VaNews
December 21, 2020

Today's Sponsor:


** Virginia's Redistricting Commission Citizen Member Selection Committee
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Now accepting applications from Virginia citizens with diverse backgrounds to serve as one of eight citizen commissioners. Application deadline December 28th. Apply today! ([link removed])
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Top of the News


** Strain on hospitals intensifies in Virginia; VCU Health deploys surge capacity plans ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

A swamped ICU and escalating COVID-19 crisis forced a turning point at VCU Health last week: The Richmond area’s anchor hospital formally deployed the next level of its surge capacity plan, signaling the end of normal operations to prepare for significant strain on its resources. In Virginia’s hard-hit Southwest, a front-line physician at Ballad Health said weeks and weeks of escalating numbers are threatening a “second pandemic”: the physical and mental exhaustion of its workforce.
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** Firefighters union says workers’ comp routinely denied after coronavirus infections ([link removed])
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By ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Since March, about 100 of Fairfax County’s firefighters and paramedics have tested positive for the coronavirus, which its union says is part of the hazard that comes with emergency calls involving residents who’ve been infected, then sleeping in sometimes crowded fire stations for days at a time. Yet only 14 of those first responders have had Virginia-funded workers’ compensation benefits approved by the county, forcing those who’ve had claims rejected to use their sick leave while recovering and to pay for some of their own medical expenses, the Fairfax firefighters’ union said.
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** Hospital chaplain describes heartbreaking work of caring for COVID-19 patients ([link removed])
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By SARAH WADE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

You can tell how often Michelle Lambert has already prepared to enter a patient’s room in C300, the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Holston Valley Medical Center, by watching her hands: They fly through the process without hesitation. At 4:20 p.m. Tuesday, Lambert, a chaplain at the Kingsport hospital, deftly slipped a plastic gown over her cardigan, doubled the straps around her back and knotted them in front. She snapped two latex gloves over each hand. Atop the N95 mask she was already wearing, she secured a surgical mask. She tucked her blonde bob into a bouffant cap. She wiped down a plastic face shield, slid the strap over her head and pulled it tight with a series of loud clicks.
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** Only 1 Republican in Virginia's congressional delegation recognizes Biden as next president ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Amy Friedenberger It’s been more than six weeks since Joe Biden won the presidential election, and only one Republican congressman from Virginia has recognized Biden as the country’s incoming 46th president. After the Electoral College officially affirmed Biden’s victory on Monday, three of the Republican congressmen — Reps. Ben Cline, Morgan Griffith and Rob Wittman — say the process to determine the next president is still ongoing or have remained silent. Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Nelson, who lost a challenge to run for reelection, has been saying for weeks that the election is over, Biden is the next president, and that attempts to overturn the results or cast doubt on the election process are dangerous.
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** Virginia enrolled 45,000 fewer students this fall, but Northam’s budget protects funding for schools ([link removed])
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By MATT JONES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed 2020-2022 budget, introduced Wednesday, includes hundreds of millions for schools struggling to handle the impacts of the pandemic. One of the largest items averts steep funding cuts tied to a precipitous enrollment drop. At the start of the school year, the Virginia Association of School Superintendents estimated enrollment could fall over 37,000 students, endangering over $155 million in state funds tied to enrollment.
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** City officials look for ways to engage with young protesters ([link removed])
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By TAFT COGHILL JR., Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A quick scan of the report released by the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience on racial equity in Fredericksburg alarmed City Councilman Matt Kelly. Kelly has talked with young protesters who took to the downtown streets in late May following the death of George Floyd during an arrest by Minneapolis police officers. Kelly said while he may not agree with the stance of the protesters regarding Fredericksburg police officers and other issues, he values their input. But on the report issued by the ICSC, 71 percent of the respondents were age 40 or older.
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** Jaywalking decriminalization is coming, 100 years after the auto industry helped make it a crime ([link removed])
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By WYATT GORDON, Virginia Mercury

