LEVAR STONEY

Despite strong jobs numbers and falling covid-19 infection rates, food insecurity remains high, with inflation driving more people to seek food assistance.

The Cares Act and two private foundation partnerships are funding 18 families in Richmond, Virginia with a $500 monthly check for two years.

Highlights of this day in history: Thomas Edison demonstrates light bulb; The United States winds down the Marshall Plan; Actor Anthony Hopkins, composer Jule Styne and musician Donna Summer are born. (Dec. 31)

The massive statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and eight other monuments will move to the museum after the city council approves the plan.

2 boys killed: Two boys were fatally shot in Richmond, Virginia, on Friday night. (Oleksandr Filon/iStock)RICHMOND, Va. — Two boys were killed and two men were seriously injured after a shooting in Virginia on Friday night, authorities said. >> Read more trending newsAccording to the Richmond Police Department, shots were fired at about 7:31 p.m. EST, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. All four victims were taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries, where the two boys were pronounced dead, WTVR reported. “Gun violence leaves everyone traumatized and we must take a stand against violence together.”The medical examiner will determine the cause and manner of death, WTVR reported.

APTOPIX Confederate Monument Richmnond Crews remove the torso of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, one of the country's largest remaining monuments to the Confederacy, on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. The job was overseen by Team Henry Enterprises, led by Devon Henry, a Black executive who faced death threats after his company's role in removing Richmond's other Confederate statues was made public last year. The sculpture was valued for its artistic quality, and it stood among four other massive Confederate statues that were removed by the city last summer. Other Confederate monuments started falling around the country. Work crews then removed removed statues of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate naval officer Matthew Maury and Gen. J.E.B.

Virginia Governor Former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, right, and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, left, greet McAuliffe supporters during a quick rally outside the Office of the General Registrar, City of Richmond, in Richmond, Va. Friday, June 4, 2021. (Bob Brown (Bob Brown)RICHMOND, Va. — (AP) — Voters on Tuesday were deciding the Democratic nominee in this year’s closely watched race for Virginia governor, whittling down a five-person field in which former Gov. The race in Virginia has taken on heightened importance as Democrats aim to hold onto power after assuming full control of state government in 2020. Smith said he voted for McAuliffe the last time he ran for governor and liked him. Voters also will choose the Democratic Party’s nominees for attorney general and lieutenant governor.

RICHMOND, Va. Work crews were back at work Thursday removing Confederate monuments from Virginia's capital city, a process that began last week after Mayor Levar Stoney ordered all city-owned Confederate statues cleared away amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racism. Crews returned to the site of a monument honoring Confederate naval commander and scientist Matthew Fontaine Maury. The Maury statue was unveiled in 1929 the last of five Confederate statues erected on Richmonds Monument Avenue. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that a Confederate heritage group wants to display the statues on private property. Richmonds largest statue left standing is on state land the massive monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument is shown in Libby Hill Park Wednesday July 8, 2020, in Richmond, Va. The statue is one of several that will be removed by the city as part of the Black Lives Matter reaction. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)RICHMOND, Va. Work crews have begun taking down the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors statue, the sixth Confederate monument to be removed in Richmond amid national protests against police brutality and symbols many see as racist icons. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, citing his emergency powers on July 1, ordered the removal of all city-owned Confederate statues. Richmond's largest statue left standing is on state land the massive monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - The statue of Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is covered in graffiti on Monument Avenue, Monday, July 6, 2020, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)RICHMOND, Va. Work crews have begun taking down an enormous monument to Confederate Gen. J.E.B. The Stuart monument is one of several targeted by protesters in Richmond since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 prompted nationwide demonstrations. The Stuart statue has been the last major statue left, other than a massive statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee that's located on state land.

(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)RICHMOND, Va. Just a little over a month ago, the area around Richmond's iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was as quiet and sedate as the statue itself. Clashes between police and protesters gathered near the statue have become a regular occurrence. The statue is located on Richmonds Monument Avenue, a boulevard of stately homes that also features several other Confederate monuments targeted for removal. At the Lee statue, a new vibe has emerged alongside the raucous atmosphere of protests, one that is more reminiscent of the hippie love and peace festivals of the 1960s. A group of civilian volunteers armed with handguns and rifles has been patrolling the area near the statue to keep protesters safe.

(AP Photo/Steve Helber)RICHMOND, Va. A judge on Thursday indefinitely extended an injunction preventing the Virginia governor from removing a historic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmonds famed Monument Avenue. The 12-ton (11 metric-ton), 21-foot-tall (6.4-meter-tall) statue has stood in a prominent spot along Monument Avenue since 1890. The Lee statue in Richmond has become a rallying point for demonstrators during more than two weeks of protests. The Lee statue is one of five Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue, a National Historic Landmark district. The Lee statue is on state property.

People stand around the fallen Christopher Columbus statue at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, June 10, 2020. In Bristol, England, demonstrators over the weekend toppled a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston and threw it in the harbor. On Wednesday night, protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who has proposed dismantling all Confederate statues in the city, asked protesters not to take matters into their own hands for their own safety. Andrew Cuomo, who is Italian American, said he opposes removal of a statue of Columbus in Manhattans Columbus Circle.

The statues on the Confederate monument are covered in graffiti and beheaded after a protest in Portsmouth, Va., Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Protesters beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument. The spokesman for the Virginia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, B. Frank Earnest, condemned the toppling of public works of art and likened losing the Confederate statues to losing a family member. For protesters mobilized by Floyds death, the targets have ranged far beyond the Confederacy. Andrew Cuomo, who is Italian American, said he opposes removal of a statue of Columbus in Manhattans Columbus Circle.

A rope had been tied around the Confederate statue, which has stood since 1891, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, adding that someone urinated on the statue after it was pulled down. Confederate monuments are a major flashpoint in Virginia and elsewhere in the South. Those statues sit on city land, unlike the Lee statue, which is on state property. Thats when a new law goes into effect, which was signed earlier this year by Northam, that undoes an existing state law protecting Confederate monuments and instead lets local governments decide their fate. Wickhams statue stood in Monroe Park, about a mile away from the Lee statue and surrounded by the Virginia Commonwealth University campus.

Protesters sit near the statue of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, June 3, 2020. As for the Lee statue, Northam and his predecessor, fellow Democrat Terry McAuliffe, have not previously pressed the issue. The statues on Monument Avenue are among the most prominent collection of tributes to the Confederacy in the nation. A statue of black tennis hero Arthur Ashe, a Richmond native, was erected on Monument Avenue in 1996. "The Lee statue was a constant reminder to Black Virginians of racism, dehumanization, and hate that exists and was prevalent throughout our historyA descendant of Lee, the Rev.