Sad, profoundly sad, as you might expect. But angry? Never. “How could I be angry . . . surrounded by so much love?“ Scherr said last week during an interview at the wooded sanctuary in the mountains of Nelson County that is home to the Synchronicity Foundation for Modern Spirituality. The...

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OK, I’ll admit it. I’ve started reading the obituaries. I’ve always thought reading the obituaries was for old people looking to see if they knew anyone. I’m not old yet, nor am I looking to see if there’s anyone I know. I’m not even looking to see if I’m there...

Richmond is the second-most charitable city in America, according to Men’s Health magazine. A ranking in the December issue of the magazine gave top philanthropic honors to Madison, Wis. Least charitable in the land was Yonkers, N.Y. The magazine ranked 100 cities based on the largest online charitable...

As a runner, Gene Crane was all arms, legs and heart. Tall and lanky, he ran with an ungainly grace, his limbs pumping at all angles. But, man, could he run. I know this because I chased him through woods, across fields and around a track BILL LOHMANN for an entire school year and never caught him. I...

Charlie Bryan was 8 when he watched his father die. This weekend, his dad’s music will come alive again. “It’s very exciting for all of us in the Bryan family,“ said Bryan, president emeritus of the Virginia HisBILL LOHMANN torical Society. “He was a brilliant musician....

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It’s hardly a revelation that positive role models and mentors are among the most important cogs in the wheel of early-childhood education. Educator Lydia Sigourney summarized the struggle in the 1800s. “In early childhood you may lay the foundation of poverty or riches, industry or idleness,...

In late summer, with polls pointing to victory, Bob McDonnell may have realized his No. 2 in the attorney general’s office, Bill Mims, was out of the running for gubernatorial chief of staff. At the time, Mims, a former legislator who was completing McDonnell’s term as AG, was being romanced...

Are children in the Chimborazo neighborhood more at risk with or without their community center? That’s a source of debate since the evening of May 13, when 20-year-old Thomas H. Scott Jr. was shot four times in the back and killed on a playground just outside Chimborazo Elementary School. The...

As he approached the massive ship with the familiar name, Franklin V. Pond picked up his pace. “This man was so excited coming onto that pier and going up the ramp, he had my hand in a death grip, and he was pulling me,“ Pond’s wife, Jean, said with BILL LOHMANN a laugh. Racing up a...

The world’s eyes are going to be turned to Richmond,“ said S. Waite Rawls III. Rawls, president and CEO of the Museum of the Confederacy, made that declaration Tuesday night at The Future of Richmond’s Past, a community conversation leading up to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War...

Political columnist Jeff Schapiro says that with a fortified majority in the House of Delegates, Republicans can turn redistricting into a turkey shoot

Open the door to Fisher House on any Wednesday morning and prepare to have your willpower brought to its knees. The sweet aromas of chocolate, cinnamon and who-knows-what-else grab your senses.

BlueStarRichmond.org.   Fisher House: To see a wish list for the house, visit RichmondFisherHouse.org or call (804) 675-6601.

Michael Paul Williams is out of the office. His column will resume when he returns.

In the face of online competition and economic instability, newspapers—including this one—are hemorrhaging reporters. As we migrate to a plethora of Web portals designed to enable faster and more responsive communication, it’s easy to forget how much could be lost. In fact, we may lose...

For a guy who has many reasons to smile—the presidency of utility giant Dominion, a fat paycheck, such plush perquisites as the rectorship of U.Va., his alma mater—Tom Farrell often wears a pained expression. But he managed to beam this past Thursday as high-school buddy Bob McDonnell announced...

Hermitage High School’s athletic booster club has received $2,040 from Richmond Ford and Ford Motor Co. from a recent Drive One 4 UR School event. By test-driving a car, 102 people raised $20 apiece for the school. During the past two years, Ford has provided more than $1.3 million to high schools...

Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt of Portsmouth may earn enough gold medals to fill Fort Knox. Those medals won’t carry more value than the message he imparted to Elizabeth D. Redd Elementary School students about the value of hard work. Despite how we like to think of ourselves, the U.S. work ethic...

The scene at the main branch of the Richmond Public Library—or any library, for that matter—doesn’t usually inspire a comparison to the running of the bulls. But the frenzy surrounding the Friends of the Richmond Public Library Book Sale, where more than 30,000 used and donated books...

Friends of the Richmond Public Library Book Sale   Where: Main library, 101 E. Franklin St.   When: Today, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (members of Friends only; memberships available for $15); public sale, 1-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.; tomorrow, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Monday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.   What: Hardbacks $1...

From the rear of her Libby Terrace home, Cathy Hayden can see the James River view that named our city, the dock where slaves disembarked and the landing where President Abraham Lincoln came ashore days after Richmond fell to Union forces. “The people who live here feel like they are guardians...

Last time I saw Ed Ackell, we were talking over beers after a round of golf as he prepared to ride off into retirement after a dozen years as presi dent of Virginia Commonwealth University. It was a most pleasant day—even though I’m a lousy golfer—because Ackell had been a tough guy...

No one anticipates a fleet of moving vans rolling up again on City Hall at nightfall. Still, the relationship between Mayor Dwight C. Jones and the Richmond School Board has taken a turn for the Wilder. Jones recently unveiled an aggressive school-construc tion plan that calls for an $81 million replacement...

It’s no surprise to anyone who has tried to get medical insurance that the costs are just shocking. And for those of us who have insurance, I’m sure that you have noticed that our premiums have started to become an uncomfortably large part of our budgets. But we’re lucky—we have...

Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s gubernatorial election—OK, so a lot of people have a pretty good idea who’s going to win—one thing is certain: The victor won’t have squat to spend. Tight money, perhaps the tightest since the Great Depression, combined with a divided...

Columnist Michael Paul Williams’ column will resume Tuesday.