare when she began to suffer debilitating stomach pain. Her pleas for help were shrugged off, she said, and she was repeatedly sent home from the hospital. Doctors and nurses told her she was suffering from normal contractions, she said, even as her abdominal pain worsened and she began to vomit bile. Angelica said she wasn’t taken seriously until a searing pain rocketed throughout her body and her baby’s heart rate plummeted.

Rushed into the operating room for an emergency cesarean section, months before her due date, she nearly died of an undiagnosed case of sepsis.

Even more disheartening: Ms. Lyons worked at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the university affiliated with the hospital that treated her.

Her experience is a reflection of the medical racism, bias and inattentive care that Black Americans endure. Black women have the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States — 69.9 per 100,000 live births for 2021, almost three times the rate for white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Black babies are more likely to die, and also far more likely to be born prematurely, setting the stage for health issues that could follow them through their lives.

“Race plays a huge part, especially in the South, in terms of how you’re treated,” Ms. Lyons said, and the effects are catastrophic. “People are dying.”

To be Black anywhere in America is to experience higher rates of chronic ailments like asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s and, most recently, COVID-19. Black Americans have less access to adequate medical care; their life expectancy is shorter.

From birth to death, regardless of wealth or social standing, they are far more likely to get sick and die from common

By Kat Stafford

ailments.

Black Americans’ health issues have long been ascribed to genetics or behavior, when in actuality, an array of circumstances linked to racism — among them, restrictions on where people could live and historical lack of access to care — play major roles. Discrimination and bias in hospital settings have been disastrous.

The nation’s health disparities have had a tragic impact: Over the past two decades, the higher mortality rate among Black Americans resulted in 1.6 million excess deaths compared to white Americans. That higher mortality rate resulted in a cumulative loss of more than 80 million years of life due to people dying young and billions of dollars in health care and lost opportunity.

A yearlong Associated Press project found that the health challenges Black Americans endure often begin before their first breath.

The AP conducted dozens of interviews with doctors, medical professionals, advocates, historians and researchers who detailed how a history of racism that began during the foundational years of America led to the disparities seen today.

Angelica Lyons’ pregnancy troubles began during her first trimester, with nausea and

severe acid reflux. She was prescribed medication that helped alleviate her symptoms but it also caused severe constipation.

In the last week of October 2019, while she was giving her students a test, her stomach started to hurt badly.

“I remember talking to a couple of my students and they said, ‘You don’t look good, Ms. Lyons,’” Angelica Lyons recalled.

She called the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital’s labor and delivery unit to tell them she was having a hard time using the bathroom and her stomach was hurting. A woman who answered the phone told her it was a common pregnancy issue, Angelica said, and that she shouldn’t worry too much.

“She made me feel like my concern wasn’t important, and because this was my first pregnancy, I decided not to go because I wasn’t sure and thought maybe I was overreacting,” Ms. Lyons said.

The pain persisted. She went to the hospital a few days later and was admitted.

She had an enema — a procedure where fluids are used to cleanse or stimulate the emptying of bowels — to alleviate her constipation, but Angelica continued to plead with them that she was in pain.

Nearly half of Black babies born in Alabama suffer infant deaths

By Kat Stafford

The Associated Press

In Angelica Lyons’ home state of Alabama, about 40 mothers die within one year after delivery. The toll on Black mothers is disproportionate.

The state’s infant mortality rate for 2021 was 7.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. The disparities between Black and white babies is stark: The infant mortality rate in 2021 for white mothers was 5.8, while the infant mortality rate for Black mothers was 12.1, an increase from 10.9 from the prior year.

Black babies account for just 29% of births in Alabama, yet nearly 47% of infant deaths.

A 2020 report by the Alabama Maternal Mortality Review Committee found that more than 55% of 80 pregnancyrelated deaths that they reviewed in 2016 and 2017 could have been prevented.

Alabama launched its Maternal Mortality Review Committee in 2018 to investigate maternal deaths. But Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama’s Department of Public Health State Health Officer, said work remains to collect a fuller picture of why the disparities exist.

“We certainly know that from national numbers as well that Black women have worse maternal outcomes at every income level, which is pretty startling,” said Dr. Harris. “Age matters and just overall ZIP code matters. Unfortunately, where people live, where these children are born, is strongly associated with infant mortality. I think we’ll see something similar for maternal outcomes.”

And concerns about access and barriers to care remain.

In Alabama, 37% of counties are maternity care deserts — more than 240,000 women live in counties with no or little care. About 39% of counties don’t have a single obstetric provider.

Alabama is not alone in this. More than 2.2 million American women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts, and another 4.8 million such women reside in counties with limited access to maternity care.

The Associated Press

For decades, frustrated birth advocates and medical professionals have tried to sound an alarm about the ways medicine has failed Black women. Historians trace that maltreatment to racist medical practices that Black people endured amid and after slavery.

To fully understand maternal mortality and infant mortality crises for Black women and babies, the nation must first reckon with the dark history of how gynecology began, said Deirdre Cooper Owens, Ph.D., a historian and author.

“The advancement of obstetrics and gynecology had such an intimate relationship with slavery, and was literally built on the wounds of Black women,” Dr. Owens said.

Reproductive surgeries that were experimental at the time, like cesarean sections, were commonly performed on enslaved Black women.

Physicians like the once-heralded J. Marion Sims, an Alabama doctor many call the “father of gynecology,” performed torturous surgical experiments on enslaved Black women in the 1840s without anesthesia.

And well after the abolition of slavery, hospitals performed unnecessary hysterectomies on Black women, and eugenics programs sterilized them.

Until Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Black families were mostly barred from well-funded white hospitals and often received limited, poor or inhumane medical treatment. Black-led clinics and doctors worked to fill in the gaps, but even after the new protections, hospitals once reserved for Black families remained under-

resourced, and Black women didn’t get the same support available for white women.

That history of abuse and neglect led to deeprooted distrust of health care institutions among communities of color.

“People need to stop thinking about things like slavery and racism as just these features that happened that are part of the contours of history and maybe think of them more as foundational and institutions that have been with us every step of the way,” said Rana A. Hogarth, Ph.D., an associate professor of History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Some health care providers still hold false beliefs about biological differences between Black and white people, such as Black people having “less sensitive nerve endings, thicker skin, and stronger bones.”

Those beliefs have caused medical providers to rate Black patients’ pain lower, and recommend less relief.

The differences exist regardless of education or income level. Notably, the pregnancy-related mortality rate for Black women with a college education is 1.6. times higher than that of white women with less than a high school degree.

Angelica Lyons’ traumatic birth experience was not the only one in her family. After two miscarriages, her younger sister, Ansonia, became pregnant in 2020, and it was difficult.

Doctors told her she was suffering from regular morning sickness, though she was vomiting blood.

“They were like, ‘Oh, it’s nothing, it’s just the Braxton Hicks contractions,’” she said. “They just ignored me.”

She was sent home but her stomach continued to ache, so she went back to the hospital a day later. Several tests, including MRIs, couldn’t find the source of the issue.

Angelica was eventually moved to the labor and delivery floor of the hospital so they could monitor her son’s heartbeat, which had dropped slightly. There, they performed another enema that finally helped with the pain. She also was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a dangerous condition that can cause severe pregnancy complications or death.

Then she began to vomit what appeared to be bile.

“I got worse and worse with the pain and I kept telling them, ‘Hey, I’m in pain,’” Ms. Lyons said. “They’d say, ‘Oh, you want some Tylenol?’ But it wasn’t helping.”

She struggled to eat dinner that night. When she stood up to go to the bathroom, she felt a sharp pain ricochet throughout her body.

“I started hollering because I had no idea what was going on,” she said. “I told my sister I was in so much pain and to please call the nurse.”

What happened next remains a blur. Ms. Lyons recalls the chaos of hospital staff rushing her to labor and delivery, putting up a blue sheet to prepare her for an emergency C-section as her family and ex-husband

tried to understand what went wrong. She later learned that she nearly died.

“I was on life support,” recalled Ms. Lyons, 34. “I coded.”

She woke up three days later, unable to talk because of a ventilator in her mouth. She remembers gesturing wildly to her mother, asking where her son, Malik, was.

He was OK. But Ms. Lyons felt so much had been taken from her. She never got to experience those first moments of joy of having her newborn placed on her chest. She didn’t even know what her son looked like.

Maternal sepsis is a leading cause of maternal mortality in America. Black women are twice as likely to develop severe maternal sepsis, as compared to their white counterparts. Common symptoms can include fever or pain in the area of infection. Sepsis can develop quickly, so a timely response is crucial.

Sepsis in its early stages can mirror common pregnancy symptoms, so it can be hard to diagnose. Due to a lack of training, some medical providers don’t know what to look for. But slow or missed diagnoses are also the result of bias, structural racism in medicine and inattentive care that leads to patients, particularly Black women, not being heard.

“The way structural racism can play out in this particular disease is not being taken seriously,” said Dr. Laura Riley, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine

She was eventually diagnosed with an excessive vomiting disorder, hyperemesis gravidarum, and was dehydrated. Ansonia Lyons spent months in and out of the same hospital where her sister was treated.

