Marathon winners
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Richmond Free Press © 2014 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 23 NO. 47
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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Firefighter of the Year
NOVEMBER 20-22, 2014
A steal for the Squirrels? Baseball team gets sweet deal with city’s five-year lease at The Diamond By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Virtually free rent. That’s what the minor league baseball team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels, got in their new five-year lease deal on The Diamond. On the surface, the deal approved by City Council calls for the team to pay $157,500 a year in rent to the city, which takes over ownership of the stadium Jan. 1 from the regional Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority. However, the contract gives the Squirrels two new revenue streams that will offset a big hunk of that payment. For example, the Squirrels now will be able to keep the sublease
payments Virginia Commonwealth University makes so its baseball team can use the stadium. The RMTA collected $18,000 from VCU this year. Next year, VCU is to pay $15,000 to the team. Then there is the $140,000 to $180,000 generated yearly in revenue after expenses from the parking lots the team operates beside the stadium. Previously, the Squirrels had to give 50 percent of the net revenue after expenses for parking cars to the RMTA. The new lease with the city allows the Squirrels to keep all parking revenue for those attending its games and other programs the team might host at the stadium.
The city also has agreed to reduce the rent by the amount the team might need to pay in real estate taxes as the lessee of the stadium located on North Boulevard. That would be roughly $24,000 a year, based on the RMTA’s current value of the stadium at $4 million. The city assessor will set the value of the property next year after the city becomes the owner. Lessees usually pay 50 percent or less of the $1.20 tax per $100 of assessed value. The Squirrels also get to keep all money the team earns from Please turn to A4
$275K for VSU interim president By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Dr. Pamela V. (for Valleria) Hammond is ready to jump into her new role as interim president of struggling Virginia State University. “My commitment, my dedication, my life will be Virginia State University,” Dr. Hammond pledged. The 62-year-old provost of Hampton University made the promise last week after being tapped as the first woman to lead the 132-yearold historically black public institution that has been hit hard by shrinking enrollment and a $19 million revenue shortfall. As the Free Press first reported, the board of visitors hired Dr. Hammond on Nov. 13 to be the temporary replacement for embattled president, Dr. Keith T. Miller, who agreed to resign amid financial turmoil that has generated
student protests and alumni concern. Students who had pushed for Dr. Miller’s ouster expressed delight with the choice of Dr. Hammond. “I am excited. The ball is definitely rolling, and it’s rolling in the right direction,” VSU junior Lamarcus Wise said. Dr. Hammond is expected to leave her post as Hampton’s chief academic officer on Nov. 30, and, under an arrangement with the VSU board, to start work in early December as a consultant in an effort to create a smooth transition. She officially will take over the president’s office Jan. 1, a day after Dr. Miller, 59, leaves. She will be in charge of a university with a $163 million annual budget. The big challenge will be to increase VSU’s Please turn to A4
Courtesy of Virginia State University Athletic Department
VSU wins CIAA Championship Virginia State University football coach Latrell Scott and his players celebrate after beating Winston-Salem State University 21-17 last Saturday in the CIAA Championship game in Durham, N.C. The Trojans earned a home game in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. They will play Long Island University-Post of Brookville, N.Y, noon Saturday at Rogers Stadium. Virginia State University radio station WVST 91.3 FM will carry the game, with coverage beginning 11:30 a.m.
Pacific Coast News/Newscom
Star power wedding Solange Knowles, Beyoncé’s younger sister, and Richmond native Alan G. Ferguson gaze from a balcony prior to their wedding ceremony Sunday in New Orleans. The couple and their wedding party enjoyed a star-studded weekend of festivities that included superstars Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z. Please see the story, additional photos on page B2.
School Board tensions rise By Joey Matthews
A surgeon who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone died early Monday of the disease at a Nebraska hospital. Dr. Martin Salia is the second person to die from the virus out of 10 confirmed cases treated in the United States, though there have been dozens of other false alarms. Dr. Salia, 44, a native of Sierra Leone and a permanent U.S. resident, was in critical condition when he arrived at the Nebraska Medical Center on Saturday afternoon, said Dr. Phil Smith, director of the hospital’s biocontainment unit. Dr. Daniel Johnson, who treated Dr. Salia, said, “He had no kidney function, he was working extremely hard to breathe and he was unresponsive.” Dr. Salia was put on dialysis within hours of his arrival and required a breathing
and teacher and staff training. Dr. Bedden pressed the two women to explain why they sought to kill the agreement with the Virginia Board of Education that spells out the general process that will be followed in the latest effort to turn around educational performance at Thompson. Under state law, state educational officials are empowered to oversee the work local officials are doing to improve student achievement after a school is denied accreditation. Ms. Harris-Muhammed became agitated when Dr. Bedden questioned her vote on the agreement, called a memorandum of understanding or MOU. She said she was disturbed that he would confront her publicly. She repeatedly said the only way she would explain is if she could do so in private. Ms. Pinkney Eppes told a Free Press reporter after the vote that she opposed the MOU because it did not include an option for parents to send their children to another middle school. She said parents shouldn’t be forced to send their “children to an unaccredited school. A large percentage of the children that attend Thompson live in the 9th District.” The school is on Forest Hill Avenue.
Please turn to A4
Please turn to A4
Richmond Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden wore an incredulous look when two members of the School Board tried to scuttle an agreement aimed at putting the city’s worst middle school, Fred D. Thompson, on the road to regaining accreditation. “This is something we have to do,” he told the two members, Shonda Harris-Muhammed, 6th District, and Tichi Pinkney Eppes, 9th District, after they voted against an agreement accepting
state oversight of the South Side school and promising development of a specific improvement plan. The agreement ultimately passed, 3-2, with four board members absent, but the split vote came as a surprise at the board meeting Monday night in the City Council chambers. Thompson Middle has been denied accreditation as the result of too few students passing state Standards of Learning tests in each of the past four years — despite millions of dollars in federal grants being spent on state-recommended consultants
Doctor dies of Ebola in Nebraska Free Press wire reports
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Tradition continues Native American children dance at the 24th Annual Great American Indian Exposition and Pow Wow last Saturday at the Richmond International Raceway. The event also featured craft demonstrations, storytelling and food.