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By MARGARET BARTHEL, WAMU
Parents in the region are facing tough choices about how their children will attend school next year as they weigh the learning needs of their kids, with the ongoing public health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Some school systems are asking parents to make a binding choice between in-person or online learning, or a mix of the two. In Fairfax County, officials are posing those two options for families, with a July 10 deadline for the decisions. It’s uncharted territory for one of the nation’s largest school systems — and for parents, too.
By DAN FRIEDELL, WTOP
A large “beach week” gathering in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, appears to be where at least 150 young people from Virginia’s Loudoun County contracted COVID-19. In the last week, Loudoun County’s Department of Health has seen a significant increase in positive coronavirus tests among people between the ages of 10 and 19 and 20 and 29.
By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury
Virginia’s Medicaid enrollment has increased by 55,000 more people than anticipated since a March 12 declaration of emergency at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid climb in enrollment numbers comes with questions about how the state will shoulder the costs if federal aid ends before Virginia’s economy fully recovers from the weight of the crisis.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
A Virginia judge has denied an injunction in a challenge to Gov. Ralph Northam’s mask mandate. Circuit Court Judge Jeanette Irby of the 20th Judicial Circuit, which covers Fauquier, Loudoun and Rappahannock counties, ruled Monday that Northam’s order requiring residents over the age of 10 to wear masks in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 can stand after a legal challenge from a Fauquier County winery and its owner.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
A Richmond judge is considering an emergency request to stop city and state police from using chemical irritants, explosives and similar devices to disperse peaceful protesters, after hearing arguments Monday from attorneys on both sides. Lawyers for the ACLU of Virginia on Monday told Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals that city and state police used an overly broad interpretation of state law to employ tear gas and other forceful means to disperse a peaceful teach-in demonstration outside City Hall on the night of June 22-23.
By BEN FINLEY, Associated Press
Virginia’s governor ceremonially signed legislation Monday that sets a path for the eventual approval of two large-scale offshore wind farms that could produce enough electricity to power more than a million homes in the state. The two proposed projects would be located off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina.
By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury
The State Water Control Board on Monday issued a groundwater withdrawal permit to one of two hotly contested natural gas plants planned by private developers in Charles City County, despite about 1,400 public comments opposing the approval. In a 6-0 vote, the board authorized the Chickahominy Power Station to withdraw 30 million gallons of groundwater annually from the Potomac aquifer, the source of almost all water used in the populous parts of the commonwealth that lie east of Interstate 95.
The Full Report
48 articles, 26 publications
Read Online10 Most Clicked
The Virginia Public Access Project
VPAP's exclusive statewide map showing Trump v. Biden campaign donations in each of Virginia's 2,453 voting precincts. The data has been updated to include the latest donations through May 31.
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.
By JOSH JANNEY, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Del. Christopher Collins, a Republican who has represented the 29th District in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2016, resigned his seat effective Sunday after being appointed a 26th Judicial Circuit judge. Collins, who was elected to his second two-year term to the state legislature in November, will succeed Judge William Warner Eldridge IV, who served the general district courts in Winchester, Frederick County and Harrisonburg.
By SOPHIE KAPLAN, Washington Times
A raft of new laws, including gun control and marijuana decriminalization, take effect Wednesday in Virginia — the work of the first Democrat-led legislature in more than two decades. Democrats enacted hundreds of laws in this year’s General Assembly to address a wide swath issues such as allowing local governments to remove statues, expanding protections for the LGBTQ community, no longer requiring photo ID for voting and raising the age limit for purchasing tobacco products.
By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE
Del. Elizabeth Guzman (D-Prince William) is considering a bid to become Virginia’s first Hispanic Lieutenant Governor. Guzman is a Peruvian immigrant who won her current post in 2017’s blue wave elections. She flipped a seat held by Republicans since 1993, becoming one of the first two female Hispanic lawmakers in the legislature.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
After securing the Republican nomination to run against Sen. Mark Warner in November, Army veteran Daniel Gade is challenging the two-term incumbent to five debates. Gade announced Monday that he wants to debate Warner five times, which is two more than the Democrat proposed last week.
By PETER VIETH, Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Subscription required for some articles)
Virginia’s jury trial moratorium continues. The Supreme Court of Virginia has extended its declaration of judicial emergency through July 19. Regardless of when any circuit court scheduling order was entered, “all civil and criminal jury trials are suspended and shall be continued, and no jury trials shall occur in the Commonwealth for the duration of this Order,” the court said June 22.
