By BILL WYATT, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
There was a point not too long ago when local officials and the media that gather weekly for the community COVID-19 briefings via Zoom felt that such updates might no longer be necessary — the conditions related to the pandemic appeared to be improving. That feeling was not present at Thursday’s get-together, which was accentuated by a severe thunderstorm that arrived near the end of the meeting, causing widespread power outages that disconnected the participants from each other, disrupting the attempt to communicate the current situation to the public.
By REBECCA TAN AND ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The graph lines are climbing again. Cases of the novel coronavirus have surged in Maryland, the District and Virginia after more than a month of declines and plateaus, prompting fears of a surge similar to what is happening elsewhere in the country.
By JEFF STURGEON, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The economic pain of the pandemic is being acutely felt by Black workers, according to data for Virginia. Jobless claims by Black workers have exceeded those by white workers since late June, even though Black people make up only about a fifth of the state’s workforce. The statistic is presented each week by the Virginia Employment Commission. The disparity is also in plain view daily at the agency’s Roanoke office, where people line up outside for an appointment to troubleshoot unpaid claims for emergency financial relief.
By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
In a pre-pandemic world at LeaRN Lily Child Development Center in Williamsburg, the LEGO block that went into little Sally or Ben’s mouth during playtime used to be put into the green bucket once they were done with it, and at the end of the day, the bucket full of toys would be bleached. Now, the bucket is sanitized every hour or two. And teachers wipe little hands as soon as they see children put them to their mouths. Kids even have their own personal play space.
By SABRINA MORENO AND ALI SULLIVAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
After 24 days without major clashes between police and protesters, demonstrations on Saturday night into Sunday morning ended with six arrests, damage to several businesses and VCU properties, and a city dump truck in flames outside Richmond police headquarters. City officials said supporters of both left-wing and right-wing movements attended the protests, which were advertised as being in support of protesters in Portland, Ore.
By PETER DUJARDIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Miriam Ibraheem was apprehensive when she went to the Virginia Beach police a few years back to file a domestic violence complaint. In her native Sudan, she said, “beatings of women” are commonplace, and police tend to look the other way. But in Virginia Beach, Ibraheem said, the police officer there immediately took the complaint seriously, taking a report and telling her about community resources.
By JOANNE KIMBERLIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
At the mouth of the Hampton Roads harbor, a success story unfolds. It’s told through legions of beating wings, swirling around an old fortress like specks in a snow globe. Just months ago, this 25,000-bird colony — one of the most important gatherings of endangered migratory seabirds in Virginia — seemed doomed.
The Full Report
54 articles, 18 publications
The Virginia Public Access Project
VPAP ranks Virginia legislators by the percentage of money from six types of campaign donors, ranging from small donors who give $100 or less to businesses that lobby the General Assembly. There's also an option to view each category by dollar amount. The updated campaign finance numbers cover January 1 through June 30.
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 SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
On Saturday, Virginia surpassed 1 million recorded coronavirus tests and reported 1,245 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the combined total of confirmed and probable infections to just over 83,600. Within two months, the number of confirmed cases in Virginia has increased by 45,882. Deaths have almost doubled, to 2,075, as the number of tests administered nearly quadrupled. The rising number of cases — especially in eastern Virginia, where tourists flock to beaches — has drawn the attention of state leaders and health officials who repeatedly have said the state will tighten restrictions to tamp down infections if needed.
By JOSH REYES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
As coronavirus cases and infection rates have increased in Hampton Roads, Gov. Ralph Northam has pushed for better adherence to mask and social distancing rules. He also asked three mayors for specifics about how their cities are combating the spread of the virus. “I am deeply concerned about these numbers — and especially by reports of crowds not adhering to social distancing,” Northam wrote in three separate letters to Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer, Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander and Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck.
By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury
The White state trooper leaned into the Black driver’s car. “You are going to get your ass whooped,” he said before pulling the man from the car and making good on his promise. Virginia State Police Superintendent Gary Settle offered a swift condemnation of the behavior when video of the incident was released earlier this month, promising a criminal investigation.
By TYLER HAMMEL, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
After months of delays and nearly three years after the Unite the Right rally, Virginia State Police counsel is expected to respond this week to a judge’s order that a release of their rally operations plan was overly redacted. Soon after the Aug. 12, 2017, rally, reporters Natalie Jacobsen and Jackson Landers — represented pro bono by attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press — sued the city of Charlottesville, state police and Virginia's Office of the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security for access to city and state police plans for the rally.
