October 20 22, 2016 issue

Page 1

She knows what Richmond men are cooking

King of the wings B4

Richmond Free Press © 2016 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOL. 25 NO. 43

Ms. Russell

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

www.richmondfreepress.com

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B3

OCtober 20-22, 2016

More time?

Mr. Rahman

Felons fired up, ready to vote By Lauren Northington

Rochelle Russell, 33, is one of 206,000 Virginians who has a felony conviction, served her time and is now living back in the community. Now for the first time since her 2010 conviction, Ms. Russell will be able to vote in November. “I pay taxes, I’ve paid my fines, and I’ve done my time. And I feel as though I should have a voice in the community,” Ms. Russell said Monday at a voting rights restoration roundtable hosted by the grassroots organization New Virginia Majority. Voting is important to Ms. Russell. She said while lawmakers are “making decisions in my life, I should have a voice in that as well.” Next month, thousands of felons in Virginia will have an opportunity to vote because Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored their voting rights despite an uproar and court battle over his executive authority to do so. Ms. Russell is among several ex-convicts who have joined New Virginia Majority to register new voters and to organize voters around ending “disenfranchisement in general,” which she said she didn’t fully understand until recently. “I didn’t grow up in a space where voting and civic engagement were talked about,” said the Richmond native and graduate of Varina High School in Henrico County. “Now I’ve had to make up for lost time. I wish I could go back and vote when I had the chance.” She voted for the first time at age 26 in the 2008 presidential election. Now Ms. Russell has taken significant time to rePlease turn to A4

Civil rights group files lawsuit seeking extension of Va. voter registration deadline due to statewide computer crash By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Virginia could become the latest state under federal court order to extend voter registration because of a disaster. The disaster in Virginia, however, is no hurricane, but a computer system. Hit by a last-minute flood of people trying to register to vote online by the Oct. 17 deadline, the state’s computer system crashed Monday and refused to accept

Related stories on A6, A8 registrations for much of the final day. It’s a huge embarrassment for Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who has fought to expand voting, and for the state Department of Elections, its commissioner, Edgardo Cortés, and his staff, who apparently failed to prepare for the surge in registration despite warnings from local registrars across the state. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law rushed to the court-

house Tuesday evening to file a lawsuit malfunctions that prevented Virginians seeking to force the state Department of from registering to vote, the CommonElections to reopen the voting rolls for wealth will not object to the request for a three additional days. temporary extension of the voter registraNationwide, voter interest, registration and turnout is greater during presidential election years than other times. Federal courts in North Carolina and Florida extended voter registration deadlines in those states because of shutdowns associated with Hurricane Mr. Herring Ms. Showalter Mr. Cortés Matthew. As yet, no date has been set for a hearing tion deadline.” in the federal district court in Alexandria. The lawsuit appears to be the only However, the suit is expected to move remedy for would-be voters who were quickly now that Virginia Attorney General blocked from registering. Mark R. Herring disclosed he would not Both the governor and Mr. Cortés fight the effort to extend the registration separately noted Tuesday that neither has deadline. authority under state law to extend the regIn response to a Free Press query, a istration deadline, even after a disaster. spokesman for Mr. Herring stated Wednesday: “In light of the significant technical Please turn to A4

Bobb caught in seesaw hiring decision By Jeremy M. Lazarus

He was in, he was out and now Robert C. Bobb apparently is in again in Petersburg. The Petersburg City Council is to meet Thursday evening to hire Mr. Bobb to deal with the city’s financial woes, just two days after sending him

packing by rejecting hiring — ensuring a $350,000 contract a four-member mawith his consulting jority. company to help the Bringing on Mr. beleaguered city. Bobb, a government Sources told the veteran who served Free Press in ad11 years as Richvance of the meeting mond’s city manager, that City Councilwould represent a man John Hart, who setback for Petersinitially supported burg’s interim City Mr. Bobb hiring the Robert Manager Dironna Bobb Group and then rejected Moore Belton, who has been the idea at a City Council meet- keeping the financially troubled ing on Tuesday, is once again city government afloat since ready to support Mr. Bobb’s taking over in March.

Ms. Belton took the reins after the previous city manager was fired. While the council has yet to clarify the future relationship between Ms. Belton and Mr. Bobb, it is clear to most observers that her authority to make decisions would be undercut. Tuesday night, City Council failed to hire Mr. Bobb when the members deadlocked 3-3, with one abstention, on awardPlease turn to A4

City school officials: Test scores to get worse before they get better By Lauren Northington

locating land for the stadium and in contracting with a third party to develop the land and construct a new stadium. No specifics were provided as to where the stadium might be located — except that it would not go on the 60-acre site where The Diamond now stands, a site the city is marketing for development into a $300 million resiJones dential, office and retail complex. The agreement also provided no insight on how the stadium would be paid for or whether taxpayers in Richmond or the region might have to contribute. The only mention of money is a promise from the Flying Squirrels to pay $1 million a year in rent if the stadium is built — four times the current rent it now pays the city.

A Richmond Public Schools official warned student scores on state Standards of Learning tests are headed for further decline. The dire prediction from Valenta Wade, RPS manager of testing and data, sent members of the Richmond School Board into a tailspin at Monday night’s meeting at City Hall, with some members expressing concern about increased state intervention. Ms. Wade projected decreases in writing and math SOL test scores throughout the 2016-2017 academic year, due, she said, to a “messy and disorganized transition” to academic improvement. According to a statement released by RPS immediately after Monday night’s meeting, “the transition state” is “unpredictable and constantly in flux.” The transition state was defined as the time needed to “address the years of challenges, limited resources and inadequate systems.” Exactly how long this messy and unpredictable “transition state” would persist for the city’s 24,000 students is uncertain. In the statement, school officials said the transition would take at least two school years. “[This decline] has been the trend that I’ve heard for a very long time,” said School

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Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

The Richmond Flying Squirrels intend to stay in the City of Richmond — or the metro area — for 30 years if a new stadium is built by Virginia Commonwealth University. The team’s preference is to stay in the area close to The Diamond, which is located on the Boulevard.

New ballpark for city? Squirrels, VCU hope so By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Will Richmond be getting a new $55 million baseball stadium? Don’t bet on it. Despite an agreement announced Monday, the Richmond Flying Squirrels appear to be no closer to getting a replacement built for The Diamond than when the baseball team moved Mayor here seven years ago. The Flying Squirrels are the AA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Seeking to revive interest in a project that largely has been dormant since the last effort to build a new stadium floundered two years ago, the Flying Squirrels signed an agreement with Virginia Commonwealth University to stay in Richmond for at least 30 years “once a new ballpark is constructed.” Under the deal, VCU is to take the lead in

Board member Mamie Taylor, 5th District, “and there seems to be a setup for failure. I am not hearing what we’re going to do proactively to make sure

there is something in place now to turn things around.” Ms. Wade’s presentation Please turn to A4

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Breaking it down Kole Macklin, 10, shows off his dance skills as other students, parents and teachers celebrate the autumn midterm last Saturday at the 4th Annual Fall Extravaganza at J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School on North Side.


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