Though it didn’t garner as much attention as other police reform measures during the special legislative session that ended this fall, a provision to decriminalize jaywalking in a pretextual policing bill from Delegate Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, means that come March 1, police will no longer be able to stop folks for the act of crossing the street outside of a marked crosswalk. Criminal justice reformers called it a small step along the path to reducing encounters with the police, especially for people of color.
The Full Report
38 articles, 22 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.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** Senator Amanda Chase Is What the Next Frontier of GOP Lunacy Looks Like ([link removed])
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By KELLY WEILL, Daily Beast

Virginia state Senator Amanda Chase and her staff wanted to be clear: She was experiencing a sinus infection, not COVID-19 symptoms. Just a little head cold. In fact, Chase told The Daily Beast on Friday shortly before stating that she would refuse a COVID-19 vaccine, she was already feeling much better. Such a diagnosis would be very good news for Chase, but also her colleagues in the Virginia General Assembly. Chase, a far-right Republican and 2021 gubernatorial candidate, refuses to wear a mask during government session, forcing her at times to sit alone in a plexiglass quarantine box that she calls “the square of freedom.”
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** Amanda Chase revealed personal info about a reporter ([link removed])
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By BRANDON JARVIS, Virginia Scope

In a Facebook post on Sunday afternoon, Senator Amanda Chase posted the personal contact information for a reporter from The Daily Beast. Chase, who is currently seeking the Republican nomination to run for governor next year, did not like the latest article highlighting her actions. “Liberal minded reporters who slander conservatives in the name of ‘journalism’ are erroneous and irresponsible, and I will expose them,” wrote Chase on Facebook. “Any liberal media and socialistic bent reporter, spewing their personal opinion as “journalism” will be called out here on my page.”
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** Del. Mark Levine joins the crowded race for Virginia lieutenant governor ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Del. Mark H. Levine on Monday will declare himself a candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia, becoming the 12th contender to jump into the 2021 race. A lawyer first propelled into political activism by the murder of his sister in 1996, Levine (D-Alexandria) promised to work across the aisle to address issues ranging from economic opportunity to domestic violence.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** Hoping to vaccinate millions against COVID-19, officials seek to expand Virginia’s health care workforce ([link removed])
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By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury

As Virginia takes the first steps in an unprecedented vaccination campaign, there are still questions health officials can’t answer — from when the vaccine will become widely available to how many doses the state will receive over the next few months. Another detail they’re trying to confirm is who will be administering the COVID-19 vaccines. Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver put out an “urgent” call for volunteers earlier this month, urging health care providers to sign up for the state’s Medical Reserve Corps.
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** New e-referral system will support ongoing COVID-19 response, recovery efforts ([link removed])
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Augusta Free Press

Virginia is committing $10 million in CARES Act money to create Unite Virginia, a statewide technology platform designed to connect vulnerable Virginians to health and social services. Working with Unite Us, a technology company that builds coordinated care networks of health and social service providers, the Commonwealth will implement an integrated e-referral system that unites government agencies, health care providers, and community-based partners and supports Virginia’s continuing COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.
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** Virginia 911 task force to address emergency call routing deficiencies ([link removed])
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By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A workgroup aimed at addressing the deficiencies with emergency 911 call routing in Virginia is underway following the deaths of teenager Fitz Thomas of Loudoun County and Bob Herzing of Brunswick County, which borders North Carolina. The initiative is intended to address 911 calls being redirected to jurisdictions in bordering states instead of emergency operations centers inside Virginia.
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** More Funding Coming For Livestock Fencing ([link removed])
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By JESSICA WETZLER, Daily News Record (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

For years, farmers have advocated for more financial and technical support when it comes to livestock fencing. The practice is a double-edged sword. Fencing perennial streams can reduce nutrients and feces from entering waterways when livestock pass through, which would help to achieve the water quality goals in Virginia’s final Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan. On the other hand, streamline fencing is costly. But a light has shined at the end of the tunnel.
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** Virginia’s Covid Rental Relief Program Reflects State’s Changing Politics ([link removed])
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By BRAD KUTNER, Courthouse News Service