By SCOTT SHENK, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
With finances for local governments already in a state of uncertainty, local transportation funding is expected to take a hit for un-pandemic reasons. Earlier this year, Virginia cut by half the historical amount of funds it distributes to localities from the grantors recordation tax for property sales, according to a presentation given to the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization last week.
By DAVID MCCABE AND KAREN WEISE, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
Last September, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, rattled off terrifying statistics about the warming planet from the storied National Press Club, two blocks from the White House. Then he said he had something exciting to announce. ...The event reflected Mr. Bezos’ approach to the nation’s capital. He has jumped at opportunities to cast himself as a statesman — the savior of The Washington Post, who holds court among the country’s elite. At the same time, he has eschewed the day-to-day grind of bolstering Amazon’s influence with policymakers. But that changes on Wednesday, when Mr. Bezos testifies before Congress for the first time.
By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
A year ago, antitrust officials from Australia, Brazil, China, Japan and eight other countries enjoyed $110-a-plate steak dinners and unlimited pours from $70 bottles of wine at a beachfront hotel surrounded by panoramic views of the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean. The opulent meal was the culmination of a weeklong conference in scenic Huntington Beach, Calif., for 30 foreign government officials who enforce competition laws. The trip was organized and mostly paid for by the Global Antitrust Institute, a part of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Dixiana Perez spoke passionately about the untimely death of her son at a protest held in his honor at Radford University Saturday afternoon. Perez, of Culpeper, attended a rally put on by New River Workers Power — a group usually involved in employee rights — calling for an independent investigation into the death of Radford University freshman Aris Lobo-Perez, who was arrested by campus police in the Muse Hall dormitory just before midnight on Sept. 11, 2019, for public intoxication.
By BRICE ESTES, The Breeze
The coronavirus has drained an estimated $33 million from JMU, but Congress deposited $12,080,658 back into the university’s hands. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed by Congress in late March, included more than $12 billion in relief for higher education institutions.
By EVA SUROVELL, Cavalier Daily
Two additional student-athletes have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of positive test results to four, according to a press release from Virginia Athletics. Of the athletic department’s four total cases, three are Virginia football players, who were required to return to Grounds for training July 15. While Virginia Athletics did not specify the names of the players who tested positive, they said that no student-athlete has required hospitalization.
By BENNETT CONLIN, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Current Virginia tight end and Tazewell native T.J. Kitts announced Saturday night that he has tested positive for COVID-19. “It is hard for me to sit down and write this, but as of today, I have officially tested positive for COVID-19,” Kitts wrote on Twitter. “I want to be as open as I can about it in hopes that my experience can help others.”
By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury
Data from the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute show that roughly a third of the commonwealth’s health districts are showing “sustained growth” in COVID-19 cases — what computational epidemiologist Bryan Lewis said could be described as a surge. “What it basically means is over the past couple of weeks, there has been a very steep incline that has been sustained,” Lewis said.
By JOSH REYES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The Virginia Department of Health reported 958 new coronavirus cases Sunday, bringing the state’s tally to 84,567. At least 2,078 Virginians have died from the virus as of Sunday morning, up three from Saturday. Of all new cases in Virginia, 48% come from Hampton Roads.
By CHARLES WILBORN, Danville Register & Bee
The Pittsylvania-Danville Health District is still seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases that's expected to continue increasing, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Those local projections mirror a statewide estimate of 15,000 weekly cases by early September. As a comparison, Virginia had a little more than 6,000 new cases in the last seven days.
By CHARLES WILBORN, Danville Register & Bee
With rising COVID-19 cases in Danville and Pittsylvania County, Sovah Health-Danville is restricting visitors — with some exceptions — to its local campus. The health system cited a "significant increases in positive cases over the past 10 days" as a reason for the changes, according to a news release.
By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Dozens of violations were reported to Southwest Virginia’s Mount Rogers Health District in the weeks after Gov. Ralph Northam mandated face coverings in public indoor settings, but local officials say they took firm enforcement action only once, when they revoked a restaurant’s operating permit and reinstated it after the owner agreed to require that employees wear masks. The district’s officials have primarily taken an educational approach to the face-mask requirements, designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, which apply to employees in customer-facing areas in many businesses, as well as patrons.
By JAMEY CROSS, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Braxton Carter, a teacher at Sandusky Middle School, had planned to enroll his 5-year-old foster son in kindergarten at Lynchburg City Schools’ Sandusky Elementary this fall. But, when the division announced kindergarteners would only be in school buildings two days per week at the start of the school year, Carter said he was worried his son might fall behind. “Going into kindergarten, he needs full day [instruction], five days a week,” Carter said.
