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By HANNAH NATANSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Colin O’Grady wakes and falls asleep every day to one thought. The high school English teacher, who has taught in Fairfax County Public Schools for more than a decade, is constantly asking himself the same question: Will he opt to teach virtually this fall? Or will he risk setting foot on campus to see his students again? He misses the human moments that inspired him to become a teacher — the face-pulling in response to a strange line of Shakespeare, the bright eyes signaling sudden understanding.
By NEIL HARVEY, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Citing concerns over potential COVID-19 infection, a group of law school graduates who are registered to take the Virginia bar exam in Roanoke at the end of this month have proposed an unconventional solution: waive that notoriously difficult requirement. While the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners has not yet gone that far, last week it added new options for test-takers, including postponement, plus the opportunity to take a shortened version of the exam later this summer.
By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
As Bristol Motor Speedway prepares for what could be the largest crowd at a U.S. stadium since the coronavirus pandemic shut down spectator sports this spring, some public health experts question the risks of welcoming as many as 30,000 fans at Wednesday’s NASCAR All-Star Race.
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
A panel of state senators that is digging into criminal justice and police reform met for the first time Friday to listen to presenters describe areas where the Virginia General Assembly could pursue changes. The Senate’s Judiciary and Rehabilitation and Social Services committees, led by Sens. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, and Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, listened for more than two hours to testimony from criminal justice experts who provided a wide range of ideas, from law enforcement recruitment and training to changing police culture and a more fair court and correctional system.
By CHARLES BOOTHE, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Closing courts in Tazewell County because of the pandemic has created a way to pay the tuition for county students at Southwest Virginia Community College (SVCC) for the rest of this year. “The regional jail expense decreased by $275,000 due to the COVID-19 shutdown of the court system,” said County Administrator Eric Young. That money will be used to fulfill a pledge to county students who attend the college to pay their tuition this summer and through the fall semester.
By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury
He’s not officially on the comeback trail yet, but it wasn’t hard to see the message former Gov. Terry McAuliffe was sending last week. He announced his PAC had raised $1.7 million in two months, an astounding sum for someone who’s been out of office for two-and-a-half years and technically isn’t running for anything. His donor list included senior Democratic lawmakers, including several members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.
By MATTHEW PARAS, Washington Times
The Washington Redskins will retire their team name Monday — putting an end to a moniker that has stood for the last 87 years, a league source confirmed to The Washington Times. Washington is set to make a formal announcement in the morning, but a league source added that the team will not reveal its new name just yet. The news comes 10 days after Washington announced it was conducting a “thorough review” of its name following pressure from activists and corporations to make a change.
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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.
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Just days after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, Gov. Ralph Northam spoke about numerous Black people who have been killed by police because “in America, the color of their skin means that they are treated differently.” Roanoke County Police Chief Howard Hall listened to Northam and was bothered, because he felt like the governor was painting police officers as racist.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Two years after losing the congressional seat, 7th District Republicans will decide July 18 who to run against Rep. Abigail Spanberger in November. Among the six candidates are Dels. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper and John McGuire, R-Goochland; international nonprofit leader Tina Ramirez, local teacher Pete Greenwald, former Trump administration appointee Andrew Knaggs and Coast Guard veteran Jason Roberge.
By JESS ARNOLD, WUSA
After a renewed push from the Trump administration to reopen schools to in-person learning come fall, Virginia teachers joined together Sunday to say they don't feel safe going back. “I am not Notorious B.I.G, and I am not ready to die," Virginia high school teacher Sonia Smith said. The grassroots organization Virginia Educators United hosted a virtual town hall Sunday to discuss reopening plans in their respective school systems.
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The Port of Virginia will ditch two diesel-powered, ship-to-shore cranes and several gas-powered container tractors, replacing them with all-electric versions, once it gets $14 million from the state. The money is coming from $93.6 million the state received as part of a federal settlement following the Volkswagen emissions scandal.
