Today's Sponsor: Virginia Energy Reform Coalition

VaNews Sept. 9, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** Virginia Energy Reform Coalition
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Advocating for a 21st-century electricity system that lowers prices, increases consumer choices and clean energy competition, and protects the environment while reliably serving all Virginians ([link removed]) .

Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** VA. GOP RECONSIDERS ‘GOV. BLACKFACE’ ATTACKS ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

No one mentioned resignation when Gov. Ralph Northam recently hobnobbed at Rep. Bobby Scott’s annual Labor Day picnic in Newport News. No students protested when Northam attended a seminar at historically black Virginia Union University last week. And when Northam spoke about the legacy of slavery at Fort Monroe late last month, there were no boos, only standing ovations.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** VIRGINIA DIABETICS COULD GET RELIEF FROM HIGH INSULIN PRICES: ONE LAWMAKER WANTS TO LIMIT CO-PAYS ([link removed])
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By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A Virginia delegate plans to introduce legislation capping insurance co-payments on insulin, the often life-saving — but increasingly costly — medication diabetics use to regulate their blood glucose levels. If passed, the bill would make Virginia just one of two states in the country to have such a regulation.


** LAROCK ASKS VDOT TO EXAMINE LOUDOUN HIGHWAY PROJECT AND ITS EFFECTS ON CLARKE ([link removed])
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By MICKEY POWELL, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

An area lawmaker is urging state transportation officials to thoroughly examine how a Loudoun County highway improvement project will affect traffic in Clarke County and other nearby places. Based on discussions among town officials and contractors, closing both lanes along the stretch of Va. 9 (Charles Town Pike) through Hillsboro during the project “would allow work to be completed in approximately one-third of the time and at a significantly reduced cost,” Del. Dave LaRock (R-Loudoun) wrote in an Aug. 30 letter to Virginia Department of Transportation


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** SUIT FILED CHALLENGING RACE QUESTION FOR VIRGINIA MARRIAGE LICENSE ([link removed])
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By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Three Virginia couples are challenging the constitutionality of a state law that requires they identify their race to be able to obtain a marriage license. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Alexandria Thursday, the couples claim that Virginia is one of eight states requiring people seeking a marriage license to include their race on the form, "using unscientific, highly controversial, misleading, useless, and tainted categories reflecting Virginia’s historical repression of non-white persons."


** COUPLES CHALLENGE RACIAL LABELS TO GET MARRIED IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By RACHEL WEINER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

When they applied for a marriage license in Rockbridge County, Va., Brandyn Churchill and Sophie Rogers were told they could not have one unless they each chose a race, from a list that included “Aryan” and “Octoroon.”


** POLICE BODY CAMERAS ARE CAPTURING SO MUCH FOOTAGE IT’S DRIVING SOME DEFENSE ATTORNEYS TO QUIT ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Public defender’s offices have long struggled with high turnover. But lately, one time-consuming part of the job is driving lawyers out even faster. Attorneys are quitting at least partly because they’re swamped by the amount of video footage they have to review from police body-worn cameras.


** NEW JUSTICE JOINS THE VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Teresa M. Chafin, formerly a judge on the Virginia Court of Appeals, formally joined the Virginia Supreme Court Friday in a special session of the court in Abingdon. Chafin, a native of Lebanon, Va., took the oath of office earlier this week and her formal investiture ceremony was held Friday at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, said a spokeswoman for the court.


** TRANSPORTED HOURS FROM HOME IN CRISIS, SOME ARE LEFT WITHOUT A RIDE HOME FROM PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS ([link removed])
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By BRIDGET BALCH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

After giving birth to her son in 1998, Heidi Campbell began experiencing mental health crises for the first time in her life. She battled postpartum depression with psychosis and would eventually be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In the past 21 years, she estimates she has been admitted to about 20 different psychiatric facilities around the state.


** DOMINION SEEKS TO RAISE RATE OF RETURN ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

As the State Corporation Commission considers a request by Dominion Energy Virginia to raise its allowed profit margin, opponents want regulators to move in the opposite direction. A rally outside Dominion Energy’s Richmond offices on Monday will call on the utility to return excess earnings as refunds to Virginia ratepayers and call on regulators to lower the company’s profit rate.


** TOO STRESSED OR TOO CHEAP? HOW TO ASSESS A LOCALITY'S ABILITY TO PAY FOR IMPROVED SCHOOLS ([link removed])
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By CASEY FABRIS, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

When Pulaski County adopted a historic 13-cent real estate tax increase in 2018, the locality identified itself as one both willing and able to fund a major school capital project. Pulaski County voters stepped up to generate the revenue necessary to build a new middle school. ... In some localities, it’s simply a matter of political will. But for those in economic distress or with low property wealth, it can be impossible.


** ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES ARE COMING TO VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By HANNAH NATANSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Hundreds of Virginia schoolchildren soon will be part of an experiment in cutting-edge transportation technology: electric school buses. In the coming week, school districts in Northern Virginia, central Virginia and Hampton Roads may apply to partner with Dominion Energy in a project to put 50 electric school buses on the road by the end of 2020.


** VIRGINIA PRISONS WILL LIMIT VISITOR LISTS, AIMING TO REDUCE DRUG SMUGGLING ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia’s roughly 32,000 state prisoners will have to limit their visitor’s lists to 10 starting next year. The state Department of Corrections’ visitation policy change is an effort to reduce the amount of drugs and other contraband being smuggled in, the state’s highest law enforcement official said Wednesday.


** CONGRESS
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** WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERS CULLEN FOR VACANT FEDERAL JUDGESHIP, SHUNS 2 OTHERS ([link removed])
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By JEFF STURGEON, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

President Donald Trump is considering U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen for a vacant federal judgeship based in Roanoke. Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine said in a Friday statement that they have communicated with Cullen, but they left unclear whether they would recommend him to join the short-handed Roanoke bench.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** SUMMIT IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA FOCUSES ON SPIKE IN BLACK LUNG CASES ([link removed])
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By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Cases of black lung — an incurable disease long associated with coal mining — are at their highest levels in 25 years, and on Friday experts came together to address the epidemic. As many as 1 in 5 central Appalachian coal miners who have worked in mines for at least 25 years suffer from black lung disease, according to research published last year in the American Journal of Public Health.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** AFTER SUCCESSFUL TEST RUNS, NORTHERN VIRGINIA METRO STATIONS HAVE REOPENED ([link removed])
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By MEGAN MCGRATH AND SOPHIA BARNES, WRC - NBC 4 Washington

Six Metro stations along the Blue and Yellow lines reopened Monday after a months-long renovation project. The Braddock Road, King Street-Old Town, Van Dorn Street, Franconia-Springfield, Eisenhower Avenue and Huntington stations reopened when the rail system began service for the day at 5 a.m. "Normal rail service has resumed on the Blue/Yellow Lines south of Reagan National Airport," Metro tweeted with little fanfare. "All stations have reopened."


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** A VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY OFFERS FREE SEMESTER TO STUDENTS IN BAHAMAS DISPLACED BY HURRICANE ([link removed])
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By MARIEL PADILLA, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

More than 800 miles separate the University of the Bahamas and Hampton University in Virginia. But some students at the former, whose north campus was devastated by Hurricane Dorian, will be able to continue their education at no cost at the latter for a semester. The offer by Hampton came about because of a special connection between the two universities.


** VIRGINIA TECH PRESIDENT ADDRESSES OVER-ENROLLMENT IN STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY SPEECH ([link removed])
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By TONIA MOXLEY, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Outside the Moss Arts Center on Friday afternoon, the largest freshman class in Virginia Tech history ended its second week of school, while inside, President Tim Sands gave a rosy assessment of the state of the university and laid out an ambitious plan for its future.


** EXPERTS: VCU PRESIDENT'S GHOSTWRITTEN COLISEUM COLUMN RAISES ETHICS, ACADEMIC INTEGRITY CONCERNS ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

An op-ed ghostwritten by a private developer in support of the developer’s massive project in downtown Richmond and published under the name of Virginia Commonwealth University’s president raises ethical concerns, experts say.


** LOCAL
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** ‘GROWING SENSE OF DESPAIR’: A WEALTHY, DIVERSIFYING SCHOOL SYSTEM IN SUBURBAN D.C. CONFRONTS RACISM AND HATE IN SCHOOLS ([link removed])
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By DEBBIE TRUONG, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

In some hallways and classrooms, students hurl racist slurs and insults at students of color. One teacher told a U.S.-born student to go back to their country. Nooses have been hung from trees at one school’s entrance, and Ku Klux Klan members have visited campuses. Loudoun County is one of the most affluent places in the country, home to high-caliber schools in the D.C. suburbs. But for some, it is also a place where school leaders ignore racist acts, fostering a “growing sense of despair,” according to a report commissioned by Loudoun County Public Schools


** PENTAGON: DIVERTING MILITARY CONSTRUCTION FUNDS TO BORDER WALL WILL BOOST EFFICIENCY, NOT HURT IT ([link removed])
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By HUGH LESSIG, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Diverting $3.6 billion from military construction projects to fortify a southern border wall allows the U.S. to better deploy troops to curb illegal immigration, Defense Secretary Mark Esper says. The plan, which siphons $77 million from four projects in Hampton Roads, drew strong protests from Democratic lawmakers.