Associated Press
A city dump truck was set on fire as protesters faced off with police in Virginia’s capital during a demonstration billed as support for protesters on the other side of the country in Portland, Oregon. College buildings and other property also were damaged. Virginia State Police and Richmond police said they worked to clear the crowd of a several hundred demonstrators late Saturday that had ripped down police tape and moved forward with lasers and firecrackers. City police declared an “unlawful assembly” around 11 p.m., and what appeared to be tear gas was deployed to disperse the group.
By ANDREW RINGLE, Commonwealth Times
About 80 windows in several buildings on the Monroe Park campus were broken during demonstrations in Richmond on Saturday, according to a university release. Damage to campus buildings is estimated to be at least $100,000, according to the release signed by VCU President Michael Rao. Along with the broken windows, Rao said site furnishings were dragged onto the street and several buildings were tagged with graffiti.
By HANNAH EASON AND ANDREW RINGLE, Commonwealth Times
Police deployed chemical agents and flashbangs as a dump truck burned next to the Richmond Police Headquarters during protests Saturday night. Fire crews responded to the vehicle fire shortly after officers cleared the area. Police declared an unlawful assembly at the headquarters around 11 p.m. and fired what appeared to be tear gas canisters into the air to disperse crowds.
By JUSTIN GEORGE, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
At a triangular park in a tranquil Alexandria, Va., neighborhood, a group of about 30 gathered Sunday morning and awaited directions for a disruptive mission. They would protest the detaining and removal of demonstrators in Portland, Ore., by federal officers last week, and they would do it outside the home of acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.
By KRISTI K. HIGGINS, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)
Law Enforcement supporters were invited to a rally to show their appreciation of men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our community. “Go Blue Day” created by Dr. Joseph “Joe” Hillier was held at the Chesterfield Courthouse on Courthouse Road Saturday morning.
By PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
From Winchester in the northwest to Williamsburg in the southeast, communities across Virginia are finally grappling with whether to renounce their veneration of the Confederacy, more than 150 years after the Civil War ended. Many of the statues and monuments that still dot courthouse lawns and traffic circles, commemorating Southern troops and leaders, were erected in the Jim Crow era of the early 20th century or as the civil rights movement gained strength in the 1960s. This summer, some of them are starting to fall.
Associated Press
The city of Virginia Beach removed a 115-year-old Confederate monument from public grounds on Saturday, less than two days after the City Council voted unanimously to do so. Workers took down the 27-foot (8.2-meter) tall monument on Saturday morning, media outlets reported. It was installed in 1905 and stood outside the old Princess Anne County courthouse, in the same place that slave auctions were once held.
By REID J. EPSTEIN, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
It’s a short drive in Lexington from a home on Confederate Circle past the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery and over to the Robert E. Lee Hotel, where locals like to stop for a drink. There may be tourists there looking for directions to the Lee Chapel, or one of the two Stonewall Jackson statues in town. They might see a Washington and Lee University student paddling a canoe down the Maury River, named for the Confederate oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury.
By MIKE GANGLOFF, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A protester’s unintentional kick to a Virginia state trooper and another’s chaining of himself to a helicopter were among the charges resolved last week in Montgomery County as the courts cleared another set of cases tied to ongoing opposition to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The region’s courts have seen dozens of such cases in the past two years as protesters try to block the West Virginia-to-Pittsylvania County route of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
As Chesapeake Public Schools works to figure out what the fall will look like, some students said one component of the city’s reopening plan unfairly placed the burden on them to decide to return to the classroom — or risk losing out on their diplomas. They started an online petition that garnered hundreds of signatures this week, met with principals, program coordinators and top district officials in zoom calls and made an appearance on the local NPR affiliate.
By ADELE UPHAUS–CONNER, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Area school children are within about a month of starting a school year unlike any other and exactly when they will physically return to the classroom is still a mystery. Most area school divisions first proposed to start the 2020–21 academic year with students attending in-person two days a week and learning virtually on the other days, but most have now pivoted to a full virtual opening, at least for the first nine weeks.
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
King George County has put some extra “skin in the game,” as one official described it, in an effort to hasten delivery of broadband service to rural residents who lack high-speed internet connections. In the spring, the Board of Supervisors signed an agreement with their counterparts in Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland counties on a regional initiative to deliver fiber-optic service to the Northern Neck. As part of the memorandum, each county’s local share would be $345,000.
By NICK CROPPER, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
In the Nelson County School Board’s special called meeting Thursday night board members approved a phased return to school beginning with an entirely online format. In the phased approach, which the division would move through as health conditions allow, classes will be conducted virtually for a minimum of nine weeks before potentially moving into phase 2, of a hybrid model; eventually being able to transition into phase 3 which would be akin to a traditional classroom setting.
