Friday, July 25 Newsletter: Our women's tackle football team is playing for the national title

Weather: The heat is back. High of 96.

On this date in 1996, swimmer Whitney Hedgepeth of Colonial Heights wins her second individual silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics.

Richmond's women's football team is competing for a championship Friday

The Richmond Black Widows, a tackle football team that has represented the city for the last 10 years, has an opportunity to win its first ever national championship today.

Read more on the team, and its efforts to grow the game, here.

Our in-depth coverage of city issues

More than a third of required reports to City Council aren’t being filed, review finds: They're calling it the "report on reports," and while some of the reports seem to be outdated or unnecessary, others have been ignored.

Amid sharp criticism, emergency operations chief says city is shoring up its crisis response: “I’m going to be very blunt with you,” Stephen Willoughby said. Prior to the Jan. 6 water crisis, “many of our plans were nonexistent, or many of our plans had deficiencies.”

Landlords, realtors ask Council for more targeted rental inspection program: The proposal has broad support, but stakeholders are requesting it be more finely targeted to avoid unfairly labeling entire neighborhoods as "blighted."

Avula moves ahead with revised version of regional water group: After a closed-door City Council meeting this month, the administration announced a regional work group has been established and is already meeting. But it’s more scaled-down and less structured than what the mayor originally proposed.

Rivka Swenson is looking out for Richmond's cats

If you see a feral cat with a clipped ear in Richmond, there’s a chance Rivka Swenson had something to do with it.

Last year, the City Kitty Project fixed 688 stray cats, trapping nearly 400 themselves. The project also rescues about 200 cats a year, rehabilitating them and finding people to adopt them. Read more here.

In other news

• Colonial Downs jockey airlifted to Richmond hospital after being thrown from horse
• Ex-Truist employee stole $195,000 from accounts, faked her own death to avoid arrest (CBS 6)
• Richmond hires new finance director from Virginia Beach

The editor's desk

Thanks to all who took a minute yesterday to fill out our reader survey. We are hopeful to grow in 2026, and we're looking to you to help guide that growth. There's still time to participate, and potentially win a Richmonder t-shirt!

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org

Sent this by a friend? Sign up for our free thrice-weekly newsletter here.

Want to support The Richmonder? Become a donor for $9.99 a month and keep quality local journalism in the community.