News Headlines March 26

In what’s currently the nation’s largest college-bribery scandal in history, six former college athletic coaches, two test administrator and four other college officials pleaded not guilty. All twelve defendants faced several racketeering conspiracy charges taking place in a Boston federal court. One of the defendants included a former Georgetown University head tennis coach. If the defendants are convicted, they’ll each face a maximum of twenty years in prison and a 250 thousand dollar fine.

GRTC and VCU officials are negotiating renewal of the free ridership agreement. While the GRTC Transit System Board of directors agreed on partially restoring the 15 minute service to one of their routes due to popular demand. Both parties must reach an agreement before next month.  

A report annually created by University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that Richmond has been placed in the bottom quarter of public health for the state of Virginia while Petersburg ranks last. Some of the factors measuring health of populations include accessible affordable housing, socio-economic status and behavior trends. 23% of richmond residents have a severe housing cost burden while the state average is at thirteen percent.

A 21 year old man from Herndon is being charged with Destruction of Property after putting up several posters for a white nationalist group in the town of Vienna. The man was placing posters that had several slogans such as “reclaim America” and “Better dead than red”. The man claims to be from a white nationalist group called “Patriot Front.” A self described political activist organization that’s been placing these posters in Northern Virginia since January.