Meet this week’s Personality B1
Key player on, off court
Richmond Free Press © 2022 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 31 NO. 9
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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A9
FEBRUARY 24-26, 2022
Mayor: She said ‘yes’ By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Instagram post by Mayor Levar M. Stoney
Brandy Washington reacts with surprise and joy to Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s marriage proposal Tuesday at Libby Hill Park. She said “yes.”
Mayor Levar M. Stoney, one of Richmond’s most eligible bachelors, is about to hear wedding bells. An Instagram post shows him proposing to his girlfriend, Brandy Washington, in Libby Hill Park at sunset on Tuesday, a special day better known as 2-22-22, a numeric palindrome because it reads the same forward and backward. The next 2-22-22 will occur in 100 years. But the phenomenon of it falling on a Tuesday – and becoming known as “Twosday”—will not happen again for another 400 years, in 2422, experts said. Mayor Stoney, 40, chose the rare, special day to get down on one knee and pop the question. She said “yes.” The photo of the momentous moment, which also captured the panoramic backdrop of the city, was posted Wednesday on social media and had garnered more than 3,300 likes and lots of congratulatory messages by evening. It will be a second marriage for the mayor, who has been discreet about his personal life during his tenure as the city’s leader, a post he has held since 2017. A Richmond Free Press photograph of Mayor Stoney and Ms. Washington riding on the back of a convertible classic Mustang in the Armstrong-Walker Classic Legacy parade on Nov. 27 is one of the first public appearances of the couple. They also attended the inauguration of Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin together on Jan. 15. And earlier this month, Mayor Stoney posted a podcast on The Cheats Movement in which he indicated the pair had been in a relationship for a year and that he was
no longer available. Ms. Washington, 33, is the daughter of the late Ira Payne Washington Jr., a former educator at Henderson Middle School, where for nearly 50 years he taught and served as an assistant principal, and Jo Anne Washington, a retired City of Richmond employee. She has worked for Altria for more than eight years and currently is associate manager of regulatory strategy. She also serves on the company’s diversity panel and chairs the Development Committee of Altria’s Black Employee Resource Group, where she leads initiatives to build and provide resources to enhance the company’s diversity and leadership pipeline. A graduate of Randolph-Macon College who earned a master’s degree from the University of Richmond, Ms. Washington also serves on the board of HomeAgain, a homeless services provider. Details of when and where the couple plans to marry have not been disclosed.
Jordan Pendleton, 10, roars to lead role as young Simba in national tour of ‘The Lion King’ By Ronald E. Carrington
Richmond’s Jordan Pendleton has been selected to play young Simba in a national touring troupe of Disney’s “The Lion King.” The 10-year-old fourth-grader at Mary Munford Elementary School was cast in the role in December and will be leaving Richmond to begin rehearsals in March. North American touring productions of the hugely popular musical have been seen by more than 20 million theatergoers in more than 90 cities. While Jordan will not be performing with the troupe when it opens March 9 for a two-week run at the Altria Theater, he will be lighting up the stage on a sixmonth tour to multiple cities, starting in Columbia, S.C., in late March. “I was very happy to be selected,” Jordan said during a Free Press interview earlier this month as he prepared to go on tour. “I was jumping around and screaming. I was so happy.” He said it was his first audition he’d ever had for a professional role. “I just love to entertain people. I love
to perform. I love to be around people in general because that makes me light up with energy,” he said. He’s the oldest of the Pendleton siblings that include brother Isaiah, 8, and sisters Christian, 6, and Hannah, 4.