By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Eviction cases are starting to be heard again in a state that has some of the country’s highest rates of people being kicked out of their homes, and tenant advocates are worried. The moratorium on eviction hearings — set by the Virginia Supreme Court at the start of the coronavirus pandemic at the request of Gov. Ralph Northam — ended Monday, just in time for Northam’s $50 million rent and mortgage relief program to kick in.
By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
A new state program aimed at helping Virginia residents pay their rent or mortgage as they grapple with the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic has allocated $450,000 to the Lynchburg region. The housing assistance made available locally will be distributed by Interfaith Outreach Association, a Lynchburg-based nonprofit serving needy residents in the region, Gov. Ralph Northam’s office announced Monday.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
With evictions allowed to resume Monday in Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration has released details on a rent and mortgage relief program created to help residents struggling financially. Nonprofit organizations and local governments will administer the program, receiving money up front to distribute to eligible households, Northam’s office said Monday.
By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Virginia regulators are seeking an $86,000 fine from Mountain Valley Pipeline, saying the company continued to violate environmental regulations after it paid $2.15 million last year to settle a lawsuit. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality brought the suit in 2018, saying that erosion and sediment control rules were broken more than 300 times during construction of the natural gas pipeline through Southwest Virginia.
By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
State regulators declined for now to give the go-ahead for a proposed $346 million gas pipeline project that would run through Chesapeake, arguing Virginia Natural Gas needs to do more legwork on securing financing and environmental justice issues before construction. Opponents of the Header Improvement Project said it would affect communities of color and people living on low incomes, exposing them to air and noise pollution.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
The Virginia Department of Education inadequately oversees special education complaints made against local school systems, a new federal report says. The report from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs criticized the state agency’s lack of procedures in responding to and monitoring complaints related to special education programs.
By JUSTIN FAULCONER, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
While the vast majority of buildings and hallways at the Central Virginia Training Center have gone dark, finishing touches on Virginia’s oldest state facility serving individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities aren’t quite done yet as a new fiscal year begins Wednesday. The Madison Heights facility is wrapping its 109-year run by finding new uses for furniture, equipment and supplies that remain three months after the last resident — Alisha Gupta — was relocated, according to the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
By RACHEL DEPOMPA, NBC 29
Dr. Michael John Bigg, a radiologist and owner of the Allison Breast Center on Forest Avenue, is accused by the Virginia Board of Medicine of misreading the mammograms at least 18 women - telling them they were fine when they really had cancer. “Vivacious, always a smile on her face,” is how Lynda Price-Smith de Koning describes her mother Kay Smith, one of those women who recently died.
By PATRICK LARSEN, WCVE
On Friday, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Glen Allen) proposed the Growing Climate Solutions Act. The bipartisan legislation aims to help farmers and foresters get involved in carbon trading, the practice of buying and selling permits - or credits - to emit carbon dioxide. Those credits are intended to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with market-based incentives.
By DAVE RESS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The second tower is up and the blades are attached after a week of high-seas construction work, 27 miles off the Virginia Beach shore and in four or five weeks the 253-foot blades will start turning the state toward a carbon-neutral future. Technicians were still at work some 400 feet above the waves Monday, connecting the mechanical and electrical equipment that will convert each rotation of the two giant windmills into electrons fed into Virginia’s grid.
By MARTY O'BRIEN, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums, which offer historic horse racing gaming technology and full-card simulcasts of horse racing, are set to reopen Wednesday when the state moves into Phase 3 of its business plan, the Colonial Downs Group has announced. Rosie’s is anchored at Colonial Downs in New Kent County, with satellite gambling facilities in Richmond, Hampton and Vinton in Roanoke County.
By COLIN KELLAHER, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)
A top executive of private-equity firm Carlyle Group Inc. has launched an effort to help Virginia residents left jobless by the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Glenn Youngkin, co-chief executive of Carlyle, is serving as chairman of the new public charity, dubbed the Virginia Ready Initiative, or VA Ready, which aims to retrain out-of-work Virginia residents with the skills they need for high-demand jobs and to connect them with employment opportunities. ...
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
How does $1,000 sound to help start a new career? A new nonprofit group called the Virginia Ready Initiative, or VA Ready, wants to give unemployed workers who complete one of about 30 credential training programs at the state’s community colleges a $1,000 award once the credential has been earned.
By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A container ship that was held off the coast of Virginia Beach last week after crew members tested positive for the coronavirus has been cleaned and made its scheduled cargo pit stop in Portsmouth. A new crew is on the Maersk Idaho as the ship is southbound to the Port of Houston, set to arrive Thursday before a trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.
