Today's Sponsor:  Jay and Shelly

VaNews July 4, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** Jay and Shelly
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Happy Birthday USA!

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


** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: ALL-TIME VOTE GETTERS ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

As Virginia's population grows, the number of votes cast in each statewide election goes up. But the Virginia candidate who received the most votes ever (2,369,327) did so in an election that happened 11 years ago. VPAP ranks Virginia's top all-time vote getters.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** NORTHAM PROPOSES GUN-CONTROL BILLS FOR TUESDAY’S GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday announced the gun-control policies he will work with legislators to propose in next week’s special General Assembly session , including universal background checks; a ban on assault weapons, bump stocks and high-capacity magazines; and limiting handgun purchases to one per month.


** NORTHAM RELEASES MORE DETAILS ON GUN BILLS HE WANTS IN SPECIAL SESSION ([link removed])
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By PATRICK WILSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday released more specifics on gun bills he wants addressed at Tuesday’s special session of the legislature, beyond what he outlined in a news conference last month. The actual legislation and details aren’t yet public.


** NORTHAM RELEASES FINAL LIST OF GUN CONTROL PROPOSALS AHEAD OF SPECIAL SESSION ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday rolled out his final list of gun control measures he wants legislators to take up next week during a special session of the General Assembly.


** NORTHAM ISSUES ORDER TO STUDY DISPARITY IN STATE CONTRACTS ([link removed])
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By MECHELLE HANKERSON, Virginia Mercury

After the same proposal failed during the General Assembly veto session, Gov. Ralph Northam has issued an executive order to study how the state awards contracts to certain businesses....“With this Executive Order, we are strengthening our commitment to expanding small business participation in state contracting and achieving equity for our women- and minority-owned businesses.” Northam’s order also includes small and service-disabled veteran businesses in the study, which will be completed by an outside party.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** VA. SENATOR CALLS OUT GAY COLLEAGUE'S SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN CLOSED NRA TOWN HALL ([link removed])
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By PATRICK WILSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

State Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, called out a gay colleague over his sexual orientation during an NRA town hall meeting in Fredericksburg. Speaking to a crowd of NRA members about the November elections, Reeves rattled off negatives about Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, in a monologue about why voters shouldn’t give control of the legislature to Democrats.


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** FIRST REPUBLICAN ENTERS RACE TO CHALLENGE REP. WEXTON IN 2020 ([link removed])
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By JENNA PORTNOY, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Republican Jeff Dove this week filed the paperwork to challenge Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D) in Northern Virginia in 2020, after losing last year to Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D) in a neighboring district.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** PARENTS OF FATAL OVERDOSE VICTIM ARE HOPEFUL NEW LAW IN HER NAME WILL SAVE LIVES ([link removed])
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By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A new Virginia law that took effect Monday allows someone who is using drugs and reports an overdose to avoid prosecution for the possession or consumption of an illegal drug or the possession of paraphernalia.


** CONGRESS
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** EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT COULD SOON BE BACK IN CONGRESS ([link removed])
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By KRISTINA PETERSON, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)

....Ratification from a 38th state now appears more likely after the high court upheld a Virginia legislative map replacing a gerrymander drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature that was found to discriminate against black voters. ... Action in Virginia would thrust the issue back on Congress, where lawmakers would consider whether to extend or remove the ratification deadline. When the ERA was passed by both the House and Senate in 1972, Congress gave the states a 1979 deadline, later extended to 1982, to ratify it.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** MINING COMPANY BANKRUPTCY STILLS 10 MINES IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury

The owner of 10 mining facilities in southwestern Virginia filed for bankruptcy this week, potentially dealing another blow to the state’s shrinking coal mining industry....The companies, which in 2018 reported 484 employees in Virginia, have apparently told their workers to go home, said Virginia Department of Minerals, Mines and Energy public relations manager Tarah Kesterton. “They haven’t said whether it’s a layoff or a closing at this point,” Kesterton said.


