VISUALIZATION: VIRGINIANS HAVE DONATED $3.5 MILLION TO 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Through June, Virginians had donated $1.6 million to President Trump's re-election campaign, nearly as much as all Democratic candidates combined. VPAP provides a total for each candidate -- and provides maps that show donations by region and a drill-down to a list of donors for each ZIP Code.

AMID VA. TEACHER SHORTAGE, NORTHAM DOWNPLAYS LIVESTREAM OPTION

Despite a statewide teacher shortage, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is steering away from drastic measures taken by one commonwealth school system that livestreamed instruction to students in classrooms. During a visit to The Campagna Early Learning Center in Alexandria, Northam was asked about the Petersburg City school system’s workaround to the teacher shortage,

AFTER NORTHAM DIRECTIVE, JEFFERSON DAVIS' NAME IS REMOVED FROM ARCHWAY AT FORT MONROE

Letters spelling out “Jefferson Davis Memorial Park” on an archway at Fort Monroe came down Friday as part of a directive from Gov. Ralph Northam. Fort Monroe, which is in Hampton, sits on a peninsula called Old Point Comfort, where the first enslaved Africans in English North America arrived in 1619. Events this month will commemorate the 400th anniversary of their landing.

LETTERS REMOVED FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS ARCH AT FORT MONROE

The Fort Monroe Authority on Friday removed the letters that spelled “Jefferson Davis Memorial Park” from an iron archway that honored the one-time Confederate president imprisoned at the former Army post. The removal came after a lengthy review process to determine the arch’s place at Fort Monroe following Gov. Ralph Northam’s call in April to have the entire 50-foot structure dismantled.

VIRGINIA WON'T CHALLENGE FEDERAL COURT RULING THAT STRUCK DOWN STATE'S HABITUAL DRUNKARD LAW

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced Friday that he won't challenge a recent federal court ruling that struck down the state's habitual drunkard law.

AG HERRING SAYS VIRGINIA WILL NOT APPEAL RULING STRIKING 'HABITUAL DRUNKARD' LAW

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced Friday that he will not appeal a closely divided federal appeals court decision overturning Virginia’s “habitual drunkard” law. “The General Assembly should have taken this strange and regressive law off the books a long time ago, but now that the court has done it for us I don’t see any need for the Commonwealth to continue this fight. Virginia can find better ways to address alcohol use disorders,” Herring said in a prepared statement.

DELEGATE DEFENDS HIS JAMESTOWN ACTIONS

Del. Ibraheem Samirah, D-Fairfax, is just getting started. Since his eye-catching protest during President Donald Trump's speech Tuesday in Jamestown, Samirah has moved on to rail against something even more sacrosanct in Richmond: the Virginia Way.

LAWMAKERS HELD AN EVENT AT AN HISTORIC SLAVE JAIL SITE IN RICHMOND. BUT FINDING IT ISN'T EASY.

An event marking the 400th anniversary of slavery in Virginia held at the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail site in Richmond highlighted a problem: It’s not easy to find the historic site. “There were individuals who were calling me — ‘How do we get in?’” said Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Richmond, who coordinated the event Tuesday to counter the Jamestown festivities that other lawmakers went to commemorating the 400th year of democracy in Virginia. Nearly 20 state lawmakers attended the Richmond event.

IN VIRGINIA, REDRAWN DISTRICTS TEST REPUBLICANS — INCLUDING HOUSE SPEAKER KIRK COX

The most powerful Republican in Virginia threw a cookout one sweltering Friday in July, in a mostly black community that a federal court recently made part of his legislative district. Three enormous bouncy houses were part of the draw, though House Speaker Kirk Cox hardly needed to step inside to feel the ground shift beneath his feet.

VIRGINIA ALLOWS PHARMACIES TO DISPENSE LIFESAVING OPIOID ANTIDOTE. BUT DOZENS REFUSED.

Three years ago, Virginia’s top health official set out to make it easier to get naloxone, the life-saving, overdose-reversing drug also known by its brand name, Narcan. After the issuance of a “standing order” that in effect functions as a statewide prescription, you could — in theory — walk into any pharmacy without a doctor’s permission and get a dose. If they dispense it, a pharmacist is required to first give you information on how to recognize the symptoms of an opioid overdose and how to administer the naloxone.

LOCAL ATTORNEYS REPRESENTED KEY WHISTLEBLOWER IN $1.4 BILLION OPIOID SETTLEMENT

When it comes to settlement amounts, $1.4 million is nothing to sneeze at. Neither is $1.4 billion — with a B. That’s what a British pharmaceutical maker recently paid to settle allegations that its Richmond subsidiary lied for years about a drug that’s used to treat opioid addiction.