** HOME TO BEGIN EVICTION DIVERSION PROGRAM ([link removed])
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By JEREMY M. LAZARUS, Richmond Free Press

Richmond’s first ever program aimed at helping people avoid eviction is about to get a home base. At its upcoming meeting Monday, Sept. 9, City Council is expected to approve legislation awarding a grant of $485,140 to fair housing watchdog Housing Opportunities Made Equal to operate the pioneering program.


** ROANOKE AUDITOR: VENDOR LUNCH BROKE LAW ([link removed])
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By MATT CHITTUM, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Roanoke’s municipal auditor questioned actions and practices by leaders of the city’s general services and parks departments in investigative reports presented to the city’s audit committee Wednesday. One report said a $700 lunch for 100 city employees, paid for by a vendor who supplied new garbage trucks to the city, violated both state procurement law and city policy, something the official who requested the lunch had been advised of ahead of time.


** FORMER SUPERVISOR PLEADS GUILTY TO CREDIT CARD FRAUD CHARGES ([link removed])
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By MICHELLE L. MITCHELL, News Virginian

Former Augusta County supervisor Terry Kelley Jr. pleaded guilty to five counts of credit card theft, fraud and forgery on Thursday. He will serve a total of three months and it could be served as house arrest.


** STATE DATA: WATER DISCHARGE A PROBLEM LOCALLY ([link removed])
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By ONOFRIO CASTIGLIA, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Millions of gallons of stormwater and wastewater have been discharged into local streams over the last two years as insufficient infrastructure has struggled to keep up with rainfall and population growth, state information shows. The problem, particularly in Winchester, will take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to fix, local officials say. “There’s just too much water,” Brandon Kiracofe, water permits and compliance manager at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Valley Regional Office in Harrisonburg


** MORE LAND SITS IDLE IN PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY WITH FARMING DOWNTURN ([link removed])
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By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee

Pittsylvania County is losing ground as a farming community, a state report shows. While the total acreage of farm crops planted throughout Virginia has increased slightly in recent years, the amount in the county has been on a steady decline, according to the state’s Farm Service Agency.


** MOODY'S UPGRADES BRISTOL VIRGINIA'S CREDIT RATING ([link removed])
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By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

The city of Bristol Virginia received some good financial news Friday as Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the bond rating on its long-term debt. The New York-based rating agency gave the city a two-level upgrade from Baa2 to A3, according to a report issued Friday. This marks the third consecutive upgrade since 2017.

Today's Sponsor:


** Virginia Energy Reform Coalition
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Advocating for a 21st-century electricity system that lowers prices, increases consumer choices and clean energy competition, and protects the environment while reliably serving all Virginians ([link removed]) .


** EDITORIALS
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** CAN THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL BLOCK PIPELINES? ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Who owns the Appalachian Trail? Sometime this fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will have something to say on that, even if only indirectly. The immediate question is a procedural one: Will the nation’s highest court decide to hear an appeal of the case styled Cowpasture River Preservation Association v. U.S. Forest Service?


** PICK ONE: ELECTED OFFICIAL OR COUNTY EMPLOYEE ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Should an elected member of the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors be allowed to take a job as a county employee? Or vice versa, should a county employee be allowed to run for a seat on the county board? That’s the question recently raised when first-term Berkeley Supervisor Kevin Marshall left his previous job as a county firefighter to take a high-ranking position in the county’s Department of Economic Development


** BURDEN OF TRUMP’S BORDER PROMISE FALLS SQUARELY ON MILITARY ([link removed])
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Daily Press Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Joint Base Langley-Eustis had lost 700 jobs as part of a U.S. Air Force reorganization in 2015 before the Air National Guard announced plans to locate a Cyber Operations Squadron at the facility in Hampton. Members of Virginia’s congressional delegation joined with state and local officials to celebrate the news, which eased the sting of those job losses.


** POLICE STATISTICS SHOULD BE EXPANDED ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Across the commonwealth, shootings committed by police officers are being misreported or unreported. If shootings are underreported or misdescribed, then the statistics are useless for determining the frequency of such dangerous incidents or accurately tracking which departments might have itchy trigger fingers.


