By GREG GIESEN, LARRY RUBAMA AND MARTY O'BRIEN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
After the initial joy of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signing an executive order on Thursday allowing high school sports to restart in December, a harsh reminder of coronavirus still remained for the state’s fans. While games will resume starting Dec. 21, the ability to attend games in person is greatly limited.
By MATT JONES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Hampton’s school system changed its reopening plan at close to the last minute, announcing late Friday that fewer students than planned will return to the classroom next week. Only pre-K and kindergarten students, along with certain students with disabilities and English language learners, will come back Wednesday at the start of the second quarter. The district’s previously announced plan called for second-, third- and sixth-graders to return as well.
By MEAGAN FLYNN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The bright red MAGA caps came off for the pledge and prayer, and back on as Republican Bob Good took the stage, facing a maskless group of two dozen and a man waving a banner of President Trump atop a military tank. On the outskirts stood two women in their 80s, wearing masks and holding signs supporting Democrat Cameron Webb. “My opponent’s marched with, knelt with the radical Black Lives Matter movement,” Good said, the speakers echoing so loudly it seemed all of Main Street could hear. “My opponent is calling for defunding the police and wants to take away our rights to defend ourselves.” In a district Trump won by 11 points in 2016, Good should be comfortably ahead of Webb, as he tethers himself to the president’s “America First” agenda and mirrors his rhetoric.
By HUNTER BRITT, VCU Capital News Service
As Election Day draws near, people are on the edge of their seats, especially those voting in the presidential election for the first time. Gen Z makes up 10% of eligible voters in the 2020 election, according to the Pew Research Center. This percentage is expected to continue to rise at the same rate as more Gen Z-ers become eligible to vote.
By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Rainy weather was not about to stop Ceili Derozier from casting her first vote for president. The 18-year-old recent high school graduate was among more than 400 people who dutifully waited in line Thursday at Kemper Street Station as the remnants of Tropical Storm Zeta drenched the region with more than two inches of rain.
By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Taciya Brown's only option was to wait three months to get her first-time driver's license. She followed the instructions, booked an appointment in August and chose the next available date: Oct. 28. She walked into the Richmond Central location of Department of Motor Vehicles on Broad Street on Wednesday, her files with city residency documents and proof of identity and social security buckled under her arm.
By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The volunteers who showed up this summer to help a church charity move to a new spot in rural Campbell County were from the same type of group that swooped in when a nearby Lynchburg restaurant was targeted by protesters: the local militia. Earlier this year, Campbell’s board of supervisors officially recognized the self-proclaimed militia as an organization to “enhance the safety and security” of citizens and as a “barrier against a tyrannical government.” Bedford County followed suit. A similar resolution is being debated in Halifax County.
The Full Report
36 articles, 20 publications
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 GREG GIESEN, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has reopened high school sports. Northam signed an executive order Thursday allowing high school sports to restart in December. The order was signed after the Virginia High School League’s guidelines for its return to participation were approved by the Virginia Department of Health.
By TIM PEARRELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam eased some restrictions on recreational sports on Thursday, clearing the way for the Virginia High School League to return to play in December. Northam made amendments to his executive order on temporary restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, permitting indoor and outdoor recreational sports as long as the total number of attendees doesn’t exceed the lesser of 50% of occupancy load for the venue or 250 persons, and races or marathons with up to 1,000 participants, provided staggered starts separate runners into groups of 250 or less.
By JOSH JANNEY, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Voters will decide Tuesday whether they want the 29th District seat in the House of Delegates to remain Republican or if they'd like to shake things up with a Democrat. Democratic nominee Irina Khanin of Winchester and Winchester City Council member Bill Wiley, a Republican, are facing off in a special election to fill the remainder of Republican Chris Collins’ term, which expires Dec. 31, 2021. Collins vacated his seat in June when he was appointed a General District Court judge.
By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Voting in what has been an unprecedented, high-tension election will come to a close Tuesday evening, but a clear picture of the results in Virginia and elsewhere, particularly in close contests, could take days. Officials anticipate delays in the reporting of ballots, fueled by the unprecedented number of voters who sought to vote early in person or by mail in an election transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
A program designed to preserve medicinal herbs while offering new local business opportunities piqued the interest of U.S. Sen. Mark Warner on Friday. Warner, D-Va., who is seeking reelection, spent an hour at Appalachian Sustainable Development, a regional farming and conservation organization, to learn more about its programs. It was one of more than a half-dozen stops in Southwest Virginia during the final week before Election Day on Tuesday. He faces Republican challenger Daniel Gade.
By KARA CLARK RODRIGUEZ, Loudoun Now
Race and responsibility were the focuses of discussion Thursday night during one of the final candidate forums ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day. Candidates for the U.S. Senate, 10thDistrict seat in the House of Rpresentatives and the Leesburg mayoral races participated in the virtual Faith Has a Voice candidate forum, organized by the Loudoun NAACP and Holy & Whole Life-Changing Ministries International of Lansdowne.