While Virginia isn’t the only state facing an eviction crisis under the weight of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it has a history of being less tenant friendly with few protections for those who fail to make rent. But a new Democratic majority, along with the state’s Democratic governor, devised a temporary fix that not only created new protections for renters, it also addressed landlords’ needs. Called the Virginia Rent and Mortgage Relief Program, it has earned rare praise from both sides of the landlord/tenant relationship locally and nationwide.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** Fight for Washington N.F.L. Team May Tighten Owner’s Grip on It ([link removed])
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By KEN BELSON AND KATHERINE ROSMAN, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)

By the end of this summer, Daniel Snyder, the majority owner of the N.F.L.’s Washington Football Team, was facing fire from many sides. Fans had long blamed him for the team’s abysmal performance. Now civil rights groups were criticizing Snyder for waiting so long to jettison a team name and logo that they considered racist, and women’s activists were aghast after news media reports detailed a culture of sexual harassment in the team’s front office. In a normal corporate setting, any one of these troubles might have led to a leader’s ouster. Instead, Snyder, a member of the N.F.L.’s cozy club of billionaire owners, may emerge from months of crisis with an even tighter hold on one of the most lucrative franchises in the league.
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** Power plant report foresees dim future ([link removed])
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By JEFF LESTER, Coalfield Progress

An institute that advocates for sustainable energy says Dominion Energy and local officials need to brace for an early death striking the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center.....The power plant near St. Paul, which burns coal, reclaimed gob and wood waste, opened in 2012. The report notes that Virginia City ran at only 19.86 percent of its capacity during the first eight months of 2020. During its peak performance in 2013 and 2014, the facility operated at slightly more than 65 percent of its capacity.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** Coalfields Expressway ‘critical:’ State, federal government urged to finish roadway in Southwest Virginia ([link removed])
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By GREG JORDAN, Bluefield Daily Telegraph

A resolution stressing the importance of the Coalfields Expressway as “absolutely critical to the economic development and diversification of” the far Southwest Virginia region was adopted Tuesday by the Virginia Coalfields Expressway Authority Board (CFX Authority). According to the resolution, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the federal government are being urged to “do all they can to cause the completion of the Coalfields Expressway in Virginia in as expeditious manner as possible for the benefit of the Commonwealth’s citizens in far Southwest Virginia.”


** CORONAVIRUS
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** Virginia reports 3,876 new COVID-19 cases ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Virginia Department of Health reported Sunday that the state’s cumulative total for COVID-19 cases during the pandemic is now up to 306,848, an increase of 3,876 from Saturday. There have been 4,650 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia, an increase of seven from Saturday.
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** Report: Thanksgiving likely 'a super-spreader event' in Virginia ([link removed])
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By JILL PALERMO, Prince William Times

The data is in: Thanksgiving "appears to have been a super-spreader event in Virginia" that triggered a spike in new cases that's now expected to peak at 98,000 a week in early February. That's according to the most recent analysis of the state’s COVID-19 data by the University of Virginia's Biocomplexity Institute and the Rand Corporation. "New confirmed cases are spiking and nearly reached 4,000 [a] day on average," said the Dec. 17 Rand Corporation report of Virginia's latest COVID-19 data. "Thanksgiving appears to have been a super-spreader event."
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** Regional health officials prepare for Week 2 of vaccinations, with Moderna coming ([link removed])
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By LOLA FADULU, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Regional health officials say they will receive fewer doses than originally projected of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this month, joining states across the country reporting similar changes. Virginia officials planned to receive 480,000 doses in December but will instead receive 370,650. Maryland officials are also expecting a reduction in the 300,000 doses they anticipated arriving by year’s end. District officials haven’t made public estimates for the month, but this week’s vaccine shipment will be 4,875 doses, down from 6,825 received last week.
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** Local advocates want farmers, poultry workers to be next for vaccine ([link removed])
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By TAMARA SCOTT, WAVY-TV

More doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are being packed and shipped this weekend after the FDA gave emergency approval for a shot by Moderna. The top priority is being given to frontline health care workers and residents of long term care facilities to get vaccinated, but some are calling to add another group to that list.
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** Hampton coronavirus survivor writes book to clear up misconceptions about the illness ([link removed])
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By LISA VERNON SPARKS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)

After everything, Deion Campbell still wants to wait before taking the coronavirus vaccine. The Hampton native spent two weeks in March on a ventilator, plus another 40 days in rehabilitation from the virus that took his breath and nearly his life before causing nerve damage to his arm and issues with his feet.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** 'These are my children': Franklin County's Anthony Swann carries message of love and compassion as state's top teacher ([link removed])
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By CLAIRE MITZEL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

At first glance, Anthony Swann’s fifth-grade classroom is no different from any other. Students sit at their laptops on a recent December morning, completing reading assignments as the Rocky Mount Elementary teacher walks around the room answering questions. A white Christmas tree gives the room a festive feel, and books line the nearby shelf. Student-made art hangs along the back wall. But take a closer look — and listen — and you’ll start to notice more.
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** Ex-Tuskegee Airman Alfred Thomas Farrar dies at age 99 ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Alfred Thomas Farrar, a former Tuskegee Airman, died on Thursday in Virginia only days before a ceremony planned to honor his service in the program that famously trained Black military pilots during World War II. He was 99. Farrar’s son, Roy, told The Associated Press on Sunday that his father died at his Lynchburg home. Alfred Farrar would have turned 100 years old on Dec. 26.
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** Former candidate Nathan Larson arrested in connection with abduction of 12-year-old girl ([link removed])
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By ROBIN EARL, Prince William Times

A Fauquier County man who ran for Prince William County seats in Congress and the state House of Delegates was arrested in Denver last week after he allegedly coaxed a 12-year-old California girl to send him pornographic images of herself and then sneak out of her home to join him on a flight back to Virginia, according to police. Nathan Daniel Larson, 40, of Catlett, Virginia, faces felony charges for kidnapping, child abduction, soliciting child pornography from a minor and meeting a child for the intention of sex in connection with his Dec. 14 arrest.


** LOCAL
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** Richmond City Council panel endorses dedicated funding for Affordable Housing Trust Fund ([link removed])
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By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The Richmond City Council is poised to dedicate millions more on an annual basis for the construction of new affordable housing in the city. A council panel on Thursday endorsed a measure proposed by Mayor Levar Stoney that would establish a steady funding source for the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. A majority of the council’s returning members say they support passing it when the ordinance comes up for a vote in early 2021.
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** Virginia Beach police investigating after viral video showed officers detaining innocent Black man ([link removed])
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By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

After a viral video showed Virginia Beach police detaining an innocent Black man at Lynnhaven Mall Saturday, Chief Paul Neudigate said his department will review how officers handled the incident. In a video shared online, officers are seen handcuffing a man who was eating with his family. Police escorted the man outside and said he matched the description of a suspect, who an officer said was a “Black male with dreads that was wearing all black and was with a boy wearing red.”
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** King William treasurer candidate has social media posts including homophobic comments, mocking potential constituents ([link removed])
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By EMILY HOLTER, Tidewater Review

King William County’s former Board of Supervisor member and current treasurer’s office candidate Robert Ehrhart’s social media posts, spanning from when he served on the board to present day, from both his personal and political Facebook pages, include homophobic remarks and verbal attacks against constituents. During a conversation between citizens regarding the 2020 budget process, Ehrhart stated in a post, “Don’t even talk like you know this (expletive) because I will blow your (expletive) out of the water.”
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** Amherst supervisors approve permit for solar farm ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN FAULCONER, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

The first commercial utility-scale solar farm in Amherst County is cleared to operate on a site near the intersection of U.S. 60 East and Union Hill Road. The Amherst County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a special exception permit for Atlanta-based SolAmerica Energy LLC to construct and lease the 5- megawatt project about 3 miles east of the town of Amherst.

