21
Apr
2012
Judge Swank: In his own words
Last year, Drew A. Swank, an administrative law judge who handles disability claims for the U.S. Social Security Administration in Richmond, wrote an article titled "Welfare, Income Detection, and the Shadow Economy" for the Rutgers Journal of Law & Public Policy.
21
Apr
2012
Search our database on Social Security Administration judges
With this search tool, you can see summary statistics on each administrative law judge who has decided Social Security Administration disability cases. You're searching a database of about 1,700 judges who have handled disability cases since October 2009.
21
Apr
2012
About the Social Security disability rulings data
The data for this report came from the Social Security Administration. For each fiscal year, the agency's Office of Disability and Adjudication Review posts a "public use data file." This file shows how many decisions each administrative law judge made; it lists how many cases were denied, partially approved and fully approved.
18
Feb
2012
Milder Winter Eases Pressure on Richmond's Homeless
Survival for the homeless is already a challenge enough especially in winter. Food and shelter are essential and challenging to find. That is why this year many homeless in Monroe Park are grateful to be able to frequent the park in light jackets and jeans.
18
Feb
2012
Richmond experiencing unseasonal winter weather
Based on the clothing choices exhibited by Cary Street patrons, one would think it was a warm spring day and not the middle of February. The groundhog's prediction of six more weeks of winter has yet to be proven as higher than average temperatures has been the theme for most of 2012 thus far.
20
Dec
2011
Wildlife Strikes by the Numbers
The number of wildlife strikes involving alligators ... how often engines are affected when a wildlife strike damages a plane ... the proportion of wildlife strike that occurred during the day
20
Dec
2011
Student-athletes Score Higher Graduation Rates
At many universities, student-athletes are less likely than other students to graduate. But at VCU, it's the opposite: Athletes are more likely to get their degrees than the general student body.
28
Nov
2011
Poverty in C'ville Among Highest in State
About one in four Charlottesville residents lives in poverty, according to the latest estimates from the United States Census Bureau. The city's poverty rate is among the highest in Virginia - and more than double the statewide average.
20
Nov
2011
Richmond City Dropout Rates Decrease
Over the past five years, the number of dropouts in Richmond has been cut almost in half, and the city's dropout rate has plunged to 1.45 percent -- well below the statewide rate. Officials credit a team effort between the schools and the community.
16
Nov
2011
A Steep Decline in Richmond's Murder Rate
Richmond was once known as the murder capital of the United States. But in recent decades, murders in the city have fallen dramatically. And despite an uptick the past few years, Richmond likely will finish 2011 with one-fourth of the killings it had in 1994.
14
Nov
2011
At 9.5%, Unemployment High in Richmond
With almost 10,000 Richmond workers unemployed, the city is definitely experiencing a problem. The unemployment rate in Richmond was 9.5 percent this past September, while the statewide and national rates remained significantly lower - Virginia at 6.4 percent and the nation at 8.8 percent.
30
Jul
2011
Turning Up The Heat On The Homeless
With Richmond facing record summer temperatures, various organizations are banding together to keep the homeless cool and hydrated. By Sean Collins-Smith, Ashley Sabin and Amy Vu.
30
Jul
2011
Locals Keep Canines Cool During Heat Wave
Dog owners use a variety of methods to keep their pets safe from scorching temperatures.
30
Jul
2011
Maintaining Maymont In The Heat
The staff at Maymont Park works hard to make sure that the park's wildlife, vegetation, and visitors stay happy and cool.
4
May
2011
Meet a VA Lobbyist: Patrick Cushing, Alliance Group
Christian Wright interviews Patrick Cushing, a lobbyist at the Alliance Group, about what it is like to lobby for multiple clients as part of a small firm.
12
Apr
2011
Drugstore soda fountains: A bit of nostalgia, a lot of home
Drugstore soda fountains largely disappeared by the 1970s. But Old Mechanicsville has two, with a third located about a mile away in Henrico County.
12
Apr
2011
First Fridays Art Walk Galleries Hope For a District
Every first Friday of the month, a sleepy section of Broad Street here in downtown Richmond experiences a frenzy of activity.
11
Apr
2011
Church Hill community comes together, promotes unity
It may appear like just a basketball court from the outside but Hosea Bland, a minister at Mount Olivet Church in Church Hill, has a bigger plan. "Basketball itself attracts a lot of attention and we want everybody to come and just play," Bland said. "A basketball court-- we feel like that'll be a catch."
