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By ROBERT BARNES, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The argument got metaphysical at times, but in the end a majority of the Supreme Court Monday seemed prepared to find that environmentalists and a lower court had gone too far in saying a proposed $8 billion gas pipeline could not pass beneath the Appalachian Trail.
By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Seven of the eight gun control measures Gov. Ralph Northam proposed, which previously cleared the House, advanced Monday through a key Senate panel, albeit some with compromises in the face of a tougher path to passage in the upper chamber.
By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Don’t get them wrong — they’re all for expanding access to the polls. But the people who run elections in localities across the state are concerned about what kind of impacts — financial or otherwise — come with making it easier than ever to vote in Virginia, something the new Democratic majority in the General Assembly has made a top priority this year.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Public-sector employees across Virginia, including teachers, are unlikely to be granted statewide authority to bargain collectively, Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said Monday.
By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The mayors of Virginia’s three largest cities issued a rare joint statement Monday urging the parent company of The Virginian-Pilot to reconsider moving its newsroom in April to Newport News. In the statement, Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander, Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer and Chesapeake Mayor Rick West said they were “saddened and dismayed” Tribune Publishing had decided to merge The Pilot’s office with that of its sister publication, the Daily Press.
By TOM JACKMAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo agreed to drop his request for a resentencing that was pending before the U.S. Supreme Court after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed legislation on Monday that creates the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders serving sentences of 20 years to life.
By NEAL AUGENSTEIN, WTOP
Think of it as Airbnb for cars. Virginia lawmakers are considering a bill that would establish rules for peer-to-peer car rentals, in which a car owner could rent a vehicle to a stranger, for a fee. Unlike traditional car rental companies that monopolize airport rentals, and established ride-sharing companies that enable a driver to rent a car by the hour, in peer-to-peer rentals, the car owner lists a vehicle for rent in an online, searchable marketplace.
The Full Report
36 articles, 18 publications
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Associated Press
Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the so-called Beltway snipers, and Virginia agreed Monday to dismiss a pending Supreme Court case after the state changed criminal sentencing law for juveniles. Under the new law, signed by Gov. Ralph Northam earlier in the day, people serving life terms for crimes they committed before they turned 18 can be considered for parole after serving at least 20 years.
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
With two weeks left in the General Assembly session, the House of Delegates and Senate are hashing out the details of several gun control bills. Democrats are on the verge of fulfilling a top campaign promise to deliver gun control, an issue that has dominated this legislative session. Both chambers say they’ve reached agreement on a few bills ...
By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
A state Senate committee on Monday advanced seven of the eight gun-control bills advocated by Gov. Ralph Northam, a week after killing a proposed assault weapons ban that several Democrats said was going too far.
By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press
Amid an ongoing debate about how Virginia should acknowledge its Confederate history, state lawmakers passed a bill Monday that scraps a 116-year-old state holiday honoring rebel generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Lawmakers on a key Senate panel on Monday rejected legislation that would challenge Dominion’s monopoly over the electric market, in a defeat for large electric consumers seeking purchasing flexibility. The Senate Commerce Committee killed a bill backed by large-scale energy users like Costco and Target that would allow them to purchase electricity from any provider offering 100% renewable energy.
By MICHAEL POPE, WVTF
With less than two weeks left in the General Assembly session, lawmakers are still hashing out an agreement on paid sick days. The effort to give five paid sick days to workers across Virginia is moving through the House and Senate, although advocates did not get everything they wanted and businesses are still wary of taking on too much too quickly.
By MALLORY NOE-PAYNE, WVTF
Republicans in the statehouse are accusing Virginia Democrats of walking back promises to pass redistricting reform. But understanding why there’s resistance from some Democrats on the measure requires going back a year.
By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury
Lawmakers have argued on guns, gambling and gerrymandering over the first few weeks of this year’s legislative session. But there’s at least one area where they all agree: sunscreen. Both chambers of the General Assembly unanimously passed a bill to allow any public elementary or secondary schoolers to carry — and apply — their own sunscreen. It’s an allowance so basic, it was met with incredulity by the senators who discussed the bill during a January committee meeting.
