Cartoonist Ron Rogers remembered B4
Richmond Free Press © 2020 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 29 NO. 3
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
Not here Virginia Union University rescinds permission for outside group to use campus facility for Trump event By Bonnie V. Winston and Ronald E. Carrington
Virginia Union University on Tuesday pulled out of allowing a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration after learning the private group arranging the event planned to bring President Trump to the campus to be honored. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, chairman of the VUU Board of Trustees, said in a Free Press telephone interview that organizers “misrepresented” the event in booking the Claude G. Perkins Living and Learning Center on campus for the program that was scheduled for Monday, Jan. 20. Dr. Richardson said VUU only learned Dr. Richardson this week the real purpose when a flyer touting the event was widely distributed. The flyer identified the organizers as Darrell C. Scott and Kareem Lanier of the Urban Revitalization Coalition. Please turn to A4
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Meet Astorian of the Year B1
JANUARY 16-18, 2020
Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Miss America 2020 Camille Schrier stands back as her “elephant toothpaste” experiment erupts as planned with blue and green foam during a demonstration Wednesday for Carver Elementary School students at the Science Museum of Virginia. Below, fourth-grader Aneja Hutcherason listens closely as Ms. Schrier, a graduate student at the VCU School of Pharmacy, talks about science, taking risks and success.
Beauty and brains: Miss America shows Carver students how royalty and science mix By Ronald E. Carrington
Wearing a white lab coat adorned with sequins, goggles and a sparkling crown, newly crowned Miss America Camille Schrier demonstrated mad science as she mesmerized an excited and cheering group of Carver Elementary School fourth-graders Wednesday at the Science Museum of Virginia. Ms. Schrier, a 24-year-old graduate student in the VCU School of Pharmacy, shared with the youngsters the science talent that helped her win Miss Virginia in June and go on to claim the coveted national crown on Dec. 19. Students entered the auditorium with murmurs of anticipation of meeting Miss America 2020 that heightened as they saw a table set with beakers for the experiment to come. Miss America dazzled the crowd, replicating her competition talent for the youngsters of the colorful “elephant toothpaste” science demonstration by mixing ½ cup of hydrogen peroxide,
sodium iodine, ¼ cup of dishwashing soap, and a few drops of food coloring in two separate large beakers. The liquids, one blue and the other green, simultaneously exploded with a volcanic rush of blue and green foam that shot straight into the air and overflowed
from the beakers, covering the tables and landing on the floor. To the fourthgraders’ amazement, foam also stuck to the auditorium’s 20-foot ceiling. Cheers erupted and laughs could be Please turn to A4
Mayor, Navy Hill officials try to sweeten the pot for $1.5B Coliseum plan approval One of the biggest changes, according to Mayor Stoney, is the potential for a larger infusion of state Can a series of revisions save the massive $1.5 billion sales tax dollars into the project, reducing the amount Coliseum replacement and Downtown redevelopment of city tax dollars that might be needed to cover the plan that for months has appeared to be headed for cost of building the state’s largest arena to replace the rejection by Richmond City Council? Richmond Coliseum. That’s the hope for Mayor Levar M. Stoney and The mayor cited a bill introduced in the General Thomas F. Farrell II, the top executive at Dominion Assembly by Richmond Delegate Jeff Bourne that Energy who is spearheading the proposal through the would allow the city to capture part of the state sales Mr. Farrell Navy Hill District Corp. tax generated by the project — a deal that the legWith only about six weeks left before the proposal is sched- islature previously granted on arena projects for Norfolk and uled for a vote by City Council and apparently short of the Virginia Beach. seven votes needed for approval, the two men Monday served Those who are bullish on the project and see it generating up changes they hope will make the project more palatable big taxable revenues at the 30 restaurants and retail stores that to council members who currently seem committed to reject- are proposed are suggesting the Bourne bill could generate $60 ing the plan as a council-appointed advisory commission has recommended. Please turn to A4 By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Gov. Ralph S. Northam, center, is given a unified show of support during Wednesday’s news conference by State Police Superintendent Gary Settle, left, Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney and other state law enforcement officials.
Gov. Northam issues temporary weapons ban Free Press staff, wire report
Fearing a repeat of the deadly violence that engulfed Charlottesville more than two years ago, Gov. Ralph S. Northam declared a temporary state of emergency Wednesday that would ban all weapons, including guns, knives, sticks, bats, chains and projectiles, from Capitol Square through the weekend and until Tuesday. The ban, beginning 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17, and lasting through 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, comes just ahead of a massive gunrights demonstration expected to draw thousands to the Capitol on Monday, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. “We’re seeing threats of violence. We’re seeing threats of armed confrontation and assault on our Capitol,” Gov. Northam said during an afternoon news conference where he was joined by Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney and state law enforcement officials. “These are considered credible, serious threats by our law enforcement agencies,” he said. The governor cited intelligence reports about the possibility of “weaponzied drones” and that armed “out-of-state militia groups and hate groups” are planning to attend the “Lobby Day” rally as partial cause for the declaration. He said there were instances of individuals surveilling entrances and exits to the Capitol and Please turn to A4
Salvation Army headquarters move to North Side gets clear path from City Council By Jeremy M. Lazarus
The Salvation Army appears to have won its nine-month battle to move its Central Virginia headquarters and shelter program from Downtown to North Side after the main opponent, 3rd District Councilman Chris A. Hilbert, dropped his opposition. On Monday night, Richmond City Council cleared the way for approval at its Jan. 27 meeting of the Salvation Army’s move from its longtime home at 2
W. Grace St. to 1900 Chamberlayne Ave., an office-warehouse owned by Eternity Church that used it for a sanctuary before relocating two years ago. With Mr. Hilbert Mr. Hilbert abstaining, the council amended a special use permit for the Salvation Army that eliminates its ability to provide, on behalf of the city, a 30-bed
overnight shelter for the homeless during the winter. Under the revised terms, the Salvation Army, which has operated in Richmond for 135 years, would be able to operate its offices on the site, expand its internal shelter for people facing a housing crisis and offer the Pathways for Hope case management program to assist temporary residents in getting back on their feet. The new location would triple the SalvaPlease turn to A4