26
Feb
2011
Grades Project Wins National Contest
Mark Newton and Ameesha Felton won a national computer-assisted reporting contest for their analysis of VCU's grade distribution data. Mark gave a presentation about the project at the Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference held Feb. 24-27 by Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc.
19
Feb
2011
From Paris to Richmond: Picasso Comes to the River City
Hundreds of people lined up outside the doors of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on a beautiful Saturday morning to attend the opening of the long-awaited Pablo Picasso exhibition. The works, on loan from the Musée National Picasso, Paris, will be on view until May 15.
19
Feb
2011
Opening day at VMFA Picasso Exhibit draws hundreds
Hundreds of people came to the opening of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts's Pablo Picasso Exhibit. The exhibit was made possible because The Musee Picasso National in Paris, where the paintings are normally stored, is being renovated until 2012. Richmond marks the only stop on the East Coast, out of the seven-city world tour.
19
Feb
2011
Picasso comes to Richmond's VMFA
Over 3,000 people flocked to the opening of the Pablo Picasso exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday, February 19. The exhibit features 176 works from Picasso's own personal collection assembled during the artist's lifetime, according to Robin Nicholson, the VMFA's deputy director for art and education, adding, "It's the finest collection of Picasso's work in the world."
16
Feb
2011
Meet a VA Lobbyist: Virginia Public Access Project
While they aren't lobbyists, the Virginia Public Access Project has a lot to do with lobbying. They publish and help link lobbyists to organizations and the money they give to candidates, becoming an incredibly important tool for citizens of Virginia.
9
Feb
2011
Meet a VA Lobbyist: Mark Rubin, VCU
For those who don't know what lobbying is like, or wonder what entails, this video is for you. Mark Rubin, executive director of government relations at Virginia Commonwealth University, explains lobbying and what it entails.
30
Dec
2010
Grades Vary Widely; 37% Are A's
A's made up 37 percent of the 180,000 letter grades awarded in undergraduate courses taught at VCU last year. Wide disparities in the distribution of letter grades exist among academic departments, among courses and even among professors who teach the same course.
30
Dec
2010
Search the Grade Distribution Database
Use this search form to view the grade distribution for specific courses at Virginia Commonwealth University. This tool is searching a database of 21,931 undergraduate courses taught between Fall 2006 and Spring 2010. You can see the course number and title, the instructor's name, a breakdown of the grades students received, and the average GPA for those grades.
16
Dec
2010
HPV Vaccine Also Stirs Controversy
The HPV vaccine has been administered millions of times since it was introduced in 2006. Since then, the VAERS database has received more than 18,000 reports of patients having negative side effects, including muscle pain, fainting, dizziness, seizures and severe flu-like symptoms. In 60 cases - including one in Virginia - a patient died after receiving the HPV vaccine, according to the VAERS data.
15
Dec
2010
Little Fuel Savings in Cash for Clunkers
In many of Cash for Clunkers transactions, people simply traded in one gas guzzler for a vehicle that guzzled only slightly less gas. On average, the new cars got about 9 miles per gallon more than the vehicles being traded in. In a quarter of all the Cash for Clunkers transactions, the new vehicles got, at best, only 5 mpg more than the trade-ins.
6
Dec
2010
21% of Fallen Soldiers Die 'Non-Hostile' Deaths
More than 20 percent of the U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed not by enemy combatants but in "non-hostile" circumstances, including friendly fire, suicide, illness and accidents. That's a higher proportion that in Korea or Vietnam. As one expert says, "It's simply dangerous being there, even if nobody's shooting at you."
6
Dec
2010
Work Visas Plunge in a Declining Economy
As the U.S. economy has soured, companies aren't hiring as many workers from overseas. In Virginia, the number of H1-B visa applications decreased nearly 50 percent in 2009, according to an analysis of data from the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center. Nationally, the number of visa applications dropped more than 30 percent.
6
Dec
2010
Some Say Flu Vaccine Does Harm
Federal officials have received reports of about 11,000 adverse reactions - including 66 deaths - possibly associated with the administration of vaccines for influenza or the H1N1 virus (commonly called swine flu) in 2010. Over the past five years, the system has recorded a total of 38,000 incidents, including 219 deaths, possibly linked to flu vaccines.
25
Oct
2010
Ask for Less, Receive More from SGA
When it comes to requesting funds from the Student Government Association, the chairman of appropriations for the Monroe Park Campus SGA, Eliano Younes, said it's all about documentation, documentation, documentation: "The major difference between groups who get 75 percent of their budget request and groups that get maybe 10, 12 percent is whether or not they provide documentation."
