Al
k at 2nd Street Festival
Richmond Free Press © 2016 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 25 NO. 41
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
ee Fr
Fr ee
B5
Meet The Cheats Movement founder B2
OCtober 6-8, 2016
Kaine comes out swinging U.S. Senator challenges GOP vice presidential contender over Donald Trump’s record Free Press wire reports
Andrew Gombert/Pool/Reuters
Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, makes a point during the debate Tuesday with Republican nominee Mike Pence of Indiana at Longwood University in Farmville.
Mayor Dwight C. Jones is preparing to throw a curveball into Richmond’s increasingly heated campaigns for city offices. At a time when polls show city residents want more city tax dollars invested in the public schools, and when most candidates are vying to Chief Durham Mayor Jones outdo rivals in portraying themselves as education-friendly, the lame duck mayor, who leaves office Dec. 31, is calling for a big share of excess city funds to be shifted to crime fighting. In a proposal he is expected to introduce to Richmond City Council on Monday, Mayor Jones will urge the governing body to endorse his plan to fuel a major expansion of the police department to a record strength of 800 sworn officers, up from the current authorized force of 750 sworn officers. In a Sept. 26 letter to the council outlining his plan, the mayor pushed aside education as the bedrock of the community’s future. Instead, he wrote that “public safety is the foundation upon which everything else rests in a resurgent city like ours,” including public education, poverty mitigation and restaurant and business growth. “All of these hallmarks require that our strong public safety commitment continues.” However, Mayor Jones also acknowledged he has no idea where the steady stream of dollars would come from to cover the projected $5.6 million annual
zenship and broader questions about his temperament. The encounter between Gov. Pence of Indiana and U.S. Sen. Kaine of Virginia, who is the No. 2 to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, was the only such debate between the vice presidential contenders before the Nov. 8 election, and the two spent most of their time attacking each other’s running mates. For more than 90 minutes at Longwood University in Farmville, neither Gov. Pence nor Sen. Kaine appeared to deliver a knockout punch. Gov. Pence sought to project an image as a reassuring presence, in contrast with the bombastic Mr. Trump, while Sen. Kaine tried to frighten voters away from Mr. Trump and make Mrs. Clinton seem more trustworthy. A CNN/ORC snap poll declared Gov. Pence the winner with 48 percent support, compared with 42 percent for Sen. Kaine, who frequently interrupted his opponent. Mr. Trump watched the debate from Las Vegas and in an unusual move, live tweeted during the debate and said he was pleased by his running mate’s performance. “Mike Pence won big. We should all be proud of Mike!” Mr. Trump said. The encounter set the table for a second presidential debate looming on Sunday, Oct. 9, at Washington University in St. Louis between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump, who needs to rebound from a rocky performance from his first debate, one that gave Mrs. Clinton a boost in national opinion polls with Election Day only five weeks away. Bickering Tuesday night between Sen. Kaine and Gov. Pence was so intense that they frequently talked over each other. Sen. Kaine was seen by television commentators as being over-prepared and over-eager as he circled back to Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his tax records at almost every opportunity. Sen. Kaine called the Republican presidential nominee a danger to U.S. national security and someone who denigrates women and minorities and appears to pay little in federal taxes.
Please turn to A4
Please turn to A4
FARMVILLE Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine aggressively challenged Republican candidate Mike Pence over a long list of Donald Trump’s controversial positions and
e The Tuesday, Nov. 8 election is almost here. dli n for a e To vote, you must be registered. D ister l The deadline to register to vote is Monday, Oct. 17. eg tia to r si de n n: Registration applications are available at the state e o pr lecti e Department of Motor Vehicles offices, public libraries and y n da7 other government offices or online or in the local voter Moc 1 . registrar’s office. Mailed applications must be postmarked O t by the deadline. Requests to receive absentee ballots by mail must be made by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1. An absentee ballot can be cast in person at your voter registrar’s office until 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5. In Richmond, absentee votes are cast at the Richmond Voter Registrar’s Office at City Hall, 900 E. Broad St. Questions? Contact the Virginia Department of Elections, www.elections.virginia.gov or call (800) 552-9745 and select Option 1.
