Nadine Domond joins VSU coaches A9
Richmond Free Press
VOL. 31 NO. 24
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RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
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Meet RPS top valedictorian — this week’s Personality B2
JUNE 9-11, 2022
An occasion for his honor S. Bernard Goodwyn is second African-American to serve as chief justice Free Press staff report
The investiture of S. Bernard Goodwyn as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia took place Wednesday in the Chambers of the Supreme Court of Virginia before family, friends, colleagues and fellow Supreme Court of Virginia Justices at 100 N. 9th St. Chief Justice Goodwyn, 60, was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Timothy Kaine in 2007 and was unanimously elected by the General Assembly to the court in 2008 and re-elected in 2020. He succeeds former Chief Justice Donald W. Lemons who served on the bench for 25 years before announcing his retirement last December. Chief Justice Goodwyn assumed his current position on the seven-member court on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1. Chief Justice Goodwyn is the second African-American to Please turn to A4
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Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Sherman Washington, 31, of Richmond watches the demolition of the Creighton Court public housing community along Nine Mile Road in Richmond’s East End on Monday. He moved into the community when he was a 1-year-old. He left in 2008. “I’m just glad that it’s gone,” he said. “I’ll miss it though. I have a whole lot of memories. There was a whole lot going on out here. ... My son doesn’t have to live out here.” Left, according to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Creighton Court’s demolition will be in three phases and will expand from 504 housing units to 700 units. The entire project is expected to take up to 10 years. An informational meeting for tenants will be held June 9 from 6 to 7 p.m. behind the Creighton Court Property Management Office.
Regina H. Boone/ Richmond Free Press
Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn, center, holds his right hand up as his left hand is on the Bible held by his wife, Sharon S. Goodwyn, as his daughter Sarah E. Goodwyn, left, looks on along with his son Samuel J. Goodwyn during the administration of the oath Wednesday in the chambers of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Strategist suggests Richmond voters will Federal judges deny bid support casino funds earmarked for schools for House elections, but a By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Political strategist Paul Goldman sees a path for Richmond to recover from the stinging political defeat it has suffered at the General Assembly after a bipartisan coalition rejected the state capital city’s plans for a second vote to bring a $565 million casino-resort to South Side. Known as a talented thinker who spearheaded L. Douglas Wilder’s campaigns for statewide election more than 30 years ago, Mr. Goldman is now calling on the Richmond City Council to put an advisory referendum on the November ballot. The referendum would seek voter approval to earmark all dollars derived from a future casino, if one is built, to the renovation or replacement of the city’s deteriorating school buildings, he said. The money could amount to $30 million a year. In the past 25 years, just 11 new schools have been built, and one more is on the drawing board, leaving 32 buildings needing a major overhaul or a replacement building at a time when City Hall
is slashing maintenance dollars. In Mr. Goldman’s view, the way to rebound is “to change the conversation. This not about getting extra money for the city. It’s about finally providing the quality school buildings that Black students in this city deserve and need.” “Council has authority under the charter,” he said, “to Mr. Goldman put a question on the ballot asking voters if they support using funding from a casino” to fund school construction. “I’d do it myself,” said Mr. Goldman, who has led three referendum drives, including one to create an elected mayor, “but it might cost up to $100,000 to collect the 15,000 signatures that would be needed. The time is short to get it done the quickest and easiest way is for the council to do it.” A leader in pushing for modernizing schools in Richmond and across the state,
new suit may change that
Mr. Goldman believes that voter approval of earmarking all casino funds for school construction could force state senators and delegates from Richmond to reconsider their current preference for Petersburg as a casino site. He came up with this approach after the state legislature approved a new twoyear budget that Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin is now reviewing that includes language essentially putting a hold on Richmond’s plan to make a fresh attempt to win voter support. The legislature approved language in the budget that both seeks to bar the city from holding the second vote and also blocks the casino-regulating Virginia Lottery from for at least a year considering a
There is still a slim prospect that elections for the Virginia House of Delegates could be held this year. While a three-judge federal court panel killed one suit trying to force House elections, another suit popped up Wednesday seeking to prevent the 100 current members from serving through 2023 in districts that no longer exist. On Monday, the panel led by U.S. Judge David J. Novak threw out the voting rights case political strategist Paul Goldman of Richmond brought seeking elections in November in the revamped districts the state Supreme Court installed late last year based on the population changes found in the 2020 Census. Those revamped and renumbered districts replaced those that the current members were elected to represent. Without court intervention, those new districts would not go into use until
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By Jeremy M. Lazarus
GRTC’s ad policy struck down By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Game face Coach Anthony Grigsby of Blackwell’s RVA Trojans gives batting tips to one of his T-Ball players, Miles Clay, 5, of Richmond last Saturday during the opening game of the Metropolitan Junior Baseball League’s 56th opening season. Please see more photos on B3.
When an animal rights group wanted to pay GRTC to carry its message opposing publicly funded experiments on dogs and other animals, the company said, “No way” in rejecting it as too political. Five years later, a Richmond-based appeals court has found that GRTC violated the U.S. Constitution with its vague and arbitrary ban on such ads, clearing the way for the White Coat Waste Project and other groups with viewpoints, including the NAACP and other civil rights organizations, to advertise on buses in Virginia’s capital city. Writing for a three-judge panel, U.S. Fourth Circuit Appeals Court Judge Julian N. Richardson found that “while transit companies may prohibit political advertising, (GRTC’s) policy as it currently exists is unreasonable and unconstitutional as applied to every would-be advertiser.” Judge Richardson was joined by Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory and Judge Paul V. Please turn to A4
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
GRTC has been found in violation of its ban on ads from groups that include the NAACP and other civil rights organizations.
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, June 9, 5 to 7 p.m. - Broad Rock Sports Complex, 4899 Old Warwick Road. • Wednesday, June 15, 8 to 10 a.m. - East Henrico Recreation Center Pavilion, 1440 N. Laburnum Ave. • Thursday, June 16, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. - Neighborhood Resource Center, 1519 Williamsburg Road. Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 hotline at
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