VISUALIZATION: CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS OF DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES

Using the metrics of age, gender and race, we compare 62 non-incumbent Democratic candidates running for the General Assembly this November with the 68 sitting Democratic legislators.

LEADING GOP SENATOR FILES GUN CONTROL BILL ON EVE OF SPECIAL SESSION IN VIRGINIA

A powerful Republican lawmaker has opened the door to one type of gun restriction as lawmakers and interest groups converge Tuesday on the State Capitol for a special legislative session on gun control. Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City), the chamber’s majority leader, proposed a bill that would ban firearms from local government buildings around the state and make any violation a felony. State law now bans guns only in courthouses, and violation is a misdemeanor.

GOP SEN. NORMENT FILES BILL TO BAN GUNS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS FOR SPECIAL SESSION TUESDAY

Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City, has filed a bill for Tuesday’s special session of the General Assembly that would ban anyone from bringing a gun into a local government building, a measure that goes further than what Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has proposed. Norment, however, has a history of pushing certain votes in an attempt to embarrass Democrats.

TOP REPUBLICAN IN VIRGINIA SENATE PROPOSES BANNING GUNS IN ALL GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS

n a move that is at odds with the majority of his own party, Republican Sen. Tommy Norment says he wants to ban guns in all local government buildings. The majority leader from James City County filed the bill Monday ahead of Tuesday’s special session of the legislature convened by Gov. Ralph Northam to take up gun safety measures in the wake of the mass shooting in a Virginia Beach municipal building.

THE SPECIAL SESSION IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT GUNS. BUT WILL RULES ALLOW IT?

Some hints at Rep. Bobby Scott’s Newport News town hall on gun violence may offer a clue about the real debate when the General Assembly convenes Tuesday. The hints: that the key objective may be almost as much getting legislators on the record about gun control measures as actually enacting new law.

DOZENS OF BILLS FILED AS GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONVENES SPECIAL SESSION FOCUSED ON GUNS

Lawmakers will review dozens of pieces of legislation aimed at reducing gun violence when the General Assembly reconvenes Tuesday for a special session. Gov. Ralph Northam called for the special session in the wake of the May 31 shooting at a Virginia Beach municipal building that left 12 people dead.

GILBERT WEIGHS IN ON SESSION AIMED AT GUN VIOLENCE

A top Republican in the Virginia General Assembly has criticized Gov. Ralph Northam for using a recent mass-shooting to push for more gun restrictions. A special session called by Northam to address gun violence in the state begins today. The Democratic governor called the General Assembly session in the weeks following a May 31 mass shooting incident in a Virginia Beach government building that left 13 people inside dead, including a city engineer.

INDEPENDENT MAKES BALLOT FOR 25TH HOUSE RACE

In addition to previously announced Democratic and Republican nominees for area statehouse races, independent candidate Janice Allen, of Rockingham County, has qualified for the Nov. 5 ballot for the 25th House District. Allen will be in a three-way race to replace Del. Steve Landes, R-Weyers Cave, who chose to run for Augusta County clerk of court and forgo re-election to a 13th House term. Jennifer Kitchen, a Craigsville Democrat, and Rockingham County Republican Chris Runion also are running for the seat.

SCOTT TAYLOR TO CHALLENGE MARK WARNER FOR U.S. SENATE SEAT

cott Taylor, a Virginia Beach Republican who lost his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives last year, will aim for a bigger prize next year: the U.S. Senate. He announced his plans to challenge Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, during an appearance Monday on the Fox News morning show "Fox & Friends." He also rolled out a polished campaign video on YouTube that highlighted his background and hardly mentioned politics.

REPUBLICAN SCOTT TAYLOR, A FORMER CONGRESSMAN, TO CHALLENGE SEN. MARK WARNER

Republican Scott Taylor, a former congressman, said Monday he will try to break Democrats’ monopoly on statewide offices in Virginia in 2020 by challenging two-term senator Mark R. Warner. An ex-Navy SEAL who last year lost his Virginia Beach district to a Democrat, Taylor called himself an underdog in the race and acknowledged he cannot match the fundraising muscle of Warner.

EMBATTLED VETERANS POLITICAL COMMITTEE ABRUPTLY SHUTS DOWN

A Virginia-based political action committee has closed down while under scrutiny for raising millions of dollars in the name of military veterans — but spending almost all of the money on telemarketing, salaries and overhead. Put Vets First! PAC and two sister nonprofits run by retired Army Maj. Brian Arthur Hampton were the focus of a Center for Public Integrity investigation in late 2017 that prompted attorneys general in New York and Virginia to investigate Hampton’s operations.