Ms. Lyons has Type 2 diabetes and had issues with her blood pressure and heart throughout the pregnancy. She started to see a cardiologist and by the time she was 21 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. She was placed on medication, and her doctors decided to deliver the baby early via C-section.

Ms. Lyons was scared, given everything she witnessed her sister go through nearly two years prior.

“There were several times I told my boyfriend that I thought that I was going to die,” she said. The C-section went well. Ansonia Lyons’ son, Adrien, was due in July 2021 but he was born at the end of May.

He spent his first five days in the intensive care unit, then was hospitalized for another two weeks for some early breathing problems.

Problems continued for Ms. Lyons after the delivery. She needed a blood transfusion and was unable to see her son for his first few days of life.

A few months postpartum, she was still vomiting and having fainting spells that led to her being admitted to the hospital off and on. Her arms suffered from bruising from needles used to treat her throughout the pregnancy. She had

The Associated Press Angelica Lyons’, above, pain persisted throughout her pregnancy that started in 2019. She said medical staff constantly second-guessed her pain levels and concerns. When her sister, Ansonia, became pregnant, she also encountered persistent problems that were ignored by health care providers.

and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. “We know that delay in diagnosis is what leads to these really bad outcomes.”

In the days and weeks that followed, Ms. Lyons demanded explanations from the medical staff of what happened. But she felt the answers she received on how it occurred were sparse and confusing.

A spokesperson for the University of Alabama at Birmingham said in a statement to The Associated Press that they couldn’t talk about Ms. Lyons’ case because of patient privacy laws. They pointed to a recent internal survey done by its Obstetrics and Gynecology department that showed that most of its patients are satisfied with their care and “are largely feeling respected,” and said the university and hospital “maintain intentional, proactive efforts in addressing health disparities and maternal mortality.”

Ms. Lyons’ son, Malik, was born eight weeks early, weighing under 5 pounds. He spent a month in intensive care. He received home visits through the first year of life to monitor his growth.

While he’s now a curious and vivacious 3-year-old who loves to explore the world around him, Ms. Lyons recalls those days in the ICU, and she feels guilty because she could not be with him.

“It’s scary to know I could have died, that we could have died,” Ms. Lyons said, wiping away tears.

always been slow to heal from any bruising, a common problem for diabetics.

Yet a doctor who had been involved throughout her pregnancy questioned why she had bruises on her arms and asked if she “smoked weed” or took recreational drugs. The hospital declined to comment, citing patient privacy laws.

“I said, ‘This is from me being stuck so many times and having to be in the hospital.’ I told him I don’t do any drugs,” she said.

There are indications that the sufferings of Black mothers and their babies are being recognized, however late.

In 2019, U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, an Illinois Democrat, and Rep. Alma Adams, a North Carolina Democrat, launched the Black Maternal Health Caucus. The caucus introduced the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act in 2019 and again in 2021, proposing sweeping changes that would increase funding and strengthen oversight. Key parts of the legislation have been adopted but the bill itself has yet to be approved.

President Biden’s budget for fiscal year 2024 includes $471 million in funding to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates, expand maternal health initiatives in rural communities, and implicit bias training and other initiatives.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra told The Associated Press more must be done to root out racism and bias within health care.

“We know that if we provide access to care for mother and baby for a full year, that we probably help produce not just good health results, but a promising future for mom and baby moving forward,” he said.

A history of abuse, neglect and torture surrounds Black women’s maternity and mortality

Dr. Owens Dr. Hogarth

This week Virginia Commonwealth University will conduct another public forum about how the Medical College of Virginia, now known as VCU, can atone for being “embedded” in slavery since its beginning in 1838. The forums follow a report which revealed the college rented, owned and sold Black people, stole bodies from Black cemeteries and experimented on Black folks without their consent.

“This culture permeated both the institution and the individuals connected with it,” the report states. “The board of visitors overwhelmingly consisted of wealthy enslavers. Forced labor contributed to their substantial fortunes.”

The report came after a new state law that requires VCU and several other schools in the state to establish the Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship and Memorial Program. The law requires the schools to create a memorial to the enslaved workers and set up a scholarship program for people who are descendants of enslaved people. VCU’s President Michael Rao’s Special Commission on Slavery and Justice, is holding the meetings under the moniker “Project Gabriel,” named after Gabriel Prosser, who led a rebellion to stop slavery in Virginia.

It would have been difficult to predict that a law to address some of the inequity and injustice caused by slavery would be passed in a city that was cluttered with Confederate war memorials along its streets just a short time ago.

So where might this kind of thinking lead? Perhaps we can look to the great state of California for guidance. On June 29, the same day as the VCU forum takes place at Fifth Baptist Church, the California Reparations Task Force will present to the California assembly its recommendations for compensating Black people in the state for the harmful effects of slavery. Then it’s up to state officials to determine who gets paid, how much and when. One member of the task force has suggested the work of reparations panel could be used as a blueprint for other states to follow.

California is certainly not alone in assessing the damage of slavery and attempting to calculate a financial payout. Reparations proposals are being considered by local governments in Evanston, Ill., St. Paul, Minn. and Detroit. There’s a national movement as well, as bills regarding reparations have been brought forward in Congress for 34 consecutive years, but haven’t gained any traction.

“America must provide reparations if we desire a prosperous future for all,” Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush told NPR last month. “The United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people.”

The VCU forum is a reminder that the horror of enslavement wasn’t that long ago. Look around. Many of the places and institutions that encouraged, fostered and harbored it are still among us, buoyed by the benefit of free labor and a disregard for human life and liberty. Banks that held the deposits of slaveholders, sugar companies that sold products grown by enslaved people, clothing manufacturers who sold suits made from ill-gotten cotton and railroads laid by the forced labor of Black people.

We should offer corporations an opportunity to join local governments that have stepped up with attempts to rectify the damage done by slavery. Their part of the bill is way overdue. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another project such as Gabriel’s to get corporate America to pay up.

A Supreme

How the Right rescued the Voting Rights Act

Although largely upstaged by former President Donald Trump’s federal indictment, the Supreme Court’s voting rights decision earlier this month is likely to have a game-changing impact for many years to come.

What the court decided is almost as surprising as who decided it. By a 5-to-4 vote, justices from the con servative and liberal sides came together to reaffirm the court’s 1986 rul ing on how legislative districts must be drawn under the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, as amended in 1982.

In Alabama, where one in four voters is Black in the state’s seven congressional districts, the justices ruled that the Republican-dominated state legislature had denied African American voters a reasonable chance to elect a second representative of their choice.

A panel of three federal judges, including two appointed by former President Trump and one by former President Bill Clinton, had thrown out the state’s congressional map and ordered lawmakers to draw a new one with two, not just one, districts that are likely to elect Black representatives.

It was the sort of racial gerrymandering case for which the Voting Rights Act was enacted

My father’s family once operated woolen mills in New England. Those factories no longer exist, across America like 63,000 factories that have shuttered since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed three decades ago.

As a result, millions of American families of every color have been locked in a downward spiral of economic mobility for too long driven by the greed of multinational corporations and facilitated over decades by government policies like NAFTA.

In part because of the pandemic and in part because of narrow cushion that’s left before our climate is beyond repair, we’re at a moment when we can turn that around. Over the last three years, we committed as a nation to an unprecedented private and public investment in clean energy and infrastructure in ways that promises to reverse this dream-killing trajectory.

We’re in a moment when we finally can shift from an economy defined by consumption back to one defined by working people making and using things they can be proud

and, in more recent times, weakened by conservatives. Now Alabama will have to redraw its map to include a second predominantly Black district.

Although the ruling does not expand minority voting rights, it doesn’t reduce them either. That’s a net gain for Democrats and other liberals at a time when

Clarence Page

the Dems feared worse as they try to recover from the loss of their House majority, among other setbacks.

Suddenly, they see new hope coming from an unexpected source, the conservative court of Chief Justice John Roberts, which leaves many wondering why two of the court’s conservatives moderated their opposition enough to let Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racially discriminatory voting practices, survive.

One was Justice Roberts. He has been a famously outspoken critic of race-based remedies who authored or joined earlier decisions that gutted key parts of the voting law. Justice Roberts declared in a 2007 affirmative action case that “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

Sure, but if it were that easy we wouldn’t need to turn to the Supreme Court to sort it out.

The other was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Donald Trump

of again from electric school buses to solar panels.

You’d think that opportunity would be welcomed by all. But the self-interested such as Big Oil and Gas companies that are grabbing billions in historic profits and the politicians they support are doing all they can to roll back the commitments made since 2021. They even

tied up the recent debate over a U.S. default on its loans to advance their opposition.

That’s an odd political play.

A CBS News poll last month found more than half of Americans want the climate crisis addressed right now and more than two-thirds want it tackled within a few years.

That includes 44 percent of Republicans. Given every congressional Republican voted against the clean energy package last year, that large plurality is significant. It’s also a sign that many GOP leaders in Washington are increasingly out of step with their own constituents and districts.