By RACHEL SMITH, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Ridership on Amtrak for both the Lynchburg and Roanoke legs has declined significantly in recent months as the areas grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. For more than a decade, the Commonwealth of Virginia and Amtrak have offered passenger rail service between Lynchburg’s Kemper Station and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The Amtrak Northeast Regional train, which travels up to Boston, continues to provide daily service from Lynchburg to Roanoke.
ArlNow
Drivers have been routinely cutting across northbound I-395 to access the HOV bridge into the District, causing traffic hazards on the normally busy highway. During a pandemic and nationwide protests, it might not seem like a big deal, but it has been happening with surprising regularity.
By SALEEN MARTIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Fewer than 500 coronavirus cases were reported overnight in Virginia, according to data released Monday morning by the Virginia Department of Health. The state’s tally is now 62,189, adding 453 cases.
By LUANNE RIFE, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 jumped by 35 in Roanoke on Monday, pushing the city’s total above 400 cases. The Virginia Department of Health reported Monday that Roanoke has had 403 cases of the coronavirus; Roanoke County’s cases increased by 28 on Monday to 234, and Giles County’s cases doubled in the last week to 14.
By STAFF REPORT, Loudoun Times
Loudoun County saw 356 new cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 between June 22 and June 29, an average of nearly 51 cases a day over the past week. The county saw 84 new cases on Saturday, which followed 67 on Friday. There were 42 new cases reported Sunday and 36 on Monday. The county's total case count is 3,968.
By CHARLES WILBORN, Danville Register & Bee
There’s a mix of reasons for the continued uptick of COVID-19 cases in the region, according to the local health director. In a span of two days, the Pittsylvania-Danville Health District added 18 cases of the severe respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. On Thursday, the district had 168 cases. That number jumped to 186 by Saturday morning’s data update.
By STEVEN DOYLE, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Social gatherings are generating a spike in cases of COVID-19 that has West Piedmont Health Department officials concerned about a spread of the virus. Nancy Bell, spokesperson for the district, cited at least one trip to the beach and social gatherings as elements that led to 35 new cases on Monday, continuing a surge that has produced 73 new cases since Thursday.
By JENNY GATHRIGHT, DCist
A recent uptick in COVID-19 cases at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Virginia has raised new concerns about safety, and about the facility’s management. At the end of last month, there were no active, confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Farmville Detention Center in central Virginia, where many immigrants whom authorities believe entered the country illegally are detained.
By RANDY ARRINGTON, Page Valley News
While a trickle of new cases continues to crop up, Page County has seen a significant decrease in COVID-19 activity during the month of June. The Virginia Department of Health only reported one new case of the coronavirus in Page County over the last three days. In the last 29 days, Page has seen nine days with only one new case of COVID-19 reported and another nine days with no new cases.
By IAN MUNRO, Daily News Record (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board met on Monday for the second time to discuss an Emergency Temporary Standard to further protect Virginia workers from possibly contracting COVID-19. And it could take the 14-person board another meeting or two before it can approve the document, according to Princy Doss, policy, planning and public information director for the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry. The first meeting was held on June 24, according to Virginia’s regulatory town hall website.
By LUANNE RIFE, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
If only there was a way to halt the spread of scammers. The Virginia Department of Health on Monday warned that scammers might call people pretending to be COVID-19 contact tracers in order to separate people from their money. Health Department contact tracers will not ask for money or for your Social Security number, bank account details, credit card numbers or payment of any form.
By ERIC POINTER, WFXR
A Forest man says more than 1,200 people have reported restaurants, churches, and other businesses across the Commonwealth for not following Gov. Ralph Northam’s mask mandate. The man filed Freedom of Information Act request for that information. He’s calling it Snitch Leaks and it’s getting a lot of attention on social media. “The short answer is I wanted to see how many people would rat out Anne Frank. And it’s essentially that,” said Isaiah Knight.
By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury
After white nationalists rallied around Charlottesville’s statue of Robert E. Lee in 2017, then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe took action to prevent “similar-styled events” at the towering, state-owned Lee statue in Richmond. . . . Though the regulations were created in response to white supremacist violence, authorities are now using them to manage the throngs of social justice demonstrators that have made the Lee monument the epicenter of Black Lives Matter activism in Virginia’s capital for the last month.
By MICHAEL SCHWARTZ, Richmond BizSense
There’s a case of the recusals going around among Richmond judges A combined six local judges have recused themselves from the two lawsuits filed this month seeking to halt the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue. The hot potato streak started June 8 with Richmond Circuit Court Judge Beverly Snukals. She recused herself as the initial judge on the first of the two cases – a deed dispute filed by William C. Gregory, who claims to be a descendant of the family that sold the land on which the monument sits to the state in the late 1800s.
