March 4 Newsletter: City reprimanded in judge's ruling

Weather: Spring is back! High of 71 with the 80s in sight this weekend.

On this date in 1980, a grand jury wraps up a six-month probe by concluding that Richmond’s police department is underpaid and understaffed.

Today's newsletter sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University: As a top 50 public research institution, Virginia Commonwealth University has an unparalleled drive to discover, innovate and create. VCU impacts the human experience and tackles the problems of tomorrow. It's a university unlike any you’ve ever seen.

Judge rips city for ‘reckless failure’ to preserve phone in ex-FOIA officer’s lawsuit

Monday’s ruling was a flashpoint in the two-year-old case about transparency in city government and how City Hall responds when outsiders ask for documents.

At several points in the 21-page document, the judge says the city’s representatives have made statements in court that are not true.

She added that she was in “complete agreement” with Connie Clay's team that the city’s representatives “demonstrated a lack of good faith participation” in a settlement meeting. Read more here.

With $47.6 million in delinquent bills, DPU launches repayment campaign

The amount of money owed to DPU that’s more than 90 days past due has soared since the COVID-19 pandemic, from $13.6 million in fiscal year 2019 to a peak of $66.9 million in fiscal year 2024. 

The department is giving customers until March 31 to sign up for payment plans before beginning disconnections in April. Read more here.

What to make of VCU's tourney chances? There's no bad, but also not much good

The NCAA tournament brackets will be announced in 10 days, and the VCU Rams present a fascinating case for the committee that picks the 68 teams.

The Rams have no bad losses, but also not many good wins. They have proved themselves worthy of selection, but also failed to prove themselves when playing against the teams that will be selected.

VCU kept marching towards March Madness last night with a win over rival George Mason that gets the Rams one step closer to their ultimate goal. Read more here.

Also in Sports: Legendary girls basketball coach Larry Starr's second act reminded him of the joy of coaching

After $22M estimate, city revises last year's surplus down to $12.6M

The administration has pushed back delivery of the audited financials for another three weeks.

Though delays with local government audit reports are fairly common, the latest delay in Richmond means the FY25 audit likely won’t become public until the city is so far into FY26 that Avula is proposing a budget for FY27.

The city also revised the delivery date of a report detailing spending during the recent storm.

“All of these things indicate that we have a Finance Department that is not functioning in a healthy way, in a way that our residents expect,” one City Council member said. Read more here.

Also today in The Richmonder

• ‘Unprecedented’ local funding moves 60-unit deeply affordable housing project in Northside forward
  • Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield contributed almost $10 million combined to the project.
• IRS alleges it paid $728k in fraudulent tax ‘refunds’ to former School Board candidate
  • He also allegedly defrauded the COVID relief program.

Today's sponsor:

Michael Rao tells VCU community: ‘Let’s be bold together’

In his annual State of the University Address, President Michael Rao said that VCU has both the opportunity and obligation to meet the rapidly changing needs of the world.

“We are called upon to envision a society where people get better and better with every passing generation. Our role in that is essential,” said Rao. “This is an important moment for all of us. But moments don’t change the world. Movements do. And to make this moment a movement, we’ve got to think bigger and act more boldly.” Read more.

In other news

• Chesterfield homicides rise sharply in 2025 (Axios)
• Midlothian man who fled Iran 'elated' over Khamenei's death in US strikes (CBS 6)
• Early voting on Virginia redistricting amendment set to begin Friday (VPM)

The editor's desk

Just 10 days until one of my favorite March traditions: Losing the bracket contest to somebody who picks based on their favorite mascots.

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org

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