By LUANNE RIFE, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The first shipments of COVID-19 vaccines arrived Tuesday in Roanoke against the backdrop of a surge in infections and hospitalizations. Dr. Cynthia Morrow, director of the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts, said during her weekly media briefing that 1,700 new infections were reported during the past week and that 63 people became so ill they were admitted to a hospital. “Fifteen percent of our cases were reported last week, which is really astonishing to me. Not that it’s unexpected, but nevertheless really disheartening,” she said.
By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The pneumonia struck first. Then came two negative COVID-19 tests administered in a long-term care facility, a ventilator and a longing to come home. By June, Gaylene Kanoyton would lose the woman who raised her — six months before vaccinations arrived to nursing homes and presented a shot of hope in a pandemic that’s claimed more than 300,000 lives across the country.
By PARKER COTTON, Danville Register & Bee
On the day when Pittsylvania County reported two more deaths caused by COVID-19, Westover District Supervisor Ronald Scearce used his brief time for personal comments during the board of supervisors meeting to make light of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s safety mandates. Earlier in the meeting on Tuesday evening, during the public comment section, a county resident used her time to ask the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors to consider rejecting restrictions on sizes of gatherings and various other public safety measures. The woman sounded to be near tears as she spoke out against Northam’s “tyrannical mandates.”
By KATHERINE HAFNER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Starting next month, some undocumented immigrants in Virginia will be able to apply for temporary driving credentials. The change comes from a bill the newly Democratic General Assembly passed earlier this year, and establishes what the state is calling driver privilege cards. It will make Virginia the 16th state to allow non-citizens to lawfully drive, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. About 300,000 people in the commonwealth are estimated to qualify.
By SCOTT FIELDS, Reston Now
The timeline for completion of the second phase of the Silver Line continues to be the subject of uncertainty. Phase II of the Silver Line has the potential to open in the fall of 2021, at the earliest. That is subject to change, however, as there are multiple issues that must be resolved first.
By BILL WYATT, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Martinsville City Schools will become the first school division in the state to have a gunshot detection system in all of its buildings. T.J. Slaughter, director of school safety and emergency management, applied for a state grant through the Virginia Department of Education in the summer of 2018 and, in November of last year he told the school board he had received more than $80,000 from the state and a local match totaling $100,691.
By ABBY CHURCH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Virginia State University in Petersburg has received its largest donation in its history to date thanks to philanthropist and novelist MacKenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon's Jeff Bezos. “Ms. Scott’s legacy and generosity will touch the lives of Virginia State University students for years to come,” VSU President Makola M. Abdullah said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
The Full Report
46 articles, 23 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 SHANNON KELLY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Dozens of residents gathered at the Bedford County administration building on Main Street on Monday night in continued protest of pandemic restrictions from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. Most did not wear masks. Despite an executive order limiting gatherings to 10 people or less, that went into effect at 12 a.m. Monday, 65 people were allowed in the boardroom by county officials and administration on Monday night.
By SARAH HONOSKY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
“You’re all going to jail.” This was a joking call from a crowd assembled at midnight at the foot of the historic Campbell County courthouse steps as Monday night tipped over into Tuesday morning. The audience laughed and whooped, brandishing signs and flags in defiance of Gov. Ralph Northam’s most recent executive order that went into effect early Monday morning and, among other things, limited the size of gatherings to no more than 10 people. Of the more than 100 people gathered, most were not wearing masks.
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press
The sister of a Black man killed by Richmond police in 2018 blasted state lawmakers and Gov. Ralph Northam on Tuesday for what she called a “watered down, ineffective” law that will dispatch mental health providers alongside police to help stabilize people in crisis situations. Princess Blanding’s remarks came during a ceremonial signing by Northam of a new law named after Marcus-David Peters. The 24-year-old high school biology teacher was fatally shot by a police officer after he ran onto an interstate highway, naked and unarmed, while experiencing a mental health crisis.
