VaNews Aug. 7, 2019
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Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** JEFFERSON DAVIS’S NAME IS GONE FROM MEMORIAL AT SITE WHERE FIRST AFRICANS ARRIVED ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

One of the most incongruous of all of Virginia’s Confederate war memorials has come down with the removal of Jefferson Davis’s name from an archway at the site where the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619.


** NORTHAM VISITS ARCH AT FORT MONROE, UNVEILS INTERPRETIVE SIGNAGE ([link removed])
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By LISA VERNON SPARKS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Calling slavery an atrocity, Gov. Ralph Northam presented new interpretive signs on Fort Monroe that explain the history behind an iron arch now stripped of any reference to the one-time president of the Confederacy. “When we commemorate the events of 1619 … we cannot forget the atrocities of slavery that also began in Virginia,” Northam said during a news conference Tuesday.


** NORTHAM HAILS REMOVAL OF 'A MEMORIAL TO A DEFENDER OF SLAVERY' ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam on Tuesday issued a rebuke of a Confederate symbol removed from its place atop an archway at Fort Monroe in Hampton. Northam spoke Tuesday near an arch on Fort Monroe where last week workers removed letters that read, “Jefferson Davis Memorial Park” soldered onto the arch.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** JUDGE DISMISSES CHARGE AGAINST DRIVER WHO HIT VIRGINIA STATE SENATOR ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A reckless driving charge against a woman accused of hitting a state senator was dismissed Tuesday after the Hampton University police officer who took the report — who was recently fired over online postings — failed to show up in court. Sen. Mamie Locke also was not in the Hampton General District courtroom Tuesday for the scheduled trial.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** VA. ELECTIONS BOARD REJECTS GOP REQUEST FOR DO-OVER IN HOUSE DISTRICT WHERE FREITAS FILED LATE ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia’s State Board of Elections on Tuesday rejected Republicans’ attempt to get a candidate on the ballot in a legislative district where GOP officials failed to file paperwork by state-imposed deadlines. The decision leaves Republicans without a nominee in the district currently represented by Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper.


** VA. ELECTIONS BOARD DENIES FREITAS A SPOT ON THE HOUSE BALLOT ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia’s board of elections has ruled that Del. Nicholas J. Freitas (R-Culpeper) did not qualify for the ballot this fall, upholding a finding from elections department staffers. The ruling amounts to an unforced error for state Republicans, who are scrambling to protect narrow majorities in the legislature


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** UVA DOCTOR DECLARES 2020 RUN AGAINST RIGGLEMAN ([link removed])
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By RUTH SERVEN SMITH, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Another Democrat has joined the contest to attempt to wrest Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District from Republican control. Dr. Cameron Webb is a hospitalist, assistant professor of medicine and a director of health policy and equity at the University of Virginia.


** GUN-RIGHTS LOBBY FACES CHALLENGES ON AND OFF THE HILL ([link removed])
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By NATALIE ANDREWS AND MARK MAREMONT, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)

In 2018, GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock campaigned on her top rating from the National Rifle Association and attacked her opponent for supporting expanded background checks. She lost the race, and on Monday, the woman who beat her, Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton, spoke at a candlelight vigil for victims of the weekend shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left at least 31 people dead. The vigil was held outside of the NRA’s headquarters in Fairfax, Va., near the district Ms. Wexton now represents.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** SLOTLIKE MACHINES ARE FLOURISHING IN VIRGINIA DESPITE LEGAL DEBATE ([link removed])
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By BRANDON SHULLEETA, Style Weekly

There are no vacancies on four gaming machines at Breakers Sports Bar & Grille in Henrico County on a recent Tuesday afternoon. Reels spin and faces gaze at screens as players hope to win big, but owner Chris Heppert cheerfully leans back at a nearby high-top table with a beer and no signs of nervousness. In the eight months he's had the machines, they've made him money every week, and he's far from the only one.