When the group Climate Power looked at the nearly 200 clean energy projects launched since Congress and the President approved the federal spending package last summer, nearly six

appointee, who leaned toward the belief that the need for Section 2 was fading over time and suggested in his opinion that plaintiffs could try to return in some future case to argue that changing times had rendered the law unconstitutional. I hope I live that long.

Which left many, including me, to wonder why both justices just happened to moderate their opposition enough to let the strongest remaining enforcement section of the Voting Rights Act survive.

I’m intrigued by how Justice Roberts maneuvers as best he can to sound fair and evenhanded in weighing his opinions, as a good, credible chief justice should.

Justice Roberts has long been reported to be extremely concerned about the court’s integrity and credibility, a noble and necessary goal, even when both sides of the political spectrum are shouting at him.

With opinion polls in these polarized times showing the high court’s approval ratings to be in the cellar, I’m sure recent headlines about a billionaire patron providing luxurious gifts to Clarence Thomas—as well as about Justice Samuel Alito’s alleged luxury vacations paid for by a billionaire Republican donor— must cause the chief justice no end of consternation.

I cannot write about the high court without the classic 1901 quote from the “Mr. Dooley” stories of Finley Peter Dunne

in 10 of them are in districts represented by Republicans who voted against the package. Those projects mean at least 77,000 new jobs for electricians, mechanics, technicians, support staff, and others.

While we’ve disagreed more than once, President Biden has effectively championed the biggest investments in rebuilding American manufacturing than most Americans have seen in our lifetimes as part of his drive to ensure America leads on fighting climate change.

Not since the days of FDR have we seen this kind of national investment. Back then, building American industry was vital to winning a war against genocide across Europe. Today, our investment to turn our economy away from destruction and toward good jobs in a cleaner economy that sustains our planet is a fight to protect all of humanity.

Simply put, President Biden has been the most courageous leader we’ve had when it comes to fighting climate change and to rebuilding American industry at the same time. That’s why the group I lead and our allies in the environmental movement have endorsed his re-election.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club, the oldest and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the country.

The Free Press welcomes letters

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coming to mind: “No matter whether the constitution follows the flag or not, the Supreme Court follows the election returns.”

I’m sure the justices might well deny that, but one thing is certain: Supreme Court appointments follow elections. And they last a lifetime. That’s another reason for us, the voters, to pay attention.

Still, there’s another reason why the high court’s conservatives voted to rescue the Voting Rights Act. They’re softening us up before they overturn affirmative action, which also is expected any day now. If so, that also will be controversial. But nobody should be too surprised.

The writer is a member of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board and a columnist for the newspaper.

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Ben Jealous

The big payback

Let’s be clear: Teamsters Local 322 and Teamsters Local 592 are not the same

I am writing to bring attention to some factual inaccuracies that were present in Jeremy Lazarus’s article titled “RPS bus drivers choose a new union,” published on June 15, 2023.

While I appreciate the effort put into reporting on this topic, it is essential to ensure accuracy and provide readers with correct information.

In the article, it was portrayed that Teamsters local 322 and Teamsters local 592 are the same union. However, this is incorrect. I would like to clarify that these are two distinct Teamsters Unions that represent different groups of employers in Richmond Public Schools, as well as different companies in many industries in the Richmond area. While they both share the team Teamsters name, they are separate entities from the board members down to the membership that is served.

To provide accurate information to your readers, it is crucial to

By Aaron Morrison The Associated Press

REPRESA, Calif.

The graduates lined up, brushing off their gowns and adjusting classmates’ tassels and stoles. As the graduation march played, the 85 men appeared to hoots and cheers from their families. They marched to the stage – one surrounded by barbed wire fence and constructed by fellow prisoners.

grants during an experimental period that started in 2016, it can be the difference between walking free with a life ahead and ending up back behind bars. Finding a job is difficult with a criminal conviction, and a college degree is an advantage former prisoners desperately need.

Gerald Massey, one of 11 Folsom students graduating with a degree from the California State University at

understand that last month, Richmond Public Schools custodians and facility maintenance employees voted to be represented by Teamsters Local 322. This decision signifies an important step for these workers and having proper representation and a voice in their workplace.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the principals, assistant principals and directors within the Richmond Public Schools are represented by Teamsters Local 592. Recognizing the unique roles and responsibilities of these employees and their distinct union representation is essential to accurately portray the organizational structure within the school district.

I kindly request that the Richmond Free Press consider publishing a revised version of the article considering the accurate information provided above. It is important for readers to have access to factually correct information, and I believe that a pub-

lished edit or a rewritten article would help rectify any potential confusion caused by the original piece.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and I hope that you will consider addressing this issue in the interest of promoting accurate reporting and providing readers with reliable information.

MATTHEW MACIEJCZAK

Communications Coordinator Teamsters Local 322 Richmond

The Richmond Free Press regrets the inaccuracies included in Mr. Lazarus’ June 15, 2023 article “RPS bus drivers choose a new union.” We appreciate Mr. Maciejczak’s letter, which provides a detailed explanation regarding the distinct differences between Teamsters Local 322 and Teamsters Local 592.

can be controversial. When the Obama administration offered a limited number of Pell Grants to prisoners through executive action in 2015, some prominent Republicans opposed it, arguing in favor of improving the existing federal job training and re-entry programs instead.

The 1990s saw imprisonment rates for Black and Hispanic Americans triple between 1970 and 2000. The rate doubled for white Americans in the same

in bachelor’s degree programs this spring, and has partnered with eight universities across the state. The goal, says CDCR press secretary Terri Hardy: Transforming prisoners’ lives through education.

Aside from students dressed in prisoner blues, classes inside Folsom Prison look and feel like any college class. Instructors give incarcerated students the same assignments as the pupils on campus.

The students in the Folsom Prison classes come from many different backgrounds. They are Black, white, Hispanic, young, middle aged and senior. Mr. Massey, who got his communications degree, is of South Asian heritage.

Born in San Francisco to parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan, Mr. Massey recalls growing up feeling like an outsider. Although most people of his background are Muslim, his family members belonged to a small Christian community in Karachi.

In primary school, he was a target for bullies. As a teen, he remembered seeking acceptance from the wrong people. When he completed high school, Massey joined the Air Force.

“After 9/11, I went in and some people thought I was a terrorist trying to infiltrate,” he said. “It really bothered me. So when I got out of the military, I didn’t want anything to do with them.”

In between haircuts for correctional officers and other prison staff, Mr. Massey took advantage of his access to WiFi connection to study, take tests and work on assignments. Internet service doesn’t reach the prisoners’ housing units.

On commencement day, Mr. Massey was the last of his classmates to put on his cap and gown. He was a member of the ceremony’s honor guard – his prison uniform was decorated

his goals,” Mr. Massey’s wife Jacq’lene said. “Having the resources and the ability to participate in programs like that really helped him, but it actually helps us, too.”

“There’s the domino effect – it’s good for our kids to see that. It’s good for me to see that,” she said.

In addition to his communications degree, Mr. Massey earned degrees in theology and biblical studies. His post-release

For these were no ordinary graduates. Their black commencement garb almost hid their aqua and navy-blue prison uniforms as they received college degrees, high school diplomas and vocational certificates earned while they served time.

Thousands of prisoners throughout the United States get their college degrees behind bars, most of them paid for by the federal Pell Grant program, which offers the neediest undergraduates tuition aid that they don’t have to repay.

That program is about to expand exponentially next month, giving about 30,000 more students behind bars some $130 million in financial aid per year.

The new rules, which overturn a 1994 ban on Pell Grants for prisoners, begin to address decades of policy during the “tough on crime” 1970s-2000 that brought about mass incarceration and stark racial disparities in the nation’s 1.9 million prison population.

For prisoners who get their college degrees, including those at Folsom State Prison who got

Sacramento, has served nine years of a 15-to-life sentence for a drunken driving incident that killed his close friend.

“The last day I talked to him, he was telling me, I should go back to college,” Mr. Massey said. “So when I came into prison and I saw an opportunity to go to college, I took it.”

Consider this: It costs roughly $106,000 per year to incarcerate one adult in California.

It costs about $20,000 to educate a prisoner with a bachelor’s degree program through the Transforming Outcomes Project at Sacramento State, or TOPSS.

If a prisoner paroles with a degree, never reoffends, gets a job earning a good salary and pays taxes, then the expansion of prison education shouldn’t be a hard sell, said David Zuckerman, the project’s interim director.

“I would say that return on investment is better than anything I’ve ever invested in,” Mr. Zuckerman said.

That doesn’t mean it’s always popular. Using taxpayer money to give college aid to people who’ve broken the law

time span.

The ban on Pell Grants for prisoners caused the hundreds of college-in-prison programs that existed in the 1970s and 1980s to go almost entirely extinct by the late nineties.

Congress voted to lift the ban in 2020, and since then about 200 Pell-eligible college programs in 48 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico have been running, like the one at Folsom. Now, the floodgates will open, allowing any college that wants to utilize Pell Grant funding to serve incarcerated students to apply and, if approved, launch their program.

