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Richmond Free Press © 2019 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 28 NO. 51
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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Fr ee
Trump impeached
DECEMBER 19-21, 2019
VUU ensemble going places Photo courtesy of Virginia Union University
Members of the Virginia Union University Select Ensemble perform with J. David Bratton and his choir, “Every Praise,” in Budapest, Hungary, on Dec. 10 as part of a 28-day European tour.
22 students join gospel music producer J. David Bratton on tour in Hungary and Italy for holiday season By George Copeland Jr.
People in Hungary and Italy are getting a helping of good gospel music this holiday as 22 members of Virginia Union University’s Select Ensemble join eight singers and musicians from around the United States — part of gospel music mega producer J. David Bratton’s “Every Praise” gospel group — to tour Europe. The VUU students have been a “phenomenal” part of the tour,
Mr. Bratton told the Free Press on Tuesday in a phone interview from Asti, a town in northwestern Italy, where the group was to perform that night.
Related story on B3 The group left Richmond Dec. 7 for a 28-day tour to roughly 16 locales ranging from Budapest to Perugia and Rome, where they have scheduled performances through the New Year.
Gov. Northam releases progressive 2020-22 budget plan
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By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Smokers might have to shell out an extra 30 cents in tax for a pack of cigarettes to help offset the cost of tobacco-related illnesses that the state must pick up through Medicaid and other health care programs. And motorists could pay more for fuel under a proposed three-year increase in the state gas tax that would go from 22 cents a Gov. Northam gallon to 34 cents a gallon. The gas tax hike would raise more money for Virginia roadway building and repairs. But motorists also would save $40 a year with the proposed elimination of an annual vehicle safety inspection and a proposed 50 percent cut in the yearly cost of registering their vehicle with the state. The tax increases and fee cuts are among highlights of the $138 billion spending plan that Gov. Ralph S. Northam delivered Tuesday to the Virginia General Assembly that will have Please turn to A6
A wedding gift unexpected By George Copeland Jr.
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Sizing up Santa Ayla Hyndman, 6 months, is giving Soul Santa a close examination as if to determine if she can tell him all of her Christmas wishes. This is the first Christmas for Ayla, who visited Soul Santa, aka Floyd Brown, recently with her parents at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia. Soul Santa has become an annual tradition at the museum in Jackson Ward.
School Board makes no changes to North Side attendance zones By Ronald E. Carrington
The Richmond School Board voted 6-3 Monday to reject a plan to modify school attendance zones in North Side. The result is that attendance zones in North Side will remain the same during the 2020-21 school year. The vote rejected a plan pushed by School Board member Kenya Gibson, 3rd District, to redraw boundaries at Ginter Park, Holton and Obama elementary schools that would allow more racial integration of students without splitting neighborhoods or pairing schools.
The students, Mr. Bratton said, “are a great representation of the heart of the school.” He said the response to the music has been so positive that concertgoers in Hungary and Italy have contacted VUU asking where they can get CDs and videos to hear more. “The choir is extraordinary,” said Mauritzio Manfrini, tour promoter for the group in Italy. “People love them in any moment — from the beginning to the end.” Friends and family members had the chance to see the choir in action during a live stream on social media of the choir’s sell-out concert Monday at the Teatro Nazionale CheBanca in Milan. It was their seventh sold-out performance during the tour. The reaction from fans at home was just as enthusiastic as the audiences the choir has seen from the stage. “My phone was blowing up with text messages and phone calls saying how amazing we sounded,” said tenor Kennard Jones,
“This is a significant issue about equity,” Ms. Gibson said, following a two-hour public hearing during which 60 people, mostly parents, offered their thoughts on how the North Side attendance zones should be recast. “From my perspective, the new proposed zone would encourage more engagement and diversity, especially at Ginter Park,” said Ms. Gibson, who represents the North Side area. North Side is the only area of the city that will not have new boundaries. During its meeting on Dec. 2, the School Board adopted new zones in the
Who says good things don’t happen on Friday the 13th? That’s the day the Richmond Free Press received a $500 check for newlyweds Donald McWilliams Jr. and Roberta Jennings. A reader who wishes to remain unnamed read their story on the front page of the Dec. 5-7 edition of the Free Press and wanted to help the couple who tied the knot Dec. 7 on a mini-chapel float sponsored by the Richmond Heritage Federal Credit Union in the annual Richmond Christmas Parade. “Since they both have previously had hard times,” the letter stated, “I would like to assist them in a small way as they move ahead with their lives.” Mr. McWilliams, 59, and Ms. Jennings, 56, who met while Please turn to A4
West End, East End and South Side, with the focus to relieve overcrowding in South Side elementary schools. Some students will be moved to the new, larger E.S.H. Greene Elementary and the new middle school, both in South Side, that are to open in the fall of 2020. New lines in the East End also take into account the new George Mason Elementary School that also is to open next fall. Many of the speakers at Monday’s packed board meeting, held in the Ginter Park Elementary School auditorium, exPlease turn to A4
James Haskins/Richmond Free Press
Donald McWilliams Jr. and Roberta Jennings
New details emerge about Coliseum replacement plan By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Richmond City Council President Cynthia I. Newbille, rushing to get the governing body to vote on the $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement plan in late February, authorized a $25,000 increase in the contract for a private consultant to conduct a review of the proposal for City Council without first gaining a council vote, the Free Press has learned.
Information on the higher cost was obtained as other details about the Coliseum development proposal surfaced, including the results of the first professional poll on the project that shows two-thirds of 5th District residents polled are opposed to the project. A separate report also indicates it could take up to 20 years for the city’s general fund to see substantial financial returns from the development.
D r. N e w bille could not immediately be reached for comment on her authorization of the award of a more expensive contract to C.H. Dr. Newbille Johnson Consulting Inc. of Chicago. The consulting firm inked a $215,000 contract with
the city on Monday in exchange for agreeing to an earlier completion of its report. A draft timeline that Dr. Newbille distributed to City Council last week calls for Johnson Consulting to submit its preliminary report on Friday, Jan. 31, to present the findings to the council on Monday, Feb. 3, and to submit its final report by Monday, Feb. 10. That’s two weeks before City Council is to vote on the proposal on
Monday, Feb. 24. Originally, City Council set aside $190,000 in the budget to pay for a consultant, which, according to the city’s advertisement, would have 90 days to review the massive plan backed by Mayor Levar M. Stoney. The Navy Hill District Corp., led by Dominion Energy’s top official, Thomas F. Farrell II, proposed the Coliseum plan and the Please turn to A4