By JOSH JANNEY, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
During a virtual town hall meeting on Thursday, Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-10th, said extending enhanced unemployment benefits to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic is a “top priority.” In March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act — a $2 trillion stimulus package to provide relief. One of the components of that package was an additional $600 a week in enhanced unemployment benefits to aid those who lost their jobs because of coronavirus.
By ALLISON STEVENS, Virginia Mercury
Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine is preparing for battle with President Donald Trump over renaming military facilities that honor Confederates — and he’s expecting to win. In an interview with the Mercury, Kaine said he believes the GOP-controlled Senate would override a possible presidential veto of a defense policy bill that would begin a process to rename the facilities. Doing so would require support from two-thirds of those voting.
By KEN BELSON AND KEVIN DRAPER, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
After decades of controversy, it took a serious threat to Dan Snyder’s team’s finances, and those of the rest of the N.F.L., to get the owner of the Washington Redskins to consider changing the team’s name, which Native Americans (and many dictionaries) consider to be a slur. The final straw? FedEx, which pays about $8 million a year for the naming rights to the team’s stadium in Landover, Md., and whose chairman has been trying to sell his shares in the team, said that it would back out of the deal if the name was not changed in a letter that The New York Times was allowed to review.
By LES CARPENTER AND MARK MASKE, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The Washington Redskins plan to announce Monday morning that they will change their team name, three people with knowledge of the situation confirmed Sunday night. The team is not expected to reveal a new name until a later date.
By MICHAEL NEIBAUER, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)
Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud services arm is proposing 1.75 million square feet of data center space immediately south of Dulles International Airport, on 100 acres it bought late last year for $73 million. It is a large proposal even for Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ: AMZN), whose data centers already dot Loudoun County — with several more in the pipeline from Sterling to Ashburn to the Route 50 corridor.
By JEFF STURGEON, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Three regional Virginia banks each gave financial relief to more than 500 small businesses and organizations in the Roanoke and New River valleys as the country locked down for the pandemic this spring, according to data from the Paycheck Protection Program. More than $440 million poured into the region through nearly 5,400 emergency loans, according to a new government report. The banks that enabled funds to flow have been identified for the first time.
By HENRI GENDREAU, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Bohan Zhang had planned to start his sophomore year in Blacksburg. Instead, the 20-year-old computer science student will be on a flight to Beijing next week, thanks to a new federal rule that will restrict international students’ ability to take online courses. International students nationwide, including nearly 4,000 who study at Virginia Tech, could be deported if universities are forced to revert to online-only classes in the fall semester because of the coronavirus pandemic.
By ELIZABETH BELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Washington and Lee University plans to reopen its campus this fall, but the school is giving students the option of coming to campus to take classes or taking them virtually. Other changes are taking place at the small liberal arts college in Lexington: Masks are required. Sports are canceled until 2021. The campus will be closed to nonessential visitors. Plays, musical performances and guest speakers will all be held virtually.
By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Radford University’s board of visitors is facing continued backlash for its resolution in early June to give President Brian Hemphill unilateral budget -cutting powers, including suspending guidelines outlined for such procedures in the faculty handbook. The latest critic of the June 12 board resolution is the nonprofit American Association of University Professors, which sent a letter through its RU Chapter President Glen Martin, a tenured professor who has been at Radford since 1985.
By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia has now topped more than 70,000 coronavirus cases in total, reporting another 888 COVID-19 cases Sunday. Sunday’s numbers were the third straight day of more than 800 positive tests, as Virginia’s number of cases have started to trend back upward, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health.
By LAURA VOZZELLA AND GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) warned on Friday that the state is experiencing “a concerning increase” in coronavirus cases in Hampton Roads, a region with beach attractions and soaring infections among young people. The state’s number of new cases outside that region has been mostly steady after steep declines stalled in mid-June, but eastern Virginia has gone in the other direction. The spike is especially notable in Virginia Beach, which on Friday added 116 cases — nearly double the daily high reached earlier in the week, and triple the previous peak of 37 on June 1.