President Joe Biden has strongly supported giving Pell Grants to prisoners in recent years. It’s a turnaround – the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, championed by the former Delaware senator, was what barred prisoners from getting Pell Grants in the first place. Biden has since said he didn’t agree with that part of the compromise legislation.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had 200 students enrolled

Mr. Massey enrolled in college after one year in the military, but dropped out. Later, he became a certified nursing assistant and held the job for 10 years. He married and had two children. His addiction to alcohol and a marijuana habit knocked him off course.

“I was living like a little kid and I had my own little kids,” Mr. Massey said. “And I thought if I do the bare minimum, that’s OK.”

Prison forced him to take responsibility for his actions. He got focused, sought rehabilitation for alcoholism and restarted his pursuit of education. He also took up prison barbering to make money.

with a white aiguillette, the ornamental braided cord denoting his military service.

“It’s a big accomplishment,”

Mr. Massey said. “I feel, honestly, that God opened the doors and I just walked through them.”

Mr. Massey found his mom, wife and daughter for a long-awaited celebratory embrace. He reserved the longest and tightest embrace for his 9-year-old daughter, Grace. Her small frame collapsed into his outstretched arms, as wife Jacq’lene Massey looked on.

“There’s so many different facets and things that can happen when you’re incarcerated, but this kept him focused on

options began to materialize ahead of graduation. State commissioners have deemed him fit for parole, and he expects to be released any day now. A nonprofit group that assists incarcerated military veterans met with him in May to set up transitional housing, food, clothing and healthcare insurance for his eventual re-entry.

“There’s a radio station I listen to, a Christian radio station, that I’ve been thinking one day I would like to work for,” Mr. Massey said. “They are always talking about redemption stories. So I would like to share my redemption story, one day.”

LA’s Burke remembered in Pride Month

Glenn Burke left his mark in baseball, and not just because he was the Major Leagues’ first openly gay player.

With help from former Richmonder Dusty Baker, Burke originated the High Five as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977.

More on that later.

Burke, who died of complications from AIDS in 1995, was honored by Los Angeles last year during Pride Month. His family members were selected to throw out the ceremonial first ball at Dodgers’ Stadium.

The only other big-league player to identify as gay has been Billy Bean, an outfielder with the San Diego Padres in 1995.

Born in Oakland, Burke was a sensational baseball and basketball star at Berkeley High School. At just 5-foot11, he could easily dunk a basketball two-handed, and led his team to an undefeated season and the Northern California championship.

Gifted with dazzling speed, Burke made a quick ascent through the Dodgers’ farm system. In 1976, he hit .300 with AAA Albuquerque with 63 stolen bases. That, along with terrific defense, earned him a big-league call-up.

On the final day of the 1977 season, former Richmond Brave Dusty Baker socked his 30th home run of the season. Burke was on deck.

As Baker hit home plate, Burke extended his palm high above his head. Not really knowing what to do, Baker slapped it, and the “High Five” was born.

Burke had not officially come out at that point, but it was widely known he was gay, then considered an embarrassment in a sport known

for its “good ol’ boys.”

General Manager Al Campanis went so far as to offer Burke a $75,000 bonus and lavish honeymoon if he would wed.

Burke’s reply: “you mean to a woman?” He passed on the deal.

Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda had a soft spot in heart for the gay community, primarily because his son, Tommy Jr., was gay.

Things got sticky, however, when Tommy Jr. and Burke became friendly.

Soon after that news hit the fan, Burke was traded to Oakland to play for his hometown A’s. That move was doomed from the outset when A’s Manager Billy Martin introduced Burke to the team with a derogatory term starting with an “f.”

“Prejudice won out,” Burke said. He soon after retired at a much-tooyoung 27.

His unique story is well documented in his own autobiography, “Out at Home,” and in a New York Times book, “Singled Out.”

After baseball, Burke moved to San

Leveling up Monacan’s Olivia Woodson settles in at Auburn

Finally, area high school goalkeepers can take a deep breath. Soccer sensation Olivia Woodson is moving on.

The Monacan High dynamo was a goalkeeper’s worst enemy for Monacan High, netting 55 career goals and 26 this past season alone as a senior.

The scoring sensation was at her best against the best, recording nine goals against elite competition in four Region and State matches.

“I’ve been coaching Monacan soccer, boys and girls, for 20 years and Olivia is the best I’ve had,” said Coach Sean Hollingshead.

“She really played at a different level than the others.”

And she’s just warming up her kickin’ feet.

The gifted 18-year-old daughter of Tonya and Milton Woodson (former Jefferson-Huguenot-Wythe/Norfolk State football player) will continue to kick up her heels on scholarship at Auburn University.

She committed to the Southeastern Conference school last summer following a strong showcase performance for the powerful Richmond United travel team.

Among the other Division I programs offering her substantial scholar-

ships were West Virginia, Mississippi State, James Madison, Howard and University of Richmond.

“I heard about Auburn through a friend and actually contacted the associate head coach (Ben Madsen) myself,” she said from her new dorm room on the Auburn campus in Alabama.

“I told him what I could bring to the table. He came to watch a few United games and I committed before my senior year.”

Tigers’ fans won’t have to wait long to see her test rival goalies. College soccer is a fall sport and Auburn’s season begins in mid-August.

Woodson’s Monacan scoring totals might have been even higher. Her freshman season was wiped out by COVID.

The Chief striker tallied 15 goals as a sophomore, 14 as a sophomore and an oh-my-gosh 26 this year, leading the Chiefs to the Region 4B title and State quarterfinals. She also had eight senior assists.

Never blinded by the playoff lights, she scored three goals againstAtlee, three against Eastern View, one against Hanover and two against Great Bridge.

The 26-goal total tied the Monacan one-season record set by Emily Wells.

Francisco and competed in the Gay Games in track (winning 100-meter dash) and basketball, which was his first love. He also played for years in a Gay softball league in San Francisco’s Castro District before he was injured in a car accident. He died from AIDS in 1995, at 42.

Still, his friends and followers have carried on his legacy. The “High Five” (along with line “gimmefive”) has become a symbol of pride in San Fran’s gay community. There have been other male pro athletes who came out either while still playing or after retirement. Here are a few:

Bill Tilden: The top-ranked tennis player of his era (1920’s and 30’s), Tilden won 10 grand-slam events and was first American to capture Wimbledon. His private life was less honored. He served two jail sentences for morals violations against underaged males.

Emile Griffith: The Virgin Islands native moved to New York

City and won world boxing titles in the lightweight, welterweight and middleweight classes. He may be best known for the 1962 fight in which his punches killed Benny Paret at Madison Square Garden. It was reported he was infuriated at a gay slur Paret directed at him.

Greg Louganis: The native Californian dominated platform and springboard diving at the 1976, 1984 and 1988 Olympics, winning four gold and one silver medal. He was diagnosed with HIV six months before the ’88 Seoul Games. A gifted dancer, Louganis played the role of Darius in the Off-Broadway production of “Jeffrey.”

Jerry Smith: Playing tight for the NFL Washington team from 1965 to 1977, Smith caught 421 passes for 5,496 yards and 60 touchdowns. He was first-team All-Pro in 1969. In retirement, he opened a gay bar in Austin, Texas, called the Boathouse. He died of AIDS in 1986, becoming the first athlete to die from the disease.

Johnny Weir: In 2004, the figure skater became the youngest man at 19 to ever win the US National title. He went on to claim the crown three years in a row. He competed in the 2006 and 2010 Olympics and won a bronze medal at the ’08 World Games. In 2012 he married Victor Voronov, six weeks after New York legalized same-sex marriage.

John Amaechi: The 6-foot-9 Englishman starred in basketball at Vanderbilt and Penn State and played in the NBA with Cleveland, Orlando and Utah. His official coming out was in 2007 on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.” He also released a book, “Man in the Middle,” disclosing his closeted

lifestyle as a pro athlete.

Mike Sam: The 6-foot-2, 260-pound native of Galveston, Texas, was a consensus All-American and Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Missouri in 2013. He became a seventh-round draft choice of the St. Louis Rams in 2014 and played two seasons in the NFL. He came out as gay while still an active member of the Missouri team. In 2015 he competed in Dancing with the Stars, finishing 10th.

Jason Collins: A 7-foot basketball center, he starred at Stanford University and played in the NBA from 2001 to ’14 with seven different teams. He came out in 2013 in an article published by Sports Illustrated. He wore No. 98 for Brooklyn in honor of the late Matt Shepard, victim of an anti-gay murder. His No. 98 became the best seller on the NBA’s online shop.

Baseball

to honor Negro Leagues

Baseball fans may want to circle June 20, 2024, on the calendars. That’s when baseball will turn back the clock to honor the Negro Leagues at famed Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. The San Francisco Giants will play the St. Louis Cardinals at the iconic ballpark that opened in 2010.

The Negro League Birmingham Black Barons played at Rickwood from 1925 to 1960, sharing the facility with the then all-white Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association.