By MICHAEL STALEY, The Breeze
With only one week left until the Nov. 3 election, the Democratic candidates for senator, Virginia 6th district representative and the Harrisonburg City Council hosted a socially distanced rally to reinforce the importance of this election earlier this week. Alleyn Harned, chair of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Democratic Committee, opened the rally with the Democratic candidates on the ballot with a call to vote. Whether that be early, absentee or on election day, he stressed the importance of this election.
By ADRIANA DE ALBA, WVEC
It’s an election year unlike those we’ve seen in the past. During this presidential election, voters will head to the polls during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Virginia Department of Health has put together teams of volunteers with the Virginia Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) to help out at the polls on Election Day. Their role will be to keep people safe from the virus as they vote in person.
By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE-FM
Virginia’s top public safety officer expressed cautious optimism about the state’s preparations for security during and after what is sure to be a contentious Election Day. Brian Moran, the state’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, said federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are collaborating to monitor potential threats and plan for any unrest. “We've sketched out in a number of scenarios, and so far, so good,” Moran said. “It's been peaceful and fairly uneventful.”
By RALPH BERRIER JR., Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Voters have lined up across the Roanoke and New River valleys to take advantage of expanded early voting options in their localities. Some municipalities had already eclipsed 50% turnout by Friday, four days before Election Day on Tuesday.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The Virginia Lottery has awarded a consulting contract to a law firm that represents three casinos in Pennsylvania, including one under development by a company that opposes a deal between Norfolk and the Pamunkey Indian Tribe to build a casino on the downtown riverfront, pending voter approval next week. The state-run lottery said the $113,200 contract it signed last month with Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellot, a Pittsburgh-based law firm with an office in Richmond, is solely for help in evaluating applications for sports betting licenses that Virginia expects to award early next year.
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Out-of-work Virginians have a new incentive to get trained in a career: $30 million worth of scholarships. Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday that the state would dedicate $30 million in federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funding to retrain workers in high-demand industries.
By BONNIE HOBBS, Connection Newspapers
Imagine living directly beneath an arrivals path at Dulles International Airport, where jumbo jet aircraft zoom just 950 feet above the homes, 24 hours a day. That’s what residents in Stonebrook will face if Fairfax County approves this proposed development. Yet despite objections from local land-use groups, area residents and the airport, itself, on Oct. 7 the Planning Commission voted yes. And on Nov. 17 – on the recommendation of Supervisor Kathy Smith (D-Sully), who’s supporting developers over residents – the Board of Supervisors is likely to follow suit.
By MARTIN AUSTERMUHLE, DCist
As you head west out of Leesburg, Virginia, the roads have a tendency to disappear. It’s not that they end; rather, the smooth tarmac many of us so closely associate with modernity disappears underfoot, leaving behind a roadbed of tightly packed gravel. Some drive these roads and find the bumps and divots to be a nuisance. Kasey Clark, though, sees history — and an opportunity.
By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Radford University enrollment dipped for the current semester compared to this time last year, according to the school’s data. Total enrollment is down from nearly 12,000 last year to approximately 10,700 currently. Additionally, undergraduate enrollment is down more than 600 students at 7,307, with nearly 400 coming from the shrunken freshman class that is comprised of just over 1,700 students.
By IAN SHAPIRA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Two members of the Virginia Military Institute’s Board of Visitors resigned Thursday shortly before the group voted to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson statue from its prominent location by student barracks. It is unclear why Thomas “Teddy” Gottwald, the chairman of a petroleum additives holding company who graduated from VMI in 1983, and Grover Outland III, a senior vice president and general counsel of a consulting and government contracting firm, resigned. They offered no reasons, according to the school spokesman, Bill Wyatt.
By STAFF REPORT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The Virginia Department of Health reported Friday that the statewide total for COVID-19 cases is 179,639 — an increase of 1,456 from the 178,183 reported Thursday. The 179,639 cases consist of 166,551 confirmed cases and 13,088 probable cases. There are 3,643 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia — 3,391 confirmed and 252 probable. That’s an increase of 7 from the 3,636 reported Thursday.
By BRYAN MCKENZIE, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
The rate of community COVID-19 transmission remains relatively low in Central Virginia, but the virus remains alive and well, according to figures released by the Virginia Department of Health. Most of the region is reporting lower rates of positive testing than the overall state figures, a sign that the virus is not running rampant in the community, although two long-term care facilities reported new outbreaks in October.
Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Ballad Health will pause all non-emergency elective procedures requiring overnight stays starting next week, the health system said Friday. The decision follows the recent reduction of elective surgeries at Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport due to the recent surge in positive COVID-19 cases treated at Ballad hospitals.
By BRYAN MCKENZIE, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
A patient who transferred into a unit at the University of Virginia Medical Center late last week from another facility has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, forcing some staff members to quarantine, according to hospital officials. The patient was in a private room and did not have direct contact with other patients.
By MIKE ALLEN, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The Western Virginia Regional Jail in Salem is taking steps to contain a COVID-19 outbreak after 29 inmates in a 40-person pod tested positive. “I just want the general public to know that we’re doing everything that we can to contain it,” said jail Superintendent Bobby Russell. “We’re doing best practices.”