By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
About half of the 2,361 people in Richmond who’ve tested positive for coronavirus are Hispanic, but only 14 workers hired recently to investigate cases and curb the spread of the virus in the city and Henrico County speak Spanish. Public health officials in the city and state say they are still working to ramp up hiring of Spanish-speaking contact tracers among other targeted moves designed to combat the debilitating surge among Latinos in Virginia, where Hispanic people account for 10% of the population but 44% of the state’s coronavirus cases.
By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia health officials are seeing promising signs the state’s ambitious contact tracing program is working, citing data that shows staffers are reaching roughly four out of five new coronavirus cases within 24 hours. Though there are still uncertainties — it’s unclear how many people are sharing info on their contacts — experts said reaching 86% of people within a day shows the state health department is effectively scaling up its containment strategies.
By LOGAN BOGERT, News Virginian
What should have been a routine activity turned into what one 74-year-old Waynesboro woman described as feeling threatened for her health. The woman, who did not want to use her name, was using a self-car wash in the city when a piece of her windshield wiper broke off. With poor weather in the forecast, she headed to Advance Auto Parts on Broad Street where she knew a windshield wiper could be installed for her.
By JULIA MARSIGLIANO, Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily (Metered paywall - 3 articles per month)
It started when a member of the York County Department of Fire and Life Safety disclosed that a “close acquaintance” tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19). “Upon finding out about such, and out of an abundance of caution, that individual and all of their direct co-workers were immediately quarantined and sent for testing,” Paula Hersh, public affairs manager for York County, wrote in an email. Friday, the department revealed 11 of their members have now tested positive.
By JOSH JANNEY, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office recently had an outbreak of COVID-19 that led to 16 deputies being quarantined. Frederick County Sheriff Lenny Millholland said on Friday that on or around June 9, a Sheriff’s Office deputy attended a family gathering. When he came back to work, he was assigned to work with a new recruit. The deputy who went to the gathering later found out he had contracted the coronavirus.
By CHARLES WILBORN, Danville Register & Bee
Facebook Twitter Email Print Save Vacations and community spread are blamed in a surge of COVID-19 cases in the Dan River Region. The Pittsylvania-Danville Health District shattered another one-day COVID-19 caseload record on Sunday morning. According to the Virginia Department of Health, the district added 34 new cases since Saturday's report.
By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury
The Virginia Department of Corrections says it’s down to 22 active cases of COVID-19 among inmates in the 40 prisons it operates around the state. Gov. Ralph Northam’s secretary of public safety, Brian Moran, touted the figures Friday, which include six hospitalized prisoners and 16 still being held at various correctional facilities. He emphasized the latter number in a presentation to lawmakers.
By ALI SULLIVAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Forty-three more inmates tested positive this week for COVID-19 at Henrico County’s Jail West at the county’s government complex on Parham Road. The facility’s mass testing effort on Tuesday and Wednesday comes after three recently incarcerated inmates tested positive on July 6, the Henrico County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday.
By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury
The Virginia Department of Health defended its refusal to release information on COVID-19 outbreaks in poultry plants, saying the poultry plants don’t operate like long-term care facilities and the state has been able to identify cases among workers without having to notify the public. VDH previously cited a section of state code regarding privacy to justify withholding facility-specific data for poultry plants even though it had released the same data for nursing homes.
By C. SUAREZ ROJAS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
At the start of 2020, Isiah Bagby started thinking of opening his own sober-living home to help others struggling with substance-use disorder. He was bouncing back from a drug possession conviction, and living in a True Recovery RVA sober home he helps manage. Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
A new lawsuit challenges the city of Richmond’s authority to remove its Confederate statues and requests that those already taken down be put back up. The lawsuit, filed in Richmond Circuit Court on Friday by two Monument Avenue residents, says Mayor Levar Stoney unlawfully ordered the iconography taken down last week on the first day of a new law that gave the city control of the statues’ future.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
A state review board has unanimously approved a plan for removing the Lee monument in downtown Richmond — with the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and the horse he is riding to be cut into three sections for eventual reassembly in a different setting and historical context than on Monument Avenue.
By CHUCK CULPEPPER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
As the 21st century began, a motley mash of monuments lined gorgeous Monument Avenue here: five Confederate bigwigs and Arthur Ashe, five anti-Americans who lost their largest conflict and one African American who triumphed over so much — the six of them spaced blocks apart from one another so at least they didn’t have to fraternize.