25
Oct
2010
Homicides Decrease Despite Lagging Perceptions
The number of homicides in the city of Richmond have been on a gradual decline since 2004, according to data from the Richmond Crime Database. In a city that has seen widespread coverage of its violent crime problem, this continued decrease in murders comes as good news to police and citizens alike.
25
Oct
2010
More Students Graduating with Advanced Diplomas
More students are graduating with advanced diplomas in the Richmond City Public School system despite an increase in the dropout rate, according to recent data released by the Virginia Department of Education.
25
Oct
2010
Virginia HBCUs Rank High in Loan Defaults
Joy Shaw is one of many alumni of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) who have had difficulty repaying the student loans they received from the federal government. In 2008, HBCUs accounted for four of the five schools with the highest student loan default rates in Virginia, according to the latest data released by the U.S Department of Education. The report represented borrowers who entered repayment in the 2008 fiscal year but defaulted before Sept. 30, 2009.
25
Oct
2010
Burglars Hitting College Neighborhoods
Next time you find yourself in North Highland Park, remember to lock your car doors behind you. Several Richmond neighborhoods have seen drastic increases in burglaries the past year. North Highland Park, Randolph, and Northern & Southern Barton Heights had the highest property crime increases since 2009.
25
Oct
2010
VCU Students Make Good on Loans
At a time when the national student-loan default rate went up, VCU's default rate fell - from more than 2.7 percent in 2007 to 2.3 percent in 2008, according to new statistics released by the U.S. Department of Education. VCU compared well to its peer institutions and to other schools in Virginia.
25
Oct
2010
Fewer Arrests, But More Drug Offenses
VCU students were arrested and given judicial referrals 549 fewer times on both the Monroe and MCV campuses last year than in 2008, according to Clery data released by the VCU Police Department on Friday. That's nearly half the weapon, drug and liquor-related offenses, from 1,288 to 739.
25
Oct
2010
Where Are the Men?
The U.S. Census Bureau counted the number of men and women in every county for the year 2000 and the year 2007. There were more than 148 million men in the United States and 152 million women in 2007. Nationwide, that puts 97 males per 100 females. In the Washington, DC metro area there 96 males per 100 females which is not that bad unless you are looking for quality men like Jasmin O'neal.
25
Oct
2010
Richmond Church And Other Organizations Offer Support For HIV/AIDS Community
By Doug Callahan For those dealing with an HIV or AIDS diagnosis, emotional support can be as important as medical care.Jay Irvine, the office manager at the Metropolitan Community Church of Richmond, said the church offers that exact thing locally, with its HIV/AIDS ministry."Most of the people who come to MCC are those that don't feel comfortable worshipping in other churches," Irvine said. "Those that have been turned away because of sexual orientation or things they've done in the past. But we accept anyone who walks in the front door."...
23
Oct
2010
Families Fundraise For Cold Case Murders
RICHMOND, Va -- Families of the Colonial Parkway victims won't let their cold cases fade away. On Saturday, Oct. 23, the families hosted a benefit and car show event to help raise awareness and fund an ongoing investigation of the murders.
23
Oct
2010
Friendly Rivalries Simmer at Celtic Festival
On October 23 and 24, Scottish clans gathered to celebrate the Meadow Highland Games and Celtic Festival at the Virginia State Fair Grounds.
23
Oct
2010
Church Hosts Annual Fall Festival
The Ginter Park United Methodist Church looks to its annual Fall Festival to not only raise money but also to expand its membership. The event included children's activities, independent vendors, food, a silent auction and live music.
11
Oct
2010
A New Home For AARF's Abandoned Dogs
Jonas and his siblings were found abandoned by the Animal Adoption and Rescue Foundation, which tried to find them a loving home. His siblings have since found homes. Three months later, however, Jonas the yellow Labrador and hound mix, is the last one left.
9
Oct
2010
Jones New Pastor at Richmond First Baptist Church
First Baptist of South Richmond was a fusion of color and praise as the sound of the organ and tambourine flowed through the sanctuary filled with saints dressed in their Sunday best determined to hear a Word from the Lord.
9
Oct
2010
Va. Beekeeping Buzzing As New Hobby
Beekeeping, a profession nearly as old as humanity itself, is changing as new keepers raise bees as a hobby and veteran keepers rethink how to raise their bees in order to combat what is known as colony collapse disorder.
9
Oct
2010
Richmond Sikh Community Works To Fight Discrimination, Maintain Identity
"Anyone can be a Sikh," said Dr. Baljit Sidhu. An orthopedic surgeon from Chester, Dr. Sidhu recently spoke about Sikhism to a religious studies class at Virginia Commonwealth University.