VaNews
December 18, 2020

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Top of the News


** Gov. Northam proposes funding to add 4 more judges to Virginia Court of Appeals ([link removed])
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By EMILY SWECKER, WSET-TV

Governor Ralph Northam's proposed two-year budget includes funding for pandemic relief, education and what some senators are calling packing the court. Northam outlined his amendments to the 2020–22 biennial budget Wednesday. It includes $240 million for the pandemic response, including $90 million to support vaccination deployment.
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** Health Officials Work to Break Down Vaccine Barriers for Latinos ([link removed])
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By ALAN RODRIGUEZ ESPINOZA, WCVE-FM

While COVID-19 vaccines are not yet available to the general public, Virginia health officials are confronting the fact that some residents will face greater barriers than others to get vaccinated. Over the summer, local health districts placed special attention on Latinos and other non-English speaking immigrant groups when rolling out COVID-19 testing. Teams prioritized the recruiting of bilingual contact tracers and investigators, and they conducted testing events in neighborhoods and communities with particularly high concentrations of Latino residents.
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** Hampton Roads Regional Jail facing a staffing shortage so severe it’s moving 250 inmates ([link removed])
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By MARGARET MATRAY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

A severe jail officer shortage at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail — with more than a third of the jobs now vacant — has created safety issues that led the institution to begin moving more than 250 inmates back to their home cities’ jails. Board Chairwoman Sharon Scott said she thinks this is the first time the jail’s board has taken such an action: “We’ve never been this low in staffing before.”
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** Regional leaders push incoming Biden administration to boost funding for Metro ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN GEORGE, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The Washington region’s top leaders are calling on President-elect Joe Biden to nudge the federal government toward kicking in annual funding for Metro’s operating expenses. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Thursday sent Biden’s transition team a letter urging the incoming administration to make the federal government a fourth funding partner of the transit agency, which is facing a nearly $700 million deficit over the next 18 months.
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** 'Millions Left On The Table': How Cities Can Do More To Battle Rising Flood Insurance Rates ([link removed])
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By SAM TURKEN, NPR

William Jennings and his wife have lived in their Virginia Beach, Va. home for the last 37 years. And their plan was to stay in it through retirement. "I really like my house," Jennings says, standing in the front yard. "A two-story home. A swimming pool in the backyard." But Jennings' neighborhood has flooded more often in recent years. His house did once, too. His mortgage requires flood insurance, which now costs him $2,336 a year and is set to increase 18% in July.
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** With exams now online, colleges look to new tools to prevent cheating ([link removed])
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By ERIC KOLENICH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

College students largely took their final exams at home this semester, trading in blue books for laptops, webcams and specialized proctoring software. In some instances, students answered questions while being filmed by their own computers. Other software isn’t so invasive. Certain tools can prevent a student from opening a new window and Googling the answer to the questions.
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** Supervisors vote down fireworks club's special use permit request, 3-2 ([link removed])
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By JEFF POOLE, Orange County Review

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday evening to deny the special use permit application of the Mid-Atlantic Pyrotechnic Arts Guild (MAPAG). The controversial application to test and display fireworks on a 127-acre parcel in south-central Orange County, drew nearly 230 comments from as close as next-door property owners and as far away as Idaho during the two-week public hearing process that ended Monday.
The Full Report
38 articles, 25 publications
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** FROM VPAP
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** From VPAP Maps, Timeline of COVID-19 in Virginia ([link removed])
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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.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** Transfer Of Sentencing Power To Judges Brings Virginia ‘Out Of The Ice Age,’ Proponents Say ([link removed])
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By JENNY GATHRIGHT, DCist

Starting next July, Virginia will transfer sentencing power from juries to judges — a move that means it will join 48 other states and halt a practice that advocates say had driven mass incarceration, led to longer sentences and discouraged people from exercising their right to a jury trial. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed the jury sentencing reform bill in a virtual ceremony on Thursday. It was approved by the state legislature in late October.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** Funding tops county schools' legislative wish list ([link removed])
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By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

