Today's Sponsor:  Hampden Smith

VaNews Sept. 11, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** Hampden Smith
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Believing that open government is good government.

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


** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: RANKING THE PARTISAN LEAN OF LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

VPAP has updated its partisan index to take into account a federal court order earlier this year that redrew 25 state House districts. Nearly one in four House districts now fall in the most competitive range, with another two districts currently held by Republicans moving into the "Leans Democrat" zone. The ranking is not intended to be a precise predictor of future results. Rather, it seeks to rank the general partisan tendencies of each district based on results from the 2016 presidential and 2017 gubernatorial elections.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** EASTERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL SCHOOL PAID $365K FOR INVESTIGATION INTO NORTHAM’S YEARBOOK PAGE ([link removed])
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WTVR

McGuireWoods LLP charged Eastern Virginia Medical School more than $365,000 for their investigation into Gov. Ralph Northam’s racist yearbook photo, according to copies of two invoices sent to the school. Details of the law firm’s investigation were released in May, but the report was “inconclusive” on whether Gov. Northam is in a racist photo that appears on his 1984 EVMS yearbook page.


** VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL WARNS ABOUT AT-HOME RAPE TEST KITS ([link removed])
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By BRENDAN PONTON, WTKR

A new company is hoping survivors of rape and sexual assault can preserve evidence from the safety of their home, but Virginia's Attorney General Mark Herring is telling people to stay away. "These kits, according to a lot of health care professionals, law enforcement and survivor advocacy groups, leave a lot out and they have a lot of concerns," said Herring.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** PAC TO SPEND $500,000 TO HELP DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR VIRGINIA HOUSE ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A Democratic super PAC focused on turning statehouses blue will pour $500,000 into Virginia’s “off-off-year election” for the state House of Delegates in November, while another group plans to invest $1 million in pro-environment candidates from either party.


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE CHAIR LINKS HOMOSEXUALITY WITH PEDOPHILIA, CHILDHOOD TRAUMA ([link removed])
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By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE

The College Republican Federation of Virginia is calling for a Republican Party chair in Central Virginia to apologize or resign over a Facebook post in which he claimed homosexuality was linked to pedophilia and largely caused by trauma. Melvin Adams, chair of the 5th District Republican Committee, said on Sunday that he was attempting to defend an earlier poster, whom he said was a victim of child abuse.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** DOMINION AND CONSUMER ADVOCATES DEBATE UTILITY'S RATES BEFORE SCC ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Utility regulators on Tuesday heard a request by Dominion Energy to increase its profit margins to attract more capital investment, as opponents pointed to excess earnings by the utility and rebutted claims that customers would see little impact.


** GO VIRGINIA AT CROSSROADS AS TOM FARRELL SUCCEEDS DUBBY WYNNE AS HEAD OF STATE-FINANCED INITIATIVE ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Three years after its creation, GO Virginia is approaching a crossroads with a new leader and pressure to show a return on the state’s investment in a different kind of economic development initiative. Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell was re-elected chairman of the state GO Virginia board of directors on Tuesday, less than a month after he first replaced Virginia Beach business executive John “Dubby” Wynne, who resigned the leadership job in mid-August.


** REGIONAL AGENCY HELPS HOMEOWNERS WITH WATER, SEPTIC ISSUES ([link removed])
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By LINDA BURCHETTE, Smyth County News & Messenger

Area homeowners lacking safe drinking water, or with no septic system or a failing system, are eligible for financial help. Mount Rogers Planning District Commission is applying for grant funds for 2020 through the Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development. ... “MRPDC has led the state in number of projects funded along with dollar amounts spent in Southwest Virginia for the past two years,” said Josh Smith, regional planner.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** VIRGINIA’S POVERTY RATE DROPS TO 10.1%, NEW DATA SHOW ([link removed])
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By SRAVAN GANNAVARAPU, VCU Capital News Service

Virginia’s poverty rate has fallen by a full percentage point, to about 10%, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The proportion of Virginians living in poverty dropped from 11.1% in 2015-16 to 10.1% in 2017-18, the data showed. The state’s poverty rate remained well below the national rate, which averaged 12% for the most recent two-year period.


