VaNews
March 2, 2020

Today's Sponsor:


** Billie Jean P. Elmer
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A lifelong educator of youth and young adults promoting leadership development and civic engagement.

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** VPAP Visual A Historic Look at 'Super Tuesday' Turnout ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

For the fifth time in 32 years, Virginia Democrats will go to the polls Tuesday to pick their party's presidential nominee. Turnout has ranged from a low of 9 percent of registered voters in 2004 to a high of 20 percent in 2008.
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** 'I’m very much alive': Joe Biden campaigns in Norfolk after winning South Carolina primary ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Fresh off a primary victory in South Carolina, former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday brought his rejuvenated campaign to Virginia with cameos from several of the state’s most prominent Democrats, who have endorsed him in recent days. Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of perhaps 1,000 supporters ...
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** Sanders promises government that works for all at Virginia Beach rally ([link removed])
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By SARA GREGORY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders promised to create a government that works for all, “not just the 1%” during a campaign event Saturday night at Virginia Wesleyan University. The Vermont U.S. senator’s rally at the college’s Convocation Hall was his third in Virginia since Thursday, part of a last-minute push...
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** General Assembly set to approve sports gambling as soon as this week ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL PHILLIPS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

A conference committee in the General Assembly this week will attempt to clear the final hurdle needed to bring sports betting to Virginia. The Virginia House and Senate passed bills authorizing gambling on sporting events, and the combined bill is expected to be signed into law. It would bring sports betting, both in person and online, to the commonwealth as soon as this fall.
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** Virginia’s Year of the Woman produces historic package of liberal legislation ([link removed])
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By ROBERT MCCARTNEY, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

When Virginia’s first female speaker of the House of Delegates asks the chamber’s first female clerk to read an amendment or call the roll for a vote, she says “please.” The man who previously served as speaker, arguably the second-most powerful state office after governor, didn’t use the pleasantry for such requests. Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn’s routine is one small sign ...
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** $4.5 million. 16 victims. How the Virginia Beach mass shooting donations were divided. ([link removed])
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By JOANNE KIMBERLIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

One by one, they came to Jeffrey Breit’s law office and sat on his beige couch — a stream of lives forever turned upside down by a single bloody day at the municipal center. One by one, Breit boiled down their stories, burrowing beneath pain and emotions to reach the cold, hard financial facts. As volunteer point man for the Virginia Beach Tragedy Fund, Breit had to produce a plan for distributing the $4.5 million donated by thousands of people after the May 31 mass shooting.
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** Virginia social services' plentiful rules, lack of central authority ensure plenty of heartbreak ([link removed])
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By ALISON GRAHAM, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

The morning the child left, her foster mom picked up a cellphone and started recording. She told the girl to treat the video like a diary. “I’m feeling sad right now because I don’t get to see you guys,” the 9-year-old says in the video. “You guys are my favorite people in the world. I wish I could just stay. ... I hope God can make us stay here.”
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** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** Va. Democrats push environmental change — but still in concert with Dominion ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

It was an odd line of questioning. As a freshman delegate presented a bill aimed at holding down consumer electricity rates, a bipartisan pair of senators quizzed him on where he got the idea and why he was sponsoring it. “I know the legislators that work in electrical-related issues,” said Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City), “and just was kind of curious.” In other words, Del. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Loudoun) was not part of the usual club. Lawmaking that affects electric utilities in Virginia — especially the biggest one, Dominion Energy — has long been an exclusive arena of big dollars, connected lobbyists and predictable outcomes. Democrats ran last year on a crusade to shatter that tradition.
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** New law will mean fewer 14- and 15-year-olds tried as adults in Virginia ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

A generation after deciding 14- and 15-year-olds can be tried as adults — and sent to adult prisons — the Virginia General Assembly has agreed on new, tighter rules on when that can happen. The legislature gave final approval Friday to a bill that says prosecutors no longer have complete discretion to charge 14- and 15-year-olds as adults for some 14 felonies.
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** 'We’re not going away': Virginia Tech families' long fight for gun control ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