At age 17, Willie Mays made his pro debut at Rickwood as a Black Baron outfielder, playing 13 games. Mays went on to become a 14-time All-Star and is today considered the “greatest living ballplayer.”

The San Francisco vs. St. Louis match will be nationally televised on ESPN as part of the Juneteenth holiday celebration.

There will also be a minor-league game at Rickwood June 18 between the current Barons (affiliate of Chicago White Sox) and Montgomery Biscuits (Tampa Bay).

VCU heads to Greece

Befitting a team brimming with international talent, the VCU basketball Rams will soon be making an international excursion.

There was never a thought of playing JV or riding the varsity bench when she arrived as a freshman.

“As soon as we saw her, we knew she was a starter,” said Hollingshead, who was JV coach at the time.

“It’s not just her straight-ahead speed. It’s her quickness with the ball that sets her apart.” Woodson and the Chiefs excelled despite having no home-pitch advantage. The Smoketree Subdivision school’s football field has been under construction while being converted from grass to turf.

The Chiefs practiced and played home games this season at River City Sportsplex, some eight miles away. The state quarterfinal (a Monacan “home game”) was played at Clover Hill High.

There is a long list of credits beside Woodson’s name.

She was Region 4B Player of the Year, first-team Class 4 All-State, Chesterfield Superintendent’s All-County and Monacan Senior Athlete of the Year.

To the relief of Monacan rivals, her goal-scoring heroics are history.

Now it’s Auburn’s opposing netminders that may be nervous.

Coach Ryan Odom’s squad will travel to Greece July 31 to Aug. 9 to play three exhibition games and take in a lot sightseeing in and around Athens.

VCU’s foreign-born players include Michael Belle and Tobi Lawal from Great Britain, Sean Bairstow from Australia and Max Shulga from Ukraine.

Bairstow and Shulga are transfers from Utah State. Lawal, a rising sophomore, is the lone returnee among the bunch. Belle and Patrick will be freshmen.

This is truly a reward in advance. Only four of the players and none of the coaches traveling to Greece have ever been a part of a VCU game.

Oakland twins make history during NBA Draft

Identical twins Amen and Ausar Thompson share an unusual middle name (“XLNC”) and an unusual story that’s taken both to the NBA.”

The native Californians (born one minute apart in 2003) passed on their senior years in high school and completely sidestepped college, preferring the Overtime Elite, a pro league for 16- to 20-year-olds.

That roundabout route isn’t for everyone, but it worked for them.

On June 22, Amen was the fourth overall pick in the NBA draft, by Houston, and Ausar the fifth selection, by Detroit.

They become the sixth set of twins to reach the NBA but by far the highest drafted and likely the richest. As of 2022, the No. 4 pick was guaranteed $7.3 million as a rookie with No. 5 getting $6.5 million.

To begin high school, the twins

moved from California to Pine Crest High in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where they led their team to a state title.

Already given consensus four-star ratings by the recruiting services, they left high school a year early to sign with Overtime. Both were assigned to the City Reapers squad.

In two seasons, the 6-foot-7, 200-pound guards helped the Reapers to back-to-back crowns (Ausar was Finals MVP) while shining their resumes for the NBA.

Each twin earned about $100,000 for each season plus bonuses.

Bypassing college is becoming trendy. Already Overtime has signed the nation’s top ranked guard, Robert Dillingham. The Hickory, N.C., native had originally committed to Kentucky.

Here are the other twins who have played or are playing in the NBA:

Tom and Dick Van Arsdale (out of

Indiana University): Played in NBA in 1960s and 1970s.

Horace and Harvey Grant (Clemson): Were in NBA late 1980s to early 2000s.

Jarron and Jason Collins (Stanford): Early 2000s.

Brook and Robin Lopez (Stanford): Present.

Marcus and Markieff Morris (Kansas): Present u

As expected, the first overall pick of the ’23 draft was 7-foot-4, 19-yearold Victor Wembanyama from France. “Wemby’s” expected first-year salary with San Antonio should be above $9 million.

The Frenchman with the eight-foot wingspan is arguably the most ballyhooed top pick since LeBron James was drafted No. 1 by Cleveland in 2003 out of Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High.

Commanders set training camp dates

How is Eric Bieniemy is fitting in as the new Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator?

How is Sam Howell working out as the first year starting quarterback?

From the sidelines, Commanders’ fans can get a glimpse for themselves when the NFL team opens training camp July 27 at its headquarters in northern Virginia (21300 Coach Gibbs Drive, Ashburn, 20147), at Commanders Park.

Starting each day at 9 a.m., Camp will run through

Aug. 19 and is open free to the public. Spectators must register online in advance, however. Shuttle service from Dulles Town Center will start at 8:30 a.m. each day and run on 10-minute intervals.

Much scrutiny will be given to Bieniemy (who also holds the title of assistant head coach). As Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, he helped the franchise to Super Bowl crowns in 2020 and 2022.

In KC, he worked effectively with talented QB Patrick Mahomes who many consider the best in the game.

In D.C., it will be different as he tries to break in second-year pro Sam Howell, 22, out of the University of North Carolina. The Commanders’ fifth-round draft choice in 2022, Howell sat the bench a year ago until the final game of the season. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he led Washington to a victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

The preseason opener will be Aug. 11 at Cleveland.

The regular-season opener will be at FedEx Field Sept. 10 against Arizona.

Stories by Fred Jeter

Olivia Woodson

Amen and Ansar Thompson

Glenn Burke

Eric Bieniemy

Section B

Kristin DuMont became involved with Richmond Moms Demand Action, a local volunteer group committed to ending gun violence in the community, in 2017. She says the work of reaching out to local and state officials did not come naturally to her.

“I did find advocacy work intimidating at first and, if I’m honest, I still do,” the Richmond native wrote in a recent email. “There’s a natural tendency to feel small and helpless in the face of something as big and scary as a national gun violence epidemic.” She had influences she could look to, including the Rev. Valerie Carter Smith who modeled what it meant to be a woman in ministry when Mrs. DuMont was a teen. For her, the book “Little Women” also is an example of “women finding their voice.”

“Every generation bears the call to leave the world in better condition than they find it,” Mrs. DuMont explains. “I hope that I can be a role model to my own two daughters to show them that they have a voice, and they can use their voices to make the world better for everyone.”

In the case of Moms Demand Action, it took just one voice speaking out on social media to spark a movement. Now the organization has chapters in all 50 states and Washington D.C. which support hundreds of local groups such as Richmond’s.

“Thanks to years of advocacy by Moms Demand Action volunteers and other gun violence prevention groups, in 2020 the Virginia General Assembly passed the strongest gun safety laws in the South,” Mrs. DuMont said. “We are very proud of that accomplishment.”

She says making Richmond safer for her own children and the broader community was the reason why she accepted the position of co-local group lead alongside Anastasia Dzura last year. A former teacher who started out teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) as a volunteer in high school, Mrs. DuMont

backpacked around the world after earning her bachelor’s degree, and continued to teach ESL.

While at Huguenot High School, where she taught from 2003 to 2012, Mrs. DuMont saw the effects of gun violence firsthand. She witnessed students threatened by gun violence and experienced threats of violence herself.

“We are more committed than ever to confront the gun violence epidemic in our city and nation by advocating for common sense gun laws, promoting proven gun safety education and supporting local partners who are doing the important work of gun violence interruption in our community.”

The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions reports that one-third of children under 18 in the U.S. lives in a home with a gun, and only about half of those homes practice safe gun storage. Richmond Moms Demand Action are working to get information about gun safety and the Be SMART program into the hands of Richmond parents.

RMDA volunteers attended General Assembly sessions earlier this year when gun violence prevention legislation was considered. They also attended the dedication of the Markiya Dickson Imagination Zone at Fonticello Park in May. The playground commemorates Ms. Dickson, a 9-year-old girl who died after being shot during a Memorial Day cookout in 2019. An 11-year-old boy and man also were wounded.

“I think the biggest impact we make is simply showing up as often as we can,” Mrs. DuMont says. “It’s not enough. But it’s a start, and I hope that Richmond Moms Demand Action volunteers will always show up to stand next to victims and survivors of gun violence and advocate for change that will make our

community safer. Meet the board leader of an organization determined to decrease gun violence and this week’s Personality.

Volunteer position: Co-Local Group Lead of the Richmond Moms Demand Action.

Occupation: Preschool director, Providence Christian School.

Date and place of birth: Richmond, 1980.

Where I live now: North Side, Richmond.

Education: Bachelor’s in international studies, William and Mary; master’s in teaching, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Family: Husband, Peter; four children: John, Lily, Sam and Rosie. Richmond Moms De mand

Action is: The Richmond Moms Demand Action group is our local group within the Virginia Chapter. We have more than 500 volunteers from all walks of life in the Richmond area who are committed to ending gun violence in

our community.

