By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press
A judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the Democratic Virginia governor’s plans to remove an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — but said the state can’t immediately act on his order. The judge dissolved a temporary injunction prohibiting the statue’s removal from a historic avenue in downtown Richmond, but he also suspended his own order pending the resolution of an appeal by a group of residents who live near the statue.
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
One day after the Virginia Military Institute’s top leader resigned, Gov. Ralph Northam did not indicate whether he would remove any members of the board of visitors. While in Roanoke to campaign for Democratic candidates on Tuesday, Northam said he expects the 17 members on the board “to listen and be open-minded and to realize that we have some issues that we need to address at VMI.”
By IAN SHAPIRA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The cadets were angry, venting on an anonymous chat app widely used at the Virginia Military Institute. The target of their rage: Black cadets and alumni who publicly detailed in a Washington Post story the relentless racism they had encountered at the nation’s oldest state-supported military college.
By ANA LEY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The deadline to request a mail-in ballot has passed, but Virginia’s election system is mistakenly letting people apply anyway. What appears to be a computer glitch is creating confusion for hundreds of registered voters days before the Nov. 3 general election.
By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury
A little over a week after Gov. Ralph Northam announced plans for a phased reopening of Virginia’s K-12 schools, Virginia Beach Superintendent Aaron Spence wrote a frustrated email to a top official at the state’s Department of Education. “This variance option — and the ongoing statement that all parents have to do is lobby their school board and superintendent if they want us to vary from the state plan — has injected politics into this decision,” he wrote to James Lane, the state superintendent of public instruction, forwarding an angry email he received from a faculty member at a local private school. “Without context, we are going to be hung out to dry here,” Spence added.
By JESS NOCERA, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The health committee charged with deciding when groups of Chesterfield County public school students should return to the classroom during a global pandemic went against its own metrics, recommending to send the last cluster of students back despite the data saying otherwise. Tuesday’s recommendation, a split decision among the committee, now allows for all sixth- through 12th-graders who have been learning from home since the beginning of the school year to join select K-12 special education students, prekindergarten through fifth-graders, and career and technical high school students.
By BOB DAVIS, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)
In early 2017, a few mine operators met in this coal town’s lone Chinese restaurant to boast of their expansion plans. With Donald Trump in the White House, they said, they wouldn’t be hobbled by environmentalists and would invest in new mines. It hasn’t worked out that way. . . . Buchanan County, Va., is Trump country. But even his supporters feel some Trump fatigue after four years of controversy and a pandemic that has swept across the county’s mountains and hollows and battered its economy.
The Full Report
56 articles, 22 publications
The Virginia Public Access Project
By Tuesday, more than one-third of Virginia's nearly 6 million registered voters had cast ballots ahead of the presidential election. Early voting ranges from a high of 59% of registered voters in Falls Church to a low of 12% in Lee County in far Southwest Virginia. This visual ranks every locality based on absentee voting totals reported to the state Department of Elections.
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 10:30 a.m.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Virginia colleges and universities are getting a one-time boost of $116 million in federal aid to cope with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, while partnering with the Virginia Chamber to create opportunities for students as interns or apprentices ultimately to fill jobs critical to rebuilding the state’s economy. The funding under the federal CARES Act, which Gov. Ralph Northam announced on Tuesday, includes $10.8 million for Virginia Commonwealth University and $20 million for the VCU Health System to help cover the costs of the public health emergency.
By HENRI GENDREAU, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Virginia Tech and Radford University are among schools receiving millions of dollars more in coronavirus aid money. Virginia will dole out more than $116 million in federal funds to colleges and universities to help cover costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday.
By IAN MUNRO AND JESSICA WETZLER, Daily News Record (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Both candidates running to represent Virginia in the U.S. Senate for the next six years visited Harrisonburg for voter outreach events Tuesday. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner spoke to a small crowd behind the local Democratic Party headquarters on West Market Street. Later in the evening, Republican candidate Daniel Gade attended a town hall on the campus of James Madison University.
By DANIELLA CHESLOW, DCist
At the headquarters of the Fauquier County Republican Committee in Warrenton, Virginia, a cardboard cutout of John Wayne gripping a rifle leans against a wall. Chair Gregory Schumacher says Wayne was “the great American Western hero,” and he says Republicans who held the Fifth District in Congress for all but two of the last 20 years will keep it in their hands this November. Although the populous counties of Northern Virginia have powered the state’s drift into Democratic control, Schumacher says he sits on the political boundary. “When you come out from the Beltway, Fauquier County’s the first one that goes red,” Schumacher said.