She made a commitment a long time ago, so Lori Haas calmly stood up from her chair, put down her stack of notes and approached a table of state legislators. “For 12 years, I’ve stood in this building and in many of these meetings pleading and pleading and pleading for laws that will save lives in the commonwealth of Virginia, laws that have been proven in other states to reduce gun violence,” Haas told the legislators.
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** Ban on slot-machine-like 'games of skill’ in Virginia would cost jobs, small business owners say ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Dave Willis says he would’ve been forced to close down his Norfolk bar, if it wasn’t for the Queen of Virginia “skill” games. But now, with state lawmakers close to banning the games, he and thousands of other Virginia businesses will likely have to get rid of them.
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** Counties to share in Bristol casino revenues ([link removed])
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By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

A dozen Southwest Virginia counties stand to share in any revenue jackpot generated by a Bristol casino. Under legislation currently before the Virginia General Assembly, Bristol is the lone casino-eligible city required to share all gaming tax revenues generated by the proposed Hard Rock Bristol Casino with its neighbors.
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** Legislation Passes to Increase Transparency of University Foundation Donations, Spending ([link removed])
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By MEGAN PAULY, WCVE

After a series of lawsuits made it to Virginia’s highest court, lawmakers are trying to increase transparency regarding donations to publicly-funded state universities. Although state universities are public, they also operate private foundations which allow for anonymous, untracked donations. Critics say that's a problem, because that private money may influence major decisions made by public institutions. Lawmakers have signed off on a bill that requires universities to annually report foundation spending in standardized categories like financial aid and faculty compensation.
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** Judge announces he will resign in early August ([link removed])
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By JEFF LESTER, Coalfield Progress

Wise County Circuit Court Judge Chadwick Dotson is stepping down. Dotson, 46, says he intends to pursue new opportunities while he is young enough to do so....When asked if he is a candidate for higher judicial office, Dotson wrote, “I have been honored to be included on the short list for a position on the Court of Appeals of Virginia in the past, but that has nothing to do with my decision.”


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** In Norfolk, Joe Biden makes his final push for Virginia voters ahead of Super Tuesday ([link removed])
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By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

With his campaign buoyed by a decisive win in South Carolina’s primary Saturday, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden delivered his final pitch to Virginians on Sunday at a Norfolk rally, two days before Super Tuesday. Joined by former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine — two major endorsements Biden landed in the past week — the former vice president pitched himself as the candidate best suited to defeat President Donald Trump ...
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** Klobuchar, in Richmond on Saturday, says she's a good fit for Virginia ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, campaigning in Richmond on Saturday ahead of Super Tuesday, said she is a good fit for states like Virginia that are a mixture of urban, suburban and rural communities. “I have won in the reddest of rural districts. I get that Abigail Spanberger district,” the third-term Minnesota senator said at the Altria Theater, ...
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** On Saturday, Bloomberg and Sanders make their pitches in Northern Virginia ([link removed])
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Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Mike Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders brought their presidential campaigns Saturday to Northern Virginia, arriving with starkly competing visions for how to successfully lead Democrats to unseat President Trump.
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** Why Some Suburban Women Are Wary of Bernie Sanders ([link removed])
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By TRIP GABRIEL, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)

Virginia’s shift to the Democrats has been led by suburban moderates, especially college-educated women. Some wonder whether Mr. Sanders is what they signed up for.
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** Virginia could play key role on Super Tuesday ([link removed])
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By SCOTT SHENK, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