** COLONIAL DOWNS SAYS 2019 RACES OUTPERFORMED TRACK'S FINAL YEAR UNDER PREVIOUS OWNER ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Colonial Downs Group said Tuesday that the 15-day horse racing schedule that ended Saturday resulted in $17.5 million wagered and $7.4 million in purses for race winners, both increases from the last year of races before the track closed.


** COAL TRANSPORTS REMAIN HALTED AS BANKRUPTCY JUDGE WEIGHS BLACKJEWEL CASE ([link removed])
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By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Thousands of tons of coal stockpiled in Southwest Virginia remain halted as a federal bankruptcy judge considers questions related to whether coal mined by Blackjewel LLC was produced in violation of labor laws and if a separate company that bought the coal can be allowed to move it.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** METRO’S CONCERNS ABOUT SILVER LINE CONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS GET SUPPORT ([link removed])
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By MAX SMITH, WTOP

Safety officials and regional leaders are lining up behind Metro’s potential refusal to accept the Silver Line extension to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County, Virginia, as it is currently constructed. Metro’s inspector general last week raised new concerns about ongoing repairs.


** COALITION CALLS FOR EAST-WEST PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By DAVID SEIDEL, WVTF

Most of Virginia’s current passenger rail service runs north-south and connects in Washington DC. The proposal released Tuesday says east-west rail service, linking Hampton Roads, Richmond, Charlottesville, Lynchburg and Roanoke would better connect growing areas of Virginia’s population.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** UVA PROMISES CHANGES AFTER REPORT ON MEDICAL DEBT COLLECTION ([link removed])
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By RUTH SERVEN SMITH, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The University of Virginia Medical Center is reviewing its policy of frequently suing and garnishing wages of patients who have not paid their medical bills. A little over a month ago, University President Jim Ryan learned about the extent to which UVa sues to receive medical bills, according to a statement posted Monday evening on social media.


** SUTTON-WALLACE LEAVING AS UVA MEDICAL CENTER CEO ([link removed])
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By RUTH SERVEN SMITH, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The University of Virginia announced Tuesday that the Medical Center’s CEO, Pamela Sutton-Wallace, will leave Charlottesville in November to take a position at a hospital in New York City.


** LIBERTY'S FALWELL SAYS HE'S TARGET OF 'ATTEMPTED COUP' ([link removed])
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By SARAH RANKIN AND ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. said Tuesday that he is asking the FBI to investigate what he called a "criminal" smear campaign orchestrated against him by several disgruntled former board members and employees. Falwell told The Associated Press he has evidence that the group improperly shared emails belonging to the university with reporters


** SLAVES HELPED BUILD VIRGINIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. THE SCHOOL WILL SPEND $1.7 MILLION IN REPARATIONS. ([link removed])
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By MEAGAN FLYNN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

From their offices in a building erected by slaves, leaders of the Virginia Theological Seminary announced early this month that they have created a $1.7 million fund for reparations, putting one of the oldest Episcopalian schools at the forefront of a movement among universities and other groups seeking to reconcile slavery’s enduring legacy in their organizations.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** VA. SOLAR FARM CALLED OFF AFTER PUSHBACK ([link removed])
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By HANNAH NATANSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

They all valued the land — thousands of rolling acres of agricultural turf in Culpeper County, Va. — but for very different reasons. Energy company Cricket Solar saw it as a host site for more than 380,000 solar panels that could create a powerful source of renewable energy, as well as construction jobs. The coalition of Culpeper residents and historians dead-set against the installation saw it as precious historic turf


** OPIOID RIPPLES: ‘THIS HAS TOUCHED EVERYONE’ ([link removed])
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By RANDY RIELAND, Rappahannock News

Mothers sometimes ask Culpeper Police Chief Chris Jenkins to arrest their children. It’s the only way to save them, they tell him, because in jail, their sons or daughters can get the treatment they need. But, as Jenkins points out, the notion that inmates have access to life-changing drug rehab programs is “nowhere near the truth.”