** JOB TRAINING, MARKETING AND GOLF: VIRGINIA HAS PLANS TO DRAW MORE NEW BUSINESSES ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

If you’re a business thinking about a new plant or expansion, Virginia’s working on a deal for you — taking the worries about hiring and training the highly skilled workers off your shoulders. And, if you’re an executive thinking about new or expanded facilities, you could get word through a glossy new quarterly or a trade show booth financed by a bigger state marketing budget


** LONGTIME ROANOKE JUDGE WILLIAM BROADHURST WILL LEAVE BENCH IN MARCH ([link removed])
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By NEIL HARVEY, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

After more than a quarter-century of hearing cases in the courtrooms of Virginia’s 23rd Circuit, Judge William Broadhurst has announced he will retire next year. In a letter issued Monday night, Broadhurst, 65, said he plans to leave the bench, effective March 1.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** JUDGE OKS CONTURA’S BID FOR BLACKJEWEL MINES ([link removed])
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By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Bristol, Tennessee-based Contura Energy received the green light from a federal bankruptcy judge Tuesday to move forward with buying three mines in Wyoming and West Virginia from bankrupt coal producer Blackjewel LLC. The proposed sale, however, still must be approved by the federal government, and it’s not clear how soon operations would resume at the mines.


** $250K DONATION TO HELP BLACKJEWEL WORKERS IN WISE, LEE COUNTIES ([link removed])
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By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

As the details of coal producer Blackjewel LLC’s bankruptcy continue to be sorted out in federal court, a foundation announced a $250,000 donation to help those in Wise and Lee counties affected by the closing. The Richard and Leslie Gilliam Foundation presented the amount to the Southwest Virginia Workforce Development Board at a ceremony in Norton on Monday.


** DOMINION PLANS TO SPEND $33 MILLION ON ELECTRIC POWER BATTERY STORAGE PROJECTS IN RICHMOND REGION ([link removed])
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By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

Dominion Energy Virginia announced Tuesday that it is planning to spend around $33 million to build four electric power battery storage projects at three sites in central Virginia. The pilot projects, totaling 16 megawatts, would be the utility’s first use of battery storage technology.


** DOMINION PLANS BIG BATTERY TEST IN NEW KENT ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Dominion Energy wants to install a giant battery at its Barhamsville substation to see if the technology can solve potential headaches when there's a lot of solar-powered electricity generation feeding a transmission line. The utility is asking the State Corporation Commission to approve plans to install a 2-megawatt lithium-ion battery at the New Kent County substation


** DOMINION ENERGY SEEKS PERMIT TO DEMOLISH ONE JAMES RIVER PLAZA OFFICE TOWER - JUST IN CASE ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Dominion Energy is seeking city permission to demolish its aging office tower at One James River Plaza in downtown Richmond, even though the company hasn’t decided whether to build a second tower next to the new one it’s just begun to occupy.


** AMAZON BRINGING ITS SEVENTH SOLAR FARM TO VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By NICK BOYKIN, WTKR

Virginia will soon be home to another renewable energy project funded by Amazon. The project will bring the Commonwealth its seventh Amazon Solar Farm to Pittsylvania County.


** REDSKINS PRESEASON GAME WILL MARK THE NFL’S LATEST STEP TOWARD EMBRACING GAMBLING ([link removed])
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By SCOTT ALLEN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

In a first for the NFL, NBC Sports Washington will air an augmented broadcast with sports betting information, real-time statistics and a free “Predict the Game” contest on its NBC Sports Washington Plus channel during Thursday’s Redskins-Browns preseason opener.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** GROUPS HOLD PUBLIC INPUT MEETING ON DUKE'S EFFORTS TO ATONE FOR 2014 COAL ASH SPILL ([link removed])
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By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee

Morris Lawson has been fishing at the Dan River since he was 5 years old. “It’s my river,” Lawson said during an interview at a public input meeting related to river restoration efforts held in the Danville Municipal Building on Tuesday evening. “I fish this river two to three days a week.” Since the coal ash spill into the river more than five year ago, it hasn’t been the same, the 50-year-old Danville resident said. There are fewer fish, he said.