More school funding tops the list of legislative priorities for the Albemarle County School Board during the upcoming General Assembly session. The Albemarle County School Board met with area lawmakers virtually Thursday to discuss the session. The board would like more state funding for schools to support students who fell behind during the pandemic to catch up, more mental health resources, other approaches to school discipline and teacher recruitment.
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** Williamsburg leaders, legislators discuss priorities: education, broadband, continued widening of I-64 ([link removed])
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By DAVID MACAULAY, Virginia Gazette (Metered Paywall - 4 Articles per Month)

The city of Williamsburg is prioritizing the widening of Interstate 64 north to Richmond in its legislative requests for the 2021 session. The city held a legislative priorities briefing with its legislative delegation on Monday. Williamsburg officials and council members discussed its 2021 legislative priorities with State Senators Monty Mason and Tommy Norment, Del. Mike Mullin and U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** Hanger Continues To Explore Run For Governor ([link removed])
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By JESSICA WETZLER, Daily News Record (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Sen. Emmett Hanger, a well-seasoned Valley Republican, still has his eyes set on the governor’s race. But first he will have to win his party’s nomination. During an interview with the Daily News-Record on Thursday, Hanger said the possibility of running for Virginia’s next governor was still viable. “I’m still exploring it, but I am very much encouraged to move forward,” he said.
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** Candidates address GOP committee ([link removed])
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By MICHELLE PAYNE, Times-Virginian

The Appomattox County Republican committee hosted an opportunity for residents of Appomattox and the surrounding areas to hear from candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general last Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Appomattox Community Center. Candidates present include Chuck Smith (running for attorney general), Lance Allen (running for lieutenant governor) and Puneet Ahluwalia (running for lieutenant governor), and Del. Glenn Davis (running for lieutenant general).
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** Richmond Councilman Jones planning run for Democratic nomination in 69th House District ([link removed])
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By C. SUAREZ ROJAS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Richmond City Councilman Michael Jones said Thursday that he intends to seek a seat in the General Assembly next year. The 9th District councilman, who won re-election for a second council term last month, expects to face 69th District incumbent Del. Betsy Carr for the Democratic nomination to the House of Delegates.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** Stronger financial incentives spur a big jump in stream fencing among Virginia livestock farmers ([link removed])
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By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury

A state push to encourage farmers to fence off streams from their livestock as a way to improve water quality throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed appears to be succeeding. According to data from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the number of farmers who have committed to fencing off waterways rose by 86 percent between 2019 and 2020, from 372 participating in 2019 to 692 this year.


** CONGRESS
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** Financial relief 'on the way,' Warner says ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Virginia’s senators say Congress is poised to act on a $900 billion package for short-term emergency relief to help American families and businesses survive a harrowing winter until newly approved vaccines can bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., a leader in a bipartisan centrist coalition that created the framework for the package, said he will support the compromise package, even though he is unhappy that the price of direct payments to low- and middle-income Americans appears to be fewer weeks of unemployment assistance for people who face the loss of remaining jobless benefits the day after Christmas.
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** Wexton to serve on House Appropriations Committee ([link removed])
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By MEAGAN FLYNN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) has been nominated to serve on the House Appropriations Committee in the next Congressional session, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced, restoring Virginia’s voice on the powerful committee that oversees major spending bills. Wexton, who represents a huge population of federal employees in the Northern Virginia suburbs, joins the committee as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is in dire need of enhanced federal funding.
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** Lawmakers answer questions from businesses ([link removed])
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By HOLLY RICE, Inside Business

“We are blessed in Virginia to have a delegation that works together for Virginia. Political differences are second to our focus of serving the people and the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Congresswoman Elaine Luria said. On Nov. 23, the Hampton Roads Chamber hosted the Congressional Forum, a virtual event designed to allow Hampton Roads congressional representatives to answer questions from the business community.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** Mountain Valley gets another approval for pipeline construction ([link removed])
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By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Mountain Valley Pipeline gained another 17 miles Thursday in its quest to complete construction of the natural gas pipeline by the end of next year. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the company’s request to resume work on a stretch of the 303-mile pipeline that passes through Giles and Craig counties, between two sections of the Jefferson National Forest.
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** New Virginia unemployment claims dropped nearly 13% after a big spike the week before ([link removed])
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By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The number of Virginians filing traditional first-time unemployment claims dropped 12.9% last week to 14,509. As of Dec. 12, 68,019 people statewide were continuing to receive state unemployment benefits week after week. The numbers don’t include those who are out of work in untraditional roles (including independent contractors and gig workers) and receiving federal pandemic-related relief set to run out at the end of the year as Congress debates a new solution to lingering unemployment.
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** Virginia Natural Gas planning $205 million pipeline project in ‘rural crescent’ ([link removed])
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By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times

