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

• 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.

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.