Goodnight, sweet Prince
Richmond Free Press
VOL. 25 NO. 18
© 2016 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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A8, B4
April 28-30, 2016
Power to vote By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Gov. McAuliffe boldly restores voting rights of 206,000 Virginians, including disenfranchised African-Americans
Gov. Terry McAuliffe triumphantly holds up the historic order he signed last Friday outside the state Capitol.
Michaele White/Governor’s Office
Richmond City Council appears to be stuck between a rock and a hard place as it seeks to craft a balanced $709 million operating budget that would become effective July 1. On one side are passionate supporters of Richmond’s public schools who want the council to shift more local tax dollars into public education to avoid the potential shutdown of Armstrong High School and four elementary schools. Find the money, they say. On the other side is a city administration led by Mayor Dwight C. Jones warning that cutting any more money could cause disruptions of city services and deeper financial problems.
Overhanging the budget talks — and adding to the council’s angst — are projections of a deficit of between $6 million and $9.6 million in the current budget and concerns that additional slashes by the council could ensure that expenses exceed revenues in the fiscal year that begins July 1. “We are doing everything we can, but we have not been able to close the gap,” the city’s chief administrative officer, Selena Cuffee-Glenn, disclosed Monday. She reiterated that she plans to work with the council to consider options to end the year in balance, as state law requires. On Thursday, April 28, the nine council mem-
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
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Cleveland to pay $6M in Tamir Rice’s death Reuters
Aaron Josefczyk/Reuters
Samaria Rice, center, the mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, speaks during a December 2014 news conference about her son, who was shot and killed by Cleveland police while playing in a park. With Mrs. Rice are attorney Benjamin Crump, left; Tamir’s father, Leonard Warner, second from right; and attorney Walter Madison, right.
CLEVELAND Cleveland officials have agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old who was shot and killed by a police officer in 2014, according to documents filed in federal court on Monday. The city admitted no wrongdoing in the shooting and Tamir’s family agreed to drop the complaint against two officers, including the one who shot the child, U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, who mediated the settlement, said in the documents. Tamir was shot in a local park by Timothy Loehmann after Please turn to A4
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Morgan Bullock stands out in Irish dance
City Council continues talks on school funding By Jeremy M. Lazarus
David Mosby no longer feels like a second-class citizen. After years of being barred from the ballot box because of his criminal record, the 46-year-old home improvement contractor is finally able to vote and fully take part in the life of his community. “I never thought I’d have this opportunity,” said the tearyeyed Varina resident, one of more than 200,000 Virginians whose lives have been changed with a stroke of Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s pen. Last Friday, Gov. McAuliffe went further than any state chief executive to eliminate the last big barrier to voting in Virginia — a felony conviction. He signed an order restoring the right to vote to anyone who had completed a prison term as well as any probation or parole requirements as of April 22. The change also allows the former felons to serve on a jury or to run for political office. Even more stunning, the governor made no distinction between those with records for violent crimes such as robbery
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Morgan Bullock, seen in silhouette, practices one of the intricate and athletic Irish dance moves. Location: Baffa Academy of Irish Dance in Chesterfield County.
Morgan Bullock is starting to make a name for herself in the fast-growing arena of Irish dance. In late March, the Richmond area teen placed 50th for her solo dancing in her first foray into World Irish Dance Championships, becoming the only Virginian to be ranked among the 200 competitors in the age 15-16 category. She qualified to participate in the competition in Glasgow, Scotland, by placing among the top 15 dancers in regional competition in Dallas. “I still have so much more to learn,” said Morgan, a honor roll student at James River High School in Midlothian. She also is taking classes at John Tyler Community College through Chesterfield County Public Schools’ dual enrollment program. Still, dancing to Irish music is her passion. “This is what I want to do the rest of my life.” Once little known, Irish dance has exploded in popularity as a result of such shows as “Riverdance” and champion Irish dancer Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance” that have been performed on stages around the world since the mid-1990s. As an African-American, Morgan is still a rarity in this type of dancing. Ballet, tap, hip-hop and jazz styles are more popular with young Please turn to A4
3 team up to find new home for Squirrels in Boulevard area By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Public pressure to keep baseball on the Boulevard appears to be having an impact. In a new effort, Mayor Dwight C. Jones is teaming up with the Richmond Flying Squirrels and Virginia Commonwealth University to find a site for a new ballpark near The Diamond, but not on the 60 acres of public property the city
wants to redevelop. The announcement came Tuesday, a day after the issuance of a consultant’s report that
Related story on B2 essentially called for office, residential, hotel and retail development on the city land bounded by the Boulevard and Hermitage and Robin Hood
roads, and inclusion of sports and entertainment facilities on nearby property. There have been repeated attempts during the past 13 years to replace The Diamond, but none have worked. There appears to be fresh optimism with this effort. Mayor Jones issued a joint announcement about the new approach to finding a site for a ballpark that the San Francisco Giant’s affiliate
and VCU baseball team could share. According to the announcement, the three parties are to work together to find a property. However, one point was emphasized: The cost of any development would fall largely on the ballpark’s users, not the city government. The statement noted that public engagement Please turn to A4