VaNews
June 13, 2020

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** Norfolk removes Confederate soldier statue from downtown monument ([link removed])
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By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

With a yellow rope around his body and a giant crane standing by, a statue of a Confederate soldier in downtown Norfolk was lifted from its perch high above the city’s streets and carefully maneuvered down to the ground. Early estimations were that the process would take several hours — but in the end, crews discovered just a single bolt holding down the bronze, hollow solider known as “Johnny Reb” who weighs about 2,000 pounds and stands about 16 feet tall.
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** Along historic Richmond street, residents grapple with Confederate legacy ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA AND GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

She calls them "snakes," "scoundrels" and "graffiti goons." But Helen Marie Taylor, at 96 the grande dame of Richmond's Monument Avenue, shares some qualities with the youthful throngs who keep marching past her mansion and toppling statues. In 1968, as an advancing asphalt machine threatened to bury the avenue’s original paving blocks, Taylor dashed out of her Duncan Lee architectural gem and into a life of unlikely activism.
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** Richmond attorneys clean vandalized plaque honoring civil rights pioneer ([link removed])
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By MIKE BARBER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

For Richmond lawyer Jackie Stone, seeing the historical marker on Main Street honoring Oliver Hill Sr. serves as a reminder not just of the late civil rights attorney’s legal legacy, but of the path he helped blaze for African Americans in the legal community. So when the marker was vandalized with crude language during last weekend’s protests, Stone decided to act.
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** CDC team to do local surveys here to help lessen COVID-19 impact on Hispanic community ([link removed])
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By ALI SULLIVAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

With the Hispanic community being disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic, a team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be doing community surveys in several local neighborhoods this weekend. In the city of Richmond, Hispanics and Latinos represent only 6 percent of the population but account for 32% of COVID-19 cases and 30% of coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
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** SCC extends freeze on utility disconnections ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)

Virginians who can't pay utility bills because of the coronavirus won't have to worry about losing power or water as they prepare to swelter through the summer. The State Corporation Commission is extending its freeze on utility disconnections due to the virus through Aug. 31, the agency announced Friday.
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** Immigration Advocates Urge Prince William County Not To Renew Agreement With ICE ([link removed])
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By JENNY GATHRIGHT, WAMU

Advocates in Prince William County are demanding that the county end its participation in the controversial U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) 287(g) program, which empowers local police to enforce federal immigration laws. Immigration activists held a rally outside the Prince William County Sheriff’s Office on Friday to express their opposition to local cooperation with immigration enforcement. The Prince William – Manassas Regional Jail Board must decide whether to renew its agreement with ICE by July 1. The board is scheduled to hold its next meeting on June 17.
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** On the Appalachian Trail, thru-hikers defy requests to leave ([link removed])
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By LANE KIZZIAH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Coming to a road crossing in Shenandoah National Park, Sophia Lohrman was almost shocked to see another human being. She’s been on the Appalachian Trail — essentially off the grid — for over 500 miles and 2½ months. Through all that time, she’s rarely seen more than one or two people every day. On March 23, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy requested that hikers leave the trail due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s estimated that a few hundred, including Lohrman, continued on.
The Full Report
61 articles, 29 publications

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** FROM VPAP
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** VPAP Visual Congressional Fundraising Update ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

Disclosure reports due Thursday provide a snapshot of candidate fundraising heading into the June 23 congressional primaries and other nominating events. This interactive visual shows who raised the most in a little more than two months since April 1 and who had the most in the bank in early June. (Note: Disclosures not due yet for Republicans running in the 7th congressional district, where the GOP convention has been delayed until July 18. )
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** From VPAP Maps, Timeline of COVID-19 in Virginia ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