LONG-TERM-CARE INSURERS HAVE MADE BIG PROFITS WHILE THEY PROJECT FUTURE LOSSES TO JUSTIFY RATE HIKES

Long-term-care insurance companies have won massive premium hikes on Virginia customers — and are asking for more — by citing money they expect to lose decades in the future. But in the meantime, the firms’ profits have continued to roll in.

VIRGINIA’S TOP MENTAL HEALTH OFFICIAL, DR. S. HUGHES MELTON, DEAD AT 52 FOLLOWING CAR CRASH

Virginia’s top mental health official, Dr. S. Hughes Melton, died Friday following a three-car wreck in Augusta County on Wednesday. He was 52. Melton, who led the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services for the past 15 months, was remembered Friday by colleagues and lawmakers as a hardworking public servant committed to improving services for people with mental and behavioral disorders.

MCEACHIN REINTRODUCES ‘FAIR’ BILL FOR DETAINEES

A Virginia congressman said Friday he plans to reintroduce legislation that would ensure immigrants now housed in holding centers and fighting deportation would be guaranteed legal counsel when they go to court. The Funding Attorneys for Indigent Removal, or FAIR, Proceedings Act would apply to immigrant children, disabled immigrants, victimized immigrants and those at or below 200% of the federal poverty level who are being held in detention centers at the nation’s southern border.

BLACKJEWEL'S COAL ASSETS SOLD AT AUCTION; HEARING MONDAY

Contura Energy has made a successful bid at an auction for the assets of three Blackjewel LLC coal mines, including two of the top producers in the country. The results are subject to a federal bankruptcy judge's approval Monday in Charleston.

BLACKJEWEL AUCTION BIDS ARE IN

Contura Energy is now slated to purchase three mines in Wyoming and West Virginia from bankrupt coal operator Blackjewel, LLC — although for a higher price than it initially bid — according to the results of a competitive three-day auction filed in federal court Sunday morning. Some of Blackjewel’s facilities in Virginia also received successful bids, but it remains to be seen how these sales will impact workers.

REVENUE FROM ROSIE'S MEANS RICHER RACES AS COLONIAL DOWNS BEGINS LIVE HORSE RACING AGAIN

On a sunny morning in July, 6-year-old racehorse Ismusbemyluckyday was led from the stable at Eagle Point Farm up a dirt path to the 200-acre center’s training track. On his docket that day was speed work. So under the guidance of exercise rider Dana Hare, Ismusbemyluckyday glided around for a series of laps

WHERE WILL NEW I-64 TOLL LANES START?

A hint from Virginia’s top highway official about where to start new toll lanes leading to an expanded Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is worrying Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck. It’s a question, for now, of a mile or two — but Tuck fears it could create a new bottleneck,

INTERSTATE 95 COMES FULL CIRCLE ON TOLLS

Interstate 95 got its start in Virginia as a toll-supported roadway. Those original tolls, and the coin-collecting booths in the Richmond–Petersburg area, were removed in the early 1990s. But now, more than half a century after the interstate opened in Virginia, tolls are back, in electronic form. And, with work on the second extension of the I–95 express lanes underway in Stafford County in conjunction with expansion up north, the toll system is growing.

IN THE COALFIELDS, UVA TELEMEDICINE PROVIDES ANTIDOTE TO DOCTOR SHORTAGES, POOR HEALTH

David Cattell-Gordon is explaining the marvels of the University of Virginia’s telemedicine programs when he decides to show what he means. He turns on a computer screen at the UVa Center for Telemedicine in Charlottesville where he is the director, and with a couple of clicks, a stroke cart with a video monitor jumps to life in the emergency department at Norton Community Hospital, broadcasting Cattell-Gordon’s image. He has tele-transported himself into a hallway 300 miles away. The staff in Norton notices immediately

UVA BOARD OF VISITORS SIGNS OFF ON RYAN'S STRATEGIC PLAN

The University of Virginia can move forward on its new strategic plan after the Board of Visitors approved it Friday — but how it will be implemented, financed and evaluated is still being figured out. “This is still a work in progress,” UVa President Jim Ryan told board members at the start of their two-day retreat at Morven Farm in Albemarle County on Friday.

REGULATORS STOP WORK ON 2 MILES OF MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Virginia regulators ordered Friday that all work cease on construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline along a 2-mile section of the route in eastern Montgomery County. The state Department of Environmental Quality, in stopping work on the project for the first time, cited lapses in compliance with an approved erosion and sediment control plan.