By ALI ROCKETT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
At the ceremonial signing into law of the “Marcus Alert” establishing a framework for a statewide crisis response system named after Marcus-David Peters, who was fatally shot by a Richmond police officer in 2018 while experiencing a mental health crisis, Peters’ sister denounced the measure as “watered down and ineffective.”
By PETER VIETH, Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Subscription required for some articles)
A Washington lawyer whose client was denied $33.4 million under Virginia’s medical malpractice cap has vowed to get the law changed. Joseph Cammarata says the cap on recovery works the greatest hardship on the most severely injured, including his client who was left with profound brain injury after surgery. An Arlington County jury last year returned a $35.6 million verdict which then was reduced to $2.2 million in accordance with the cap.
By TAFT COGHILL JR., Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Public health and water quality are two of the issues that the Fredericksburg City Council has deemed critical for the Virginia General Assembly to address when it convenes Jan. 13. The COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, the opioid addiction crisis and concern about the effects of nicotine vapor products are listed on the resolution passed by the City Council as part of the legislative agenda it wants its local representatives to pursue.
By ANDREW BLAKE, Washington Times
Virginia state Sen. Amanda F. Chase, a Republican candidate for governor, called Tuesday for President Trump to declare martial law to stop President-elect Joseph R. Biden from succeeding him soon. Ms. Chase made the suggestion in a social media post declaring her refusal to accept Mr. Biden as president and encouraging Mr. Trump to heed the advice of his former adviser Michael T. Flynn.
By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
State Sen. Amanda F. Chase, a brash Republican gubernatorial contender who bills herself as "Trump in heels," called on President Trump on Tuesday to declare martial law to prevent his removal from office. One day after the electoral college formally confirmed former vice president Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, Chase (Chesterfield) doubled down on baseless allegations of election fraud in an early-morning Facebook post. “Not my President and never will be,” she wrote, referring to Biden.
By NOOR ADATIA, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
State Sen. Amanda Chase, a Republican running for Virginia governor in 2021, has called on President Donald Trump in a Facebook post to declare martial law in the United States to keep him in office and refute November’s election results. Chase, who represents Colonial Heights, Amelia County and parts of Chesterfield County, wrote in her post Tuesday that Democrats legalized cheating at the polls “under the guise of covid.”
By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury
Everyone expects the presidential outcome to loom large over Virginia’s upcoming gubernatorial election. But the Republican nominating battle is beginning with a bizarre split between GOP candidates over who the rightful president will be come 2021. In a Facebook post this week, Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, said she would “never accept” President-elect Joe Biden as the nation’s leader and urged President Donald Trump to “declare martial law” as he continues to try to challenge the result. But the outcome only solidified this week as the Electoral College convened in state legislatures to affirm Biden’s victory, a development that seemed to prompt former House Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, to acknowledge Biden’s victory for the first time.
By ANA LEY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
New flyers from a Democrat running for state delegate tout the endorsement of a sitting judge, an apparent violation of state ethics rules that bar judges from publicly backing political candidates. Angelia Williams Graves is running to succeed Joe Lindsey, a fellow Democrat who was a delegate for six years. Lindsey stepped down when Norfolk’s chief circuit judge appointed him to a seat on the lower General District Court.
By REED WILLIAMS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
A member of a notorious Richmond drug gang should be spared his pending execution because of his intellectual disability, his attorneys argue in a motion filed this week. Cory Johnson, a member of the Newtowne gang that was responsible for at least 10 slayings in a 45-day period in 1992, is scheduled to be executed Jan. 14.
By JOSEPH CHOI, The Hill
A Virginia county Republican committee passed a resolution censuring Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) on Saturday claiming he betrayed the party. In its censure, the Appomattox County Republican Committee cited a multitude of issues they believe resulted in Riggleman "betraying the very morals, principals, and values of the Republican Party."
By STEPHEN DINAN, Washington Times
Congressional Democrats announced legislation Tuesday to strip Robert E. Lee’s name from Arlington House — once his own home, and now the centerpiece of the hallowed military cemetery that occupies his former plantation. Northern Virginia’s three Democratic House members, as well as Washington’s non-voting delegate, are sponsoring the bill, saying they’re doing it at the request of descendants of people who were enslaved there.