By CJ PASCHALL, WWBT-TV
A big congressional race is bringing in even bigger dollars in Virginia’s 7th District. The race between Democratic incumbent Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Republican challenger Del. Nick Freitas has raised nearly $11 million as of the last filing deadline on October 15, according to campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.
By PATRICK SZABO, Loudoun Now
More than a dozen of Loudoun’s hospitality and tourism industry business leaders gathered at Lansdowne Resort this morning to voice concerns about their finances amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to hear about the help Virginia’s federal legislators are proposing. U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA-10) led a discussion that emphasized the Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed to Survive, or RESTAURANTS, Act, which Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced in June and Warner cosponsors.
By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE-FM
The Republican Party of Virginia and a conservative legal group with a history of making accusations of voter fraud without evidence are challenging a new Virginia voting rule in a hearing set for Wednesday. The lawsuit centers on a new state law that requires that a ballot postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted by a registrar if it arrives by noon on the third day following elections -- this year, Friday, November 6.
By BEN FINLEY, Associated Press
Local election officials in Virginia say the state’s website could be giving voters the false impression that they can still apply for a mail-in ballot to vote on Nov. 3. That deadline passed Friday afternoon. But the state’s online portal is still allowing requests for mail-in ballots to vote in the year 2020. And hundreds of people, if not more, have continued to submit applications. All will be denied for the Nov. 3 election.
By MEGAN CLOHERTY, WTOP
Hundreds of voters in Fairfax County expecting a mail-in ballot won’t get it in time. That’s because the Virginia Department of Elections website is still allowing voters to request a mail-in ballot well past the deadline. At last count, 853 voters in Fairfax County requested they be sent a mail-in ballot after the deadline passed on 5 p.m. last Friday, elections Director Gary Scott said.
By ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Early-voting sites in Fairfax County will be open for an extra two hours Thursday and Friday, a move meant to alleviate some of the long waits at those locations amid record turnouts, county officials said Tuesday. During those two days, the county’s 13 satellite locations will open at 11 a.m. instead of 1 p.m. and will close at 7 p.m., said Brian Worthy, spokesman for the Fairfax elections office. The county’s main government center, another early-voting site, will continue to operate between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. during that period.
By HANNAH SCHUSTER, DCist
Virginia voters who make a mistake filling out their absentee ballots for the November election are getting a chance to correct errors, like a missing signature, that might ordinarily lead to their votes getting rejected. A new law in effect for this election cycle sets up what’s known as a ballot “cure” process, requiring that election officials reach out to voters whose ballots have been flagged because of errors. It’s one of a series of voting-related policies that Democrats advanced during a special legislative session that started in August and is beginning to wrap up.
By BRAD KUTNER, Courthouse News Service
Virginia Democrats have filed suit against an elections official in Richmond for not handing over a list of rejected absentee ballots, which the party hopes to use to notify voters so they can file a corrected ballot by next week’s deadline. The Democrats claim other cities and counties across the state have complied with the same request, but Richmond Registrar Kirk Showalter has refused.
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press
Virginia Democrats are suing Richmond’s top elections official to get a list of absentee voters whose ballots contain errors that need to be corrected in order for them to be counted in the Nov. 3 election. In a lawsuit filed late Monday in Richmond City Circuit Court, the Democratic Party of Virginia alleges that Richmond General Registrar J. Kirk Showalter has failed to turn over a complete list of absentee voters with ballots containing errors or omissions.
ArlNow
Arlington has just crossed the 50% mark. New figures released today by the Arlington County elections office show that 85,776 votes have already been cast in the upcoming Nov. 3 election. That represents more than 50% of active voters in the county, and more than twice the early and mail-in votes of the entire record-setting 2016 presidential election.
By BRENT SOLOMON, WWBT-TV
In most localities, a huge number of people are taking advantage of early voting. But unlike those other counties, after anyone votes in New Kent, the ballot is not scanned into a machine. New Kent is processing ballots the way they have traditionally handled absentee ballots and is a process even the registrar says is taxing but out of her control. “We’re busier than we’ve ever seen before in this little, small county,” Registrar Karen Bartlett said.
By JOHN DOMEN, WTOP
Virginia is moving quickly to launch sports betting throughout the commonwealth, with applications for mobile betting licenses flowing into the Virginia Lottery ahead of the Oct. 31 deadline. The approach being taken in Virginia is in stark contrast with the District’s approach, and the gaming industry is far more excited about it.
By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Two endangered species of fish — the Roanoke logperch and the candy darter — could be pushed closer to extinction if a natural gas pipeline is allowed to invade their waters, according to a legal challenge filed Tuesday. A coalition of environmental groups asked a federal appeals court to review a biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which found last month that construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is not likely to jeopardize protected fish, bats and mussels.