By JONATHAN EDWARDS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Pitching tents and firing up grills, about 150 protesters took over a grassy area between Norfolk City Hall and the courthouse, demanding city officials and police release thousands of reports showing how officers use force against people. They said they plan to occupy the area until they get the records.
By DICK ULIANO, WTOP
Responding to protests demanding reform, law enforcement leaders in Alexandria, Virginia, say they’re taking a hard look at their practices and promise improvements in policing. The city conducted an online forum Monday night featuring Mayor Justin Wilson, Police Chief Michael Brown and Chief Deputy Shelbert Williams of the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office.
By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times
The Loudoun Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy is requesting its 112-year-old Confederate statue in Leesburg be returned to the organization. The request from chapter No. 170 comes as more counties and cities across the country are taking steps to remove Confederate statues in the wake of nationwide protests for racial equity and reform.
By EMILY SIDES, Inside NOVA (Metered Paywall)
Stonewall Jackson High School will be renamed Unity Reed High School to honor Arthur Reed, a long-time security assistant at the school, and Stonewall Middle School will be renamed Unity Braxton Middle, to honor Celestine and Carroll Braxton, a local educator and her veteran husband. The new names were approved unanimously by the Prince William County School Board at a special meeting Monday evening, less than a month after Superintendent Steve Walts first recommended renaming the schools.
By KENYA HUNTER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
The Richmond School Board might now favor in-person instruction for city students in the fall, after an option in which students attend school on alternating days seems to have garnered support among parents and teachers. Under so-called Option Two, half of the students in Richmond Public Schools would attend school on Mondays and Wednesdays, with the other half on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
By ROBERTO ROLDAN, WCVE
The Hermitage Road Historic District Association is calling for the removal of the statue to A.P. Hill in Richmond’s Northside. Over the weekend, the association had a special meeting on whether to call on local officials to remove or relocate the statue, which sits at the intersection of Hermitage Road and Laburnum Avenue. Members present voted unanimously to support removal, according to association president Bob Balster. It was the first time the Hermitage Road Historic District has taken a position on the monument.
By C. SUAREZ ROJAS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
The Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office will soon add a deputy prosecutor in charge of overseeing complaints against police officers. Shannon Taylor, the county’s elected prosecutor, announced the creation of the position Monday after receiving permission from the county manager to unfreeze a vacant position in her office.
By STAFF REPORT, Northern Virginia Daily
The Town of Front Royal announced a contract with a business recovery consultant with a primary focus on tourism, enabling the town to assist small businesses with economic recovery for the next 90 days. The consultant, Strategic Solutions by Tricia LLC, was also selected to establish a bridge between immediate economic recovery efforts and longer-term tourism management. Both the town and Warren County have voted to outsource tourism management and marketing.
By MEGAN WILLIAMS, Daily News Record (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A proposed reopening plan for Harrisonburg City Public Schools for the 2020-21 school year includes blended learning, with one day a week being online learning only for all students. A reopening task force has been meeting since the end of May to develop a strategy based on safety guidelines, Gov. Ralph Northam’s orders, and student success for the reopening of school in the fall. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019-20 school year was canceled for in-person instruction.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia made some modest and long overdue steps toward reducing its unacceptably high rate of evictions. That was before the coronavirus pandemic and the economic turmoil it unleashed. On Monday, thanks to a ruling by the Supreme Court of Virginia, the moratorium on evictions that’s been in place since March was lifted. That’s premature and the commonwealth, with the help of local governments, must do what’s necessary to help people stay in their homes during these unusually difficult times.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Yes, we know they’re hot. They don’t always fit. And they can fog up your glasses. But scientific experts continue to emphasize that face masks help contain the spread of COVID-19. Virginians age 10 and older are required to wear a face mask while inside a public building or business. That includes grocery stores, salons and government buildings like libraries.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
As the Fourth of July approaches, Virginia appears to be in a fortunate situation regarding the spread of COVID-19. In Texas, hospitalizations tripled in June and officials are worried about bed capacity. In Florida and California, bars recently were shut down due to heavy spikes in community transmission of the coronavirus.
By NICOLE RILEY AND BRETT VASSEY, published in Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
A panel of unelected citizens and agency chiefs who make up Virginia’s Safety and Health Codes Board are about rush into place an emergency workplace regulation that will impact every business in the commonwealth with little input from those who would be drastically affected: Virginia's employers. This broad, rigid, one-size-fits-all mandate, pushed by labor to address worker concerns about the spread of COVID-19, is likely to become permanent and thus unable to evolve as science on the virus changes.
Nicole Riley is the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business in Virginia. Brett Vassey is president and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers’ Association.
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