On Tuesday, Virginians will get their chance to weigh in on the Democratic presidential primary along with millions of others across the country. On what’s called Super Tuesday, 14 states—and American Samoa—will hold the Democratic nominating contest. ... The state’s results will likely be of more interest than usual on Super Tuesday, according to Stephen J. Farnsworth, ...
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** Terry McAuliffe endorses Joe Biden after South Carolina victory ([link removed])
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By ANDREW CAIN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe endorsed Joe Biden for president on Saturday night, saying he is the candidate who has the best chance to beat President Donald Trump. McAuliffe also said he hopes that some of the Democratic presidential candidates who “do not have a pathway” will get out of the race as early as Sunday, without waiting for Super Tuesday.
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** Rep. Wexton endorses Joe Biden before Virginia primary ([link removed])
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By JENNA PORTNOY, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) on Sunday endorsed former vice president Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, changing her decision to stay neutral in the race two days before the Virginia primary on Super Tuesday.
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** Bloomberg donations in Virginia may not pay off ([link removed])
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By PAUL SCHWARTZMAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Jeremy McPike was in a tight race for the Virginia Senate in 2015 when his campaign received $1.6 million from Mike Bloomberg’s gun-control group, a crucial infusion that propelled him to a narrow victory. So what’s McPike (D-Prince William) doing for the former New York mayor in Tuesday’s Virginia Democratic primary? Nada.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** The reading wars flare in Virginia. ([link removed])
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By JAY MATHEWS, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Schools in Virginia use a 23-year-old test, the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening, to assess student literacy and see whether students risk developing reading difficulties. It took Symone Walker, a parent from Arlington, Va., a long time to realize the test — known by the acronym PALS — didn’t work for her son.
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** Pittsylvania board member who raised questions ends up suspended by state ([link removed])
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By ALISON GRAHAM, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Ron Scearce was the newest member of the Pittsylvania County Department of Social Services board when he strolled through the office handing out business cards in August 2017. Soon after, he started receiving anonymous phone calls from unhappy department employees. What followed over the course of the next 18 months would roil a divided Pittsylvania community.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** Fairfax Connector employees agree to new contract with Transdev ([link removed])
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By MATTHEW DELANEY, WTOP

After threats of a potential strike, Fairfax Connector workers approved a new four-year contract with Transdev, the French company that operates the bus line. Employees at the Fairfax Connector — represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764 — helped negotiate the formal agreement that will provide health care improvements and substantial wage increases to more than 600 bus operators and maintenance workers.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** Want to speak to Virginia Tech board about tuition hikes? Get your request in early. ([link removed])
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By HENRI GENDREAU, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

If you have thoughts about the cost of tuition at Virginia Tech, get prepared. Members of the public must sign up a week in advance if they want to secure a speaking slot before the university’s board of visitors this month. Tech is hosting an hourlong hearing March 19 to get feedback on possible tuition and fee increases.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** Master Plan For Restoring Richmond’s Historic Evergreen Cemetery Unveiled ([link removed])
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By ROBERTO ROLDAN, WCVE

The non-profit The Enrichmond Foundation unveiled a master plan for restoring Richmond’s Historic Evergreen Cemetery at the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site on Saturday. Evergreen Cemetery is the final resting place of many prominent African Americans from the late 1800s, including Maggie L. Walker and John Mitchell Jr. The cemetery fell into disrepair for decades before volunteer organizations began removing vegetation, replacing headstones and documenting those who are buried there.


** LOCAL
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** Richmond Councilwoman Kim Gray officially kicks off mayoral bid ([link removed])
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By SAMUEL NORTHROP, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Councilwoman Kim Gray officially announced her bid for Richmond mayor on Sunday afternoon at Bar Solita to a crowd of nearly 100 after sources confirmed her intent to run last month. Gray has been one of Mayor Levar Stoney’s biggest critics in her tenure on the Richmond City Council and said she will bring effectiveness and efficiency to the office.
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** Charlottesville won’t celebrate Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. It will mark slavery’s end instead. ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL E. MILLER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