By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Lynchburg officials are threatening to turn off the faucets for more than 1,000 households behind on their water bills. Water service cutoffs in the city have been suspended since March 19. At the time, city officials said the cutoffs were halted to ensure residents could continue to wash their hands with running water to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
By CASEY FABRIS, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
When Kevin Berry saw people asking on social media for Roanoke-area Black-owned businesses they could support, he compiled a list and posted it to Instagram and Facebook in early June. The marketing and communications professional thought the list would just be shared among his friends. But it spread far more widely, with people commenting to suggest other businesses be added to the list. Berry has since posted three updates.
By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The Pulaski County and Radford school systems plan on starting the year with a hybrid plan, but the county has committed to a more aggressive timeline to get students back in the classroom at a near full-time basis. The two systems hashed out their respective plans with their school boards last week, both of which approved presentations by the superintendents of each district.
By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee
Kristal Harris, a business teacher at Tunstall High School, has two children in Tunstall Middle School and a daughter at Tunstall high. The family also runs a business breeding cattle, which they have to use the computer for to input records. Between all of them, they have just 30 gigabytes of data at home, 15 on the cellphone and 15 from the phone's wireless hotspot, but even that access is unreliable and spotty, she said, which prevented her from doing any live video meetings with her students and colleagues.
By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee
The goal of the hybrid reopening plan for Pittsylvania County Schools was to get as many students into classroom as often as possible while still following guidelines regarding social distancing, said Superintendent Mark Jones. “A teacher in a classroom is the most important instrument… the more time we can put a child in front of a teacher the better the education will be," Jones said at a recent school board meeting.
By JOE TENNIS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
It’s Tuesday afternoon in Abingdon and all is quiet on Main Street at the grounds of the Martha Washington Inn. Here, during late July in this tourist-dependent town, there should be cars at the crosswalk, which links the hotel’s eight-acre property to the Barter Theatre on Main Street.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
School divisions across Southwest Virginia will rely on an array of creative ways to resume instruction next month, and officials universally agree that all plans remain subject to change due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19. The total number of cases across Southwest Virginia has risen in recent weeks, but infection rates in the 10 counties and two cities in far Southwest Virginia remain at a fraction of 1% of total population.
By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
With several major U.S. retailers shifting from recommending to requiring customers to wear face masks, Bristol shoppers also appeared to be changing their habits at area stores this week. Still, when the Bristol Herald Courier visited a dozen stores across Bristol, Tennessee and Bristol, Virginia, a number of workers questioned how these policies will be fully enforced and described pushback they’ve received from some customers.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
With the testing of the last of the rape kits that had been languishing in storage, Virginia has reached the end of a sad chapter in the treatment of victims of sexual assault. It’s a chapter that never should be repeated. That all the 2,665 rape kits sitting on shelves for years have finally been tested is an important milestone for the commonwealth and its efforts to treat sexual assault victims with justice, dignity and respect.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Cicadas come around every 17 years. Candidates for governor show up every four years, and we have another crop on the way, and it looks like a bumper crop, at that. Democrats may have as many as six contenders; we count at least four Republicans who have made noises about running. It’s fair to say that most of them don’t have much familiarity with Southwest and Southside Virginia. Unfortunately, that won’t matter much in the end: This isn’t where the votes are.
Inside NOVA Editorial (Metered Paywall)
First it was Jennifer Carroll Foy....Then it was Elizabeth Guzman. Another local delegate, representing Prince William and Fauquier counties, she announced in late June she is considering running for lieutenant governor, the state’s second highest office. Not to be outdone, next came Hala Ayala. The Prince William delegate announced last week that she’s not just considering running for lieutenant governor – she is running. What do these three women have in common? They were all elected in the “blue wave” of anti-Trump sentiment in 2017, and Guzman and Ayala ousted longtime Republican delegates.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Just one year shy of New Orleans’ tercentennial, in 2017 then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu delivered a poignant speech explaining the reasoning behind the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. The likeness was the last of four Confederate monuments taken down after multiple lawsuits and heated protests. The Confederate iconography fell as the Big Easy was grappling with how it wanted to define itself in the aftermath of a series of heavy blows, both natural and financial, including the devastating Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill and the Great Recession.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Reopening schools in the fall with virtual learning may be the right choice to protect public health, but it’s far from a perfect approach. It’s good that most school officials, teachers and parents recognize this. It should motivate them to think beyond the first day of classes to the larger problem of how to keep children — particularly those with special needs and other at-risk students — from falling behind.
