VaNews Feb. 7, 2020
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Today's Sponsor:


** Virginia's Member-Owned Electric Cooperatives
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We provide reliable, affordable electric service to more than 1.3 million Virginians, from Fairfax to Halifax, the Cumberland Gap to the Eastern Shore. www.vmdaec.com ([link removed]) ; www.co-opliving.com ([link removed])

Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: ISSUES GENERATING MORE INTEREST ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

The number of bills introduced by Virginia legislators is up this year, and issues generating more interest -- including guns, labor rights and discrimination -- reflect the priorities of the new Democratic majority. VPAP's latest visualization identifies nine issues that have spawned added interest at the General Assembly's annual winter session.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** ‘VIRGINIA IS FOR ALL LOVERS’: HOUSE AND SENATE PASS LEGISLATION TO BAN LGBTQ DISCRIMINATION ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, came to Richmond for the first time 30 years ago for a gay rights lobby day. Only a handful of legislators talked to him. “I don’t think it made a difference — at least not at that time,” said Ebbin, who became Virginia’s first openly gay legislator after he was elected in 2003. “Things have changed.”


** VIRGINIA POISED TO BECOME FIRST SOUTHERN STATE BANNING LGBT DISCRIMINATION ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Sweeping LGBT rights legislation that bans discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations sailed out of the Virginia Senate and House on bipartisan votes Thursday. Virginia would become the first Southern state to adopt such protections if the measures become law as expected.


** VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS PASS COMPREHENSIVE LGBTQ PROTECTIONS ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Advocates for people who identify as LGBTQ cheered Thursday as the General Assembly passed comprehensive legislation protecting them from discrimination in housing, employment and public spaces.


** VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS PASS PROTECTIONS FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE ([link removed])
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By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

Virginia lawmakers passed comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation Thursday that advocates said makes the state the first in the South to enact such protections for LGBTQ people. The measures advanced on bipartisan votes, 59-35 in the House and 30-9 in the Senate


** SENATE WANTS TO RAISE CASINO GAMING TAX RATES, LICENSE FEE ([link removed])
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By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

A Virginia Senate committee voted Thursday to drastically increase the proposed tax on casino gaming revenues and the license fee for casino operators in reporting out a bill to allow casinos by referendum in the state.


** HOUSE OF DELEGATES PASSES BILL TO ALLOW COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

While the Senate has scaled back its version, the Virginia House of Delegates is moving forward with a proposal to allow public sector employees, including teachers, to collectively bargain. On Thursday, the House voted 54-45 to approve House Bill 582 from Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, to repeal the prohibition on collective bargaining by public employees.


** HOUSE PANEL BACKS RIGHT-TO-WORK REPEAL AS STATE ANALYSIS PROJECTS HIGH COST ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

A proposed repeal of Virginia’s right-to-work law cleared another hurdle Thursday, but the idea’s fate is in the hands of a money committee staring at a costly price tag. House Bill 153 from Del. Lee Carter, D-Manassas, would repeal a law proponents say helps make Virginia an attractive place for business, while opponents suggest it hinders workers’ rights.


** LABOR MAY GET ITS DAY IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY ([link removed])
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By DAVID HOLTZMAN, Central Virginian

A number of bills pending in the Virginia General Assembly could alter the landscape for workers and employers in Louisa County. State legislators are considering raising the minimum wage for the first time since it was set by the federal government at $7.25 an hour in 2009. They may also give government workers the right to bargain collectively over working conditions and pay.


** AFTER LONG DELAY, DEMOCRATS UNVEIL CLEAN ECONOMY ACT ENERGY OMNIBUS ([link removed])
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By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury

After weeks of behind-the-scenes talks, Democratic lawmakers on Thursday night finally unveiled the details of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a 75-page plan to get Virginia to zero carbon by 2050. The legislation was hailed by its sponsor, Del. Richard “Rip” Sullivan of Fairfax, as a “historic” step on energy policy. Democrats agreed, passing the bill along for further consideration on a 13-9 party-line vote that frustrated some backers’ hopes for bipartisan support.


** VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS PUT OFF DECISION ON APPROACH TO REDISTRICTING ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

House Democrats facing a dilemma about how to follow through on promises to end gerrymandering have decided not to decide — at least not yet. The strategy became clear Thursday morning, when a key subcommittee advanced legislation on two contradictory tracks.


** VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS TO DEBATE ASSAULT WEAPON BAN ([link removed])
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By ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press

Democratic lawmakers in Virginia are set to try to advance legislation to ban assault weapons despite pushback from members of their own party. A state House committee is scheduled to take up legislation backed by Gov. Ralph Northam on Friday that would ban the sale of certain semi-automatic firearms


** VIRGINIA HOUSE VOTES TO END LEE-JACKSON DAY ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

The House of Delegates has joined the Virginia Senate in voting to abolish Lee-Jackson Day. The chamber on Thursday approved House Bill 108 from Del. Joe Lindsey, D-Norfolk, in a 55-42 vote.


** SENATE COMMITTEE RAISES THE PRICE OF PLAYING FOR CASINOS, BUT GIVES RELIEF TO COLONIAL DOWNS ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

The Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee just upped the ante for legalizing casino gambling in five Virginia cities. The committee voted 14-2 on Thursday night to adopt a new proposal that would boost the state tax rates that would apply to casino gaming revenues and the share that local governments would receive in the cities — Richmond, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Danville and Bristol.


** SENATE OKS BILL FOR SOME ONLINE ALCOHOL SALES ([link removed])
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By KIM SMITH, VCU Capital News Service

Virginians will be able to purchase spirits and low alcoholic beverage coolers from the comfort of their homes under a bill that passed the Senate 40-0 Wednesday. SB 824, introduced by Sen. Frank M. Ruff, R-Clarksville, would permit the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to include provisions in agency agreements with licensed distillers


** SENATE PANEL GUTS, KILLS, THEN REVIVES GOVERNOR'S HIGHWAY SAFETY LEGISLATION ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposals for toughening enforcement of Virginia’s seat belt law and banning open containers of alcohol are clinging to life in the Senate on Friday after a committee eviscerated legislation to strengthen highway safety requirements, killed the bill on a bipartisan vote, and then brought it back to life. At least for a day.


** GREENWAY OVERSIGHT BILL GETS SECOND SHOT IN HOUSE ([link removed])
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By RENSS GREENE, Loudoun Now

A bill to strengthen state oversight of tolls on the Dulles Greenway will get a second change in the House of Delegates this afternoon. OnJan. 30, the House Committee on Labor and Commerce narrowly failed to report Del. Suhas Subramanyam (D-87)’s House Bill 523, the latest attempt in a years-long effort to rein in the Greenway’s annual toll increases.


** OBENSHAIN’S BILL TO LIMIT FUEL TAX FOR SOME I-81 COMMUNITIES GETS PARKED ([link removed])
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By CALVIN PYNN, Harrisonburg Citizen

A bill introduced by Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) aimed at limiting a gas tax increase in communities not directly along Interstate-81 got shut down this week in the General Assembly. Introduced as SB 692, the potential legislation would have exempted localities in the that weren’t along the interstate from the regional gas tax increase aimed at funding improvements to I-81. That funding mechanism was part of a measure passed into law last year.


** COMPROMISE BILLS CREATE 12-MEMBER PANEL TO ADVISE VMRC ON MENHADEN ([link removed])
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By MEGAN SCHIFFRES, Rappahannock Record (Paywall)

Two bills that would transfer the regulatory authority over menhaden fisheries in the Commonwealth from the legislature to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) have advanced in both chambers of the General Assembly. House Bill 1448, introduced by Del. Kenneth Plum of Reston, was reported to the House of Delegates floor while Senate Bill 791, introduced by Sen. Lynwood Lewis of Accomac, was reported to the Senate agriculture, conservation and natural resources committee.


** SHUTDOWN STILL LOOMS OVER OMEGA PROTEIN ([link removed])
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Northern Neck News

At the end of last week, Virginia’s menhaden industry was drawing closer to being managed by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission rather than the General Assembly.