Our COVID-19 dashboard makes it easy to track the latest available data for tests performed, infections, deaths and hospital capacity. There's a filter for each city and county, plus an exclusive per-capita ZIP Code map. Updated each morning around 10:00 am.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** Virginia AG objects to another closed hearing on injunction preventing Lee statue from coming down ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A Circuit Court judge has held a second closed hearing related to the temporary injunction against taking down a state-owned statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring has filed a formal request that all future proceedings take place on the public record.
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** Loudoun County business owner sues Northam over pandemic-related restrictions ([link removed])
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By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times

Loudoun County wedding venue Zion Springs has filed a lawsuit challenging the commonwealth's restrictions on businesses and places of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Zion Springs filed separate lawsuits in Virginia’s supreme and federal district courts this week, claiming the orders made by Gov. Ralph Northam (D) were “‘unconstitutional” and “caused economic hardship."


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** Police reform on tap during General Assembly special session ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR AND JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Citing urgent public demands for reform, Virginia lawmakers are vowing swift action to address systemic racism and lack of oversight in policing. The topic will be at the center of a special session Gov. Ralph Northam plans to convene in August, during which lawmakers will also discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the state’s budget.
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** Local delegates suggest ways to bring about 'real change' in racial injustice ([link removed])
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By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Two local representatives in the General Assembly say people who want to bring about real change to racial inequities in Virginia should let their voices be heard—not only in protests but also by reaching out to those who work on their behalf in local courtrooms or the state capital. Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, who represents North Stafford, and Del. Joshua Cole, whose district includes Fredericksburg and parts of Stafford County, spoke about the impact of COVID-19 on those in jails and juvenile detention centers, as well as the need for criminal justice reform, during a recent event organized by the Virginia COVID-19 Justice Coalition.
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** Virginia expects to lose billions because of the pandemic ([link removed])
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By JOHN AARON, WTOP

The coronavirus pandemic could cost Virginia billions of dollars in tax revenue moving forward. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said the state has taken an $800 million tax revenue hit in the quarter, and that the losses will probably total $2.5 billion to $3 billion over the next two years.
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** New Poll Finds Widespread Support for To-Go Drinks Post-Pandemic ([link removed])
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By VERNON MILES, ArlNow

The cat’s out of the bag for to-go drinks with Virginians — and Arlingtonians in particular — expressing widespread support for keeping the practice around after the pandemic is over. In a joint poll with the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association and the National Restaurant Association found that 78 percent of Virginians support making permanent current, temporary practices that allow restaurant customers to purchase alcoholic beverages with their takeout and delivery food orders.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** Chase stands by ‘erase all white history’ comment ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)

State Sen. Amanda F. Chase of Chesterfield said her reference to the removal of Confederate monuments as erasing white history was intentional “because it gets people’s attention.” In a Zoom interview with The Progress-Index Thursday, the GOP Republican hopeful for governor said she used that phrase because she knows that people would not have been as “shocked” if she had referred to it as black history.


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** One Wedding and a Political Funeral ([link removed])
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By EMMA GREEN, The Atlantic

Virginia republicans have spent the past decade getting routed in elections. They lost three U.S. congressional seats and control of both chambers of the state legislature in 2018 alone. Yet today, with another tough election less than five months away, Republicans in Virginia’s Fifth District will gather in a church parking lot to decide whether to boot their incumbent congressman, Denver Riggleman, largely because he officiated a same-sex wedding last summer. The unconventional convention will earn the grooms, Alex Pisciarino and Anthony “Rek” LeCounte, a distinction in their first year of marriage that most people never achieve in a lifetime: They started a Republican civil war.
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** Voters Request More Absentee Ballots Approaching June 23 Republican Primary ([link removed])
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By CAROL VAUGHN, Eastern Shore Post