** STOP-WORK ORDER DOES NOT GO FAR ENOUGH, PIPELINE OPPONENTS SAY ([link removed])
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By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A stop-work order on a 2-mile section of the Mountain Valley Pipeline doesn’t stop the widespread environmental problems along the remaining 301 miles of the project, opponents said Tuesday.


** LOCAL
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** EDA PROBE, LITIGATION COSTS RISES TO POTENTIAL $1.2 MILLION ([link removed])
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By JOSH GULLY, Northern Virginia Daily

Costs to uncover and litigate the alleged embezzlement at the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority have risen to over $1.2 million. After exiting a closed session Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors increased the cap on what it may have to pay Sands Anderson — the law firm representing the authority in litigation regarding the alleged embezzlement at the EDA — from $500,000 to $750,000.


** SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER, PASTOR ASK JUDGE TO TOSS BALLOT INITIATIVE OVER COLISEUM ([link removed])
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By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A Richmond School Board member and a South Richmond pastor are seeking to quash a potential referendum that could stymie the $1.5 billion Coliseum redevelopment proposal. More than 14,000 people signed a petition vying for a proposed change to the city charter that would appear on the November ballot.


** PETITION SEEKS AMHERST TOWN CHARTER CHANGE ON EXPELLING MEMBERS ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN FAULCONER, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A petition demanding the Amherst Town Council request the Virginia General Assembly amend the town’s charter to remove a section allowing council to expel an elected member is expected to be presented to council during its Aug. 14 regular meeting.


** WITH SIGNATURES VERIFIED, DANVILLE BETTING REFERENDUM CLEARS ANOTHER HURDLE ([link removed])
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By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee

Colonial Downs Group is one step closer to getting a pari- mutuel wagering question on Danville’s ballot in November. A recently filed petition to land on the November ballot a referendum on the issue has enough verified signatures to move the effort forward, Danville Registrar Peggy Petty said.


** PLANNERS GIVE GREEN LIGHT ON ANOTHER SOLAR PROJECT ([link removed])
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By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee

During the past few years, seven entities have applied for and received permits to operate utility-scale solar farms in Pittsylvania County. On Tuesday night, the Pittsylvania County Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend the eighth to the Board of Zoning Appeals.


** HENRY COUNTY'S FIRST SOLAR FARM COULD BE BUILT ON 332 ACRES NEAR AXTON ([link removed])
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By PAUL COLLINS, Martinsville Bulletin

A solar-panel farm proposed for approximately 332 acres near Axton, Henry County’s first such farm, could produce enough energy to power about 2,660 homes annually. Cypress Creek Renewables Development LLC of Santa Monica, Calif., has applied to build that farm of 74,675 solar panels on agriculturally zoned land north of Axton and is immersed in getting appropriate approvals, officials from Henry County and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality confirmed.


** EDITORIALS
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** NORTHAM'S JAMESTOWN BOYCOTT MORE THAN A SNUB ([link removed])
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Winchester Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Amidst all the fooferaw about the second round of Democratic presidential debates and now, even later, the shooting rampages in El Paso and Dayton, we somehow — and inexcusably so — overlooked the festivities at Jamestown that should have been a simple historical celebration, full of Virginia’s trappings and traditions accumulated over 400 years, rather than a political scrum that did not show the best face of our wonderful state.


** LAWSUIT AIMS TO PROTECT 1ST AMENDMENT ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Everything will depend on whether alleged violations of the First and 14th Amendment by the Virginia Department of Corrections can be proved. But it’s a risk worth taking, a fight worth making. Charlottesville attorney Jeff Fogel had filed suit in federal court in Richmond against five corrections officials, claiming that they wrongly censored the writings of Uhuru Baraka Rowe, an inmate at Sussex II State Prison.


** GIVE ADUS A CHANCE ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

In some cities where affordable housing is hard to find, public officials are looking at “infill development” to expand their housing stock. Infill development can range from shoehorning new homes into established neighborhoods, retrofitting vacant commercial buildings for residential use, or changing zoning ordinances to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in single-family homeowners’ backyards.
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