** SUROVELL’S BILL LETTING UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS OBTAIN DRIVER’S LICENSES ADVANCES ([link removed])
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By ADA ROMANO, VCU Capital News Service

Legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to possess a driver’s license advanced in the Senate Wednesday. Senate Bill 34, introduced by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-36th, who represents parts of Fairfax, Prince William and Stafford counties, would allow immigrants to obtain a driver’s license regardless of legal status.


** VIRGINIA SENATE PANEL PUNTS ON LETTING COLLEGE ATHLETES BE PAID FOR THEIR LIKENESS ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Like the House of Delegates, the Virginia Senate is punting on allowing college athletes to receive compensation for their talent. The Senate Education and Health Committee on Thursday unanimously voted to carry Senate Bill 462 from Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, over to the 2021 General Assembly session.


** MEASURE MAY SPUR LAWYER-DOCTOR CONVERSATIONS ([link removed])
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By PETER VIETH, Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Faced with heated opposition from medical providers, a trial lawyer-backed proposal to force doctors to cooperate with personal injury lawyers seems headed for the shelf in favor of negotiations on a voluntary cooperation agreement. More than half of 69 trial lawyers surveyed last month said they had faced multiple instances of doctors who stonewalled requests to confer about patient injuries.


** SEXUAL ABUSE REPORTING BILLS GAIN MOMENTUM ([link removed])
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By RODNEY ROBINSON, VCU Capital News Service

Two bills recently passed the House unanimously that aim to change the state’s statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse. One bill gives victims a two-year window to file sexual abuse claims, if the statute of limitations have passed. The other extends the statute of limitations in adult civil sexual assault cases from two to 20 years.


** BILL TARGETS CHILD SUPPORT FROM INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS ([link removed])
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By MAURA MAZUROWSKI, Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Independent contractors may be subject to all child support withholding obligations by July 1. Senate Bill 429, introduced by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, would close an apparent loophole in the payment of child support. The measure clarifies that “income earned by an independent contractor may be withheld by court order for payment of child support obligations.”


** SENATE COMMITTEE OKS WORKERS’ COMP TO FIRST RESPONDERS WITH PTSD ([link removed])
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By JORDAN DANIEL, VCU Capital News Service

Law-enforcement officers and firefighters suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder will be entitled to workers’ compensation under a bill that is headed to the Senate floor for a vote.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY MAY REQUIRE AGRICULTURAL FENCING ([link removed])
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By TERRY BEIGIE, Greene County Record

Some agriculture producers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including Greene County, may be mandated to install fencing to keep their cows out of streams on their properties if legislators in the General Assembly pass mirror image bills in the house and senate. House Bill 1422 and Senate Bill 704 both require producers in the watershed who have more than 20 cows to install stream exclusion fencing to keep them out of the waterways.


** PROPOSED BILL COULD REDUCE WILDLIFE COLLISIONS ([link removed])
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By HEATHER MICHON, Fluvanna Review

A bill that could lead to better protections for humans and deer on Virginia’s roadways has advanced out of committee in the Virginia House of Delegates with the help of Delegate R. Lee Ware (R-65th Dist.), who represents part of Fluvanna County. If passed by the legislature, the Wildlife Corridor Action Plan (House Bill 1695) will promote the creation of a master plan to define and prioritize wildlife corridors and wildlife crossings


** PROPERTY BLIGHT BILL ADVANCES IN HOUSE ([link removed])
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By BILL ATKINSON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)

A House panel has advanced legislation that would allow cities with significant amount of blight — such as Petersburg and Hopewell — to create an additional 5-10% property tax on those dilapidated properties. As originally drafted, House Bill 755 — sponsored by Del. Lashrecse D. Aird, D-Petersburg — would allow the city to levy a tax of 5% over the standard real-estate property rate for structures deemed blight by Petersburg’s real-estate assessor, and 10% for derelict structures.


