Meet this week’s Personality B3
Richmond Free Press © 2022 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 31 NO. 26
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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A celebration of freedom! B2
JUNE 23-25, 2022
Vanishing notebooks RPS officials report serious deficiencies in laptop audit By Jeremy Lazarus
Council Vice President Ellen F. Robertson, 6th District; Katherine Jordan, 2nd District; Stephan A. Lynch, 5th District; and Michael J. Jones, 9th District. That paper, as it appears on the docket, would authorize five collective bargaining units, one for police, one for fire, one for labor and trades employees, one for professionals who are not in supervisory positions, and one for administrative and technical services employees. There had been an indication that Ms. Trammell
On the heels of a scathing audit report, Richmond Public Schools is admitting that its own internal check has found that more than 1,600 laptops that were purchased have vanished, and that it does not know the whereabouts of another 10,558 laptops that are listed in the inventory. The admissions came at Monday night’s School Board meeting at which the administration of Richm o n d Public Schools Superint e n d e n t Ms. Houdacsko Jason Kamras spelled out a series of stronger inventory controls to end the losses. The new controls stem from the audit the Free Press reported on three weeks ago that alleged that RPS wasted money buying 20,000 unneeded laptop computers, that 2,000 students received multiple Chromebooks and that more than 1,800 other computers walked away with students who left RPS due to sloppy recordkeeping and a lack of procedures to ensure the laptops’ return. Chief of Staff Michelle Houdacsko outlined the procedural changes for improving inventory control to the School Board Monday, but also pushed back on the audit finding that RPS bought excess Chromebooks for students that are gathering dust in storage at schools or in a warehouse. Ms. Hudacsko said that the audit missed that 5,600 of the devices went to school-based computer labs and that another 700 refurbished computers were distributed to custodians and instructional aides to support their professional development. However, she acknowledged that the audit spotlighted serious deficiencies. In her report to the board,
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Scott Elmquist/Style Weekly
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
By Holly Rodriguez
When George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police in 2020, the world erupted in protest. As far away as Pretoria, South Africa, and Sydney, Australia, millions took to the streets demanding justice for Mr. Floyd, and other Black Americans and people of color around the world also killed by police. In the former capital of the Confederacy, Regina H. oone and Sandra Sellars, both photojournalists for more than 20 years, were on the ground, among
“(Re)Framing Protest: Design + Hope,” an exhibit at the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design in collaboration with the Richmond Free Press, features images of social protest and unrest in Richmond in 2020. The images were created by Regina H. Boone and Sandra Sellars, both photojournalists for more than 20 years for the Free Press and other news organizations.
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
the protesters, capturing the historical moment as it unfolded for the Richmond Free Press. “(Re)Framing Protest: Design + Hope,” a current exhibit at the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design in collaboration with this newspaper, features images from those protests captured by Ms. Boone and Ms. Sellars. But the art they created goes beyond simply chronicling what happened during those 65+ days. “The show represents the communities that were
(RE)Framing exhibit tells a story of community
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Collective bargaining outcome remains unclear By Jeremy Lazarus
Could City Council vote on authorizing collective bargaining at its upcoming meeting on Monday, June 27? Two competing ordinances are on the agenda, but it remains unclear whether the council is ready to actually vote. The decision on whether to proceed or keep the issue on hold would be made during the informal session that would precede the regular public meeting. Before the June 13 meeting, Council President
Cynthia I. Newbille, 7th District, said she pulled the ordinances from the agenda because she had been informed that both of the ordinances were to be amended. However, there is no sign of any changes being proposed for either of the papers that council is considering, according to the June 27 agenda. At this point, the ordinance with the most apparent support is the one that Councilwomen Reva M. Trammell, 8th District and Kristen Nye, 4th District, introduced. Four other members have signed on as supporters:
Jan. 6 hearings: What we’ve learned, and what’s next The Associated Press
WASHINGTON The House committee investigating The Capitol insurrection heard from election workers and state officials on Tuesday as they described former President Trump’s pressure to overturn his 2020 election defeat. On Thursday, the nine-member panel will hear from former Justice Department officials who refused Trump’s entreaties to declare the election “corrupt.” The committee’s fourth and fifth hearings, held this week, are part of an effort to show how Mr. Trump’s pressure eventually shifted to Congress, where his false declarations of widespread election fraud led directly to the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters violently breached The Capitol and interrupted the certification of President Biden’s election victory. In July, the panel will hold at least two more hearings that are expected to focus on the far right domestic extremists
who attacked The Capitol and what Mr. Trump was doing inside the White House as the violence unfolded. State officials testified at Tuesday’s hearing about the extraordinary pressure they faced from Mr. Trump after the election to try and invalidate President Biden’s win.
Arizona’s House speaker, Rusty Bowers, testified about phone calls from Mr. Trump and his allies asking him to decertify Arizona’s legitimate electors and replace them. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told of the nowinfamous phone call when Mr. Trump asked officials there to
Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press
On Tuesday, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., hugs Ruby Freeman, mother of Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at The Capitol in Washington.
“find 11,780” votes. “You are asking me to do something against my oath, and I will not break my oath,” Mr. Bowers said he told Mr. Trump and his allies. He recalled lawyer John Eastman, a chief architect of Trump’s plan to create slates of fake electors, telling him to “just do it and let the courts sort it out.” Mr. Bowers said he repeatedly asked Mr. Trump’s team for evidence of the widespread fraud they were claiming, but they never provided it. Mr. Raffensperger said his team investigated all of Mr. Trump’s claims and went down every “rabbit hole,” finding nothing. But Mr. Trump wouldn’t accept it. The committee’s third hearing last week featured testimony from former aides to Vice President Mike Pence. The aides described the then-president’s efforts to persuade Mr. Pence to veer from his ceremonial role and object as Congress counted the electoral votes on Jan. 6. Please turn to A4
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Stand up everybody and sing! Corey Massenburg, 11, right, and his mother, Chanta Massenburg, were among enthusiastic fans on June 18 during Virginia Union University’s Hezekiah Walker Center for Gospel Music’s 2nd Annual Juneteenth Sounds of Freedom concert. Please see more photos, story on B2.
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 location: • Thursday, June 23, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. – Fulton Neighborhood Resource Center, 1519 Williamsburg Road. Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com. The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of
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