His name still adorns much of the city, from the public library to a private winery. And from the foot of a mountain dedicated to him, his statue still gazes out over the university he founded. But lately, in ways both small and seismic, Thomas Jefferson’s town has started to feel like it belongs to someone else.
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** City moved forward with Dewberry study despite concerns from officials ([link removed])
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By NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Charlottesville moved forward last year with a plan to conduct a structural integrity study of the incomplete Dewberry building — once known as the Landmark Hotel — despite an assertion from the head of the development office, backed by the city engineer, that it was a pointless waste of money.
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** Lynchburg gun show rallies support for local elections ([link removed])
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By SARAH HONOSKY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Behind a row of display cases housing dozens of handguns, Del. Wendell Walker, R-Lynchburg, haggled with a Campbell County resident over the price of a Smith & Wesson AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. Having already hoisted the rifle off the pyramid-shaped gun rack, they volleyed a few prices back and forth and landed on an even $600.
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** In a 'somewhat unique' situation, five providers power needs for Pittsylvania County ([link removed])
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By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee

In many areas of Pittsylvania County, next-door neighbors fall under different power providers and can pay significantly different rates for their electricity. The highest and lowest monthly residential rates within its borders differ by nearly $31 a month. This is because the territories of the five different utilities companies powering the county crisscross in odd patterns across the landscape.
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** Skilled gaming parlor receives special-use permit in Hurt ([link removed])
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By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee

A skilled gaming parlor may be coming to the town of Hurt. During a joint called meeting between the planning commission and town council on Thursday night, council voted 3-2 to grant the special-use permit to McCormick Storage Facility, LLC. Owner Walter McCormick declined to comment because his company will be renting the building at 419 Church St. to another company that has several gaming parlors in Virginia.

Today's Sponsor:


** Billie Jean P. Elmer
------------------------------------------------------------

A lifelong educator of youth and young adults promoting leadership development and civic engagement.


** EDITORIALS
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** A casino is not Amazon ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

The General Assembly is merrily going about legalizing casinos in the state. It’s understandable why the legislature is doing so: Casinos would bring in a lot of tax dollars for some economically-distressed localities which, taken together, conveniently involve a politically-useful odd couple coalition of urban Democrat and rural Republicans.
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** Virginia roads made safer by overdue cellphone ban ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Thanks to cooperation and hard work, both houses of the General Assembly have now given their approval to a commonsense and overdue measure to ban holding a cellphone while driving a motor vehicle in Virginia. Gov. Ralph Northam has already indicated he’ll sign it, so starting Jan. 1 of next year, driving in Virginia while holding a phone can mean a $125 fine ...
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** A welcoming Virginia ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Virginia prides itself on being the nation’s birthplace of liberty, home to the Founding Fathers who championed freedom and equality. The state took a step forward this past week when the General Assembly passed historic legislation that would prohibit discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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** Voters shouldn't forget that they're the ones in charge ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

When Democrats in Virginia and 13 other Super Tuesday states go to the polls Tuesday, the immediate question they will face is who they want their party’s nominee to be. There’s another question that hangs over Super Tuesday’s balloting, though: Can elections be bought? That’s the $505.8 million — and counting — question posed by Michael Bloomberg’s unprecedented free-spending campaign.
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** Pipeline is needed even more now ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether the U.S. Forest Service has the legal authority to grant a special use permit that would allow the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross underneath the Appalachian Trail near Reed’s Gap in southern Virginia within the boundaries of the George Washington National Forest.
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** Monuments about more than Civil War history ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

For a long time in Virginia, any discussion about the Confederate monuments in many commonwealth communities stopped at the city or county line. State law prohibited the removal of war memorials, so there wasn’t much cause for arguing about it. That may change this year now that the General Assembly, under Democratic control for the first time in two decades, approved a bill ...


** OP-ED
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** White: Democrats want to nullify Virginians' voices ([link removed])
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By LINDA J. WHITE, published in Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Over the course of 100 days in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention, including several notable Virginians, hammered out the U.S. Constitution. Having spilt blood and spent treasure to free themselves from tyrannical King George III, they were anxious to forge a workable, elected government.