** BILL ADVANCES IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO PROTECT PREGNANT EMPLOYEES, RECENT MOTHERS ([link removed])
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By ALAN RODRIGUEZ ESPINOZA, WCVE

Additional protections for pregnant employees could soon be added to the Virginia Human Rights Act, if a bill in the General Assembly continues to get support. ... While current law protects women from being discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy, the proposed changes would require employers to provide special accommodations, such as longer bathroom breaks, modified work equipment and time off to recover from childbirth.


** LAWMAKERS WANT TO HELP FOSTER CARE YOUTH GET DRIVER’S LICENSES ([link removed])
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By YASMINE JUMAA, WCVE

Getting a driver’s license can be a landmark moment for a teenager — but that’s not the case for everyone — especially Virginia’s youth in foster care. Proposed changes to the state budget aim to change that. According to a 2018 study by the Virginia Commission on Youth, less than 5% of teens in foster care actually get their licenses by the time they’re 18.


** HOUSE, SENATE PASS BILLS TO CREATE A LOCAL PUBLIC DEFENDERS’ OFFICE ([link removed])
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By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times

Bills to create a public defenders’ office in Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park were approved by the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates with bipartisan support this week.


** LOCAL LAWMAKERS' BILLS ADVANCE, STALL ([link removed])
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By JEFF LESTER, Coalfield Progress

Progress is mostly slow for legislation that far Southwest Virginia legislators have introduced in the 2020 General Assembly. Here is the status of several notable bills from local lawmakers: JOBS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT • House Bill 754 (Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City): This bill would establish a grant fund for renewable energy projects that locate on brownfields or previously coal-mined lands.


** ADDITIONAL SALES TAX PENDING FOR CHARLOTTE COUNTY ([link removed])
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By CLAUDIA KOCH, Southside Messenger

At the close of the current General Assembly in March, Charlotte County residents will know if they will have the opportunity to express their feelings toward the enactment of an additional 1% sales tax. This tax would be added to the current 5.3% state sales tax currently being charged. Delegate James Edmunds (R-Halifax) has introduced House Bill 1631 to the House of Delegates. If passed, the tax would apply to all purchases in the county, excluding groceries and medications.


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** HOW TRUMP REWIRED THE ELECTORAL MAP ([link removed])
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By CHARLIE MAHTESIAN, Politico Magazine

...This presidential race will be fought on electoral terrain that would have been unthinkable four years ago, before Trump blew everything up....Virginia—for decades part of the Republican Party’s solid South—now gets the silent treatment as well. Once regarded as unreachable by the Democrats, now it’s broken so hard toward their camp that its brief reign as a swing state may already be over.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** STATE PANEL SAYS HAMPTON ROADS JAIL IS REFUSING TO PROVIDE FULL REPORTS OF 3 INMATE DEATHS ([link removed])
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By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Hampton Roads jail that befell scrutiny over the circumstances surrounding the 2015 death of a mentally ill man — prompting the state to begin investigations of jail deaths in Virginia — is now pushing back against the investigations, according to a document obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.


** VDOC STOPS STRIP SEARCH OF MINORS ([link removed])
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By ALEXA MASSEY, Farmville Herald (Paywall)

The Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) says it is putting an end to the practice of strip searching minors who visit state prisons. The decision comes in the wake of several proposed bills and a statement from Virginia Governor Ralph S. Northam prompted by the strip search of an 8-year old girl at Buckingham Correctional Center last November.


** CONGRESS
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** REP. RIGGLEMAN TALKS THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL, THE SECOND AMENDMENT ([link removed])
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By JAMI SNEAD, South Hill Enterprise

Congressman Denver Riggleman made a stop in Brodnax on Friday while visiting some of the towns in the district that he serves. He took the time to meet with locals and discuss some of the major issues currently within the government, such as, the impeachment trial of President Trump, the Second Amendment, and what he has done to help counties like Mecklenburg and Brunswick in regards to the rural broadband


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** CORONAVIRUS COULD MEAN FEWER SHIPS COMING TO THE PORT OF VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China is causing a worldwide slowdown in the shipping industry as that country extends its New Year. That could mean fewer ships coming to and from Hampton Roads. “It doesn’t help. There’s no doubt about that,” Alan Shaw, the executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Norfolk Southern, said during an earnings call last week