By JOHANNA ALONSO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
“We want them out there, not in Bon Air,” chanted a group of about 60 people as they marched around the perimeter of Monroe Park in protest of the juvenile detention system. “Out there,” organizers said, meant schools and universities, like nearby Virginia Commonwealth University, where young people can thrive, rather than youth prisons like Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center.
By LEIF GREISS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
About 45 people chanted “back the blue” as they marched down Main Street in Abingdon. Most held signs with pro-police or pro-President Donald Trump messages on them and many wore pro-Trump shirts, hats and even Trump face masks as they marched under the midday sun.
By JESSICA NOLTE, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Black Lives Matter 757 marched down Mercury Boulevard on Friday night with the message that the group isn’t going anywhere until there’s real change. The group was commemorating four years since its inception on July 10, 2016. “It’s been a long four years, but it’s going to be an even longer four years if we don’t get what we need done,” said Aubrey Japharii Jones, the group’s president.
By JANE HARPER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Hampton police said late Friday they plan to issue charges against Black Lives Matter 757 leaders after protesters marched on Mercury Boulevard and blocked traffic at a major city intersection. Police have not yet said what charges they plan to file, or how many people they plan to level them against.
By JANE HARPER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
If a runner comes to a race with shoes that don’t fit, he’s going to be at a disadvantage. Even before the competition starts, he’s likely to feel uncomfortable, self-conscious and fearful he won’t be able to keep up. That’s what it’s like for many students of color when they show up to school each day, said April Sanders, a reading specialist in Virginia Beach and mother of four.
By PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
After countless floods in Arlington’s Waverly Hills neighborhood soaked his basement, Tom Reich finally ordered a custom-made waterproof door to protect his home’s bottom level. On Tuesday, the day before it was scheduled to arrive, yet another storm dumped buckets of rain on the region — and especially on 18th Street North.
By MIKE MURILLO, WTOP
School leaders in Alexandria, Virginia, have begun the process of considering a name change for the city’s only high school — T.C. Williams. The decision comes after a petition from community members urging the name be dropped, since its namesake Thomas Chambliss Williams was a pro-segregationist.
By NEAL AUGENSTEIN, WTOP
Prosecutors in Fairfax County, Virginia, will seek to drop misdemeanor charges and instead secure an indictment against a police officer who used a stun gun on a man he mistakenly thought he recognized. Tyler Timberlake, who is white, used a stun gun on a Black man, who was disoriented and did not appear combative, on June 5, in the Mount Vernon section of Fairfax County. In announcing his arrest, police released body camera video of the incident.
By STAFF REPORT, Loudoun Times
Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman (R) is pushing back against the Board of Supervisors' efforts to create countywide police department. The board is expected to take the first formal step toward creating a police department on July 21 by voting to advance the proposal. Voters will have the ultimate say in the matter, as it has to be approved by referendum before being implemented.
By RENSS GREENE, Loudoun Now
Loudoun Sheriff Michael L. Chapman used the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office’s official channels to argue the Board of Supervisors “seeks to take over and politicize local law enforcement” with a proposal to start a county police department. Using the same channels the department uses to communicate public safety messages, and offering as contact information the Sheriff’s Office’s Public Information Officer, Chapman called on Loudouners to call their county supervisors to speak about the proposal, and to sign up for a public input session on July 21, when supervisors are expected to discuss the proposal.
By ALI ROCKETT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Richmond police didn’t include any of the high-profile incidents of force during the recent unrest when the department this week published its first monthly update of use-of-force data since the protests began May 29. Police blame a backlog of cases related to the daily demonstrations that have often led to forceful dispersion by police, but it’s not the first time the department has published incomplete data on how often it uses violence.
By ALI ROCKETT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced Friday the 24 people selected for an advisory board he’s asked to “reimagine public safety.” “This task force will bring a diverse array of representatives from the activist, legal, academic, law enforcement, emergency services, artistic, health care and other fields together to agree on a set of actionable steps forward,” Stoney said at a news conference at City Hall where he introduced the individuals on the board.