Virginia Natural Gas is back with plans for a $205 million natural gas expansion project that would add about six miles of new natural gas pipeline and a compressor station in Prince William County’s “rural crescent,” four miles of pipeline in Fauquier County and upgrades to a metering station in Hanover County. The application for the project comes only weeks after a much larger Virginia Natural Gas expansion project, known as the "Header Improvement Project," was dismissed by the State Corporation Commission when plans for a new power plant in Charles City County, which the pipeline project would have serviced, failed to materialize.
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** Latest wind farm plan is for 15 turbines, at 624 feet tall, in Botetourt County ([link removed])
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By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A site plan submitted for the first onshore wind farm in Virginia shows 15 turbines standing 624 feet tall atop a Botetourt County mountain. The plans by Apex Clean Energy provide the most detailed public description to date of Rocky Forge Wind, a renewable energy project that took years to get off the ground after being proposed in 2015.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** Northern Virginia toll road operator Transurban to sell half its stake in lanes ([link removed])
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By LUZ LAZO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Toll road operator Transurban announced a deal Wednesday to sell half its U.S. toll roads, all of which are in Northern Virginia. The Australian company said it is bringing in three investment partners as part of a strategy to boost its finances and better position itself to pursue new projects.
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** DC, Maryland, Virginia seek more funding for WMATA ([link removed])
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Associated Press

The incoming Biden administration should provide increased funding for the mass transit system for the nation’s capital, leaders of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia said in a joint letter. A news release from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s office on Thursday said he, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser met virtually on Wednesday to discuss the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. They also discussed a variety of regional issues, including the COVID-19 response.


** CORONAVIRUS
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** In the week before Christmas, Virginia is averaging 3,579 cases per day ([link removed])
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By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

In the week before Christmas, Virginia is averaging almost 3,600 new COVID-19 cases per day. The 10 highest numbers of cases recorded in a single day have all occurred in the last two weeks, according to Virginia Department of Health numbers. The peak was seen on Saturday, when the state average was nearly 4,000 cases — a number health officials expect will rise after the holidays, since people are traveling despite being advised against doing so.
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** Virginia reports 3,853 new COVID-19 cases and 45 more deaths ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Virginia Department of Health reported Thursday that the state’s cumulative total for COVID-19 cases during the pandemic is now up to 296,093, an increase of 3,853 from Wednesday. There have been 4,553 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia, an increase of 45 from Wednesday.
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** Virus outbreak closes Stafford courts; local death toll reaches 107 ([link removed])
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By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

COVID-19 brought the wheels of justice to a screeching halt in Stafford County Thursday when the courthouse closed because of a virus outbreak. Judges shut down operations, and buildings are to remain closed at least until Dec. 23, when the situation will be re-evaluated, according to court officials. Only protective orders and procedures that can be done by video will take place during the interim.
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** Covid cases spiking in Tazewell County ([link removed])
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By JIM TALBERT, Clinch Valley News

As the first vaccines arrived Coronavirus cases were soaring in Tazewell County. County Administrator Eric Young said Dec. 16 that the county is averaging 40 new cases per day and the positivity rate is over 20 percent. ...He said the risk rate in the county is very high and urged people to wear a mask, wash their hands often and take other precautions. Young said he had spoken with the administrators at both local hospitals and they are in a real crunch for beds and personnel.
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** First COVID vaccines administered at RMH ([link removed])
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By CALVIN PYNN, Harrisonburg Citizen

After the Monday night arrival of a first shipment of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine at Sentara RMH, Mark Nesbit, an emergency medicine doctor, volunteered to get his shot right away. He didn’t realize until he arrived at the hospital’s employee health clinic on Thursday morning, however, that he would be the very first person at the hospital to receive it. “I didn’t really have to do anything special, I just signed up,” Nesbit said.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** Supervisors delay next steps on Confederate statue removal ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Mecklenburg Sun

The Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors has put off for 30 days any decision on the future owner and location of the Confederate soldier statute that stands at the Courthouse Square in Boydton. In November, supervisors voted to remove the statue from the courthouse site where it has stood for more than for more than 112 years. Organizations had 30 days to ask to take possession of the statue. Both the Town of Boydton and the Sons of the Confederacy stepped forward with a request, though neither party identified a new site for the monument.
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** Chesterfield teen receives $10,000 grant to kick-start home-school academy ([link removed])
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By JEREMY M. LAZARUS, Richmond Free Press

Watching her younger brother struggle as he started high school through a home-school program, Nasiyah Isra-Ul went online to try to find resources to help. The Chesterfield County resident, who sailed through the home-school program herself, discovered that the resources, particularly in history, social studies and science, were not easy to find. And she heard from others in home schooling that they, too, were having the same problem. Her solution: Create a place where home-schooled students and parents could easily find educational resources, get a personalized curriculum, gain one-on-one counseling and connect with others in home school.


** LOCAL
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** Fairfax Co. votes to adopt ‘holistic review’ admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High ([link removed])
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By SCOTT GELMAN, WTOP

The Fairfax County School Board voted Thursday night to establish a “holistic review” admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, creating a substitute to its long-standing admissions test and the opportunity to increase diversity among the student body of the prestigious Virginia school. Now, the school will use a review process that calls for the top 1.5% of the eighth grade class at each of the county’s public middle schools, who meet the minimum GPA, student portrait sheet, problem-solving essay and experience factor standards, to be eligible for admission.
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** Critics: Richmond Housing Authority Lacks Transparency ([link removed])
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By YASMINE JUMAA, WCVE-FM

Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s board of commissioners voted to approve an application for the next phase in demolishing Creighton Court Wednesday night. But the agenda for this meeting wasn’t posted to RRHA’s website until Wednesday morning, leaving just a few hours for the public to register to speak. An agency policy requires speakers to register by noon on the day of a meeting.
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** Virginia Beach will cancel winter sports if COVID-19 metrics don’t drop by Tuesday ([link removed])
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By GREG GIESEN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Virginia Beach City Public Schools will decide Tuesday whether to cancel the winter sports season. During its school board meeting on Tuesday, the division announced a “Go, No Go deadline.” If the district is in the red/red zone according to its Fall 2020 Plan, then the division will cancel the winter sports season. Red/red means the positivity rate is above 10% per 100,000 cases for the past week and there are more than 265 or more cases per day.
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** Lynchburg City School Board temporarily suspends in-person public comments, citing concern over COVID-19 spread ([link removed])
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By JAMEY CROSS, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

The Lynchburg City School Board voted this week to affirm a ban on in-person public comments at its meetings beginning in January. In a 5-4 vote at its work session Tuesday, the Lynchburg City School Board passed a motion to temporarily suspend in-person public comments at board meetings from Jan. 4 through Jan. 31. Board members Belle Evans, Michael Nilles, Kimberly Sinha and Gary Harvey opposed the motion.
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** Charlottesville schools revamp in-person learning plan ([link removed])
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By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Charlottesville City Schools has dialed back its plans to restart in-person classes next month with a focus on providing classes to its youngest learners and assistance to students in need. Schools Superintendent Rosa Atkins said during Thursday’s School Board meeting that the revamped Option A would maintain the quality of the virtual program and the amount of synchronous learning time and bring select students into buildings
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** CRB split on Brackney press conference ([link removed])
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By NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Charlottesville’s Police Civilian Review Board tiptoed around Police Chief RaShall Brackney’s recent press conference on claims of racial profiling while bemoaning shortcomings in its ability to review the case Thursday. The press conference hung heavily over the beginning of the board’s meeting, with some board members criticizing the chief’s actions and others saying it wasn’t in the board’s purview to weigh in.
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** Botetourt County receives $570,000 broadband access grant ([link removed])
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By TAD DICKENS, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

More broadband access is coming to Botetourt County, courtesy of a six-figure grant from the commonwealth. The county on Thursday announced that it received $569,808 from Gov. Ralph Northam’s Fast Track Broadband program, to improve accessibility in underserved areas.
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** Page Schools: ‘We don’t know what we’re doing on Jan. 4’ ([link removed])
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By RANDY ARRINGTON, Page Valley News