By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury
When the State Corporation Commission on Dec. 1 rejected a proposal by Virginia Natural Gas to expand its pipeline infrastructure largely for a new power plant planned for Charles City County, opponents celebrated the decision as a critical blow to expansion of the fossil fuel in Virginia. “The residents can rest easy for a while and celebrate that there will be no fracked gas piped into our community,” said Wanda Roberts of the grassroots group Concerned Citizens of Charles City County in a statement. . . . But in the two weeks since the ruling, both Michigan-based NOVI Energy, which is developing the C4GT plant in Charles City County, and Virginia Natural Gas have forged ahead with plans to add new natural gas infrastructure.
By JAMES SCOTT BARON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Stafford County supervisors approved a tax incentive package on Tuesday to entice German logistics company DHL to establish a distribution center in the county near the Courthouse Road interchange. The 500,000-square-foot facility, which was announced by Gov. Ralph Northam, will be located on Wyche Road, at the northeast corner of Courthouse Road and Interstate 95. The new facility will serve the Mid-Atlantic region. County officials anticipate the facility could create more than 500 new jobs.
By JEFF HAMPTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A wind farm set for construction off the Outer Banks would create nearly 200 full-time jobs in Virginia and North Carolina. An economic study by alternative energy developer Avangrid Renewables calculated the project would add $2 billion to the region’s economy over the next 10 years. Construction of the Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind Project is set to begin in 2024 in an area roughly 27 miles offshore from Corolla covering 122,405 acres. Completion is expected in 2030.
By NORM WOOD, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock detailed Tuesday the starkest numbers yet regarding the magnitude of his football program’s coronavirus issues this season, revealing up to three-quarters of the players and 80% of the full-time coaches contracted the virus. In a video conference lasting more than an hour centering around Virginia Tech’s decision to retain head coach Justin Fuente for a sixth season, Babcock offered the coronavirus data as evidence of what Fuente, the staff and players experienced during the season.
By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Tuesday marked the second day of vaccine shipments rolling out statewide to curb COVID-19, which has infected 288,309 people and killed 4,470 in Virginia. VCU Medical Center’s roughly 3,800 doses will be distributed starting Wednesday for front-line health care workers and long-term care staff and residents — groups prioritized in the first round of vaccinations.
By JOE TENNIS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Emily Boucher became the first person in the region to receive the newly developed and long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday. “Today, to me, is a turning point. Today is an incredibly hopeful day,” said Boucher, a registered nurse in the COVID-19 Critical Care Unit at Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon, where her shot was administered during a news conference held by Ballad Health.
By SALEEN MARTIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Sentara administered its first round of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday afternoon at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital as other local health systems received their first shipments. A spokeswoman for Bon Secours said they received just under 3,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday and will start distributing the vaccine on Friday.
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
After nine long months of caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients, Dr. Rohit Goyal expects to remember what happened on Dec. 15, 2020, for the rest of his life. He was one of the first five people at Mary Washington Healthcare to be vaccinated against the virus that has claimed the lives of 103 local residents and more than 302,000 nationwide.
By STAFF REPORT, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
New COVID-19 testing events were announced Tuesday for the mass COVID-19 testing being conducted by the Virginia National Guard in Southwest Virginia this week. The tests will be administered today and Thursday in the Cumberland Plateau Health District, which includes Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell counties, and Friday and Saturday in the LENOWISCO Health District, which includes Lee, Wise and Scott counties and the city of Norton, according to a news release.
By RACHEL MAHONEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Centra Health has received its first batch of more than 2,000 coronavirus vaccinations, but with local hospitalization and infection numbers higher than they’ve ever been, officials said Tuesday that trends indicate it still will be a long and dangerous winter. The provider will start administering 2,925 initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine tomorrow to caregivers prioritized by their level of exposure and risk if they’re infected, Centra brass said in a Tuesday news conference. The vaccine won’t be mandatory but is highly recommended, even to people who’ve already had COVID-19.