Jordan’s journey into the entertainment world started with acting classes at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center in Richmond, where performances did not Please turn to A4
Julianne Tripp
8,000 potential gravesites identified at East End Cemetery using drone and hydrology mapping software By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Finding unmarked graves in neglected cemeteries has always been a challenge. Now a Richmond research team has created a relatively inexpensive method to simplify the search using a drone — an increasingly favorite tool of archaeologists — and standard
mapping software for water movement or hydrology. As detailed in a newly published article in an international journal, the team successfully tested the method in East End Cemetery, a historic Black cemetery located on the eastern border of Richmond and Henrico County within Please turn to A4
School Board rejects Kamras budget plan; misses deadline set by mayor Mr. Kamras presented a proposed $554 million budget for the fiscal year that will begin July 1. That The Richmond School Board is still trying to come amount includes local, state and federal dollars, plus up with a finished spending plan to send to City Hall a separate request for more than $9 million for mainso it can be included in the proposed 2022-23 budtenance of school buildings. get that Mayor Levar M. Stoney will present to City Mr. Kamras’ plan called for the city to contribute Council on Friday, March 4. an additional $22 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year, The board is scheduled to meet again at 6 p.m. boosting city spending on schools from $185 million Monday, Feb. 28, to try to conclude its process, despite to $207 million. The mayor had warned that he would Mr. Kamras warnings from Mayor Stoney that might be too late. not increase education spending if his team did not However, any hopes of quicker completion were upended have the school’s spending plan by Friday. Tuesday night when five School Board members rejected SuA motion to approve the budget was made by board member perintendent Jason Kamras’ budget proposal and opted to keep Please turn to A4 working on an alternative. By Ronald E. Carrington
RPS plans for Fox Elementary to rise from ashes By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Dr. Stephanie A. Spera, center, shows off the drone she and a fourperson research team that included Dr. Ryan K. Smith, left, and Elizabeth A. Zizzamia used, along with hydrology mapping, to locate possible gravesites that were unmarked in East End Cemetery. An article about the team’s investigative method was published in the International Journal of Historical Archaeology.
Jordan Pendleton
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Hearts with handwritten notes adorn the fence outside William Fox Elementary School, 2300 Hanover Ave. in The Fan, after a Feb. 11 fire destroyed the building that dates to 1911. The notes of love were left by students, teachers, parents and people in the community.
A virtually identical Fox Elementary School building can rise from the ashes, without additional cost to Richmond Public Schools. RPS insures its schools through the Roanoke-based VAcorp, a mutual company that covers damaged and destroyed buildings and equipment on a “replacement cost basis.” Though he would not discuss the Fox School claim specifically, VAcorp Administrator Chris Carey said that means the company would pay to repair, rebuild or replace a covered property with a building “of comparable size, materials and quality.” “If your building was made of brick, we’ll pay for a replacement brick building. If it was made of cinderblock or wood, we won’t pay for brick,” he said. That’s good news for RPS, which is considering the future of the 111-year-old Fox Elementary building on Hanover Avenue in The Fan that was largely destroyed in a Feb. 11 fire. The cause has not been determined. Students at the school now are taking classes virtually, with growing prospects that they will return possibly after spring break to classes in the vacant Clark Springs Elementary School in nearby Randolph until Fox is rebuilt. The School Board on Tuesday night authorized Superintendent Jason Kamras to spend $500,000 to replace the roof on Clark Springs Elementary, repair plumbing and take other actions to prepare for its new use. During a budget session last week, Mr. Kamras told the School Board that the Fox building was valued for insurance purposes at $13 million, with an additional $4 million for contents. But as Mr. Carey later noted, those values are only for the purpose of setting premiums. Mr. Kamras confirmed that VAcorp will cover the full cost of replacing Fox. “If a building is valued at $13 million but would cost $18 million to replace, we pay the $18 million,” Mr. Carey said. He also said the company will pay additional costs to ensure the replacement meets current building codes. Unlike standard commercial insurance firms which set limits of coverage for each building, VAcorp states on its website that the limits of coverage are determined by the total value of all Please turn to A4
Free COVID-19 testing, vaccines Free community testing for COVID-19 continues. The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations: • Thursday, Feb. 24, 8 to 10 a.m.—Fresh Anointing Cathedral parking lot, 3001 2nd Ave.; 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.— Creighton Resource Center parking lot, 2150 Creighton Road; 4 to 6 p.m.—Southside Plaza WIC Office, 509 E. Southside Plaza. • Thursday, Feb. 24 and Friday, Feb. 25, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.—Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center parking lot,
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