By RODNEY ROBINSON, VCU Capital News Service
The General Assembly has passed two identical bills intended to help social workers in the fight against minor-involved human trafficking. The bills, introduced by House Majority Leader Charniele L. Herring, D-Alexandria, and Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, were recommended by the Virginia State Crime Commission.
By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The prospects of two candidates picked by a majority of Chesterfield County’s 10-member state legislative delegation to fill two county judgeships are uncertain after two legislators who didn’t participate in the selection process signaled their opposition and endorsed two other candidates.
Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Just a week from Super Tuesday, when Virginians will vote for a Democratic presidential candidate, a new poll from Roanoke College shows that each of the contenders leads President Donald Trump in the state. However, the poll shows that most of the candidates named in the interview were not viewed much more favorably than Trump.
By MEL LEONOR AND JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Candidates in the crowded Democratic presidential primary field will vie for Virginia’s 124 delegates on March 3. Virginia’s primary coincides with those of 13 other states in what will likely be a pivotal Super Tuesday contest. Candidates are seeking alliances with current and former lawmakers, local elected leaders and other prominent Virginia figures ...
By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Virginia’s steady decline in reading test scores over the last five years should raise alarm for educators across the state, state Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane said Monday to kick off a literacy summit in Charlottesville. “The warning signs are here on these declines, and if we don’t do something now, we’re going to look back in 10 years, and folks are going to say they should have known because the trend was there,” Lane said.
By GREGORY J. GILLIGAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Watkins Nurseries Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, has reached out to a prominent family member for interim financing. Former state Sen. John C. Watkins, whose son is both the Chesterfield County-based company’s president and majority shareholder, has agreed to lend the nursery and two related businesses — Virginia’s Resources Recycled LLC and Watkins-Amelia LLC — up to $200,000...
By TREVOR METCALFE, Inside Business
The turbines might be in the Outer Banks, but a planned wind farm in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, could have a huge economic impact in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads, according to project leaders. ... Most recently, the Virginia Beach Economic Development Authority approved a five-year option of up to 30 acres in the Corporate Landing Business Park to Avangrid Renewables to build an electrical substation.
By KIM BARTO MEEKS, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Throughout the first day of Danville’s Industrial Hemp Summit, one number kept coming up again and again: 0.3%. That tiny percentage poses big problems for hemp producers across the country, multiple speakers agreed. Federal law states that hemp crops cannot contain more than 0.3% THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.
By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury
Virginia lawmakers cleared residents to smoke industrial hemp Monday, though they say they didn’t really understand why anyone would want to. Technically, the fibrous plant is already legal under federal law, but Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, said he wanted to clear up any confusion about the smokable version, which looks and smells exactly like marijuana but contains only trace amounts of the THC that gets people high.
By JUSTIN GEORGE, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The union that represents Fairfax Connector bus operators will vote Saturday on a labor contract that could end three months of contentious negotiations that included a strike and the threat of a second one. https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2020/02/24/fairfax-connector-strike-averted-labor-deal-nears/
By HAILEY BULLIS, GMU Fourth Estate
After a more than six-month-long search, Mason’s Board of Visitors (BOV) has selected Gregory Washington, the dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California-Irvine (UCI), to be Mason’s eighth president. Washington is set to start the position on July 1, 2020, according to an email sent out by Rector Tom Davis. He is Mason’s first African American president.
By RICHARD FOSTER, Virginia Business
The George Mason University Board of Visitors has selected Gregory Washington, the dean of the University of California, Irvine’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering, as the eighth president of George Mason. Washington will start on July 1. He takes over from former state Secretary of Education Anne Holton, who has served as the university’s interim president since August, when former GMU President Ángel Cabrera left to become president of Georgia Tech.
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press
The Supreme Court on Monday appeared ready to remove an obstacle to construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, with a majority of justices expressing skepticism about a lower court ruling that tossed out a key permit needed for the natural gas pipeline to cross under the Appalachian Trail.
By NANCY SORRELLS, News Virginian
Implications surrounding Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) crossing of the Appalachian Trail at the Augusta-Nelson County line near Waynesboro were heard before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday morning. The case set the U.S. Forest Service and the ACP against seven Valley environmental and cultural organizations represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The highest court in the country on Monday delved into a deep question that will determine the fate of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The question before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday was whether the Appalachian Trail includes the land it crosses, and, if so, is all of that land part of the National Park System?