More Eastern Shore voters who want to cast a ballot in the June 23 Republican primary are asking for absentee ballots than in the last similar primary, according to an analysis by the non-profit Virginia Public Access Project. Requests for mail-in ballots stand at 53 in Accomack County, compared to just 18 in the 2018 primary — that’s nearly three times more.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** 'They don’t understand how it feels': Suicide said to illustrate difficulties facing transgender inmates ([link removed])
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By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Eight years ago, Kamiah Kahanel was raped in a Caroline County jail cell in by a fellow inmate. A prosecutor described the assault as particularly brutal and praised Kahanel's courage: "I thought that [he] was so brave because he sat in a courtroom full of people he had never met and talked about his sexuality. He talked about this horrifying experience." The attacker was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
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** Virginia's Supreme Court decision favors Franklin County home school family ([link removed])
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By LEANNA SCACHETTI, WDBJ

Virginia's Supreme Court ruled in favor this week of a home school family in Franklin County. As we first reported in 2018, the Sosebee family filed a legal complaint against the Franklin County school board. It was over a policy implemented in July 2017 that required home school families to submit to the school board a copy of their child's birth certificate and proof of residency.


** CONGRESS
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** Fredericksburg-area executives lay out challenges created by pandemic in talk with Warner ([link removed])
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By SCOTT SHENK, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner heard a “sobering” take on the COVID-19 impact on Fredericksburg-area health care, education and businesses on Friday. The Virginia Democrat took part in a conference call with area leaders to talk about how the federal government can help the region make it through the pandemic.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** Merger brings solar power and fossil fuels together ([link removed])
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By BRYAN MCKENZIE, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

It may not seem like a match made in heaven, but officials from two local energy companies say they believe the merger of a fossil-fuel distributor and solar power designer/contractor is the best of both worlds. Charlottesville-based gasoline, propane and fuel oil distributor Tiger Fuel has purchased 40% of locally based Altenergy as the first step toward outright acquisition of the solar energy company. The price has not been disclosed. The full purchase should be completed in March 2021.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** Norfolk airport traffic dropped 87% in May, but scheduled flights rising in July ([link removed])
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By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Norfolk International Airport continued to see a steep drop in passenger traffic in May as the COVID-19 pandemic has discouraged travel, but there are signs of improvement. Despite traffic dropping 87.2% from May 2019, to 45,712 passengers, the numbers were slightly better than April, and airlines appear to be adding more departures in July.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** William & Mary's fall reopening plan includes shorter semester, possible Saturday classes ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

The College of William & Mary will start its fall semester a week early and end before Thanksgiving, the university announced Friday. William & Mary will have three in-person semesters in the 2020-21 academic year, with classes taught in Williamsburg in the fall, spring and summer. Most fall semester classes will start Aug. 19, and students will move out by Nov. 25.
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** Radford University board gives broad powers to president to slash budget ([link removed])
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By HENRI GENDREAU, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Radford University’s governing board on Friday quietly gave broad powers to the president to slash the school’s budget, which has been ravaged by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual board of visitors meeting was coming to a close about 4:30 p.m. when members passed a resolution giving President Brian Hemphill authority to implement “budget reduction strategies” to stabilize finances.
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** TNCC announces instructional plans for the fall ([link removed])
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By ALEXA DOIRON, Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily (Metered paywall - 3 articles per month)

Thomas Nelson Community College has announced its plans for the fall semester. Interim President Gregory DeCinque announced Thursday the college’s Reconstruction Work Group, which formed this past spring, has made a plan for the “new normal” in the fall semester.
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** Liberty Player to Transfer, Cites 'Racial Insensitivities' ([link removed])
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Associated Press

A women's basketball player at Liberty University says she is transferring because of “racial insensitivities shown within the leadership and culture” of the school. Rising sophomore Asia Todd made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter.