** LOCAL
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** STONEY APPEALS FOIA RULING AFTER REVLEASING COLISEUM DOCUMENTS ([link removed])
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By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A seemingly decided legal dispute between Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney’s administration and one of its most persistent critics could be headed to the Virginia Supreme Court, exasperating members of the City Council.


** PARENTS RALLY OUTSIDE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING TO PROTEST LEGIONELLA, MOLD CONDITIONS ([link removed])
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By SEAN GORMAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Parents gathered outside Tuesday’s Chesterfield County School Board meeting to decry school conditions after revelations that Legionella bacteria had been growing in cooling towers on school property. Wearing breathing masks and bearing placards, about 30 people gathered outside the public meeting room on Iron Bridge Road amid concerns about the bacteria — which cause Legionnaires’ disease, a type of pneumonia — and mold levels at two Midlothian schools.


** TWO WEEKS AFTER VIRGINIA BEACH’S CITY MANAGER RESIGNED, THE COUNCIL TALKS ABOUT BUILDING TRUST ([link removed])
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By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

As the Virginia Beach City Council gears up to find a new city manager, members have a large hurdle to clear before they can agree on hiring for the top job: Building trust. During a day-long retreat on Tuesday, the council had honest conversations about how the members can better work together.


** PAMUNKEY CASINO DEAL COULD MEAN NEARLY $33 MILLION ANNUALLY FOR NORFOLK ([link removed])
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By RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The Pamunkey Indian Tribe would pay Norfolk nearly $10 million for property near downtown if it moves forward with plans to build a resort and casino, according to terms of the deal made public Tuesday. The agreement also says if the Pamunkeys open a tribal casino — which would be exempt from taxes typically levied on commercial casinos — it would pay the city 4% of all the money made from gaming.


** IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW LAW ALLOWING SCHOOL NURSES TO GIVE STUDENTS MEDICAL CANNABIS COULD BE MONTHS OFF ([link removed])
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By RILYN EISCHENS, News Leader (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

This school year is the first that school nurses can administer medical cannabis to students at school, but families may have to wait months to see the change in schools. The new legislation was one of a handful of marijuana-related laws passed by the Virginia legislature this year.


** LEADERS MEET AT FORUM TO ADDRESS REGION’S STAGNANT POPULATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ([link removed])
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By LURAH SPELL, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A forum held Tuesday in Johnson City was a call to action for local business, industry and higher education leaders to address the region’s stagnant population and economic development growth. Hundreds gathered at East Tennessee State University’s Millennium Center to hear data reports on population and workforce trends.


** COLUMNISTS
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** WILLIAMS: IF WE CAN'T TRUST THE SMALL STUFF ABOUT THE COLISEUM PLAN, WE CAN'T TRUST THE BIG STUFF. ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

“We believe in openness and transparency,” wrote the presidents of two historically black universities in a pro-Navy Hill redevelopment piece ghostwritten by the corporation planning to overhaul a swath of downtown. Hakim J. Lucas and Makola M. Abdullah, presidents of Virginia Union and Virginia State universities, shared a byline on the December column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. A shirttail added to the online version listed more contributors, including Thomas F. Farrell II


** POLITIFACT VIRGINIA: JONES "HALF TRUE" ON MEDICAID EXPANSION CLAIM ([link removed])
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By WARREN FISKE, WCVE

Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, is introducing himself to voters in his newly-redrawn district as the champion of Medicaid expansion in Virginia. The Democratic Party of Virginia says his claim is bogus. Jones, the powerful chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee, is airing a 30-second ad showing him at work as a pharmacist.
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