By CHRISTOPHER TYREE, LYNN WALTZ AND ALAN RODRIGUEZ ESPINOZA, WCVE-FM
Geovanni Miranda Garcia labored through an apple orchard in the Shenandoah Valley one recent warm October afternoon, sorting freshly picked apples. One after another, for hours on end. It is a job he has done at Turkey Knob Growers in Rockingham County, Va., for several years. His whole family back home in Monterrey, Mexico, depends on his income. . . . Garcia is one of more than 10,000 migrant farmers who travelled to Virginia this year during the deadly pandemic to plant and harvest crops at more than 250 Virginia farms and orchards, according to the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). Despite the health crisis, the influx of migrants this year changed little from previous harvests, according to VEC estimates.
By JAMEY CROSS, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
The first electric school buses in the commonwealth will begin rolling down the road early next month, thanks to Dominion Energy’s Electric School Bus Program and Sonny Merryman, a Campbell County-based school and commercial bus company. In a rollout celebration Tuesday, representatives from Sonny Merryman; Dominion Energy; Thomas Built Buses; Proterra, a California-based electric transit and charging manufacturer; and school divisions across the state had a first look at the state’s first electric school buses.
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
After the Regal movie theater chain announced this month that it would stop showing movies indefinitely amid the pandemic, at least one location in Hampton Roads is set to close permanently. Armada Hoffler announced Monday that it had terminated the lease of the Regal Columbus Movies 12 at 104 Constitution Drive, across from the developer’s Virginia Beach Town Center. The lease had fallen into default.
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press
Federal litigators reached a civil settlement Tuesday with the largest operator of group homes in Virginia for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities over allegations it failed to provide necessary sign language interpreters. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia G. Zachary Terwilliger announced the settlement with Richmond-based Good Neighbor Homes Inc. The settlement resolves allegations that the company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide an interpreter for a deaf resident.
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Looking to shop local this holiday season but need a little extra incentive amid a global pandemic that might make one skittish about spending? Isle of Wight County and two of its towns are using federal COVID-19 relief funds to create a matching gift card program to help small businesses.
By MARTY O'BRIEN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
William & Mary President Katherine Rowe received two emphatic endorsements on Tuesday amid the fire she is facing in the wake of the school’s decision in September to cut seven of its 23 varsity sports – three of which have been reinstated. The first was an expression of support from W&M’s Board of Visitors. The second was a $1.5 million gift, made in honor of Rowe, for women’s athletic scholarships.
By JULIA MARSIGLIANO, Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily (Metered paywall - 3 articles per month)
Some members of the Tribe community have some words for those supporting the university president’s leadership amid the controversy surrounding the cut varsity sports programs. William & Mary Board of Visitors Rector John Littel wrote in an email the board has the “utmost confidence” in W&M President Katherine Rowe in response to a question on how confident the board was in her leadership. . . . But not everyone agrees with Littel’s opinion of Rowe.
Associated Press
Virginia’s Washington and Lee University says that there are deep divisions over its name as the nation continues to grapple with its racial past. The school in Lexington said in a statement last week that it received 14,000 responses to a survey it has conducted as it examines issues of diversity, equity and inclusion on campus.
By HOLLY KOZELSKY, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The Baldwin Building, the home of New College Institute, now officially belongs to the Commonwealth of Virginia, which paid $7.5 million to the New College Foundation. Meanwhile, NCF, the foundation created to support the vision of NCI, remains quiet about what it plans to do with the money or what its future role with NCI would be.
By STAFF REPORT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The Virginia Department of Health reported Tuesday that the statewide total for COVID-19 cases is 175,409 — an increase of 1,134 from the 174,275 reported Monday. The 175,409 cases consist of 163,339 confirmed cases and 12,070 probable cases. There are 3,600 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia — 3,350 confirmed and 250 probable. That’s an increase of 19 from the 3,581 reported Monday.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Chesterfield County health officials confirmed on Tuesday that 16 residents of a skilled nursing facility in Chesterfield have died of COVID-19 in an outbreak that has infected 69 residents and 36 staff. Chesterfield Health Director Alexander Samuel confirmed the deaths and cases at Tyler's Retreat at Iron Bridge in an intensifying outbreak that was first reported by WRIC 8 News.
