When Ray Rucker and his wife, Meriam, bought a home in a middle-class Mechanicsville neighborhood in 1990, they were told the brick rancher was haunted. A ceiling light activated by a pull chain would mysteriously come on in one room, the previous owners said. Rucker was skeptical.

No disrespect intended to rakes, shovels, hammers and other tools fueled by sweat, grunts and muscle, but Joey Logano was looking for something with a bit more juice. “I need some power,“ Logano said with a smile as he scanned the horizon for a job site where workers were using drills.

Church Hill-based home restorationist Gable Painter is hosting a new show for TLC, “The Restorer Guy.“ The show, which premieres tonight at 7 on the cable channel, finds Painter, along with head carpenter Thomas Matalavage and apprentice carpenter Pikey Catchell, restoring and restructuring Grace Street Mansion, an 1895 Victorian house, into nine units.

A 20-year-old man will spend 15 years in prison for shooting a retired teacher who had stopped paying the defendant to keep their previous relationship quiet. Richmond Circuit Judge Bradley B. Cavedo sentenced Bobby Aaron Richardson yesterday in the Oct. 11 shooting that critically injured Haywood McCallum Jr., 56. McCallum, a retired music teacher at Richmond’s Armstrong High School, testified at Richardson’s trial in May that he and Richardson had had a brief, intimate relationship that McCallum said he ended after he discovered Richardson was a minor.

A Richmond man was indicted yesterday on a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a man he suspected was breaking into his girlfriend’s car in the city’s Church Hill neighborhood. A grand jury indicted Eric G. Driver, 25, of the 500 block of North 22nd Street in the shooting death of Jamall Holman, 24, on April 22. The grand jury issued indictments against Driver yesterday on charges of second-degree murder and felonious use of a firearm in the shooting of Holman, who lived in the 1700 block of Forest Glen Road in Henrico County.

The man charged with killing a car break-in suspect in Church Hill fired two shots, then chased him and fired four more times, according to courtroom testimony in Richmond yesterday. After hearing the testimony, a Richmond General District Court substitute judge certified to a grand jury charges of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in a felony against Eric G. Driver, 25. Judge Janipher W. Robinson said the grand jury will hear the case July 6.

Downtown Richmond is teeming with a history that can serve as a microcosm for America’s own past.  It’s a history that ranges from before the Revolutionary War to the roots of the civil-rights movement in Jackson Ward to the more recent slavery reconciliation.  It’s all there, as well as everything in between, in a 6.2-mile loop that during rush hour becomes easily unnoticed.

The crime-fighting bedrock of Richmond’s East End is back, and this time, it’s for keeps. John Henry Taylor, for years the mainstay of the Richmond police presence in the area, has taken up a prominent perch in Libby Hill Park—sort of. Church Hill residents, searching for a way to honor the retired sergeant who they say did so much to transform their neighborhood into a safe place, decided he deserved to have a park bench named after him.

The Virginia Commonwealth University student charged in last week’s shooting death of a Henrico County man was released on bond yesterday. Judge David Eugene Cheek Sr. of Richmond General District Court agreed to release Eric G. Driver Jr., 25, of the 500 block of North 22nd Street on $30,000 bond—$25,000 on the second-degree murder charge and $5,000 on a charge of using a firearm in a felony.

Authorities said a man shot and killed after allegedly breaking into a woman’s car Wednesday in Richmond’s East End appeared to have been unarmed. A Virginia Commonwealth University student was arrested in the shooting death of Jamall Holman, 24, of the 1700 block of Forest Glen Road in Henrico County. Eric G. Driver Jr., 25, of the 500 block of North 22nd Street, was charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the shooting in the 2100 block of East Leigh Street on Wednesday about 4:30 p.m.

The seemingly endless debate over the proposed Echo Harbour condominiums and Richmond’s downtown master plan hit a boiling point last night. Director of Community Development Rachel Flynn flatly rejected a suggestion from a planning commissioner that her staff review plan language offered by the developers for the site along the James River east of downtown.

A Church Hill property owner filed a lawsuit yesterday challenging Richmond City Council’s approval of a condominium development for the Chimborazo Park Old and Historic District. The lawsuit by Joseph Preston Carson III is the latest in a series of scrapes between residents and Fulton Hill Properties over its plans to build Oakwood Heights at the end of East Broad and East Marshall streets.

If the first day of the Church Hill Irish Festival is any indication of what the festival season will bring, organizers have cause for optimism. Thousands of people came out yesterday to celebrate their Celtic pride at the event, in its 24th year. The fest continues today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

When we recently proposed exterior changes to our house—which is in a historic district—to Richmond’s Commission of Architectural Review, the last thing we expected to hear was, “No, you can’t do that. The changes appear too authentic. People will mistake them for the original and think they’ve always been there.“

Residents endorse ballpark project Union Hill group touts benefits of housing and jobs The proposed Shockoe Center ballpark development has picked up the support of the Union Hill Civic Association. The group voted 25-1 with one abstention Wednesday to support Highwoods Properties’ plans for Shockoe Center, which are being reviewed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration and financial advisers for the city.