Today's Sponsor:


** Virginia's Redistricting Commission Citizen Member Selection Committee
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Now accepting applications from Virginia citizens with diverse backgrounds to serve as one of eight citizen commissioners. Application deadline December 28th. Apply today! ([link removed])


** EDITORIALS
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** New law restores balance between rights, powers ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

With Gov. Ralph Northam’s signing of the law, Virginia has become one of just three states to ban no-knock warrants — the sort that led to Breonna Taylor’s killing in Kentucky. The legislation addresses one of the nation’s most controversial police powers, and one that can put innocent people — such as Ms. Taylor — at extreme risk.
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** Passenger rail gets new boost ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Well, that was quick. On Dec. 16 in this space, we discussed the advantages of the new Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, which advocates say will have a better chance of pursuing long-term passenger rail projects because of greater flexibility in the structure of government authorities. Among those intended projects is the Commonwealth Corridor, an east-west connection from Hampton Roads to Roanoke and beyond. That connector would serve Charlottesville.
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** The unheralded (but important) push to create a health sciences careers highway ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Two years ago, Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, went to Houston for cancer treatment. He came back without the cancer but with an idea. The outgoing Austin chatted up many of the people caring for him and discovered many of them had something in common: They’d all gone through a special high school dedicated to health sciences training — the DeBakey High School for Health Professions. For some, that was the extent of their training; for others, it was the starting point as they went on to further schooling and, in some cases, medical school.
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** Room for optimism as state budget takes shape ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Good news about the state budget emerged on Wednesday. “Revenues are exceeding official forecasts,” Gov. Ralph Northam announced. “Even during a pandemic.” It seems counter-intuitive, but Virginia has, on balance, weathered COVID-19 with less economic fall-out than many other parts of the country. “Other states have laid off workers, cut services, and even borrowed money to pay the bills — actions that will weaken their financial pictures for years to come,” the governor said.
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** A statue of Barbara Johns should replace Robert E. Lee in the U.S. Capitol ([link removed])
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Washington Post Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Barbara Johns was an 11th-grader in 1951 when, in a daring act of subterfuge, she sent her school principal into town on a wild goose chase, then urged all 450 of her fellow Black students to follow her on a walkout to protest shabby conditions at her Jim Crow-era school. Some were afraid they’d get in trouble, but Johns reassured them. “The Farmville jail isn’t big enough to hold us,” she said.


** OP-ED
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** Howard: Virginia's 1902 Constitution: The era of disenfranchisement ([link removed])
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By A.E. DICK HOWARD, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

When the delegates to Virginia’s constitutional convention gathered in Richmond in 1901, hatred for everything that Reconstruction had accomplished permeated the debates. As a price of readmission to the Union after the Civil War, the former Confederate states had been obliged to write new, progressive state constitutions. In Virginia, that was the 1870 Underwood Constitution (named for its president, John C. Underwood, a federal judge despised by conservative Virginians).

A.E. Dick Howard is the Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of Law at University of Virginia School of Law and is an expert in the fields of constitutional law, comparative constitutionalism and the Supreme Court.
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** Clement and Miles: Not good enough for our kids ([link removed])
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By JOE CLEMENT AND MATT MILES, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

What the average noneducator might not know is that what we are seeing in many schools right now long has been the vision of educational technology purveyors: more screens for more kids for more of the day. What the experts in education — teachers — can tell you is that this vision is not good enough for our kids, and regardless of the trajectory of COVID-19, it never will be good enough for our kids.

Clement and Miles are high school teachers in Fairfax County.
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** Amundson: Parents fear kids aren’t learning. They’re right. ([link removed])
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By KRISTEN AMUNDSON, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

A new poll from Christopher Newport University found that 75% of Virginia parents are worried their children are falling behind in school because of disruptions caused by COVID-19. More than half (53%) are “very worried.” They’re right. Nine months after the pandemic led to school closures, we have data on how well students are learning. The answer: Not well.