** SMITHFIELD SENT SO MUCH PORK TO CHINA LAST YEAR IT RAN OUT OF FREEZER SPACE ([link removed])
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By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Smithfield Foods shipped so much pork to China recently that the only thing stopping it from sending more is the company ran out of blast freezer space in the area, according to the Port of Virginia’s chief sales officer. The ramp-up in shipments from the Virginia meat plant can be tied to the African swine fever, which over the past two years has led to a decline of about 40 percent of China’s pig population.


** TRADE WAR FALLOUT CLOBBERS HAMPTON ROADS FAMILY FARMS ([link removed])
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By TREVOR METCALFE, Inside Business

Shelly Barlow’s cotton-growing operation in Suffolk is a family farm in the most literal sense. Maintained by her family since 1959, the 1,000 acre Cotton Plains Farm is worked only by Barlow, her husband and her son. Owning some land and renting other plots from neighbors, the family grows mostly cotton, with some soybean and corn.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** NEW RIVER VALLEY AMTRAK PLANS ON HOLD FOR NOW ([link removed])
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By MARTY GORDON, News Messenger

Plans to bring Amtrak service to the area took a hit this past week and could now be derailed at least temporarily. Local leaders had formed a group called “New River Valley Passenger Rail 2020” with hopes of having passenger service here in the New River Valley later this year.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** KING WILLIAM SCHOOLS CLOSE FOR TWO DAYS BECAUSE OF THE FLU, WHICH IS WIDESPREAD IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Schools in King William County are closed Thursday and Friday because of a high number of flu cases, as flu remains widespread across the state. "School staff will be thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting all surfaces throughout all of our buildings and buses over the next two days," King William County Public Schools posted on Facebook


** SECOND WAVE OF FLU HITS AREA ([link removed])
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By ALEXA MASSEY, Farmville Herald (Paywall)

An unusually active flu season has made its presence known across the Commonwealth, leading to a dramatic number of absences in local schools and what Director of Piedmont Health District Dr. H. Robert Nash refers to as a “second wave” of influenza season.


** BATH SCHOOLS REOPEN MONDAY ([link removed])
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By MIKE BOLLINGER, Highland Recorder (Subscription required)

Bath County schools reopened Monday after closing for two additional days Thursday and Friday due to the large number of students and staff members who were sick with the flu or flu-like illness. Originally, schools were closed last Tuesday and Wednesday due to the illnesses. Superintendent Sue Hirsh made the decision late last Wednesday to close Thursday and Friday as well.


** FLU CLOSES BV SCHOOLS THURSDAY AND FRIDAY ([link removed])
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News-Gazette

Buena Vista city schools will be closed Thursday and Friday, Feb. 6 and 7, because of a preponderance of flu and other illnesses that have led to high absenteeism. About 180 students were absent on Wednesday.


** KING WILLIAM COUNTY SCHOOLS CLOSE AFTER 285 FLU CASES ([link removed])
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By EMILY HOLTER, Tidewater Review

The King William School division is closed today and will remain closed Friday after nearly 300 confirmed flu cases. The decision came after the absent rate reached 13%, a drastic increase from the start of the week. According to a statement issued by the division, the schools closed in order to disinfect and sanitize all of the schools’ common areas


** HONORING CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYERS HILL & ROBINSON ([link removed])
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By MALLORY NOE-PAYNE, WVTF

Thursday Virginia’s Governor honored two powerhouse African-American lawyers, men whose work laid the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement. Oliver Hill was born in Richmond, but grew up in Roanoke. He became a lawyer for the NAACP. He and Spottswood Robinson, another native Richmonder, helped lead the fight against Virginia’s Jim Crow laws, and school segregation. Colita Fairfax, who chairs Virginia’s Board of Historic Resources, says their legacy cannot be overstated.