Fauquier Now
Seven students at Highland School in Warrenton recently tested positive for COVID-19, prompting a temporary return to “distance learning” for Grades 9-12. That shift affects only the 223-student Upper School, according to Highland spokeswoman Donna Tomlinson.
By HOLLY KOZELSKY, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
COVID-19 has torn apart a Sanville family, leaving a grieving mother and widow alone to pick up those pieces. Donna Shields’ husband, Bill Shields, died last Friday, and her son, Billy Shields, died on Monday. Bill Shields, a retired businessman, was 72, and his son, an instructional aide at Sanville Elementary School, was 45.
By CLAIRE MITZEL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Roanoke County Public Schools has reported more than 100 cases of COVID-19 among students and staff since the start of October, more than triple the number of cases reported in September. But contact tracing in partnership with the local health department has shown that students and staff are contracting the virus from outside school buildings, Superintendent Ken Nicely said in an interview Friday. Nicely said it is “demonstrably not the case” that the virus is being contracted at school.
By SUSAN ELZEY, Danville Register & Bee
Another victim of the pandemic is the blood supply at Sovah Health-Danville. The supply has remained low since May and is only about 40% of where it should be, according to Kathy Haney, team leader at the Sovah Blood Donor Center.
By KEITH EPPS, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
A number of people will be donating free labor in Fredericksburg, thanks to a no-longer-in-effect city curfew that at one point was ruled unconstitutional. Nearly 30 people took a deal Friday in Fredericksburg General District Court that will allow curfew violation charges to be expunged from their records after they complete 15 hours of community service in the city. The deal gives them six months to satisfy the requirements.
By HANNAH NATANSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The Alexandria City Public Schools board voted Thursday to approve significant revisions to the school system’s contract with police — changes meant to boost accountability and equity amid a national debate over racism in American policing. The new contract, which went through at least 10 draft versions, vows that the school system will regularly gather disciplinary and policing data, break it down by age, race, sex and disability, then make its analysis public. The contract also clarifies student rights, declaring that children cannot be questioned by school-assigned police — known as school resource officers, or SROs — until and unless their parent or guardian has been informed.
By JAMES SCOTT BARON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Both the Stafford Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors voted 4–3 Thursday night to repeal county cemetery ordinances that prevented the construction of a Muslim cemetery in the 1500 block of Garrisonville Road. The repeal of the ordinances now puts Stafford back in line with state regulations that prevent new cemetery construction within 100 feet of private drinking wells.
By JEREMY M. LAZARUS, Richmond Free Press
Richmond has built three new school buildings, but can teachers and students use them if the School Board decides to restart in-person learning? Yes, for Henry L. Marsh III and Cardinal elementary schools, which just gained the required temporary occupancy permits allowing them to be used, but no for the new River City Middle School, which has not yet passed inspection.
By IAN M. STEWART, WCVE-FM
Chesterfield County School Board Vice Chair Dot Heffron deactivated her Twitter account earlier this week after receiving harassing comments in response to her questioning in-person learning safety. The comments, which ranged from telling Heffron to get ready for a recall, to more vulgar ones telling her to do her job and open the schools, came barely a month after the county released an audit on alleged bullying to keep schools closed. “You know, it was, it was pretty brutal,” Heffron said.
By STACY PARKER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A $17 million street project at the Oceanfront is making the burgeoning ViBe Creative District a more welcoming place, thanks in part to the pandemic. This past spring, amid canceled events and deserted streets, contractors plowed ahead to improve the 19th Street corridor between the convention center and the old dome site. “When the world shut down, we went essentially full throttle," said Denis Ozowara, the city’s project manager.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Would schools in the poorest locality in the 5th Congressional District be improved if their budget was cut by 14.6%? Bob Good, the Republican candidate in that district, thinks so. Let’s explain this rather inexplicable position. As regular readers know, our overriding interest is the economy in this part of the state, which lags behind that of the urban crescent and, often, the nation at large.
By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
More frightening than Halloween for Virginia Republicans is Election Day. The hostility for Donald Trump that is expected to deliver the state for Joe Biden in a fourth consecutive Democratic presidential win here, ensure a third term in the U.S. Senate for Mark Warner and, perhaps, hand Democrats another congressional seat has been building in Virginia for four years, fueling steady gains for a party that less than a decade ago was largely locked out of power.
By MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Virginia Military Institute’s dilemma poses the essential question of this moment of racial reckoning: Can institutions steeped in systemic racism be redeemed? VMI is what it is — a school whose students took up arms in defense of slavery, the last public college in Virginia to integrate, a place that had to be forced to admit women. Until several years ago, its students were required to salute a statue of Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, who taught at VMI and owned six enslaved people.
By WARREN FISKE, WCVE-FM
When it comes to raising the minimum wage, the candidates in Virginia’s closely-watched 7th District congressional race have polar opposite views. Democratic incumbent Abigail Spanberger has voted for a bill that would gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2025. She says the current wage of $7.25 an hour, set in 2009, has lost much of its purchase power and can’t support a family.
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