By JANE HARPER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia Beach’s Circuit Court will remain closed the rest of this week after five employees tested positive for COVID-19 and multiple others await test results. Among those testing positive for the disease was Clerk of the Circuit Court Tina Sinnen, who has led the office since she was first elected to it in 2003. Sinnen wrote in an email Tuesday to The Pilot that she was just starting to feel well enough to respond to messages.
By LUANNE RIFE, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
With hospital cases of COVID-19 increasing by more than a third in just one week, local public health officials warned Tuesday not to be tricked into thinking that the coronavirus will take a holiday. “Everything that we’ve been asking individuals to do, we are imploring them to do right now. Stay home if you’re sick, contact people if you have COVID, consider downloading the COVIDWISE app,” said Dr. Cynthia Morrow, director of the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
A Richmond Circuit Court judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of Gov. Ralph Northam’s order to take down the Robert E. Lee monument, holding that arguments to keep it in place were contrary to current public policy. Northam’s June 4 order was blocked by a temporary injunction issued by Richmond Circuit Judge W. Reilly Marchant after five residents of the 14-block Monument Avenue Historic District sued.
By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Gov. Ralph Northam can remove this city's towering tribute to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, a circuit court judge ruled Tuesday. But the judge also halted the governor from acting immediately, allowing the group trying to preserve the statue to mount an appeal. Circuit Judge W. Reilly Marchant found that Virginia is not bound by the terms of covenants dating from 1870 and 1890, in which the state agreed to forever protect the statue.
By MIKE ALLEN, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A Botetourt County committee plans to recommend that the Confederate monument that stands in front of the county courthouse should be moved. Botetourt County Supervisor Steve Clinton, who represents the Amsterdam District, heads the committee on monuments and memorials. During Tuesday’s meeting of the county supervisors, he explained that the volunteer committee reached that conclusion at its Oct. 8 gathering.
ArlNow
While students with disabilities are still set to return to classrooms next week, further return-to-school phases are now on hold. Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán made the announcement in an email to families Tuesday evening. “Currently, the health and safety metrics are not where they need to be to proceed with Level 2, Phase 1 Return on Nov. 12 for PreK, Kindergarten, and Career & Technical Education (CTE) students,” Durán wrote.
Associated Press
A teachers’ union in Virginia’s largest school district is urging members to call in sick Wednesday for a “mental health day” as they ponder how they will respond to a gradual return to in-person learning. Fairfax Education Association President Kimberly Adams said teachers need the mental health day because of the stress they face with a looming Oct. 30 deadline to say whether they will return to the classroom when called upon, seek a leave of absence, or resign.
By STAFF REPORT, Loudoun Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A woman has received one misdemeanor count of destruction of property after a Leesburg sidewalk was vandalized last month, according to the Leesburg Police Department. Local law enforcement served Jessie Patton, 29, of Fairfax, with a warrant Sunday, after which she was reportedly released on her signature promising to appear in court.
By HANNAH NATANSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
As the end of the first semester approaches, Northern Virginia school officials are stepping up efforts to return children to classrooms, inspiring elation, anger and protest — including a planned teacher day off for mental health — among parents, students and staffers. At a school board meeting in Loudoun County on Thursday evening, Superintendent Eric Williams and top staffers outlined detailed plans to return third- through fifth-graders, as well as some high-schoolers studying STEM, to classrooms by early December.
By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Incumbent Levar Stoney’s re-election bid for Richmond mayor raised another $303,000 this month, outpacing his two closest competitors again and eclipsing $1 million in donations. With candidates making their final push to sway voters, Stoney maintains a cash advantage over Alexsis Rodgers and Kimberly B. “Kim” Gray, according to a new round of campaign finance reports filed Monday.
By RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Nearly two years after Norfolk officially set the St. Paul’s redevelopment in motion — a massive plan to tear down half of the city’s public housing and reimagine a wide swath near downtown — the first wave of new construction will begin. Slowly over the next two years, four new apartment buildings, major road work and a pump station will all emerge from the dirt around the Hampton Roads Transit station on St. Paul’s Boulevard.
By C. SUAREZ ROJAS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
A cache of unidentified human remains found in Richmond’s East End Cemetery this summer show some evidence of medical experimentation, according to a preliminary analysis by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Officials from the state agency revealed the findings last week during a public hearing on what should be done with the remains.
By KENYA HUNTER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Black alumni demanding racial change at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School have released the findings of a June survey that asked Black students, alumni, and even students’ parents about their experiences with racism. A total of 76 respondents to the survey conducted by the Maggie Walker Black Alumni Network overwhelmingly said while they felt confident in the rigorous education they received from the school, they recall a traumatizing experience filled with microaggressions, a lack of support from administration and teachers, and isolation from being one of the few Black students there.