INSIDE THE STANDOFF OVER THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE

The roar of construction echoed through the hollow, as a bulldozer pushed dirt on an impossibly steep slope hundreds of feet up the ridge. At the bottom of the slope, a makeshift fence and stack of pallets marked a boundary — the edge of a support camp for tree-sitters who for 10 months have blocked the path up the other side of the hollow.,,,,On Friday, a federal judge refused a request from the pipeline company to add tree-sitters as defendants to an existing case seeking a preliminary injunction.

HE LOST HIS INSURANCE AND TURNED TO A CHEAPER FORM OF INSULIN. IT WAS A FATAL DECISION.

Josh Wilkerson was alone, in sleeping quarters above the Northern Virginia dog kennel where he worked, when he suffered a series of strokes that would prove fatal. He had aged out of his stepfather’s health insurance plan on his 26th birthday and eventually switched to over-the-counter insulin. Like many other diabetics his age, he could not afford the prescription brand he needed.

SCIENTISTS SEARCH FOR BEST WAY TO RESTORE OYSTERS IN CHESAPEAKE BAY

Scientists are racing to stem a rapid decline in the oyster population in Chesapeake Bay. The number of oysters, a valuable part of the shellfish industry in the region, has fluctuated and been unreliable since the 1980s. The amount of market-size mollusks harvested in the Maryland stretch of the bay fell from about 380,000 bushels in the 2015-16 season to 180,000 bushels in the 2017-18 season, according to state data.

THE 15,000 AMERICAN INDIANS SHOVED ASIDE BY JAMESTOWN’S SETTLERS

The powerful American Indian chief, known as Powhatan, had refused the English settlers’ demands to return stolen guns and swords at Jamestown, Va., so the English retaliated. They killed 15 of the Indian men, burned their houses and stole their corn. Then they kidnapped the wife of an Indian leader and her children and marched them to the English boats. They put the children to death by throwing them overboard and “shooting out their brains in the water,” wrote George Percy, a prominent English settler in Jamestown.

FIGHT TO FIND, PROTECT AFRICAN AMERICAN BURIAL GROUNDS GROWS ACROSS VIRGINIA

Next to a six-lane highway in Loudoun County, in the woods behind a large plantation-turned-country-club, Pastor Michelle Thomas leads a tour through a centuries old burial ground. “That’s a fieldstone,” she says, pointing to a sizable and weathered stone with no inscriptions, sticking out of the ground. Dozens of these fieldstones lay all around her, going deeper and deeper into the woods, and then they stop, forming an edge.

MCAULIFFE'S CHARLOTTESVILLE BOOK RENEWS DEBATE OVER BLAME

As former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe travels the country promoting his new book about a deadly white nationalist rally, others involved in the mayhem nearly two years ago are pushing back at his characterization of the events. Charlottesville’s former mayor said the book “blames everyone else,” and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia called it an effort to “pass the buck.”

VIENNA'S MAIN CORRIDOR BECOMES STICKY BATTLEGROUND BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT

Vienna may sit just a stone’s throw from the towering high-rises of Tysons, but its downtown still feels like you’ve stepped onto a sound stage designed to exemplify “Main Street USA.”...[T]here’s been a crippling clash between supporters of Vienna’s small-town history and businesses with an eye on the future. The battles over the town’s evolution have become particularly ugly recently, reaching an even more fever pitch of late than one might expect for the high-stakes realm of development politics.

SHELTON APPOINTED HOPEWELL REGISTRAR

The Hopewell Electoral Board has announced a new registrar after months of advertising the position and conducting interviews. On Friday evening, Nathan Zeno Shelton Jr. introduced himself to those attending the meeting at the Hopewell branch of the Appomattox Regional Library System, saying he was happy to be in the city and looked forward to serving and meeting fellow staffers. Shelton comes to Hopewell from Richmond having served in the city’s registrar’s office there handling 70 precincts.

PORTSMOUTH SHERIFF SUES, ASKING JUDGE TO ORDER CITY TO FIX ITS JAIL OR BUILD A NEW ONE

Sheriff Michael A. Moore wants a judge to force the city to repair or replace the jail. Moore's attorney asked the Circuit Court on Friday to order the city to explain why it shouldn't have to do just that. The filing escalated a legal battle the city started last week when building officials posted condemnation signs on the jail

PORTSMOUTH IS FACING ONLINE ATTACKS. ONE IDEA TO FIGHT BACK: TIGHTENING PUBLIC-RECORDS LAWS.

City officials say they’re being attacked regularly by internet fraudsters, and to guard their workplace, they want to make it harder for potential offenders to access public information. But government watchdogs, alarmed by Portsmouth’s efforts, say doing so would only make it harder for Virginians to hold public agencies accountable.