** SLAVE AUCTION MARKERS MISSING FROM CHARLOTTESVILLE’S COURT SQUARE ([link removed])
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By DANIEL GRIMES AND JOHN EARLY, WVIR - TV29

Charlottesville police are looking into a missing historic marker in Court Square. The slave auction marker on East Jefferson Street was reported missing early Thursday, February 6. A second marker in the area is with the city for safekeeping. Now the city says “1619” was found written in dirt on a lamp post early on Thursday, potentially tying the crime to more vandalism. The city put up the markers in Court Square to denote the history that once happened there: the place where enslaved people once had their families ripped apart as they were sold at auction.


** AIDS TO NAVIGATION REPLACED IN MATHEWS ([link removed])
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By SHERRY HAMILTON, Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal

At long last, aids to navigation that were removed from Mathews County’s Davis Creek and the Hole in the Wall portion of Milford Haven have been replaced. Waterfront Development Corporation, a private contractor, recently reactivated the channel markers in both bodies of water by installing new signs and lights on poles that had been left by the U.S. Coast Guard when the agency deactivated the aids two years ago.


** LOCAL
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** DORSEY LEAVES METRO BOARD, NO LONGER HAS TO REPAY $10,000 CAMPAIGN DONATION ([link removed])
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By PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Arlington County Board member Christian Dorsey resigned from the Metro board Thursday, a move that apparently cleared him of the obligation to repay a $10,000 campaign donation from Metro’s biggest labor union. The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, which appoints Metro members from Virginia, announced at midday Thursday that Dorsey (D) had stepped down. His position will be filled by Matthew F. LeTourneau, the Virginia alternate, through February.


** KING WILLIAM BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TABLES VOTE ON SWEET SUE SOLAR PROJECT ([link removed])
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By EMILY HOLTER, Tidewater Review

As folks piled into the courthouse, a clear divide formed on each side. While some folks wore stickers reading, “Yes, to solar,” others wore, “No to Sweet Sue Solar.” The divide began long before Monday’s King William Board of Supervisors meeting. In August 2019, the Chicago-based renewables company Invenergy submitted a conditional-use permit request to build a 77-megawatt solar facility on 1,262 acres in Manquin.


** SURRY DIVIDED ON 2ND AMENDMENT ([link removed])
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By FREDERIC LEE, Smithfield Times (Paywall)

On gun rights legislation, Surry County residents have emerged divided in terms of whether the Board of Supervisors has gone far enough to protect Second Amendment rights in the locality.


** PLANNED SOLAR FACILITY STIRS CONCERNS IN CHASE CITY ([link removed])
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South Boston News & Record

More than 25 residents of Chase City gathered at Butler Memorial Library on Saturday to discuss a 114-megawatt solar generation facility that has been proposed for a 2,544-acre site along the northwestern border of Mecklenburg County. The 7 Bridges solar project is planned by Longroad Energy, a Boston, Mass.-based renewable energy developer.


** 'INTERNAL MISMANAGEMENT' FUELS MAJOR DISRUPTION AT VALLEY COMMUNITY SERVICES BOARD, LEADER CLAIMS ([link removed])
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By MONIQUE CALELLO, News Leader (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

A board member for Valley Community Services Board is pointing the finger at the way the office has been run. Despite attempts by the outgoing director, David Deering, to paint the financial problems and the massive upcoming disruption in services as due to outside funding changes, one leader says that is not the whole story.


** HIGHLAND SCHOOLS WILL KEEP ENROLLING W.VA. STUDENTS ([link removed])
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By JOHN BRUCE, Highland Recorder (Subscription required)

The Highland County School Board voted to continue accepting out-of-district students for free after hearing from teachers, parents, and students who supported the measure. No one spoke to oppose the idea. Chair Sherry Sullenberger told the audience of roughly 80 people she was excited and encouraged by the level of involvement and hoped it would continue at every meeting.


** COUNTY LEADERS TAKE NO ACTION ON VEXIT ([link removed])
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By JIM TALBERT, Richlands News-Press

Vexit did not get a good reception from Tazewell County Leaders during the Feb. 4 board of supervisors meeting. “Is this something realistic that could ever happen or something the citizens want,’ Chairman Charles Stacy said prior to the start of the meeting. Board Member Tom Lester asked for the item to be placed on the agenda for discussion.