CHARLOTTESVILLE COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY SUED BY 'SKILL MACHINE' MANUFACTURERS

The Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney’s decision to ban “skill machines” is now the subject of a lawsuit. On June 28, skill machine manufacturers Queen of Virginia, POM of Virginia and Miele Manufacturing, sued Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania in his official capacity, arguing their gaming machines are legal under state code and that Platania’s decision had hurt their standing within the state and violated their constitutional rights.

VIRGINIA COURTS QUIETLY ROLL OUT ONLINE STATEWIDE CRIMINAL RECORDS SEARCHES

Virginia’s court system made it a lot easier to find online court records last week, quietly rolling out a statewide search function on its website that allows users to search by a defendant’s name to find docket information about criminal and traffic charges back to 1990 or earlier in most jurisdictions.

INMATE AT WOMEN'S PRISON DIES FROM SUSPECTED OVERDOSE

An inmate at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women died last week from a suspected drug overdose. The Virginia Department of Corrections on Monday confirmed that Ashley Janette Carr died July 1. However, the cause of death has yet to be definitively determined by the medical examiner’s office, a spokesman said Monday. ...The department, with roughly 30,000 inmates in 40 facilities, has been struggling to keep opioids and other drugs — which increasingly are easier to conceal — out of prisons, enacting tighter mail and visitation policies, among other efforts. Even some staff members have been involved.

STATE REGULATORS FINE BOTETOURT COUNTY FACTORY FOR AIR POLLUTION

A Botetourt County automotive parts factory released excessive levels of hydrochloric acid into the air, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Dynax America Corp. agreed to pay a fine of $168,204 and fix the problems in a recent agreement with state regulators.

REPORT: VA. PROGRESSING TOWARD CLOSURE OF TRAINING CENTERS, BUT STRUGGLING WITH DOJ COMPLIANCE

One year away from the prescribed closure of the Central Virginia Training Center, a state institution that treats patients with intellectual and physical disabilities, the state has moved most of the patients into community-based care settings but is struggling to comply with other requirements set in a U.S. Department of Justice settlement and has not yet determined the fate of the complex near Lynchburg.

CONGRESSMAN BOBBY SCOTT HOLDS GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

Lawmakers are taking a hard stance against gun violence after the tragedy in Virginia Beach claimed 12 lives. On Monday, Congressman Bobby Scott hosted a round table discussion in Newport News on what it will take to stop the violence all throughout Hampton Roads.

BLACKOUT: BLACKJEWEL BANKRUPTCY LEAVES WORKERS IN THE DARK, PAYCHECKS BOUNCING

As major coal producer Blackjewel LLC goes through bankruptcy proceedings, employees at some of the company’s mines in Southwest Virginia report that work has halted at its facilities and recent paychecks are bouncing. With unanswered questions surrounding the status of their work and what they feel is a lack of communication from their employer, some said they aren’t sure whether they even still have jobs after they were told to stay home from work last week.

D.C. AREA WAS DELUGED BY A MONTH’S WORTH OF RAIN IN AN HOUR MONDAY

A month’s worth of rain deluged the immediate D.C. area early Monday, resulting in one of its most extreme flooding events in years. The record-setting cloudburst unleashed four inches of water in a single hour, way too much for a paved-over, heavily populated urban area to cope with at the height of the morning rush.

STORM DESTROYS PORTION OF HISTORIC ‘SEGREGATION WALL’ IN HALL’S HILL

The wall once divided the white Waycroft-Woodlawn subdivision from the black Hall’s Hill neighborhood was partially destroyed by this morning’s storm and flooding. A section of brick wall, which was first constructed in the 1930s to close off the segregated neighborhood, collapsed amid fast-moving floodwaters.

AFTER AMAZON, HOSKINS TO BECOME FAIRFAX COUNTY’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CHIEF

One of the lead officials behind Amazon’s region-altering move to Northern Virginia is leaving Arlington to head economic development efforts in neighboring Fairfax County, officials announced Monday. Victor Hoskins, who directed Arlington County’s economic development authority for nearly five years, will succeed Gerald L. Gordon as head of Fairfax’s economic development authority, starting Aug. 5, Fairfax officials said. Gordon stepped down from his job in Fairfax last year after overseeing new development for Virginia’s chief economic engine for 35 years.