EX-VIRGINIA BEACH MAGISTRATE SAYS SHE WAS FIRED AFTER REPORTING ASSAULT TO POLICE

A former Virginia Beach magistrate says she was fired last year after repeatedly complaining about sexual harassment and other inappropriate conduct by her boss and her colleagues. But Karly R. Cahill says officials used a pretext to fire her: a drunken and profanity-laced phone call she made to police in which she claimed another magistrate in the office had choked and otherwise assaulted her to the point she feared for her life.

SINCE 2009 NO LANDLORD HAS FILED MORE EVICTION LAWSUITS THAN LYNCHBURG’S PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY

Later this week a flurry of notices will appear in the mailboxes of residents living in Lynchburg’s four public housing complexes. The notices carry a blunt message: If the rent is not paid within the next two weeks, your lease will be terminated. Time after time, the housing authority has made good on that threat.

BRISTOL OFF STATE'S MOST DISTRESSED LIST

The Virginia comptroller’s office no longer considers Bristol among the state’s most fiscally distressed localities, according to a new report. In 2017, the comptroller’s office first identified a number of Virginia localities as being in fiscal distress and ranked Bristol as the most distressed. The ranking was primarily due to the city’s high level of debt

ON OPIOIDS, WHERE WAS BIG GOVERNMENT WHEN WE NEEDED IT?

Every campaign season — and often in between — we hear certain politicians rail against “big government.” We hear them bemoan how government is too “heavy-handed,” how there are too many “burdensome regulations,” how government “stifles innovation.”

TRANSPARENCY CRITICAL AS BEACH SHOOTING PROBE UNFOLDS

It's been two months since a Virginia Beach city employee opened fire in Building 2 of the Municipal Center, killing 12 people and wounding four more before he was mortally wounded in an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement. In the weeks since the May 31 tragedy, the city has memorialized the fallen, committed itself to healing, considered options for the future of the facility, and begun the arduous process of investigating what happened.

FORT MONROE IS BETTER PROTECTED IN THE STATE'S HANDS, FOR NOW

Last week, Virginia’s U.S. senators introduced legislation to expand the Fort Monroe National Monument by 44 acres, uniting the two disjointed pieces of the property under National Park Service ownership. On the surface, the Fort Monroe National Monument Land Acquisition Act appears to protect pristine land along the Chesapeake Bay in perpetuity.

WARNER CHASTISES FOOT-DRAGGING VA

Not known for doing anything quickly or efficiently, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the General Services Administration are living up to their slowpoke reputations. More than two years after Congress authorized the VA to expand its system of outpatient clinics to enable it to provide more timely care for the nation’s veterans, two clinics that were supposed to open in Virginia are still on the drawing board.

QUANTITY AND QUALITY

Groundbreaking jobs projects bring tremendous potential. As Virginia inches toward the arrival of Amazon HQ2, the commonwealth and the Richmond region already have a good foundation to lean on. A new report by Garner Economics provides a 5-year snapshot of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and its Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (QCEW). The dataset is a count of jobs reported by employers and, from 2013 to 2018, Virginia added just over 250,000 net positions (+6.9%).

WHY DOES VIRGINIA ALLOW ELECTION RESULTS TO BE OVERTURNED?

In January, a group of military officers in the African nation of Gabon attempted to overthrow the elected president. In 2017, the military overthrew the president of Zimbabwe. In 2016, there were failed coups against elected leaders in Turkey, Burkina Faso and Montenegro. In 2015, there was a failed attempt to overthrow the elected president of Burundi. And that’s just the past four years. In much of the world, elections — even disputed ones, as many of these were —don’t count for much. It’s a good thing we don’t live in places like that, right? And that brings us to a discussion of what has recently transpired in the town of Amherst.

ATLANTIC COAST PIPELINE: IS IT STILL A VIABLE PROJECT?

Despite the assurances of Dominion Resources that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline remains on target, after last week’s rulings by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond that vacated a key federal permit, you have to wonder.

THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES SHOULD VISIT SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. HERE'S WHAT THEY'D SEE.

Our analysis of this week’s Democratic debates comes in the form of two invitations. To: All the candidates. Re: Please come visit the coal counties of Southwest Virginia. Or coal-producing counties anywhere, for that matter. All the Democrats are in favor of replacing fossil fuels with renewables. It’s just a matter of how, and how quickly.

SCHAPIRO: IT'S EASY TO GET IT WRONG IN A WRITE-IN CAMPAIGN

Nick Freitas has a problem with details. The Republican might have to get over that in a hurry if he wants to remain in politics — and possibly save his party’s majority in the House of Delegates.