By LEANNA SMITH, News Leader (Metered Paywall - 3 to 4 articles a month)
At least two local residents visited the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments regarding the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. At 10 a.m., the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the consolidated cases U.S. Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Assn. and Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Assn.The Court will decide whether the U.S. Forest Service has the authority to grant rights-of-way for the pipeline to cross under the Appalachian Trail
By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
When a federal appeals court ruled that a natural gas pipeline cannot cross under the Appalachian Trail, it erected a “2,192-mile-long barrier” that blocks service to much of the East Coast, lawyers for Mountain Valley Pipeline say in court papers.
By BEN HITCHCOCK, Cville Weekly
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, a historic preservation group that installed a monument to Confederate soldiers in Winchester last year, is now angling for a $1.6 million grant from the state of Virginia for the creation of a different kind of monument—an African American history center. Some local black history organizations have expressed concerns.
By JAHD KHALIL, WVTF
Evidence of the legacy of segregation in Virginia’s national park sites is hidden in plain sight. Now, a study of how parks were segregated is looking at how the park service can highlight that history to campers and hikers. It will also try to determine if history has something to do with how different groups are represented in park visitorship.
By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
A Washington-based developer has offered to buy and renovate the Richmond Coliseum and redevelop about 14 acres of publicly owned downtown real estate, according to an offer letter obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Douglas Development Corp. lodged the unsolicited $15 million offer on the heels of the Richmond City Council killing the $1.5 billion Navy Hill proposal, which called for demolishing the Coliseum and for a new arena and mixed-use development to rise on the same property.
By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia Beach’s forests play an outsized role in the city’s fight against flooding by silently managing massive amounts of water every day of the year, according to a new study that will be released this week.
By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The city has decided to pay the interest it owes on certain tax refunds for the past three years. But first the companies need to request the money. The city estimated the total amount of interest for the past three years is between $75,000 and $120,000. It hasn’t paid interest in 20 years, possibly totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, but officials are citing a three-year statute of limitations.
By SCOTT SHENK, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
A Fredericksburg judge refused Monday to grant an injunction to stop the city from removing a slave auction block from a downtown street corner, but did give the building owner challenging the move time to file an appeal. Circuit Judge Sarah Deneke agreed to a 15-day stay of her order so the attorney for E.D. Cole Building LLC could ask the Virginia Supreme Court to take the case.
By CLAIRE MITZEL, News Leader (Metered Paywall - 3 to 4 articles a month)
Citing a legal opinion from the county attorney, Augusta County Supervisors on Monday said they don't have the authority to call up a militia. "The bottom line is, our legal counsel has said you don't have the authority to do this," Beverley Manor Supervisor Butch Wells said. "That's very simple."
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The mad rush to get Virginia into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative raises questions. This thing — a compact of Northeastern states begun more than 10 years ago — maintains an artificial market for the trading of emissions credits, all in the cause, proponents insist, of helping the climate.
By WARREN FISKE, Politifact
House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, recently accused the newly-elected Democratic majorities in the General Assembly of undermining Virginia’s pro-business environment. Gilbert particularly focused on bills passed by the House and Senate that would require Virginia to completely rely on renewable energy sources by mid-century - a death knell for Southwest Virginia’s declining coal industry. We fact-checked Gilbert’s assertion that “America’s carbon emissions are being reduced at a rate higher than any country in the world.”
By JACK WILSON AND NANCY DYE, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
It was with great dismay that I read of Norfolk Southern’s decision to relocate over 100 jobs out of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Admittedly, they are confronting a changing business model — but when facing the choice of remaining in Virginia or Pennsylvania, Virginia lost out.
Wilson is chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. Dye is a retired doctor and former Republican state Senate candidate from Roanoke.
By VICTORIA COBB, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
“The most dangerous ideas in a society are not the ones being argued, but the ones that are assumed,” warned C.S. Lewis, the renowned British scholar and bestselling author. It’s an apropos warning for our state, considering the glitzy promises accompanying legislative proposals to launch the largest gambling expansion in Virginia’s history.
Victoria Cobb is president of The Family Foundation of Virginia.
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