By SANDY HAUSMAN, WVTF
Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville received its first shipment of COVID vaccine Monday, and UVA expected some by noon Tuesday, allowing inoculation of about 3,000 workers. The first two people scheduled to get the Pfizer vaccine here are African-American doctors who are anxious to demonstrate the safety of innoculation to a community that is skeptical.
By ROSE VELAZQUEZ, Salisbury Daily Times
COVID-19 metrics continue to reach record highs in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. Hospitalizations in these states remain elevated and daily case numbers have been exceeding previous highs from the pandemic's peak. . . . A fifth long-term care facility in Virginia's Eastern Shore Health District has reported a COVID-19 outbreak in the past week. The Virginia Department of Health's dashboard of facility outbreaks shows an outbreak in progress at Shore Healthcare and Rehab Center in Accomack County as of Dec. 9.
By MIKE STILL, Kingsport Times News
A 1927 lynching of a black murder suspect will be the subject of a Virginia historical marker in 2021. The Historical Society of the Pound and the Wise County Community Remembrance Project got notice Friday from the Virginia Board of Historic Resources that the marker – memorializing the Nov. 29-30, 1927 lynching of Leonard Wood – was approved Dec. 10 and will be ordered from foundry Sewah Studios for delivery sometime in the spring of 2021.
By ALICIA PETSKA, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
An allegation of abuse has been withdrawn against a priest who spent part of his earlier career in Roanoke, according to the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. Father William Dinga Jr., now retired, faced a complaint of child sexual abuse that was made earlier this year but was tied to his time serving with Norfolk-based Christ the King Catholic Church in 1986.
ArlNow
Arlington County police officers will start wearing body cameras on Wednesday, the police department announced today. The relatively swift implementation of the new body-worn cameras follows a community discussion of police practices in Arlington, which itself followed the civil unrest caused by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis this past May.
By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is moving forward with an effort to preserve land by initiating the development of the Purchase of Development Rights program 16 years after funding for the program was suspended. However, a second proposed land preservation tool, the Transfer Development Rights program, is not moving forward.
By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times
With health officials warning that Virginia could see record numbers of drug overdoses in 2020, new data show that both drug overdose deaths and emergency room visits for drug overdoses have spiked in the Prince William area during the coronavirus pandemic. “Local data for the cities of Manassas, Manassas Park, and the greater Prince William County have also indicated a drastic rise in overdoses,” said Prince William County Behavioral Health and Wellness Specialist Gabriella Delbo-Smith.
By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times
Following last week’s fatal police shooting of a 79-year-old Dumfries man, Supervisor Kenny Boddye has announced his intention to create a civilian review board that would have the authority to investigate police use-of-force incidents and to take disciplinary action against police officers who break the rules. The announcement comes just days after Prince William County police officers shot and killed Kurtis Kay Frevert, 79, outside his home in the Four Seasons community, outside Dumfries, on Thursday, Dec. 10.
By KEN DUFFY, WTOP
People upset over the hiring of D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham to become the head of Prince William County, Virginia’s, law enforcement next year continued to put pressure on local leaders to rethink the decision this week. On Tuesday, several dozen demonstrators showed up outside the James. J. McCoart Building on Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge, where the Prince William County Board of Supervisors met inside.
By LISA VERNON SPARKS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
With the latest set of state-mandated limits on gatherings, Hampton has postponed nonessential public hearings and canceled its upcoming Planning Commission meetings to at least February, city officials said Tuesday. City leadership informed its staff via email that city planners would not meet Thursday and its January session would be canceled, considering the recent spike in coronavirus cases locally.
By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee
Danville City Council formally voted to receive an upfront $15 million payment from Caesars for voters' approval of a casino at the former Dan River Inc. site at Schoolfield. The 8-0 vote during Council's meeting Tuesday night also greenlighted $2.9 million of that money to help pay for a new police station off Memorial Drive in the former Dan River Inc. executive office building.