** CORONAVIRUS
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** Northern Virginia reaches next phase of reopening, allowing indoor dining as coronavirus cases drop ([link removed])
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By EMILY DAVIES AND PAUL DUGGAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

On Friday, as social isolation eased in Northern Virginia and life took another small step toward normalcy, Mehmet Coskun stood in his cafe, East West Coffee and Wine, and counted maybe 15 patrons seated inside. “Look at the crowd!” he declared, smiling.
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** Percentage of positive tests drops again ([link removed])
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By ROBYN SIDERSKY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Fewer than 600 coronavirus cases were reported overnight in Virginia, bringing the state tally to 53,241, according to data released Friday morning by the Virginia Department of Health.
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** Deaths from COVID-19 rise from 6 to 18 in a week in Mount Rogers Health District ([link removed])
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By LUANNE RIFE, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Nearly two dozen residents of Galax have been admitted to the hospital since Memorial Day for treatment of the coronavirus, and eight have died in recent days. In surrounding counties, cases of COVID-19 are also on the rise, and the virus recently killed four more people in Carroll County and two in Grayson County.
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** Shenandoah County sees four deaths, five hospitalized in one week ([link removed])
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By RANDY ARRINGTON, Page Valley News

Shenandoah County reached the highest pandemic death toll in the Lord Fairfax Health District on Wednesday when its 25th fatality was reported. Two days later, the Virginia Department of Health reported the 26th COVID-19 death in Shenandoah County. Those two deaths followed two others reported on Monday.
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** Health Commissioner says that after 'hiccups,' state will pick up contact tracing hiring ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

State Health Commissioner Norman Oliver said in an interview Friday that the state plans to meet its goal of deploying 1,270 contact tracers by the end of June, as he acknowledged “hiccups” in the process have led to the hiring of just 314 tracers statewide.
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** Two more Fredericksburg-area nursing homes have virus outbreaks ([link removed])
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By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Two more outbreaks of COVID-19 have infected another 12 people at local long-term care facilities. The Rappahannock Area Health District reported the two incidents on Friday, but did not name the facilities, per state policy. Three workers and six residents in one facility and three staff members in another tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
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** EMS getting fewer calls during pandemic ([link removed])
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By SARAH WADE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

Paramedic Curtis Mink said the Bristol Life Saving Crew’s non-emergency line has been ringing more than usual over the past few months. The nonprofit, which serves both sides of Bristol and surrounding areas, responds to emergency medical calls and uses its fleet of ambulances to quickly get people to hospitals. But Mink said a lot of callers — especially those who use the non-emergency line rather than 911 — have lately been asking whether they really need to go to a hospital.
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** The Scientist, the Air and the Virus ([link removed])
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By TARA PARKER-POPE, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)

Most of us had never heard of aerosol science before the pandemic. Then Virginia Tech’s Linsey Marr showed up and became our tour guide to the invisible world of airborne particles.
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** Loudoun South Little League makes heartbreaking decision and won’t play this year ([link removed])
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By MATT SMALL, WTOP

Loudon South, the South Riding team that went to the 2019 Little League World Series, has canceled its 2020 season. “It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing LSLL is officially canceling our spring 2020 season at this time.” Loudoun South Little League President Joe Soricelli said in a statement on the organization’s website.
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** Central Virginia Health District offers first free mass testing event for the Lynchburg region ([link removed])
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By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

No insurance card? No problem. The Virginia Department of Health on Friday offered free COVID-19 tests to hundreds of uninsured and under-insured Lynchburg-area residents for the first time since the pandemic began.
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** Loudoun gun range loses legal bid on virus restrictions ([link removed])
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Associated Press

A judge has rejected a request from a Loudoun County gun range that sought to loosen the restrictions imposed under Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s executive orders to mitigate spread of the coronavirus. The injunction request filed by owners of the Silver Eagle shooting range is one of many that have been filed across the state challenging business closures.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** Richmond protests to continue with ‘5,000 Man March’ on Saturday ([link removed])
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By EDUARDO ACEVEDO, Commonwealth Times

Thousands are expected to march in Richmond on Saturday for a 16th day of protests in the city, sparked by the killing of a black man in police custody. Saturday’s demonstration, “Virginia’s 5,000 Man March,” will start at the Robert E. Lee memorial on Monument Avenue at 1 p.m. The march’s Facebook page states that protesters are marching “for your children… no matter the color.”
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** Lee monument's supporters urge permanent injunction; AG Herring wants more transparency in the case ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

