A $1.6 million federal grant could unscramble the I-264 ramps in downtown Norfolk. But would it reopen an isolated, Black community?
Read morePolice reform may expand in Virginia, but behind closed doors
Since 2020, changes to the disciplinary process for law enforcement officers have driven up decertifications of wayward cops and prison guards. But a new law may shield investigators’ records and hearings from the public
Read moreVirginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities
The groundbreaking commission, which was proposed in response to our “Uprooted” series, would consider compensation for dislodged property owners and their descendants. Whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin will sign the bill is unclear.
Read moreTask Force to Consider “Restorative Justice” for Black Families Uprooted by Virginia University’s Expansion
Spurred by our “Uprooted” series, a task force created by the city of Newport News and Christopher Newport University will reexamine decades of city and university records shedding light on a Black neighborhood’s destruction.
Read moreThe University Uprooted a Black Neighborhood. Then Its Policies Reduced the Black Presence on Campus.
Black enrollment at Virginia’s Christopher Newport University fell by more than half under longtime president Paul Trible, a former Republican senator who wanted to “offer a private school experience.” By 2021, only 2.4% of full-time professors were Black.
Read moreNorfolk has a plan to save itself from rising seas. For many, it’s a $2.7 billion mystery
Norfolk, where the land is sinking and seas are rising faster than anywhere else on the Atlantic coast, is the first city in the U.S. to move forward with a coastal storm risk management plan under a 2015 Army Corps of Engineers strategy.
The two groups at opposite ends of the political and economic hierarchy each felt betrayed by a lack of transparency from federal and city officials about the largest infrastructure project in Norfolk’s history, one that will dramatically transform the city.
Read moreFifth Virginia casino in Richmond casino isn’t a sure bet
Results of the Nov. 7 referendum may shape the future of gambling resorts in the commonwealth
Read moreVirginia Law Allows the Papers of University Presidents to Stay Secret, Limiting Public Oversight
A provision in state law exempts college presidents’ “working papers and correspondence” from disclosure even after they step down — as we found out when we asked about one ex-president’s role in campus expansions that uprooted a Black neighborhood.
Read moreVirginia’s Public Universities Have a Long History of Displacing Black Residents
Schools including Old Dominion and the flagship University of Virginia have expanded by dislodging Black families, sometimes by the threat or use of eminent domain.
Read moreErasing the “Black Spot”: How a Virginia College Expanded by Uprooting a Black Neighborhood
Sixty-plus years ago, the white leaders of Newport News, Virginia, seized the core of a thriving Black community to build a college. The school has been gobbling up the remaining houses ever since.
Read more‘I just don't want to die’: Black pregnant women are turning to midwives for personalized care — and a better chance at survival
In Virginia, Black women in recent years have been more than twice as likely as other mothers to have a death attributed to childbirth.
Photographer Karen Kasmauski followed the work of Black midwives between January and April this year in Virginia. Her series of photographs traces the relationships formed between midwives and their clients — from initial consultations and prenatal meetings to the birth and support in the months following pregnancy.
Read moreRichmond voting site closures could make in-person early voting inaccessible to minority voters
The Richmond Electoral Board’s decision last week to limit early voting locations could force voters in majority Black precincts to travel more than two hours by public transit to cast their ballots ahead of election day, an analysis by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO has found.
Read moreAmid high-profile shootings, Virginia gun policy remains a stalemate
In the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, elected leaders vowed to prioritize campus safety.
Then-Gov. Tim Kaine appointed a blue-ribbon panel and within a year signed more than 30 mental health, school security and gun purchase bills aimed at preventing future mass shootings. Several appeals for stricter gun policies, however, were voted down.
More than 15 years later, in the aftermath of another school shooting — this time at the University of Virginia, where three students were shot and killed in November — state lawmakers considered a range of gun policy proposals: a ban on new assault-style weapons, new punishments for those who fail to secure their guns, an expansion of the state’s “red flag” law and restrictions on possessing firearms in school buildings.
But just one major safety measure survived: a $300 tax credit for firearms owners to purchase gun safes. A second bill requiring public universities to more quickly and comprehensively respond to a potential threat passed the House and Senate but still awaits Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s signature.
Read moreSome of Newport News’ poorest families sought help from a nonprofit. They’re still waiting.
In 2019, prospects for Ridley Place and its immediate surroundings seemed more promising after the area was selected for $30 million in redevelopment funds under the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI), a program funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The initiative, which has grown to more than 40 programs nationwide, aims to rebuild communities by revitalizing public housing and assisted living.
The city planned to relocate more than 600 residents from Ridley Place, tear down the complex and replace it with mixed-income housing and offer residents the opportunity to come back when construction was completed. But a key part of the HUD program was supposed to address what happens to residents during the interim period while new housing is built, a phased process that in some cases could take up to seven years or more. Funding and local resources were set aside to help residents like Echanerry obtain services from organizations around the community to ease their transition, including transportation, childcare, food, health care, legal counseling, workforce preparation and job placement.
Correspondence between the city and HUD, however, revealed that although the grant was awarded to Newport News in May 2019, Ridley Place residents continued to struggle, even though the development program was supposed to provide support for them.
Read moreA new focus on Charlottesville’s trauma
After years as a street photographer, Eze Amos turned his lens on the upheaval in his adopted hometown of Charlottesville.
In 2017, Amos photographed the series of demonstrations and protests leading up to the violence of the Unite the Right rally.
He captured the quaint college town’s quick transformation into a frenzied battlefield on August 12. He shot defining photos of James Fields, the white supremacist who drove a car through peaceful protesters on the mall, killing Heather Heyer.
Amos took more than 9,000 photos of the demonstrations, searing violence and ensuing public ceremonies. And then, he ignored them for years.
“That left a big, big, big black eye on the community,” said Amos, a 47-year-old native of Nigeria. “That's stuff that we're still living with today.”
He revisited the photographs several months ago, just before the fifth anniversary of the demonstrations. He discovered, amidst the violence, moments of humanity, fellowship and strength.
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