By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee
It looks like Danville will return $275,000 in incentive money for BGF Industries, Inc. back to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. The company, which is currently operating at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, postponed its plans to construct a 25,000-square-foot building at the Cyber Park due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By YANN RANAIVO, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Wise County Public Schools is set to become the first school district in Virginia to make use of broadband service being developed by SpaceX, the spacecraft company founded by business magnate Elon Musk. The district announced the project Monday and is collaborating with the Wise County Board of Supervisors on the initiative.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A year ago this time, rural Virginia was aflame with large crowds showing up at their local board of supervisors, demanding their county pass a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” resolution. Virtually all did. Did any of it make a difference? No. At least not yet. The impetus was the November 2019 elections that produced a Democratic majority in both chambers of the General Assembly — a Democratic majority that vowed to pass various gun laws that Second Amendment Sanctuary advocates considered anathema.
Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Local residents who support one of the busiest passenger rail stations in the state — Charlottesville’s — should be interested in the reform of rail management to occur under the new Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. The General Assembly created the entity in March, and it held its first meeting in October. The VPRA’s backers hope it will provide greater longevity and continuity to rail policy, which currently depends heavily on who occupies the Executive Mansion and who holds a majority in the General Assembly.
Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
When Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Woodbridge, announced in late May that she was throwing her hat in the 2021 gubernatorial ring, she was the first Democrat out of the gate, and if she wins, she would be the first Black female governor in Virginia history. “In order for there to be a trail, there has to be someone who’s willing to blaze it,” she said, explaining why she successfully ran for delegate in 2017 while pregnant with twins.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Historically, as a region, Hampton Roads has been clever and resourceful. We’ve found ways to marry wet and dry, sometimes in spectacular fashion. Greatest harbor. Greatest Navy. Greatest shipyards. Eastern Virginia has always been about water and what we can do with the land that rises above it. Climate change has simply upped the ante. And, fortunately, one local jurisdiction has upped its game, too. The city of Hampton has joined the vanguard of “green financing” innovation.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
For more than nine months, COVID-19 has been a source of great stress, frustration and grief across the globe. Right as the first sets of vaccinations were being delivered in Virginia on Monday, the U.S. passed 300,000 confirmed deaths from the virus. Yet, in recent days, we continued to see people in power deny the reality of the pandemic for selfish purposes. For the good of America and the world — and out of respect to the people who have lost their lives, and the heroic efforts from front-line workers during this trying year — we have no time for such phony rhetoric.
By MORGAN GRIFFITH, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
What makes Virginia unique? There are many answers to this question, from its natural beauty to its history to its people. But I would like to praise a specific attribute of Virginia’s in this column: its constitutional limit of one consecutive term for governors. No other state currently imposes the limit on its governor found in Section V of our state constitution: “He shall be ineligible to the same office for the term next succeeding that for which he was elected.”
Griffith, a former state legislator, represents the 9th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is a Republican from Salem.
By BARBARA JEFFERSON HARRIS, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The commonwealth of Virginia needs to find a way to embrace expungement for its returning citizens. (Returning citizens are people who have been released from prison.) Why must it be so hard for the powers that be in Virginia to allow our records to be cleansed? We pay our debt to society when we complete our sentence, but we’re never again allowed to really be a part of humanity or the workforce.
Harris is a minister and a member of Virginia Organizing’s State Governing Board.
By REBECCA DILLOW, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
As of Monday morning, 77% of Virginia hospitals’ intensive care unit (ICU) beds were occupied. The preceding Thursday night, Gov. Ralph Northam instituted new statewide restrictions, including a mask mandate and limits on gatherings. Above all, he is urging residents to stay home. For many people in my Appalachian region of Southwest Virginia, staying healthy and safe at home is not an option. Southwest Virginia has experienced a lack of resources and an economy unfit to adequately provide for our residents during much of our history.
Dillow is executive director of Appalachian Community Action & Development Agency Inc. in Gate City and is a member of Fahe, a network of organizations working in Appalachia to build the American Dream.
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