The descendant of the people who signed over the land that surrounds the Robert E. Lee statue to Virginia wants a Richmond judge to make the temporary injunction barring the statue’s removal permanent. Meanwhile, Attorney General Mark Herring wants the closely watched court battle over the future of the statue to be more transparent.
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** Robert E. Lee ‘quarters’ marker vandalized at Fort Monroe in Hampton ([link removed])
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By LISA VERNON SPARKS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)

Vandals defaced a historic marker that designates the site where Robert E. Lee lived at Fort Monroe before the Civil War, officials said Friday. The marker, dubbed “Lee’s Quarters,” which commemorates his time as a Union Army officer at the fortress was tagged with the letters “BLM” in black spray paint, Fort Monroe Authority spokeswoman Phyllis Terrell said.
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** Virginia has the most Confederate monuments, flags and other symbols in the nation ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY AND JOHN RAMSEY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Monuments. Streets. Schools. Confederate iconography remains throughout Virginia and in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy. Virginia's 244 Confederate symbols are the most in the nation, according to a study by the Southern Poverty Law Center. As protesters continue to rally against police brutality in wake of George Floyd's death, they're also calling for racial justice. Part of that message is for Confederate monuments to come down.
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** Memorial to Slain Virginia Officers Temporarily Removed ([link removed])
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Associated Press

A statue honoring police officers killed in the line of duty was removed from a park in Virginia's capital city Thursday morning after it was covered in red paint.
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** Virginia Beach covers Confederate monument, tells public that police will monitor it with cameras ([link removed])
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By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Virginia Beach officials covered the city’s Confederate monument on Friday. They also placed a barrier around it and made clear to the public it was being monitored by two cameras. Protesters have not gathered in recent days at the monument, which is located at the Municipal Center.
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** Statue of Confederate soldier removed from downtown Norfolk ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Crews have removed a 113-year-old statue of a Confederate solider that stood atop an 80-foot-tall Confederate monument in downtown Norfolk, Virginia. The city said in a statement Friday that the statue, nicknamed Johnny Reb, came down in less than two hours.
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** For weeks, thousands have protested police brutality in Hampton Roads ([link removed])
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By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

From the Eastern Shore to Virginia Beach’s Town Center, thousands have protested police brutality over the past two weeks. Behind the marching and chanting is the hope that city officials and police chiefs will hear their cries and enact specific policy changes, many of which have been pushed for years by local activists to boost transparency and increase accountability of problem officers.
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** Without council support, Virginia Beach manager said the city won’t paint Black Lives Matter on the Boardwalk ([link removed])
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By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

A week ago, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser ordered city staff to paint the slogan “Black Lives Matter” in large yellow letters on a street near the White House. Other cities like Seattle and Charlotte have followed suit and painted their own messages to stand in solidarity with protests against systemic racism in America.
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** Friday protest puts focus on LGBTQ+ community ([link removed])
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By WAYNE EPPS JR. AND FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

As Zakia McKensey addressed a group of hundreds gathered at the corner of West Cary Street and Harrison Street Friday evening, she spoke of the work of the Black Lives Matter movement. She mentioned its commitment to imagining and creating a world free of anti-blackness. But within its work, there are aspects McKensey sees as being overlooked.
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** Four guns seized, multiple people detained and one arrested after confrontation at Lee statue ([link removed])
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By ALI ROCKETT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Richmond police detained several people equipped with assault-style rifles, handguns, ammunition and body armor early Friday after a confrontation at the Robert E. Lee monument, a department spokeswoman said. One person was arrested.
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** Video: Driver Hits Person in Lee Circle With Truck, Leaves Scene ([link removed])
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By ROBERTO ROLDAN, WCVE