When and Why Moms Demand Action was founded: Moms Demand Action was founded by Shannon Watts in December of 2012, days after the horrific school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. It began as a Facebook page for moms who wanted to take action to protect their children. In 2013 it joined forces with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, to create Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest grassroots gun violence prevention organization in America. When and why founded in Richmond: The Richmond group has seen many iterations over the past decade. We reformed after the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas one year ago. Now we are more committed than ever to confront the gun violence epidemic in our city and nation by advocating for common sense gun laws, promoting proven gun safety education, and supporting local partners who are doing the important work of gun violence interruption in our community.

National leader: Angela FerrellZabala is the first and current executive director of Moms Demand Action, succeeding in leadership our founder Shannon Watts who retired in Spring 2023. My co-lead is: Anastasia Dzura. Why I accepted position to co-lead: I am motivated by the safety of my own four children, as well as the safety of my broader Richmond community. Together I know we can end gun violence. How gun violence impacts all people: While mass shootings make the news more often, the daily toll of gun violence is

shocking. Some 120 lives are lost to gun violence every day in America. And as of 2020, gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children ages 1-17. Gun violence often disproportionately affects communities of color. Black people are 12 times more likely to die by gun homicide, 18 times more likely to experience gun assault injuries, and nearly three times more likely to be shot and killed by police, compared to white people. This is unacceptable, and we as the Richmond Moms Demand Action group are demanding better laws be put in place to protect our community.

Number one goal or project as co-lead: The first goal is to get gun sense legislation passed at the local, state, and federal levels.

Thanks to years of advocacy by Moms Demand Action volunteers and other gun violence prevention groups, in 2020 the Virginia General Assembly passed the strongest gun safety laws in the South. We are very proud of that accomplishment!

Strategy for achieving goals:

Everyone involved in our Richmond Moms Demand Action group is a volunteer, so we rely on the incredible skills and energy of our volunteers bring to this work to achieve our goals.

Number one challenge facing Richmond Moms Demand Action: Because we are still somewhat new as the Richmond group, we are eager to build more partnerships with local gun violence interruption organizations that already are doing amazing work here in our city.

Biggest success story of Richmond Moms Demand Action:

I think our biggest success so far was our Wear Orange weekend, held June 2-4. We had nearly 200 people attend our community gathering to listen to the stories of gun violence survivors, as

well as local elected officials who are committed to ending gun violence. The Richmond Flying Squirrels hosted a Wear Orange game the next day at which Markiya Dickson’s sister and family threw the first pitch in her memory. And Mayor Stoney had City Hall lit in orange to show support for gun violence survivors across the city. It was a powerful weekend, and I am so grateful to the work of Jenny Sorci, our Wear Orange lead, for putting together such moving events.

How I start the day: I wish I could say I start the day with a cup of coffee and quiet reading of Scripture, but the truth is I start the day at 6:30 a.m. when my 7-year-old wakes me up to do her hair every morning before she leaves for school!

Best late-night snack: I try not to eat after 6 p.m. (a new habit I picked up during COVID), but this feels like the perfect place to give a shout out to LindaGrams, the best anytime snack made by local North Side connoisseur Linda Jackson-Shaw!

A quote that I’m most inspired by: My co-lead, Anastasia, is always using this quote from MayaAngelou, and it is absolutely inspiring: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

The best thing my parents ever taught me: Be kind to everyone, you never know what someone is really going through.

The person who influenced me the most: This answer is different for different stages of my life, but in high school I was very influenced by Rev. Valerie Carter Smith, my supervising minister at the Baptist Center in Hillside Court.

What I’m reading now and my takeaway: Lately I’ve been reading “The Parenting Map” by Dr. Shefali Tsabary. This book contains a wealth of insight on how to parent in a way that honors my children’s interests above my own ego — so humbling!

Next goal: Universal health care — yes we can!

Conducting the future: Burrs holds the baton at UR, Petersburg

By Debora Timms

Naima Burrs grew up surrounded by music. The Richmond native’s mother is renowned soprano Lisa Edwards-Burrs. Her father, Stacy L. Burrs, is a former CEO of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center, a former director of Venture Richmond and a jazz aficionado.

Thus, Naima Burrs was exposed to all types of music and spent a lot of time attending her mother’s rehearsals and performances as a youngster. Although she learned to love classical music, she didn’t imagine following in her mother’s footsteps.

“Music was absolutely not my aspiration when I was younger,” Ms. Burrs confessed in a recent phone interview.

Of course, that didn’t mean music lessons weren’t a part of her life. She and brother Morgan Burrs, a jazz guitarist, both started out playing piano.

“She was always musical, right from her first piano recital. Her phrasing and expressives really captivated me,” her mother said. “Then she found her love for the violin.”

A school visit by the Richmond Symphony Quartet when she was a fourth-grader at J.B. Fisher Elementary affected her.

“I was always around orchestras and never once in those encounters did I think, ‘Oh, I have to play that,’” Ms. Burrs said. “[The school visit] obviously made me interested enough to go home and say, ‘Hey mom, I gotta play this.’”

Even though she loved the violin, Ms. Burrs harbored ambitions. As a student at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, she considered a career in engineering until a conversation with Michelle Basile, the school’s orchestra director, ignited her true passion.

She decided there was something for her in music and headed to Virginia Commonwealth University for her undergraduate degree. While

she was there, Ms. Burrs discovered something else as well — an interest in conducting.

The chance to study for a Masters of Music in violin performance while working as a graduate assistant took Ms. Burrs to the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls next.

“Iowa was interesting - talk about a culture shock,” Ms. Burrs said. “You might think ‘Iowamiddle of nowhere - probably doesn’t have much,’ but it was the exact opposite. The opportunities

available, the faculty I was able to study with ... it was really a first-class education.”

Now Ms. Burrs’s life is steeped in music. She is a professional violinist, a lecturer at Virginia State University and a doctoral candidate in instrumental conducting through Catholic University of America. She credits an associate professor there, Simeone Tartaglione, for getting her into the program she expects to finish in December.

“He saw my potential and took a chance on me when I had very little experience in the conducting realm,” Ms. Burrs said.

She conducted her first opera pastiche with Richmond’s Capitol Opera about a decade ago and won her first conducting post as assistant conductor of the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra at Johns Hopkins University for the 2021-22 season. Now she is the conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of Richmond and the music director for the Petersburg Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Burrs says people probably don’t realize what it takes to be a conductor. Being able to communicate is critical, as is the time that goes into preparation. Knowing the score and the history behind a piece is part of being prepared.

“[As] a musician, you spend most of your life with your instrument,” she said. For a conductor, the orchestra is our instrument and we have such limited access to an orchestra. So much of your preparation happens alone and through your own imagination so that you have a plan when you finally get the chance to be in front of an orchestra.”

Being fully prepared helps to curb her nerves before a performance, but with so much on her plate time is a precious commodity.

“I live and die by my calendar,” Ms. Burrs said of her busy schedule. “One of the hardest things is keeping up with emails. I have like five different email addresses.”

But that doesn’t mean she isn’t also taking on new challenges. In fact, Ms. Burrs has just been named the director of orchestral activity at VSU. Being able to afford more students the chance to be part of orchestral programs is a goal she shares with the school.

“With that being said, that means we really have to take a look at the school systems to partner and help facilitate starting programs at the elementary level.”

Ms. Burrs knows from her own experience what a difference that early exposure can make.

Ms. Burrs is also working toward auditioning for competitions and prestigious summer programs. She also hopes to find the time and a project to collaborate on with her brother Morgan, who plays with the jazz quintet Butcher Brown.

“Ultimately, I would love to have a career as a traveling guest conductor and to have the opportunity to work with various top-tier orchestras all over the world,” she says, adding her gratitude for those whose fight to be recognized as equals paved the way for her and her pride at being instrumental in helping those who follow to pick up the baton or the bow.

Black female conductors are rare in the music world, a fact Ms. Burrs is well aware of. She hopes students who see her holding the baton are inspired.

“It is heartwarming to hear from young Black students or young girls,” Ms. Burrs adds. “When they know that there is someone who looks like them doing what they want to do, it makes them feel like they have a chance. That’s why representation is so important.”

Naima Burrs makes her guest conducting debut with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra on July 4 at Meadow Farm Museum in Glen Allen for “Red. White, and Lights 2023.” richmondsymphony.com

Jazz, concert bands highlight City’s July 4 celebration

Free Press staff report

Dogwood Dell will host the City of Richmond’s Fourth of July celebration on Tuesday July 4.

The free event will kick off with the Richmond Concert Jazz Band at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Richmond Concert Band at 7:30 p.m., which also will be part of the fireworks display at 9:15 p.m., performing The 1812 Overture.

The public is welcome to bring small coolers (glass bottles or alcohol are not allowed) or purchase food from any of the on-site vendors during the event. Glass bottles and alcohol are prohibited at the celebration. The public also

should refrain from celebratory gunfire and is reminded that firework use and possession within city limits is illegal.

Parking is available at Dogwood Dell, with the City Stadium at 3201 Maplewood Ave. providing overflow parking, and free shuttle bus service will be available from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.