Jackson stumps here for Clinton By Lauren Northington
Millennials don’t understand the privilege of voting because they weren’t alive during the struggle of the 1950s and 1960s to secure the right to vote, according to the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. “Those who inherit the struggles of others, who are now beneficiaries of that struggle — privileged ones — don’t have the right to dismiss the struggle that made that choice possible,” the civil rights leader said in an exclusive interview Tuesday with the Richmond Free Press. “They assume that no matter who is president, they’ll be alright.” Rev. Jackson, founder and president of the national Rainbow PUSH organization, was campaigning in Richmond for Democratic presidential candidate Please turn to A4
statements Tuesday night, drawing a vigorous defense of Mr. Trump’s tax history. But Gov. Pence sidestepped criticism of Mr. Trump’s demeaning comments about women, his public doubting of President Obama’s citi-
Mayor calls for hiring 70 more police officers within 12 months By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Richmond City Council Vice President Ellen F. Robertson embraces civil rights icon the Rev. Jesse Jackson outside of Croaker’s Spot on Hull Street in South Side. Ms. Robertson, Richmond Delegate Jennifer L. McClellan, left, and Petersburg Delegate Lashrecse D. Aird were among the group that dined and talked politics with Rev. Jackson on Tuesday as he campaigned in Richmond for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Croaker’s Spot general manager Ralph Fields looks on.
Richmond’s graduation rate trails the state By Lauren Northington
Nearly 1,500 new freshmen entered Richmond schools in 2012 to start their quest for a high school diploma. Four years later, nearly one in five did not receive that important credential when graduation ceremonies were held last spring. In total, 1,183 of those ninth-graders graduated on time — or 80.2 percent of the members of the city’s Class of 2016, according to the latest on-time graduation report from the Virginia Department of Education. It seems apparent, though, that Richmond’s graduation rate represents another educational disappointment as it falls well short of the average graduation rate of 91.3 percent for Virginia’s 132 school districts. In addition, the on-time graduation rate for the Class of 2016 in Richmond also represents a retreat from the Class of 2015, which had a reported graduation rate of 83.8 percent. The Free Press was unable to reach Rich-
mond Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden and School Board Chairman Jeff M. Bourne for comment Wednesday. Just recently, Richmond Public Schools learned that only 14 of its 44 schools received state accreditation, and that 35 to 40 percent of city students were unable to pass state standardized tests in basic subjects such as reading, math, history and science. Still, the new graduation report card is not all bad news for Richmond Public Schools. It is an improvement from Richmond’s ontime graduation rate of four years ago. For the Class of 2012, the on-time graduation rate was 74.3 percent — six percentage points lower than in 2016. Another bright spot: The state report indicated that the Class of 2016 had a smaller percentage of dropouts, just 10 percent compared with 19.5 percent for the Class of 2012 and 13.2 percent for the Class of 2015. Please turn to A4
Finding her voice
10-year-old wins Library of Congress writing award By Leah Hobbs
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Isla Rodriguez, 10, holds one of her favorite books, “March,” about the civil rights experiences of U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.
Isla Rodriguez, 10, is an inspiration. The fifth-grader at William Fox Elementary School in Richmond plays the alto saxophone in the school band, initiated her family’s recycling efforts with mother Holly and father Enrique and has grown up attending rallies and meetings with her parents supporting immigration law reform and the Black Lives Matter movement. The youngster, who loves to read, play Minecraft and participate in Junior Girl Scouts, has been recognized for another talent — writing. Isla was named the Virginia winner of the Library of Congress’ 2016 “A Book That Shaped Me” Summer Writing Contest. Please turn to A4