A video obtained by VPM appears to show a truck driven into a protester near the Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond. In the video, two protesters with bicycles confront a convoy of three trucks. The two protesters attempt to block the drivers with their bicycles before one truck speeds off and another drives directly at a protester. The person inside of the truck appears to hit the protester and then jump their vehicle up onto the curb of Lee Circle.
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** Man arrested in threat to burn down predominantly black Virginia Beach church ([link removed])
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By JESSICA NOLTE, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

A predominantly black Baptist church in Virginia Beach received the threatening call Sunday that included a racial slur: “you … need to shut up” with a threat to burn the church. The call came five days after a leader at the church was one of several ministers who participated in a prayer vigil and demonstration for George Floyd on June 2 in the Mount Trashmore area of Virginia Beach.
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** Sheriff: Five arrested in Edinburg on assault, hate crime charges ([link removed])
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By JOSETTE KEELOR, Northern Virginia Daily

Five people were arrested Thursday night in Edinburg on charges of assault by mob and assault-hate crime, Shenandoah County Sheriff Timothy Carter said on Friday. Carter confirmed that the five were arrested at their home on Printz Street in Edinburg and charged as part of an investigation that stems from a June 1 incident on property in Edinburg owned by Pastor Leon McCray, of Lighthouse Church and Marketplace Ministries International in Woodstock.


** LOCAL
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** After days of protests, Alexandria considers police review board ([link removed])
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By PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Alexandria is moving toward creating a community board to review police behavior in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody last month. City Council member Mohamed E. “Mo” Seifeldein (D) proposed an independent, community-led review board with investigative power.
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** Richmond school board to discuss resource officers with police department ([link removed])
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By KENYA HUNTER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Two members of the Richmond School Board are driving a discussion about the school system's relationship with the Richmond Police Department, with one calling for the eventual removal of school resource officers, a step taken Thursday by the Charlottesville School Board and by the Minneapolis School Board earlier this month. The full Richmond School Board will discuss the divisive issue at Monday's meeting.
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** City Charter language may stymie efforts to remove Confederate statues ([link removed])
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By JEREMY M. LAZARUS, Richmond Free Press

..[A]ll nine members of City Council already are on board for one monumental change — removal of the statues of Confederate traitors that litter Monument Avenue and other parts of the city. ...That barrier is a line in the City Charter — the city’s constitution — that makes it a duty of the city Planning Commission to “preserve historical landmarks.” Virtually every one of the statues targeted for removal is listed on the state and national registers of historic sites and places.
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** Local cities get DOJ grants for staffing and supplies in response to the pandemic ([link removed])
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By SALEEN MARTIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Friday afternoon that it awarded more than $1.8 million to multiple localities recently to help amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including some in Hampton Roads. Most recently, Virginia Beach received $258,160 and Newport News received $335,673 as part of the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding program.
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** Board votes to censure member ([link removed])
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Suffolk News Herald

Suffolk School Board member Sherri Story was formally censured by a 5-2 vote during its Thursday meeting at City Hall. The resolution cited her for “willfully and deliberately” violating board norms and protocols, as well as violating closed meeting confidentiality, with many of the violations charged against her stemming from Facebook posts she has made over the past nine months.
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** Charlottesville removes school resource officers, Albemarle board wants to see changes, as well ([link removed])
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By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Charlottesville City Schools is ending its current school resource officer program with a goal to have a new model in place before school starts Aug. 19 — a decision that comes after weeks of protests locally and nationally about policing. Many local activists, including from the Charlottesville chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement, have called on the division to end its memorandum of understanding with the police department that allows for school resource officers.
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** Data shows police use-of-force encounters are rare but disproportionately involve black people ([link removed])
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By KATELYN WALTEMYER, Harrisonburg Citizen

Over the course of two years, 9,587 people were arrested in Harrisonburg, and during that time 86 encounters involved use of force — amounting to less than 1% of the arrest totals. But the confrontations in which an officer used force beyond handcuffing a person disproportionately involved black people, according to arrest and use-of-force data the Harrisonburg Police Department released Friday.
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** After multiple setbacks, Grafton seniors celebrate unique graduation ([link removed])
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By ALEXA DOIRON, Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily (Metered paywall - 3 articles per month)