Amundson is the former chair of the Fairfax County School Board and a former member of the Virginia General Assembly.
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** Childress: Virginia coal has changed ([link removed])
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By HARRY CHILDRESS, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

There is change afoot in coal country. A recent editorial in The Roanoke Times noted with interest the actions of multiple economic development organizations in Southwest Virginia and their efforts to attract renewable energy to what has historically been known as “the coalfields.” You read that correctly, and it is undeniable that the realities of the coal industry have spurred creative thinking in Virginia and throughout the Central Appalachian region.

Childress is President of the Metallurgical Coal Producers Association.
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** Gibson: The misleading narrative about America's demography ([link removed])
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By BOB GIBSON, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In past decades, race and ethnicity could more easily be boiled down to black and white. Things were never that simple, of course, but people could accept the easily understood simplification without thinking about the evolution in who makes up the fabric of American society. America’s changing demographics — and changes in the ways the Census allows individuals to choose to describe their race and ethnicity — paint a more subtle and diverse mosaic. For the past 20 years, the Census has allowed people to self-identify as being of more than one race.

Gibson is communications director and senior researcher at the University of Virginia’s Cooper Center for Public Service. The opinions expressed here are his own
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** Rasoul: It’s Not Enough To Be Right. We Must Bring Others Along With Us ([link removed])
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By SAM RASOUL, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Before the 2020 presidential election, there was a lot of talk from polling analysts and cable news pundits about a political realignment in America. It seemed that in an increasingly lopsided economy where more wealth is becoming concentrated in fewer hands, the professionals and middle-class voters were going to vote with the blue-collar service industry and gig workers to sweep President Trump out of office in a landslide.

Rasoul has represented District 11 in the House of Delegates since 2014. Rasoul is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.
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** McNab and Vandecar-Burdin: Virginia needs robust debate over pot legalization ([link removed])
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By ROBERT M. MCNAB AND TANCY VANDECAR-BURDIN, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

To understand how attitudes about marijuana have changed in the last two decades in Virginia, we only need to look at the reaction to Gov. Ralph Northam’s recent announcement that he would pursue the legalization of recreational marijuana. Opposition was muted, and much of the discussion focused on two broad aspects of legalization: criminal justice reform and the business and regulatory climate in which marijuana sales would take place. Not long ago, talk about marijuana legalization would have been laughed out of Richmond.

McNab is a professor of economics and director of the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy at Old Dominion University. Vandecar-Burdin is the director of ODU’s Social Science Research Center.
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** Morse: Honoring Barbara Johns amplifies an important Virginia story ([link removed])
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By GORDON C. MORSE, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

So, what if the bus had stopped? What if, in 1951, the Farmville school bus, half-full of white kids, on its way to the white high school, had picked up Barbara Johns — she’d missed the bus to the Black school — and carried her into town? All I’m trying to do is get to school, she must have said to herself. When the bus sailed past, it made her mad. “Right then and there, I decided indeed something had to be done about this inequality,” Johns wrote years later.

After writing editorials for the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot in the 1980s, Gordon C. Morse wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles.
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** Descano: Virginia must end cash bail ([link removed])
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By STEVE DESCANO, published in Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia’s General Assembly has made significant progress recently by enacting long-overdue reforms to the criminal justice system, but a practice that wreaks havoc on our communities operates in plain sight and needs to be addressed. Ending Virginia’s outdated and empirically unjustifiable reliance on cash bail should be the next item on Richmond’s reform agenda. Cash bail is the amount of money a court forces a defendant it has found not to be a danger to the community to pay to get out of jail in advance of trial. Simply put, cash bail creates a two-tiered justice system: one for rich people and one for everyone else.

Descano, a Democrat, is the commonwealth’s attorney for Fairfax City and Fairfax County.


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