By JESS NOCERA, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Education associations in Richmond and Chesterfield County are calling for a virtual return to their respective school systems in September, despite local doctors and health officials saying it’s safe for children to return to the classroom during COVID-19. In nearly identical statements released a day apart, the Richmond and Chesterfield education associations both wrote that returning with 100% virtual instruction rather than putting students in the classroom “should be a non-controversial position on returning to school during a global pandemic.”
By JONATHAN EDWARDS AND RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
If you listened closely enough, the seeds of the so-called “defund police” movement were planted years ago. By the police. For years, the top brass at the Norfolk Police Department has said officers are doing too much, spread too thin, and doing work far beyond their core mission of fighting crime.
By JIMMY LAROUE, Suffolk News Herald
On the eve of a scheduled court hearing involving a member of the Suffolk School Board’s dispute with the rest of the board about open-meetings laws, another issue with it came up during its July 9 meeting. After coming out of a closed meeting to discuss Superintendent Dr. John B. Gordon III’s performance evaluation, members took a required vote to certify it. During that vote, the member suing the other members of the board, Sherri Story, voted no.
By NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Although the coronavirus pandemic is continuing unabated, local governments are starting to bring their employees back to the office. Charlottesville, Albemarle County and their respective school divisions have started or soon will begin bringing their employees back to work in person. Some also will be slightly expanding public access to facilities.
By EDDIE CALLAHAN, WDBJ
Despite the misunderstandings surrounding the origin of the Hill City’s formal title, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell says he is definitely on-board with its future adjustment. In an effort to remove the stigma that comes along with the word “lynch” and the violent act it could represent, resident Daisy Howard sent a petition last month to City Council that has since collected over 5,300 signatures.
By RACHEL MAHONEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Recently organized Lynchburg-area militia groups are continuing their efforts to grow, undeterred by claims of unlawful activity sent to local officials by an attorney who has worked against other militia groups around the state, including some that were involved in a violent 2017 rally in Charlottesville. Toward the end of June, more than 50 people registered their names at a muster to organize a militia for Appomattox County. Marty White, a member of the mustering committee, previously found out from local news about letters sent to area elected officials stating recent militia activities violated state laws.
By JUSTIN FAULCONER, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
With the clock ticking rapidly on a six-month window for spending $2.5 million in federal relief money to offset negative effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Amherst County Board of Supervisors has laid out a pathway for its use. “... We’re being forced to spend it quickly,” Chairwoman Claudia Tucker said of the Dec. 30 deadline for the money to be spent. “I don’t like that. I think there’s room for all kinds of things to go wrong.”
By JOSH GULLY, Northern Virginia Daily
Protesters gathered outside town hall Saturday, expressing umbrage with the Shenandoah County School Board’s decision to retire school names and nicknames with ties to the Confederate states defeated in the Civil War. Last week, the Shenandoah County School Board voted 5-1 to rename Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School while also scrapping North Fork Middle School’s Rebel mascot.
By JOHN CRANE, Danville Register & Bee
The head of the Danville branch of the NAACP wants to remove the names of Woodrow Wilson Intermediate School and see Mayor Harry Wooding's statue gone from the front of the Municipal Building. "I want this to happen now," Danville NAACP President Tommy Bennett told the Danville Register & Bee. Wooding fought for the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee
Pittsylvania County went through two private ambulance services in a matter of three years. Due to loss of employees and financial reasons, both had to terminate service before the contract ended. As of July 1, Pittsylvania County is no longer dependent on a private company to provide backup, choosing instead to hire 18 full-time employees to staff ambulances 24 hours a day in three locations throughout the county.
Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
It was the death of a thousand cuts. Bleeding revenue and losing time, Dominion Energy in Virginia and its partner, Duke Energy in North Carolina, decided to abandon their six-year effort to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to move natural gas from the shale fields to the coast. We have long been concerned about the environmental damage linked to the pipeline, which started early in the project’s construction phase.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
The Trump administration has said that international students can’t remain in the United States if all their classes are online. The announcement serves Trump’s political aims no matter which way it plays out — it either forces schools to reopen during a pandemic or reduces the number of immigrants in the United States.
Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
ON Tuesday, the Fredericksburg City Council plans to vote on a resolution that supports renaming the part of Jefferson Davis Highway that runs through the city. The name change was unanimously supported by the Fredericksburg Memorials Advisory Commission. Like many of his generation, Davis was a slaveholder in addition to being a West Point graduate, congressman, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of War before he was chosen as the first and only president of the Confederate States of America.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
An unprecedented heat wave in the Arctic Circle pushed June to be the second-hottest month on record. Scientists expressed worry that the uncommon warmth would accelerate the loss of sea ice in the region, which has receded to an extent never seen in at this time of year. That may seem a world away from Hampton Roads but the warmer temperatures and melting ice pose an inescapable threat to Hampton Roads, where sea-level rise is profoundly changing the landscape with each passing month.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
In 1984, James R. “Bobby” Evans, an engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), was alarmed. According to a historical brief from TxDOT, while driving in his Tyler jurisdiction, he was bothered by the sight of debris flying off a pickup truck in front of his vehicle. The issue was more than the litter. TxDOT explains that expenses associated with cleaning up roadway trash were rising by 15% to 20% annually.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
On a street once lined with stately monuments to Confederate generals, only the lone statue of a paint-splattered Robert E. Lee still stands. On Thursday, crews wrapped up a nearly weeklong task of removing most Confederate iconography from Monument Avenue and from parks across the city. All that remains of those tributes are graffiti-covered pedestals. Throughout Richmond, bases of monuments that once paid homage to the Lost Cause now stand empty.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
The Dixie Chicks are now just The Chicks. They also have a new album, which is said to be quite good, but we’re here today to talk about the subtraction from their name, not the addition to their discography. The Chicks are not the only ones to retire “Dixie” from their name.
By E.J. DIONNE JR., Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
No one will ever accuse Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey, a freshman elected in the 2018 Democratic wave, of complacency. “The last time a Democrat has won reelection in my district,” he said cheerfully, “was before the Civil War.” The 2020 election is all about President Trump. Precisely because of this, it will also test the durability of the realignment in American suburbia inspired by the backlash against him.
By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Senators could return to their air-conditioned COVID-19-quarters at the Science Museum of Virginia. Delegates are considering new pandemic digs, perhaps cooler than the heat-trapping canopy under which they convened on Capitol Square in April. Ahead of a special session of the General Assembly in August, legislators in both parties are mindful of rising temperatures — literal and figurative.
By MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
The moral arc bending toward justice is visible from Hill Monument Parkway, a North Side street named for Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill. To the south is the statue of Hill, the last city-owned Confederate statue still standing, at the intersection of Hermitage Road and Laburnum Avenue. Planted in a nearby yard are Black Lives Matter signs.
By JOHN NEWBY, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
With Gov. Ralph Northam managing a measured reopening across Virginia, workers, researchers and businesses at every point of the health care delivery system are continuing to work to contain the spread of COVID-19. Among them are Virginia’s biotechnology companies and organizations that have been helping to ramp up testing, develop treatments and work toward possible vaccine candidates in the fight against COVID-19.
John Newby is CEO of the Virginia Biotechnology Association
By GLENN YOUNGKIN, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
As America starts to go back to work after the coronavirus lockdowns, we must reckon with the systemic challenges the shutdowns have revealed about our workforce; and do all that we can to avoid a sustained period of high unemployment, and the associated social and economic fallout. We must focus on the most economically vulnerable segment of our economy: the lowest earners working in the most economically exposed sectors.
Glenn Youngkin is co-CEO of the Carlyle Group and co-founder and chairman of VA Ready, a new nonprofit created to retrain out-of-work Virginians for career opportunities in high-demand occupations.
By GORDON C. MORSE, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The long, hot summer is getting longer by the day. With apprehension — about the pandemic, the coming fall, K-12 schools, the colleges, the election — growing by the hour. “Dear international students,” wrote Katherine A. Rowe, president of the College of William & Mary, “On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced new restrictions that prevent international students from returning to or remaining in the U.S. for remote-only instruction.”