Today's Sponsor:


** Virginia's Member-Owned Electric Cooperatives
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We provide reliable, affordable electric service to more than 1.3 million Virginians, from Fairfax to Halifax, the Cumberland Gap to the Eastern Shore. www.vmdaec.com ([link removed]) ; www.co-opliving.com ([link removed])


** EDITORIALS
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** SHOULD VIRGINIA GO FIRST? ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Pete Buttigieg won the Iowa caucuses. Or maybe Bernie Sanders did, depending on how you do the counting. Here’s who lost: Iowa, and not just because of the debacle the state’s Democrats had in reporting the results.


** HANDHELD DEVICE BAN HAS REAL-LIFE ISSUES ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Legislation to ban handheld use of electronic devices—i.e. cellphones—while driving has been introduced and killed or left to die in the Virginia General Assembly for years. Last year, lawmakers finally approved legislation to outlaw the reading or keying in of an email or text.


** A CAMPAIGN OF SELFISH SELF-INTEREST ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The loss of political power — and coming to terms with it — manifests itself in different ways. Some may be described as productive. Others as counterproductive. And some are just downright ridiculous. Take, for instance, the nonsense which unfolded last month at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in Martinsburg, W.Va. Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., appearing at a media conference with West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, argued that new Democratic majorities in the Virginia General Assembly constitute “a tragedy in the making.”


** STAY THE COURSE ON REDISTRICTING REFORM ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

House Democrats should act like the Transparency Caucus. Then they wouldn’t have to convene in secret, as they did earlier this week, to engage in talks that could derail much-needed redistricting reform. As RTD columnist Jeff Schapiro described in Thursday’s edition, House Democrats met behind closed doors in a windowless, underground room at the state Capitol. That seemed an appropriate venue to privately vent divisions


** OP-ED
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** DOYLE: ACP PROJECT ESSENTIAL TO VIRGINIA’S ENERGY FUTURE ([link removed])
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By KEVIN DOYLE, Published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Anti-energy activists have grown fond of the phrase “environmental justice” to describe their attempts to stop energy projects at all costs, so it’s no surprise that some media reports characterized a recent federal appellate court ruling that temporarily halts the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s progress with the same tag.

Kevin Doyle is Virginia state director of Consumer Energy Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Houston.


** GRANT: THE EVOLVING DIGITAL AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY CAN STRENGTHEN RURAL AND URBAN ECONOMIES ([link removed])
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By ALAN GRANT, Published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Virginia doesn’t need election maps to tell us that our urban areas are expanding while our rural areas continue to lose population. Population maps have predicted this trend and show that this shift will continue into the future. One of the reasons experts cite for rural population decline is the economic uncertainty experienced by people living in these communities.

Alan Grant is dean of Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences


** PRYOR: FARMERS FEEL LEGISLATORS HEARD THEIR PLEAS FOR A CONTINUED WATER QUALITY PARTNERSHIP ([link removed])
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By WAYNE F. PRYOR, Published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

For years, Virginia’s farmers, conservation groups, and soil and water conservation districts have worked diligently to address legitimate barriers to farmers being able to adopt on-farm conservation practices. Those include stream exclusion fencing and nutrient management plans.

Wayne F. Pryor, a Goochland County hay and grain producer, is president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation


** THE FRIDAY READ
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** AN UNSETTLING NEW THEORY: THERE IS NO SWING VOTER ([link removed])
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By DAVID FREEDLANDER, Politico

What if everything you think you know about politics is wrong? What if there aren’t really American swing voters—or not enough, anyway, to pick the next president? What if it doesn’t matter much who the Democratic nominee is? What if there is no such thing as “the center,” and the party in power can govern however it wants for two years, because the results of that first midterm are going to be bad regardless? ...To the political scientist Rachel Bitecofer, all of that is almost certainly true, and that has made her one of the most intriguing new figures in political forecasting this year.
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