A developer got approval last night to build 46 homes in the Carver neighborhood, despite concerns that the units could end up being rented to Virginia Commonwealth University students. The Richmond City Council voted 8-0 to approve plans for Sylvia Place, a development of 23 duplexes on North Lombardy Street across from the Maggie Walker L. Governor’s School for Government and International Studies.

Police in Richmond and Henrico County are investigating two nonfatal weekend shootings. In Richmond, a 20-year-old man was shot in Monroe Park near Virginia Commonwealth University early yesterday. About 12:45 a.m., three men were walking through the park to a vehicle when they were approached by five men, said Richmond police Lt. James Laino. He said words were exchanged between the groups. The group of three men ran, and one of them was shot in the back. The injury did not appear life-threatening.

Henley Street Theatre Company is not known for playing it safe. Not yet two years old, the Richmond troupe has mounted such rarely staged fare as “The Spanish Tragedy,“ by 16th-century author Thomas Kyd, and “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail,“ by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (who are better known for penning “Inherit the Wind”). To kick off its 2008-09 season, the company presented a multimedia “Richard III” that commented obliquely on 21st-century journalism.

Virginia Commonwealth University police are investigating four related robberies that occurred early this morning in the vicinity of the school’s Monroe Park Campus—three of which involved students, a university official said in an e-mail alert to the campus. No one was injured by the lone suspect, who reportedly displayed a knife in three of the four holdups.

Dear Michael Rao: Congratulations on your new job as president of Virginia Commonwealth University. You’re coming from Central Michigan University, whose 28,000 students outnumber the population of its hometown, Mount Pleasant, Mich. CMU’s campus, described as “parklike,“ sounds like the leafy antithesis of concrete-and-brick VCU.

Music writer, Norfolk native ‘Rickey’ Wright dies Richard “Rickey” Wright didn’t sing professionally or play an instrument, but he spoke the universal language of music fluently. His friends called him “the encyclopedia of music”; he called himself “Geekus musicus maximus,“ said a niece, Elisabeth Wright of Norfolk. He earned the title after winning a Rhino Records musical knowledge contest.

Approximately 200 Virginia Commonwealth University students were evacuated from the Rhoads Hall dormitory after a fire was reported last night. The students gathered in Monroe Park while firefighters investigated a report of a fire on the fifth floor of the high-rise dorm at 710 W. Franklin St. They were expected to be allowed back in around midnight.

Virginia Commonwealth University will expand Saturday classes and change the types of courses offered in summer school as it attempts to come to terms with steep losses in state revenue. VCU Provost Stephen D. Gottfredson told the board of visitors yesterday that the summer session will be revamped into what eventually could become a “third semester.“

University of Mary Washington students have created a microfinance loan program to help poor women in Honduras. The students started a microfinance institution called La Ceiba as part of an economics class taught by assistant professor Shawn Humphrey. A College of William and Mary student and eight from UMW participated in the project.

Richmond police are investigating a series of street robberies of Virginia Commonwealth University students. Authorities have arrested one man and charged him in two of the eight robberies, all of which took place in the Fan District or on its outskirts from Jan. 13 through Sunday, with three of them on Sunday. VCU students were victims in seven of the robberies. Some of the crimes were carried out by a man and woman who stole items such as cell phones, purses and wallets. A gun was displayed in most or all of the cases.

The cost of attending the University of Richmond could exceed $50,000 next year, according to UR’s student newspaper, The Collegian. UR students this year pay undergraduate tuition of $38,850, which with $8,200 for room, board and fees brings the total to $47,050. The Collegian quotes UR President Edward Ayers as saying a “modest” increase may be necessary.

Three lions of Virginia journalism will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Virginia Press Association this spring. J. Stewart Bryan III, chairman of Media General Inc. and former publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, will join Frank Batten Sr. and George T. Crutchfield in receiving recognition during the VPA/Associated Press News Conference and Annual Meeting the weekend of March 20-21 in Norfolk.

“Oyotunji: A Yoruba Kingdom in America” at the Elegba Folklore Society, 101 E. Broad St., through March 1. This exhibition presents more than 100 color photographs taken by Babatunde Lawal in a Yoruba community in Sheldon, S.C. Info: (804) 644-3900.
  “The Beaded Prayers Project” at the Anderson Gallery through March 1. VCU art professor Sonya Clark initiated this colorful show of more than 5,000 sealed beaded packets made by individuals in more than 35 countries. The artists were inspired by the African tradition of creating protective amulets with powerful contents. Info: (804) 828-1522.

The VCU community has been shocked by the arrest of the school’s police chief, Willie Fuller, on charges of soliciting sex with a minor. And for good reason. History’s scrolls are replete with the names of public officials and prominent citizens tainted or taken down by scandal, from the most well-known (Bill Clinton) to those in the middle ranks (Eliot Spitzer) to those of only minor fame (former Richmond Mayor Leonidas Young, and others too numerous to name). But Fuller’s arrest induces greater shock and sorrow because of the nature of the crime alleged, and because of his chosen work.

Art historians specializing in European and American art take comfort in their ability to identify paintings and sculptures by artist, period and nationality. They share a belief that museum walls, pedestals and display cases are fitting final destinations for these works of art. African art historians, out of choice and necessity, march to very different drummers.