The graduates of Grafton High School have had a more unique senior year than most, but on Friday morning hundreds came out with their families to celebrate a new beginning. . . . “Honestly, we’ve had anything but a normal senior year,” said graduate Gabriella Barfoot. “I think it’s just one example of how we can really come together and be super resilient even in the face of crazy times.”
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** Roanoke to hear public comments regarding e-bikes on greenways ([link removed])
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By RALPH BERRIER JR., Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Roanoke’s city council will hold a public hearing Monday night as it considers whether to allow battery-powered electric bicycles on city-owned greenways and paths. A new state law that goes into effect July 1 will make it legal for people to ride electric bicycles, commonly called e-bikes, on shared trails and pathways.
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** Montgomery County schools decide on busing plan ([link removed])
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By YANN RANAIVO, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

The Montgomery County School Board this past week unanimously approved a plan that will allow school buses to transport a greater number of students than permitted under federal guidelines — a decision established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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** Superintendent resignation follows poor feedback from Virginia Department of Education ([link removed])
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By PARKER COTTON, Danville Register & Bee

Stanley Jones announced his resignation as superintendent of Danville Public Schools on Thursday evening, a move that comes just one week after the Virginia Department of Education delivered a spotty review of the division’s progress across four key academic and administrative areas.
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** Virginia may consider school variances regarding reopening guidelines ([link removed])
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By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

Virginia public school systems operating in areas with lower incidences of COVID-19 may receive variances in newly released reopening guidelines, a state official said Thursday. On Tuesday, Gov. Ralph Northam and state Superintendent James Lane unveiled extensive guidance for public and private schools to reopen this fall after being ordered closed in March to reduce potential spread of the disease.


** EDITORIALS
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** It’s about time ([link removed])
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Richmond Free Press Editorial

It’s about time That was our first reaction to Gov. Ralph S. Northam’s announcement last week that he is ordering the statue of Confederate traitor Robert E. Lee to be removed from Monument Avenue. His announcement was quickly followed by Mayor Levar M. Stoney and a unanimous Richmond City Council saying they will vote to remove the other four monuments to Confederates from Monument Avenue as well as those in other city locations. Their actions are long, long overdue.
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** There was more to Byrd's legacy ([link removed])
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Winchester Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

None of us knew Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, whose statue in Richmond has been ordered to come down by the governor over the Confederacy’s support of slavery. We can only read about Lee in history books. But if you’re of a certain age in Winchester, you might have known the late U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr., who was born here and died here in 2013 at age 98. When Byrd was a young state senator, he helped craft Virginia’s “massive resistance” policy against desegregating the commonwealth’s public schools.


** COLUMNISTS
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** Schapiro: Columbus as an early 20th-century symbol of tolerance ([link removed])
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By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Chris Legnaioli is angry — not just because his grandfather’s statue of Christopher Columbus, erected in Richmond’s Byrd Park 92 years ago, was torn down and tossed in a lake by George Floyd protesters, but because submerged with it was a troubling moment in history that Virginians shouldn’t forget. “I think they’ve overlooked everything, because they want their own say,” Legnaioli — it’s a melodic name, pronounced Lay-nee-oh-lee — said by telephone Thursday. “There’s no middle ground at all.”


** OP-ED
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** Robinson: No more Confederate school names or mascots ([link removed])
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By RODNEY ROBINSON, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

This past October at a conference in Farmville, a white teacher asked me what advice she could give to her school to retain black male teachers. I gave her answers about prioritizing recruitment, supporting black male teachers and creating a safe space for them to talk about the challenges that come with being only 2% of the profession. I asked her what school she worked at, and she responded, “Lee-Davis High School.”

Rodney Robinson, a social studies teacher for the past 20 years with Richmond Public Schools, was the 2019 National Teacher of the Year
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