SCHOOL BOARD, SECURE FUTURES FAIL TO REACH DEAL ON BUILDING LARGE SOLAR ARRAY

The deal is off between the Harrisonburg City Public Schools and solar company Secure Futures, LLC to build the largest solar array for a Virginia public school system. The school system’s leaders and the solar company couldn’t agree on the terms and ultimately broke off negotiations last month, according to documents The Citizen received through a request under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act....But the documents The Citizen requested offer a window into key friction points, including the school board’s concern that the proposed energy savings from the solar arrays wouldn’t be guaranteed.

THREE HOUSEHOLDS THREATENED WITH EVICTION EVERY DAY IN LYNCHBURG

An average of three families are threatened with eviction every day in Lynchburg, making it among the worst in the country for a city of its size, according to a new analysis of eviction records in the region. Nearly nine out of every 100 renting households in the city faced a court-ordered eviction in 2016, giving it the ninth highest eviction rate among Virginian cities larger than 20,000 residents.

HAMPTON ROADS PENAL SYSTEM IS BROKEN

The systemic injustice taking place in Hampton Roads’ prisons must be immediately corrected Perverse acts involving the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail have revealed a culture of indifference toward inmates.

NEW FOIA LAWS LET MORE SUNSHINE IN

Virginia’s half-century old Freedom of Information Act guarantees “the people of the Commonwealth ready access to public records in the custody of a public body or its officers and employees, and free entry to meetings of public bodies wherein the business of the people is being conducted. The affairs of government are not intended to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy since at all times the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government.”

CASEY: A CALDWELL BUTLER HISTORY LESSON ON IMPEACHING A PRESIDENT

During the summer 45 years ago, a congressman from Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District stunned the nation. In July 1974, Rep. M. Caldwell Butler declared President Richard Nixon a liar and an obstructer and said it was the duty of Republicans to impeach him.

DUNCOMBE: NEW IRS RULE NARROWS TAX LOOPHOLE IN VIRGINIA

Earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service finalized a new rule helping to narrow a tax loophole that had been abused here in Virginia. The rule prevents people or corporations from “double-dipping” when making donations to private or religious schools. This loophole had allowed some private school donors to turn a profit from their “charity” by claiming state and federal charitable giving deductions on top of Virginia’s already generous tax credit called the Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit.

Chris Duncombe is policy director of the Richmond-based Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, which provides analyses of fiscal and economic issues with particular attention to the impacts on low- and moderate-income persons.

PARSONS AND CHUNG: THE VIRGINIA SPECIAL SESSION ON GUN LEGISLATION DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A FARCE

In the aftermath of the horrific mass shooting in a municipal building in Virginia Beach on May 31 that left 12 people dead and four others injured, a surprising thing happened in the state capital. Rather than the usual round of empty “thoughts and prayers” by some policymakers and passionate calls for action by others, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced that the Virginia legislature would indeed be called on to take action in a special session focused on proposals to prevent gun violence, scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Chelsea Parsons is vice president for gun violence prevention policy at the Center for American Progress. Ed Chung is vice president for criminal justice reform at the Center for American Progress.

HALE: VHDA BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES THROUGH SAFE, AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Recent headlines in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and other newspapers across the commonwealth note the “hot” housing market with inventory down and prices up. While this market is great for sellers, where does it leave the thousands of working Virginians who are looking for safe, affordable housing to rent or buy? In late June, the problem of housing affordability was one of the main themes that emerged during the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Metro Business Live forum. The panelists discussed the fact that the inventory of homes for sale in the Richmond region was down significantly from last year — especially for first-time homebuyers. They concluded that a combination of this low inventory, along with rising prices, has created a crisis in affordability.

Kit Hale is principal broker and managing partner of MKB, REALTORS® in Roanoke. He has served on the VDHA board for 11 years, most recently as its chairman.

MORSE: DEBATES GIVE INSIGHT ON NORTHAM FIASCO

The recent Democratic Party presidential debates, while cheerless and problematic on their own, at least shed a light on the treatment Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam received in February. I know, the sessions in Miami were hardly debates at all. With a set designed to rival anything on the Las Vegas strip, a civics lesson wasn’t exactly the core idea.

After writing editorials for The Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot in the 1980s, Gordon C. Morse wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, then spent nearly three decades working on behalf of corporate and philanthropic organizations