Toward the end of the Page County School Board meeting Monday night, Superintendent Wendy Gonzalez addressed a question on the minds of students, parents, teachers, coaches and staff alike — what do we do beyond the current closure of schools through Jan. 4? Do we return to a blended model of instruction that includes in-person instruction, or do we stick with remote-only learning through the end of January and the conclusion of the first semester? Or do we do something in-between those two options? With COVID-19 cases in Page County currently at their highest sustained levels of the pandemic and models showing the projected peak for Virginia in late January or early February, school officials are in a “wait and watch” mode, according to Dr. Gonzalez.
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** Two Pittsylvania County offices, Danville courthouse close after COVID-19 exposures ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Danville Register & Bee

A COVID-19 exposure has forced the closure of the Danville courthouse building on Friday. The Danville Sheriff’s Office reported the entire building will be shut down on Friday to allow for a deep cleaning after a COVID-19 exposure. “We apologize for any inconvenience,” sheriff’s office officials wrote in a statement that did not provide any details on the exposure or if any employees have been impacted. In Pittsylvania County, the clerk of court's office along with the commissioner of the revenue’s office are closed to the public until Dec. 28 because of a COVID-19 exposure there.
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** Martinsville sheriff issues much stricter new rules for people entering City Hall ([link removed])
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By BILL WYATT, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Martinsville City Sheriff Steve Draper has amended his original order regulating access to the Martinsville Municipal Building during the pandemic, spelling out in greater detail what is not allowed and including an expanded questionnaire that must be completed by everyone who enters the building. This amended order was signed by Judge G. Carter Greer one day before a City Council meeting last week in a crowded council chambers, where 27 people were seated, many of them next to each other.

Today's Sponsor:


** VPAP Events
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** EDITORIALS
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** Vaccine offers light of hope in a dark year ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

In a year defined by so much death and darkness, the arrival of a coronavirus vaccine — several vaccines, in fact, making their way to communities across the nation — marks a welcome moment of hope and light. One year ago, the world’s infectious disease specialists were only beginning to probe reports of a worrisome “pneumonia” outbreak in Wuhan, China. The first confirmed case in the United States of the novel coronavirus, designated SARS‑CoV‑2, was confirmed in January, nearly a month later.


** COLUMNISTS
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** PolitiFact: How does the United States' Incarceration Rate Stack Up Historically? ([link removed])
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By WARREN FISKE, WCVE-FM

Del. Lee Carter, a self-proclaimed socialist mulling a run for governor next year, is calling for sweeping criminal justice reform. “We incarcerate more of our people than any other nation in history, and second place isn't even close,” Carter, D-Manassas, tweeted on Dec. 10. . . . We fact-checked Carter’s eye-popping claim that the U.S. imprisons more people than any nation in history and found that he’s wrong.


** OP-ED
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** Taylor and Castleberry: Working in local communities to address addiction during a hard holiday Season ([link removed])
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By MARCIA LEE TAYLOR AND WILL CASTLEBERRY, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Cities and states across our country, including here in Roanoke, are taking necessary precautions, locking down and ordering people to quarantine as COVID numbers rise. In Virginia, we have already lost more than 4,260 people to COVID, but there is another crisis taking lives in our community made even worse by the COVID pandemic — addiction. During the first quarter of 2020, the percentage of emergency room visits for opioid/unidentified substance overdoses increased in Southwest Virginia by 16% in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2019.

Taylor is Chief External and Government Relations Officer for Partnership to End Addiction. Castleberry is Vice President, State Policy for Facebook.


** THE FRIDAY READ
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** 'My mother and father rescued her': The Martinsville Seven case is more than just history to many. ([link removed])
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By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

On the evening of Jan. 8, 1949, 11-year-old Annie Wade was in the family's home on Fishel Street when she heard crying and commotion on the porch. The front door gave way, and a white woman fell through. "'I've been raped, I've been raped,'" she cried, recalled Wade, now Annie Hobson and 81 years old. Hobson said her parents dashed in from the kitchen. Her mother grabbed a bed sheet and covered the woman, who was on the floor.


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