** COLUMNISTS
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** SCHAPIRO: MORRISSEY AND DEMOCRATS KISS AND MAKE UP - KINDA ([link removed])
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By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Over coffee one day, beer the next; at an office in Northern Virginia and in a telephone call while he helped his toddler daughter use the potty, Joe Morrissey and the Democratic grandees who failed to block his latest comeback are trying to make nice. Control of the Virginia Senate could depend on it.


** OP-ED
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** MIX: RIGHT TO WORK HAS BEEN GOOD FOR VIRGINIA. LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY ([link removed])
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By MARK MIX, Published in the Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Virginia's right to work law has been a pillar of the commonwealth’s labor policy since 1947. This law ensures that Virginia workers cannot be forced to pay dues or fees to a union as a condition of employment. That decision—to support or not support a union—is left in the hands of the individual, where it belongs. This commitment to freedom of association is not only the right thing to do, but it helps Virginia’s economy.

Mark Mix is president of the Springfield, Va.-based National Right to Work Committee.


** EVERETT: OFFSHORE DRILLING THREATENS REGION’S FUTURE ([link removed])
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By CHRISTY EVERETT, Published in the Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Nearly everyone in coastal Virginia agrees that drilling for oil and gas off our coast is a bad deal. That’s not surprising. Think back to what happened when the Deepwater Horizon disaster spewed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Christy Everett is the Hampton Roads director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.


** MORSE: INSPIRING PUBLIC TRUST KEY TO NOVEMBER VOTE ([link removed])
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By GORDON C. MORSE, Published in the Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Now that Labor Day has autumn’s elections in full flower, let’s talk about state legislative leadership and what it takes to build public confidence. As it happens, former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has one or two valuable things to say on the subject — particularly to the Democrats who imagine themselves to be ruling the General Assembly after Nov. 5.

Gordon C. Morse wrote editorials for the Daily Press and The Pilot in the 1980s. He later wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, then worked for corporate and philanthropic organizations


** TERWILLIGER AND STEPHENS: A CALL TO ACTION TO ADDRESS THE OPIOID CRISIS ([link removed])
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By G. ZACHARY TERWILLIGER AND BRYAN STEPHENS, Published in the Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

When the Virginia Health commissioner declared the opioid addiction crisis a public health emergency in 2016, the epidemic was wreaking havoc on families and communities across Virginia. Though many communities in the commonwealth responded with exemplary efforts by law enforcement, innovative medical practices and public education, the dimensions of the crisis were still unfolding and the economic impact was growing.

G. Zachary Terwilliger is a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Bryan Stephens is president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.


** JOYCE: VIRGINIA'S SCHOOL FUNDING SHORT-CHANGES RURAL SCHOOLS ([link removed])
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By TOM JOYCE, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

What’s very wrong with education funding in Virginia? The answer — vast and unjustifiable disparities in per-pupil spending between wealthy and poorer communities in the state.

Joyce is a retired information technology office director. He lives in Roanoke.


** AMUNDSON: LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD FOR FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS ([link removed])
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By KRISTEN AMUNDSON, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In August, the roughly 28,000 in-state students heading to a four-year Virginia college included students our church mentored for the past seven years. Because they were all the first in their family to attend college, getting them to this point was not easy.

Kristen Amundson is the former chair of the Fairfax County School Board and a former member of the Virginia General Assembly.


** WIGGINS: DOMINION DOESN'T NEED MORE PROFITS ([link removed])
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By DANA WIGGINS, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia is once again faced with a demand from its largest energy monopoly to increase the amount of our power bills. Dominion Energy is asking the State Corporation Commission (SCC) for an increase in its authorized rate of return on equity (or allowed profit level), which would, in turn, increase your electric bill.

Dana Wiggins is director of outreach and consumer advocacy for the Virginia Poverty Law Center.


** RAFFERTY: PROTECTING AND ENHANCING VIRGINIA'S NATURAL RESOURCES ([link removed])
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By MARY RAFFERTY, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

From the towering Appalachian Mountains to the delicate ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay, the commonwealth of Virginia represents one of the most ecologically diverse landscapes on the East Coast.

Mary Rafferty is the executive director of the Virginia Conservation Network.


** BECKMAN: NEW RIVER HAS A TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY CLUSTER ([link removed])
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By ROBERT BECKMAN, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Roanoke Times editorial of August 29 described how technology-driven manufacturing clusters drawing on regional capabilities can transform economic development prospects (“The best plan yet”). Looking around us, we see a remarkable set of building blocks for a transportation technology cluster in the New River Valley:

Beckman is a development economist with a background in commercialization of technology and venture capital promotion.
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