Linda J. White, a former assistant editorial page editor of The Free Lance–Star, lives in Fauquier County.
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** Morse: To make history, one must understand it ([link removed])
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By GORDON C. MORSE, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

It may take the remaining 10 months of 2020 to fully dissect what the Virginia General Assembly rendered onto the commonwealth in the first two months. Was this just a spasm of pent-up activity, an exercise, as one Democratic lawmaker described it, of grabbing the low-hanging fruit and doing what should have been done years ago?

Gordon C. Morse began his writing career with the Daily Press editorial page in 1983, then moved across the water to write opinion for The Virginian-Pilot. He later joined the administration of Gerald L. Baliles as the governor's speechwriter
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** Snider: Lawmakers must protect seniors from predatory lenders ([link removed])
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By NATALIE SNIDER, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Ensuring that all Virginians have access to safe, affordable credit has been a high priority for AARP Virginia and our million-plus members. We have worked diligently for years to protect the commonwealth from predatory lending and scams. Our members have shown up at the statehouse in Richmond year after year ...

Natalie Snider is associate state director of advocacy with AARP Virginia
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** Hawley: In Virginia, with gambling expansion comes responsibility ([link removed])
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By CAROLYN HAWLEY, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Casinos in five cities across the commonwealth, sports betting, an online lottery, video lottery terminals in bars and restaurants and more historical horse racing machines. The General Assembly is considering drastic changes to Virginia’s once-conservative gambling landscape. As the recent Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission gaming study outlined, gambling disorder already is an issue in Virginia.

Dr. Carolyn Hawley is president of the Virginia Council on Problem Gambling.
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** Barrett: Legislation poised to harm Virginia businesses, impede access to affordable prescriptions ([link removed])
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By DEBRA BARRETT, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Last month, in his State of the Commonwealth address, Gov. Ralph Northam outlined an ambitious plan for health care in Virginia, coupling affordability with achieving real economic impact. As he stated, “When people are healthy, they can work and contribute to our economy. That’s good for everyone.”

Debra Barrett is executive director of the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD).
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** Cruser and Mendez: Budget presents great opportunity for mental health system ([link removed])
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By BRUCE CRUSER AND ANNA MENDEZ, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

As Virginia is on the brink of becoming one of the 10 wealthiest states in the nation, our publicly funded mental health system stubbornly remains one of the most poorly supported. Mental Health America ranks Virginia 37th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of ease of access to mental health care.

Bruce Cruser is executive director of Mental Health America of Virginia. Anna Mendez is board president of Mental Health America of Virginia and executive director of Partner for Mental Health.
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** Morris: Minimum wage bill hurts rural employers ([link removed])
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By KENNON MORRIS, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

The Virginia Forest Products Association represents mainly small independent businesses in the forest products industry throughout rural Virginia — from sawmills, to loggers, to truck drivers, to equipment dealers. The forest products industry accounts for approximately 108,000 jobs with an industry impact of 21 billion dollars to the Commonwealth, representing the third largest contributor to the state’s economy.

Morris is vice president of Northern Neck Lumber in Warsaw, Virginia and president of the Virginia Forest Products Association.
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** Brown: I’m not giving up on an assault weapons ban in Virginia ([link removed])
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By KRIS BROWN, published in Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

After many years of work and several months of almost blink-and-you’ll-miss-it progress, our effort to ban assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in Virginia was dealt a blow in the Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee, where the committee voted to put this bill, HB 961, off until the next legislative session in 2021.

Kris Brown is the president of Brady, formerly the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
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** Curley: A new way to pay for the Chesapeake Bay ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL CURLEY, published in Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The most powerful anti-pollution program in the United States is the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), created by Congress in 1987. It has provided about $140 billion to more than 40,000 water pollution projects. The only problem is that the CWSRF does not allow loans to be made across state lines. But there’s an exception that may benefit the Chesapeake Bay.

Michael Curley is an environmental lawyer and the author of “The Handbook of Project Finance for Water and Wastewater Systems.”
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