WHITE: THE TOLL EVICTIONS TAKE ON FAMILIES

Lynchburg’s eviction rate is high. Very high. Three families a day in our city are evicted. Eviction is a massive disruption to the tenant and to the landlord. It adds costs, losses and negatively affects family stability. This is true regardless of fault of landlord or tenant.

White is the Managing Attorney of Virginia Legal Aid Society’s Lynchburg office, which covers much of Central Virginia.

SUROVELL: EDWARD SIMMS IS LIVING PROOF THAT DEFENDERS OF MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES ARE WRONG

In 1987... Edward Simms, a suicidal, desperate and homeless juvenile with no responsible family members, was convicted by a jury of three separate charges that occurred over a two-week period in Hampton, Va., when he was 16 years old. No one was injured in any of the incidents, and he was not in jail between each offense. Thanks to Virginia’s 1982 three-strikes law, the court was forced to sentence Simms to life in prison plus 63 years. Thanks to Virginia’s 1995 abolition of parole, he has been forced to stay there. Virginia’s system legally abandoned him.

Scott Surovell, a Democrat, represents parts of Fairfax, Prince William and Stafford counties in the Virginia state Senate.

KISER: SOUTHWEST VIRGINIANS DESERVE BETTER IN HEALTH CARE MERGER

High-quality health systems share common characteristics. They reduce per capita costs while improving the health of the population, the patient experience, and the work life of health care providers. Unfortunately, the merger of Mountain States Health Alliance with Wellmont is not meeting these objectives. As an independent physician in Norton, Virginia, I have monitored the merger since its inception. I am alarmed that Southwest Virginians are paying higher prices for lower quality and less accessible health care,

For information about Dr. Kiser, visit her website at www.kiserfordelegate.com.

EYLER: LAW ENFORCEMENT NEEDS MORE SUPPORT AGAINST RISING FENTANYL USE

As an experienced public servant to the great commonwealth of Virginia, I’ve unfortunately seen my fair share of drug-related crimes and overdoses. The drugs have changed and evolved, but the tragic losses are as jarring as ever. One of the biggest problems Virginia is facing now is the proliferation of fentanyl that has made its way across our borders and into drugs on the streets of our communities.

Bert Eyler has been a police officer in Northern Virginia for more than 24 years and is vice president of the National Center for Police Defense, Inc.

EDWARDS: MEDICAID EXPANSION HAS BEEN A SUCCESS IN VIRGINIA

Following five years of partisan opposition, Medicaid Expansion was approved by the Virginia General Assembly in an extended session in 2018, as a result of the Blue Wave election of 2017 and a few courageous Republicans crossing party lines. The new benefits starting Jan. 1, 2019, provide essential healthcare for thousands of uninsured low income Virginians. Some 300,000 newly enrolled citizens now receive services

Edwards represents the 21st District in the Virginia Senate, which covers Roanoke, Giles County, and parts of Montgomery and Roanoke counties. He is a Democrat.

BYRON: BROADBAND ACCESS KEY TO RURAL VIRGINIA'S FUTURE

It has been 20 years since the General Assembly established the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission. Founded with a mission to promote economic growth and development throughout our region, the accomplishments and achievements of the tobacco commission have been great and far-reaching.

Byron, a Republican, represents the 22nd District in the House of Delegates.

BUTTERWORTH: PIPELINE PROTESTS ARE HURTING WORKERS

As a union official working with Mountain Valley Pipeline, I’ve watched with growing dismay over the past few years as the project’s opponents resorted to more and more extreme tactics that violate the law and harm the livelihoods of working Americans.

Butterworth is a business agent for Pipeliners Local 798, which is comprised of 8,200 pipeline welders, helpers and journeymen who live and work across the U.S.

TOWER: BEACH COUNCIL WORKING TO MANAGE 5G EXPANSION

The Virginian-Pilot on July 18 published an article outlining the problems the Virginia Beach community faces regarding the new 5G regulatory environment (“New 5G cellphone antennas coming to Virginia Beach, but leaders worry”). With the exception of that article, media coverage has generally sidestepped these issues. These issues are important to Virginia Beach residents who should have a say in their community’s technological future.

Guy Tower was appointed in April to fill an unexpired term representing the Beach District on the Virginia Beach City Council.

MORSE: JAMESTOWN CELEBRATION UNFAZED BY TRUMP

That gentle breeze wafting from Jamestown on Tuesday morning? A collective sigh of relief, as President Donald Trump stayed to the script, honored the 400th anniversary of representative democracy in North America and didn’t insult anyone.

Gordon C. Morse wrote editorials for the Daily Press and The Pilot in the 1980s. He later wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, then worked for corporate and philanthropic organizations