No parking will be allowed starting at 2 p.m. along both sides of the 700 to 1000 block of Blanton Ave. between Garrett and Grant streets, the 400 to 600 block of S. Arthur Ashe Blvd. between Blanton and Idlewood Ave., the 00-2200 block Park Drive between Pump House Drive.

and Blanton Avenue, and the 2600 block of Idlewood Avenue between S. Arthur Ashe Blvd. and S. Robinson Street.

Portions of Douglasdale Road, Garrett Street, S. Belmont Avenue will not allow any parking during the event, alongside closures on Sheppard Street between Blanton and Idlewood Ave., and Police Memorial Way on Trafford Road.

Arthur Ashe Boulevard at Idlewood Avenue will close to vehicles beginning at 6 p.m., while Boulevard Bridge will close to vehicles at 8 p.m.

Meadow Farm hosts Henrico’s Red, White and Lights celebration

Free Press staff report

Henrico County’s Division of Recreation & Parks will present its annual Red, White and Lights community celebration of Independence Day on Tuesday, July 4 at Meadow Farm Museum at Crump Park, 3400 Mountain Road.

The free event begins at 4 p.m. and include a performance by The Richmond Symphony and No BS! Brass featuring a repertoire of patriotic and America-themed selections with associate conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin and a laser-light show finale. The performance begins at 8 p.m. under The

Big Tent, a mobile stage that allows the orchestra to take its music into communities. Gates open from 4 to 8:45 p.m. Guests will need to be in the event area to see and hear the show.

“We’re excited, just two weeks after Juneteenth, to give families the opportunity to celebrate the Fourth of July,” said John Zannino, director of Recreation & Parks. “Our community celebration of Independence Day has been a wonderful event for more than 30 years. We look forward to having the community join us again at historic Meadow Farm.”

Guests are encouraged to bring blankets and

Angela Bassett to receive honorary Oscar

The Associated Press

Angela Bassett may have gone home empty handed at the Oscars in March, but the two-time nominee will be getting a golden statuette this year after all — and in very good company too.

In November, Ms. Bassett, Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton will receive honorary Oscars at the Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday.

Michelle Satter, the founding senior director of the Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs, will also be given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the untelevised event.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” Janet Yang, the academy’s president, said in a statement.

Ms. Bassett, whose credits include “Boyz N the Hood,” “Malcolm X,” “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” received her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and her second earlier this year for playing the grieving queen in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

The 64-year-old told the Associated Press earlier this year that “this moment has been so special, it’s been a highlight of my career.”

Ms. Yang said in a statement that, “across her decades-long career, Angela Bassett has continued to deliver transcendent performances that set new standards in acting.”

The honorary awards are given, “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

The Governors Awards will be held on Nov. 18 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Fireworks to light up Petersburg on July 3

Free Press staff report

The City of Petersburg and will sponsor and co-host the second annual Petersburg Independence Day Fireworks Show at the Petersburg Harbor on Monday, July 3. The city is co-hosting the event with Trapezium Brewing Company.

chairs and to arrive early to enjoy live music by Soul Expressions and the Henrico Police Acoustic Blue Band and entertainment by juggler Jonathan Austin and Uncle Sam on Stilts. The event will not include a fireworks display. A kids’ zone will include inflatables, games, face painting and balloon art. History displays will also be available. Antoinette Essa, a reporter for WTVR CBS 6, will serve as emcee for the evening. Food trucks will be on-site to offer meals or snacks. For event details, visit henrico.us/rec or henrico. us/calendar/red-white-and-lights-2023.

Angela Bassett will receive an honorary Oscar at this year’s Governors awards. Ms. Bassett has been nominated for Oscars twice before: 30 years ago for her leading role in Tina Turner biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” and last year for her performance as Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

The event will span the Harbor area along River and Third Streets, with live music, drink and food trucks beginning at 6 p.m. The fireworks show is free and will begin at approximately 9 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

Parking will be available at Matoax Park on Pocahontas Island, under the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge off Joseph Jenkins Roberts Street in the Trapezium Brewing lot, at the Union Train Station, and at the Petersburg Park Ride located at 42 S. Union St. The City of Petersburg will run shuttles from 5:45 p.m. to 10 p.m. between the Park & Ride and Union Train Station.

VMHC announces civic education merger

Free Press staff report

The Virginia Museum of History & Culture will ring in July 4 this year with a merger with the John Marshall Center for Constitutional History & Civics into the VMHC and the launch of a three-year civics initiative.

The merger, announced Monday, is the prelude to the creation of a new civic education center by JMC that will be housed inside the museum. The center will seek to educate and inform about American civics and history, improving public knowledge for all of Virginia.

“We must embrace this historic moment — extraordinary in our lifetimes — and act upon it by together renewing our commitment to the unfinished pursuit of a more perfect union,” said VMHC President and CEO Jamie Bosket in a statement.

“We need to reflect deeply on our past and invest with great purpose in our future, which is why your state history museum is preparing a major multi-year investment to mark this special anniversary.”

More efforts will be part of this initiative, including two major exhibitions in 2025 and in 2026, complete with mobile versions featured throughout Virginia, alongside multiple programs and lectures, and scholarly works focused on the formative years of the United States.

More information can be found at virginiahistory.org/civics.

Naima Burrs is the conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of Richmond and the music director for the Petersburg Symphony Orchestra.

VCU’s Project Gabriel hosts second round of community forums

Free Press staff report

A Virginia Commonwealth University commission has announced two public forums as it moves to carry out a 2021 state law requiring the school to set up a scholarship program for descendents of enslaved people and to memorialize those enslaved who helped develop the campus.

The forums are scheduled to run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday, June 29, and Tuesday, June 11. The first will be held at Fifth Baptist Church, 1415 W. Cary St., and the second at Second Baptist Church of South Richmond, 3300 Broad Rock Blvd.

It’s the latest initiative for VCU, which since 2017 has sought to remove racist symbols and names along with internal barriers to equal services. In 2020, the university, among other things, renamed eight sites on its campus, primarily to

remove names of people associated with the Confederacy. This spring, VCU President Michael Rao set up Project Gabriel: President’s Special Commission on Slavery and Justice and charged it to recommend ways to “report, reconcile and heal the wounds historic ties to the institution of slavery.”

He named the commission for the enslaved Richmonder who led a revolt in 1800 to end slavery. The Department of African-American Studies also has renamed its building Gabriel’s House in his honor.

According to VCU, the commission also reflects VCU’s commitment to implementing both the legislation that Loudoun County Delegate David A. Reid sponsored and the findings of

Salvation Army gains new leadership

Free Press staff report

A new couple is in charge of Salvation Army Central Virginia, based at 2 W. Grace St. Majors Samuel and Christine Kim, who recently led the Christian organization’s operations in Spartansburg, S.C., have assumed command in Richmond and were welcomed with a community reception

last Sunday.

They took over June 19 from Major Jason Burns and Capt. Bethany Burns, who led the Richmond-area operation for three years and who are now charge in Charlotte, N.C.

In a statement, the Kims said, “When we work together, we are better together.”

In Richmond, they will be responsible

Maryland church, with $100,000 in vandalism damage, continues in faith

The Rev. Jerome Jones Sr. is shocked by two things: the extensive vandalism that took place in his church building in Maryland’s capital in early June and the outpouring of support Fowler United Methodist Church has received in the aftermath.

On June 8, the red-carpeted sanctuary of the historically Black church was turned into a debris-filled space, with items once sacred ripped apart and an estimated $100,000 in damage.

“Nothing but paper — it looked like snow around our whole entire sanctuary,” said Rev. Jones of pages that were torn from Bibles and from hymnals that had been in the pews, whose upholstery was ripped when a wooden cross was torn down and tossed onto them.

“When we do our offering, we always lift our hands towards the cross for God to receive our offering,” explained the pastor since 2021 of the Annapolis church founded in 1871.

In recent weeks, congregants had to rethink that longtime tradition: “I told them the cross is in their hearts.”

Marc Limansky, a spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Police Department, said police are investigating the vandalism and burglary at the church in what is considered by law to be a hate crime. As of midday Tuesday (June 27), there had been no arrests in the case.

“It’s just a violation of sanctity,” Limansky said of the incident, described in a news release as “significant damage” to the church’s interior. “I know they’re working hard on it.”

Moore

Riverview Baptist Church

Sundays Sunday School - 9:30 A.M. Morning Services - 11 A.M.

In Person Sunday Service also on FACEBOOK and YouTube

2604 Idlewood Avenue, Richmond, Va. 23220 (804) 353-6135 • www.riverviewbaptistch.org

Rev. Dr. John E. Johnson, Jr., Interim Minister

for the Men and Families’ Shelter located that the Grace Street site, the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club in Church Hill, and the Angel Tree and services in the Petersburg, Hopewell and Colonial Heights area, according to the Salvation Army. The Kims, the parents of two grown children, have served with the Salvation Army for 15 years.

a December 2022 report on “Slavery and the Medical College of Virginia.”

Delegate Reid’s legislation established the Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship and Memorial Program. Under it, VCU and three other schools, Longwood University, the College of William and Mary and the Virginia Military Institute, provide a “college scholarship or community-based economic development program for individuals or specific communities with a demonstrated historic connection to slavery that will empower families to be lifted out of a cycle of poverty.”