By CRISTIN TRAYLOR, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia states: “The General Assembly shall provide for a system of free public elementary and secondary schools for all children of school age throughout the Commonwealth, and shall seek to ensure that an educational program of high quality is established and continually maintained.”
Traylor is a mother of two boys in Henrico County Public Schools.
By HANNAH GRIECO AND EMILY POPEK, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos put Fairfax County in the spotlight this month with her criticism of its hybrid and distance learning plans. But many school systems have decided that it’s not safe for full time, in-person school until we know more about children and COVID-19. With cases rising, distance learning options are being implemented, with some counties already announcing virtual starts.
Grieco is an education and disability advocate, and a former Arlington County public school teacher. Popek is a communications specialist for K-12 schools in New York state, specializing in digital accessibility.
By ANDREW CRIDER, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
In April, the Daily Press reported that Newport News made drastic cuts as a result of the health crisis. In its 117 years, aviation has never encountered a crisis such as this. Describing the pandemic as unprecedented is obvious to the public. For the 147,600 workers in Virginia’s aviation industry and 230,000 workers in Virginia’s tourism industry, the effects of this pandemic are painfully obvious and a far cry from the years of growth and subsequent tax revenue that was seen as recently as February.
Andrew Crider, a resident of Richmond, is a pilot and government solutions strategist for Monarch Group.
By SIOBHAN DUNNAVANT, KIRK COX AND CARRIE COYNER, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
We all are parents. We are familiar with the normal anxiety, and also the excitement, that usually sets in this time of year, as questions about school supplies, morning routines and fall sports become daily topics in our homes. This year parents are dealing with a different anxiety — dread, really — forcing them to consider one big question: How? How do their kids get the education they need in a safe environment while also working full-time jobs amid a global pandemic? We believe it is a question unfairly thrust upon parents because of a striking failure in leadership at the state level.
Dunnavant, R-Henrico, represents the 12th District in the Virginia Senate. Cox, R-Colonial Heights, represents the 66th District in the House of Delegates. Coyner, R-Chesterfield, represents the 62nd District in the House of Delegates.
By DAVID SUETTERLEIN, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Several months into the COVID-19 health, economic, and educational crises, Governor Ralph Northam has finally called for a General Assembly special session. The General Assembly should give serious attention to the budget and criminal justice reforms, but we should not allow for the special session to pass without addressing the many looming COVID affected issues – especially public education.
David Suetterlein is a Republican who represents Salem and Bedford, Carroll, Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, Roanoke and Wythe counties in the state Senate.
By ABBY HAMILTON, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The bold, ambitious experiment that is the United States of America has always been about the struggle to live up to the ideals of justice and equality articulated in our founding documents, striving to form that “more perfect union” and weathering every setback as we work to bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice. But we can’t do that without acknowledging deep in our hearts how far from perfect this union is, especially when it comes to racial justice and equity.
Hamilton is President & CEO of United Way of Roanoke Valley.
By KENNETH COOPER ALEXANDER, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
When Congress thankfully decides to shed the Confederate monikers from United States military bases, our leaders should honor the name of a Civil War hero who rose from the humblest of origins in Norfolk to serve the Union and earn the prestigious U.S. Medal of Honor: Sgt. William Harvey Carney. Born into slavery on Feb. 4, 1840, Carney bravely risked his life despite being wounded multiple times during the second battle of Fort Wagner off the South Carolina coast.
Kenneth Cooper Alexander, Ph.D., is the mayor of Norfolk.
By CHARLES V. MCPHILLIPS, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Republicans and Democrats alike have been perfecting the invidious practice of partisan gerrymandering for many years, effectively rigging elections and thereby disenfranchising voters who deserve districts in which the two parties actually compete for their vote. In the 2019 General Assembly (controlled by Republicans) and the 2020 General Assembly (controlled by Democrats), a constitutional amendment to abolish partisan redistricting was finally approved in the manner required to submit this issue to a statewide referendum on Nov. 3.
Charles V. McPhillips is chairman of the advocacy board for OneVirginia2021, a statewide nonpartisan organization dedicated to redistricting reform
By GORDON C. MORSE, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
So, how will Virginia Republicans play next month’s special legislative session? Let’s just say there’s some serious non-harmonic convergence about to take place. This session, called by Gov. Ralph Northam for Aug. 18, was originally slated to consider state budget adjustments — adjustments obliged by the adverse economic effects of the pandemic. But now the session will also include crime crunching and policing reform, largely driven by the more progressive elements of the majority Democrats.
Morse began his writing career with the Daily Press editorial page in 1983, then moved across the water to write opinion for The Virginian-Pilot. He later joined the administration of Gerald L. Baliles as the governor's speechwriter and special assistant
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