By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Two condo associations have sued the city and a senior living community over a proposed high-rise building that will threaten neighbors' view of the Chesapeake Bay. The residents of Ocean Shore Condominium Association and Ships Watch Condominium Owners' Association filed the lawsuit last week, one month after the the Virginia Beach City Council approved the 22-story glass tower on the campus of Westminster-Canterbury on the Chesapeake Bay.
By ANNA MEROD, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Prekindergarten through first-grade students in Winchester Public Schools will be able to attend in-person classes four days a week instead of two starting Nov. 16. The city School Board unanimously approved the change Monday night. “I do believe this is the right decision,” Superintendent Jason Van Heukelum said about expanding in-person learning for the youngest students in the division’s four elementary schools.
By JAMEY CROSS, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Bedford County Public Schools to suspend in-person learning for fourth and fifth graders at Forest Middle School In-person learning for fourth and fifth graders at Forest Middle School will be suspended beginning today through Nov. 6 because of a rise in positive COVID-19 cases at the school.
By CLAIRE MITZEL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Three Roanoke schools are currently closed for two weeks, but the city school division still plans to have elementary students return to the classroom next week. Superintendent Verletta White and her staff provided a reopening update to the school board on Tuesday, which included information about the students who will return two days per week.
By RALPH BERRIER JR., Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam came to Roanoke on Tuesday to endorse Roanoke Mayor Sherman Lea and the three Democratic candidates running for city council. Standing at the Mill Mountain overlook in front of the Roanoke Star, with the familiar mountain-hugged vista of the city as a backdrop, Virginia’s Democratic governor praised Roanoke for its economy, public high school graduation rates and its diversity, which he credited to the city’s Democratic leadership.
By MIKE ALLEN, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The Franklin County School Board heard an assessment Monday afternoon of what it would take to have students back in the classroom for at least four days a week under pandemic conditions. The board’s consensus, ultimately, was that conditions aren’t right for making that leap, at least not yet.
By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee
The contract between Caesars Entertainment and the city of Danville includes provisions that would not require the company to meet its promised jobs numbers and wage commitments under certain circumstances. The provisions in the contract signed Sept. 3 by city and company officials state that Caesars Virginia temporarily would not be required to meet those obligations "in the event of a partial or total shutdown of the project as a result of natural disaster, pandemic, endemic or other emergency situation."
By PARKER COTTON, Danville Register & Bee
Nine weeks into the school year, some teachers across the Dan River Region report mixed feelings regarding levels of student engagement, their preparedness for the school year and the merits of reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students in Pittsylvania County Schools who opted for in-person learning have been back in classrooms for the last two or four weeks depending on grade level. In Danville Public Schools, students who elected in-person learning will begin returning on Nov. 9, with more following on Nov. 16.
By SYDNEY LAKE, Va Business Magazine
Danville Utilities, in partnership with Edison, New Jersey-based CS Energy LLC, Hingham, Massachusetts-based Navisun LLC and Denver-based TurningPoint Energy, announced Tuesday it has completed a 14-megawatt utility-scale solar project in Danville — the city’s largest solar development to date.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
There is so much wrong with the situation at Virginia Military Institute that it’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s take things in chronological order. 1. Why the delayed outrage? Roanoke Times education reporter Claire Mitzel wrote in June about how some Black alumni were using social media to describe what they had faced at VMI, including: “being punished for not saluting the [Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall”] Jackson statue; white cadets wearing blackface; the pain of charging across the New Market battlefield; white students using the N-word; getting spit in the face.”
Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
On Oct. 9, Judge Tracy Thorne-Begland fined Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn $500 for lying to Northern Virginia attorney David Webster about a Freedom of Information Act request he made regarding her unilateral removal of Confederate statuary from the Old House Chamber in Richmond. The judge also ordered her to pay Webster’s attorney nearly $2,000 in legal fees.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Gov. Ralph Northam said he lost confidence Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, the superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute. On Monday, the general lost his post. A situation that called for thorough investigation and careful deliberation instead received neither, which reflects poorly on the commonwealth.
By SUZANNE JENKINS, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
“We shouldn’t be paying teachers if I’m teaching my kids.” “I should be paid their salary.” “If they don’t want to go into the building, they shouldn’t get paid.” I saw social media comments such as these after Henrico County Public Schools announced the plan for virtual instruction. I’ve been an educator for 23 years, and I’ve heard many misconceptions about our schedules, mostly comments regarding how nice it must be to have summers “off.”
Suzanne Jenkins of Varina is an exceptional education teacher with Henrico County Public Schools and is the mother of two Henrico students.
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