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.
By EMILY HAMILTON, published in Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Ten years ago last month, ahead of four new Silver Line Metrorail stations opening, Fairfax County adopted a 40-year redevelopment plan for Tysons. The goal was to facilitate a new downtown where people could enjoy walking, exercising, supporting local eateries and shops, and easy access to greater D.C. via the new stations. The plan was heralded by the American Planning Association for seeking to transform a sprawling, highway-oriented area into a series of transit-oriented, walkable neighborhoods. So far, for all its progress, it has not ushered in an era of easy walkability.
Emily Hamilton is a research fellow and director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s Urbanity Project.
By JASON STANFORD, published in Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
At a time when our region’s economy and communities are struggling to deal with the impacts of a global pandemic, it’s important to reexamine how best to invest available transportation resources. Though no one knows exactly how getting around will change, it is reasonable to project more people driving and fewer using public transportation to avoid crowding on buses and trains. The result is likely to be more highway congestion even with a higher percentage of the workforce teleworking several days a week.
Jason Stanford is executive director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance.
By RICK BOUCHER, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
For nearly three months, I’ve constantly washed my hands, practiced social distancing and worked from home. In this remote corner of mountainous Southwestern Virginia where my wife and I are weathering the coronavirus storm, our wireless 4G connection has more bandwidth than the only available wired internet service, so we’re leaning on mobile broadband for internet access.
Boucher was a member of the U.S. House for 28 years from the 9th District and chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and the Internet.
By JACOB HILEMAN, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
On Oct. 2, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated Nationwide Permit (NWP) 12 for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Upon losing this permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, MVP was forced to cease construction at all stream and wetland crossings in Virginia and West Virginia, leaving hundreds of crossings outstanding. That the Corps has been unable to reinstate NWP 12 for twenty-one months, and counting, is truly incredible. Why has the Corps delayed reissuing NWP 12 to MVP for so long?
Hileman is an environmental hydrologist with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. He was raised in the Catawba Valley of Virginia, and is presently a researcher at Stockholm University
By KEVIN DOYLE, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
The ear-piercing protests from those who claim the United States is doing too little on the environmental front are to blame for delaying completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline which would transport clean, low-cost natural gas to residents and businesses of Virginia and other neighboring states. Anti-energy activists opposing the pipelines routinely fail to check their basic facts and, in doing so, ignore the U.S.A.’s greatest untold success story.
Doyle is the Executive Director of Consumer Energy Alliance Southeast, a U.S. consumer advocate supporting affordable, reliable energy for working families, seniors and businesses across the country.
By LAWRENCE BECHTEL, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Since the horrific death of George Floyd and the resulting demonstrations and protests which have erupted across the country, I have been reflecting on my unique experiences with the police. I am the sculptor who was commissioned to do Officer Down (unveiled in 2004) for the Roanoke Police Department, and That I May Serve (unveiled in 2009), the memorial to all Police Dogs killed in the line of duty in Virginia, which is at the Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine on the Virginia Tech campus.
Bechtel is a sculptor in Blacksburg
By MARK HERRING, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia’s backlog of untested rape kits has been completely eliminated, and it is never coming back. Virginia is only the seventh state in the country to have cleared its backlog, and although it has taken a lot of work, this milestone means that a wrong has been righted, that justice is closer for more survivors, and that Virginia is a safer place.
Mark R. Herring is the 48th attorney general of Virginia.
By MARCIA CONSTON AND JAVAUNE ADAMS-GASTON, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
As presidents of two public institutions of higher education in our Hampton Roads region, we stand together in solidarity, committed to making a difference for the African American students we serve. Like you, we are saddened and outraged by the deaths of unarmed Black citizens at the hands of law enforcement. The names Rayshard Brooks and George Floyd join a list of others — Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Manuel Ellis to name a few.
Marcia Conston is the president of Tidewater Community College. Javaune Adams-Gaston is the president of Norfolk State University.
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