The legislation also requires each of the schools to “identify and memorialize, to the extent possible all enslaved individuals who labored” on property those entities previously owned or currently control.

For more information on Project Gabriel: visit projectgabriel.vcu.edu

Good Shepherd Baptist Church

The Rev. Sylvester T. Smith, Ph.D., Pastor “There’s A Place for You”

Broad Rock Baptist Church 5106 Walmsley Blvd., Richmond, VA 23224 804-276-2740 • 804-276-6535 (fax) www.BRBCONLINE.org

“BACK IN SERVICE” Our doors are open again Mask required • Must provide vaccination card Every Sunday @ 11:00 am. Live Streaming Every Sunday At: BRBConline.org or YouTube(Broad Rock Baptist Church)

“MAKE IT

Pastor Kevin Cook

St. Peter Baptist Church

1858

Dr.

“ e Church With A Welcome”

Sharon Baptist Church

500 E. Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222 www.sharonbaptistchurchrichmond.org (804) 643-3825 Rev. Dr. Paul A. Coles, Pastor

Sundays Morning Worship 10:00 A.M. Back Inside

Antioch Baptist Church

“Redeeming God’s People for Gods Purpose” 1384 New Market Road, Richmond, Virginia 23231 | 804-222-8835

Photo courtesy of Fowler UMC

Pages that were torn from Bibles and hymnals litter the pews and sanctuary at Fowler United Methodist Church in Annapolis, Md, on June 9, 2023.

President Rao

To

more homogeneous in nature.” Ordinance No. 2023-203

To authorize the special use of the property known as 2301 Grove Avenue for the purpose of a dwelling unit within an accessory building to a single-family detached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is in the R-6 Single-Family Attached Residential District. The City’s Richmond 300 Master Plan designates a future land use for the subject property as Neighborhood MixedUse, which is defined as a “Existing or new highly-walkable urban neighborhoods that are predominantly residential with a small, but critical, percentage of

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Esquire Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804 798-9667 virGiNiA: iN THE circUiT cOUrT OF THE ciTY OF ricHMOND iTHAi rOBLEDO MArTiNEZ, Plaintiff, v. JAMES rOBErT MOrENO, Defendant. case No.: cL23-299 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON The object of the abovestyled suit is 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 any interruption, for a period of more than one year. It appearing by affidavit filed according to law that the Defendant, James Robert Moreno, whose last known address was 5316 Hull Street Road, Apt. 1, Richmond, Virginia 23225, has since relocated outside the Commonwealth of Virginia, and his current whereabouts are unknown, it is therefore ORDERED that Defendant, Robert Moreno, appear before this Court on or before the 11 day of July, 2023, and do what is necessary to protect his interests in this suit.

An Extract, Teste: Edward F. Jewett, clerk i ask for this:

Jesse Baez, Esq. (VSB #85986) BROOKS & BAEZ 9100 Arboretum Pkwy., Suite 190 Richmond, VA 23236

T: (804) 570-7473 F: (804) 548-4215 Counsel for Plaintiff

virGiNiA

iN THE circUiT cOUrT OF THE cOUNTY OF HENricO cHUNG TAN NGUYEN, Plaintiff, v. cHAU TAN BUi Defendant. case No. cL23-4032 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce. It appearing from an affidavit that diligence has been used by or on behalf of the plaintiff to ascertain in what county or city the defendant is, without effect, it is Ordered that the defendant appear before this Court on August 7, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., and protect her interests herein.

I ASK FOR THIS:

Janet E. Brown, P.C. (VSB

a period exceeding twelve months.

It

rELATiONS DiSTricT cOUrT OF THE ciTY OF ricHMOND commonwealth of virginia, in re MicHAEL JAMES FOrD rDSS v TrAcEY LEE FOrD MicHAEL JAMES STrASBUrG Jr. & UNKNOWN FATHEr File No. J-102608-02, J-102608-03, J-102608-04 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON The object of this suit is to: terminate the residual parental rights (“RPR”) of Unknown Father (Father) & Tracey Lee Ford (Mother) & Michael James Strasburg, Jr. (Father), of Michael James Ford, child DOB: 4/9/2023 “RPR” means all rights and responsibilities remaining with Parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person, including but not limited to rights of: Visitation; adoption consent; determination of religious affiliation; and responsibility for support and that: It is ORDERED that the defendant Unknown Father (Father) & Tracey Lee Ford (Mother) & Michael James Strasburg, Jr. (Father) to appear at the abovenamed Court and protect his/her interest on or before 8/15/2023, at 2:00 P.M., cOUrTrOOM #2 (McG) PrOPErTY virGiNiA: iN THE circUiT cOUrT OF THE ciTY OF ricHMOND JOHN MArSHALL cOUrTS BUiLDiNG ciTY OF ricHMOND, Plaintiff, v. EvELYN G. HErTScH et al, Defendants. case No.: cL23-248 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 1854 Powell road, richmond, virginia Parcel iD Number c0080176002, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owner of record, Evelyn G. Hertsch An Affidavit having been filed that said owner, Evelyn G. Hertsch who has been served by posting and by mailing a copy of the complaint to her last known address, has not been personally located and has not filed a response to this action, and that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of Parties Unknown.

i T i S O r DE r ED that Evelyn G. Hertsch and Parties Unknown , come forward to appear on or before AUGUST 17, 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

VIRGINIA: iN THE circUiT cOUrT OF THE ciTY OF ricHMOND JOHN MArSHALL cOUrTS BUiLDiNG ciTY OF ricHMOND, Plaintiff, v. KENNETH POLLArD et al, Defendants. case No.: cL23-1186 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON The object of this suit is to subject the property briefly described as 1909 Sussex Street, richmond, virginia, Parcel iD Number E0120276033, to sale in order to collect delinquent real estate taxes assessed thereon in the name of the owners of record, Kenneth Pollard, Tanika Sellars, Michael J. Pollard, and Marshell P. Robinson. An Affidavit having been filed that said owners, Kenneth Pollard, Tanika Sellars and Michael Pollard who have been served by posting and by mailing a copy of the complaint to their last known address, has not been personally located and has not filed a response to this action, and owner, Marshell P. Robinson and defendant, Club Land’OR, Ltd, who has not been personally located and has not filed a response to this action, that any heirs, devisees, assignees, successors in interest, successors in title and/or any creditors with a current or future interest in said property, have not been identified and/or served despite diligent efforts to do so and are defendants to this suit by the general description of Parties Unknown. i T i S O r DE r ED that Kenneth Pollard Tanika Sellars, Michael J. Pollard, Marshell P. robinson, and c lub Land’O r (Nassau),

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GREATER RICHMOND TRANSIT COMPANY

Pumping Services at Restrooms DTS

GRTC Transit System is seeking bids for services for Pumping Services at Restrooms DTS Interested suppliers may download a copy of IFB- 222-23-06 Pumping Services at Restrooms DTS from calling Brandon Butler at (804) 474-9360, to the solicitation documents should be Brandon Butler Procurement Specialist (804) 474-9360, extension 502

The Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Case Entry Paralegal

Responsibilities:

Ashland, VA 23005 (804 798-9667 virGiNiA: iN THE circUiT cOUrT FOr THE cOUNTY OF HANOvEr rENA LiPScOMB, Plaintiff v. JOHN LiPScOMB, Defendant. case No.: cL23001934-00 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

GREATER RICHMOND TRANSIT COMPANY

TIRE MAINTENANCE SERVICES AND MILEAGE LEASING

GRTC Transit System is seeking bids for services for Pumping Services at Restrooms DTS Interested suppliers may download a copy of IFB- 223-23-06 TIRE MAINTENANCE SERVICES AND MILEAGE LEASING from Brandon Butler at (804) 474-9360, extension Brandon Butler Procurement Specialist (804) 474-9360, extension 502

Greater Richmond SCAN

Job Description –Child Advocacy Center Multidisciplinary Team Facilitator

The part time CAC MDT Facilitator is responsible for providing leadership for CAC MDTs, monitoring adherence to National Children’s Alliance (NCA) accreditation standards and providing support for CAC MDT Regional communications and training. Each MDT is comprised of child protective services and law enforcement investigators, Commonwealth Attorneys, medical and mental health providers, forensic interviewers, victim advocates, and others who work together to coordinate the investigation of allegations of child abuse and provide the child victim and family with support services. Master’s degree in Social Work, Psychology or other related human grscan.com/jobs.

Greater Richmond SCAN

Job Description –Child Advocacy Center Forensic Interviewer

are available

of the

contacting Procurement Services, at the City of Richmond website (www.RVA. GOV), or faxed (804) 646-5989. The City of Richmond encourages all contractors to participate in the procurement process.

The Full-Time Forensic Interviewer is responsible for conducting forensic interviews primarily at the GRSCAN Henrico CAC satellite location. Bachelor’s Degree and forensic interviewing experience required. Master’s degree in Social Work Spanish) preferred. Learn more at grscan. com/jobs.