** TROUBLED COAL COMPANY BLACKJEWEL GETS EMERGENCY LOAN ([link removed])
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By JONATHAN RANDLES, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)

Blackjewel LLC obtained an emergency loan that will keep the coal-mining company afloat for at least another week, a company lawyer said, and enable the business to restart limited operations in chapter 11 bankruptcy after it shut down because of a lack of funding. ...Employees were turned away from Blackjewel mines earlier this week because the company didn’t have money to pay them, Mr. Lerner said, though some employees later volunteered to come back to the sights out of loyalty to the company. Blackjewel operates in Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia and Wyoming and has about 1,700 employees.


** GROUP LOOKING TO ESTABLISH LOCAL HEMP CO-OP ([link removed])
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By DAVID BROYLES, Carroll News

A local group of investors is looking to establish needed infrastructure aiding Carroll’s foray into industrial hemp. Linley Gresham and Fancy Gap native Kermit Hundley are among those looking into establishing a local hemp co-op with cold-presses to process local farmers’ hemp (and pumpkins) into medical-grade quality oils.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** WHY COLLEGE TUITION WON'T RISE THIS YEAR IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

What happens when two of the state’s most powerful legislators, both strongly committed to ensuring high quality higher education in Virginia, come at the issue from different angles? A $52 million pool meant to be incentive to state colleges and universities to hold tuition and mandatory fees steady this year, rather than setting the 3% to 5% increases they were planning as well as increased funding for financial aid.


** FREE EXPRESSION CENTER DONATES ASSETS TO UVA ([link removed])
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By RUTH SERVEN SMITH, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, a Charlottesville nonprofit long dedicated to promoting the First Amendment, announced Monday that it will close after donating its assets to the University of Virginia School of Law. The gift of more than $1 million will relaunch the school’s First Amendment Clinic, which is one of the oldest in the country but which has been on a brief hiatus. The clinic will be taught by attorneys at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a national nonprofit that provides free legal services to journalists.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** LANDOWNERS ASK U.S. SUPREME COURT TO BAR TAKING THEIR PROPERTY FOR PIPELINE ([link removed])
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By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A group of Southwest Virginia landowners whose property was taken for a natural gas pipeline is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the use of eminent domain.


** LOCAL
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** COUNCILMAN AGELASTO ASKS FOR TAXPAYER MONEY TO PAY HIS LEGAL BILLS ([link removed])
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By JEREMY M. LAZARUS, Richmond Free Press

Parker C. Agelasto has run up a hefty legal tab fending off lawsuits seek- ing to immediately remove him from his 5th District City Council seat now that he and his family have moved out of the district. Mr. Agelasto, who is set to step down on Nov. 30, has appealed to his eight City Council colleagues for financial help with the legal bills.


** VIRGINIA BEACH ASKS STATE FOR $30 MILLION TO PAY FOR BUILDING RENOVATIONS AFTER MASS SHOOTING ([link removed])
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By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

City leaders have asked the state for $30 million to help fund building renovations following the May 31 mass shooting. After 13 were shot dead, including the gunman, and four were injured in Building 2, city employees who used to work there were spread out in 28 different locations throughout Virginia Beach.


** CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST VIRGINIA BEACH WORKER WHO BECAME ANGRY WHEN ASKED TO RETURN TO MASS SHOOTING SITE ([link removed])
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By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Charges have been dropped against a city employee who became angry when two managers met with him about returning to the site of the May 31 mass shooting at the Municipal Center. Last week, managers in the information technology department filed two criminal complaints of disturbing the peace against Jonathan McIvor after he stormed out of a meeting about employees returning to Building 2, according to court documents.


** NORFOLK STUDENTS FILMED A REPORT ABOUT THEIR CRUMBLING SCHOOL. ADMINISTRATORS ORDERED IT DELETED. ([link removed])
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By SARA GREGORY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The state of Maury High School, built in 1910, isn’t really a secret. District officials took state legislators on a tour of the building last fall and begged for more funding, showing where parts of the auditorium ceiling collapsed and where a classroom floor caved in like a sinkhole. They showed peeling paint and pointed out extreme temperature swings from room to room.
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