By STAFF REPORT, Coalfield Progress
Gov. Ralph Northam has named three alternative energy advocates to the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission. The commission “exists to study all aspects of coal as an energy resource and endeavor to stimulate, encourage, promote, and assist in the development of renewable and alternative energy resources other than petroleum,” according to the state Division of Legislative Services.
By ELISHA SAUERS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
About 31,500 Virginians got an early Christmas gift, courtesy of the U.S. government: their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. The Virginia Department of Health has begun tracking the distribution of the shots, which are going into the arms of only critical health care workers right now. Nursing home and assisted living residents will be up next, with immunizations starting at some sites Monday.
By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
When the General Assembly reconvenes next month, lawmakers will resume their battle over whether to require employers to offer paid sick leave — a debate colored by both the coronavirus pandemic and the 2021 governor's race. About 1.2 million Virginians have no paid sick time or family leave, according to a November study by the Shift Project, which tracks data from hourly service workers. Some Democrats in the state legislature have pushed for years to make most employers provide the benefit, which is required in the District and 14 states, including Maryland.
By JASMINE FRANKS, Southwest Virginia Today
On a Friday morning in late November, Sgt. Josh Taylor and other Marion Police officers and Smyth County deputies responded to a report of a suicidal woman holding a knife to her chest. Officers tried unsuccessfully to de-escalate the situation and negotiate with the woman to drop her weapon, but the woman became violent and the officers had to use a stun gun to subdue and disarm her, according to police accounts.
By KYLE SWENSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The tree was wedged into the corner of the living room, plastic white branches catching the morning glare from the windows overlooking the apartment complex’s parking lot in Virginia’s Henrico County. LaRoya White, eyes heavy from working overnight, looked at the decorations and thought about how weeks earlier she had doubted whether she would be able to muster enough holiday spirit for them. “It is what it is,” the 35-year-old single mom said from the couch.
By SUSAN KYTE, Mecklenburg Sun
Microsoft Corporation has purchased all or most of the land in three industrial parks located in Mecklenburg County — Hillcrest Industrial Park in South Hill, Roanoke River Regional Business Park located between La Crosse and Brodnax, and Lakeside Commerce Park near Clarksville. All three land transfers occurred in the past week. Details are scant on the transactions, through which Microsoft Corporation acquired nearly 900 acres of land from five local economic development entities — the Mecklenburg County IDA, Brunswick County IDA, Town of Clarksville EDA, Chase City EDA and the Town of South Hill.
By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Why scoop when you can vacuum? The Port of Virginia is continuing its quest to become the deepest port on the East Coast, with the help of a mud-and-sand-suctioning dredge on the Chesapeake Bay. The Magdalen — named after the grandmother of the dredging company’s owner — is a 356-foot vessel known in the business as a trailing suction hopper dredge. It can be spotted on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel where it’s been working since late November.
The Full Report
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The Virginia Public Access Project
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By TOM JACKMAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The attorneys general of D.C., Maryland and Virginia are supporting a federal lawsuit seeking to have the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulate the widely sold parts of homemade “ghost guns” as firearms, in an attempt to stop the steadily increasing use of the untraceable firearms in crimes across the country.
By JOANNE KIMBERLIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Gun stores — usually busy at Christmas and always during tumultuous times — are squeezing in a different category of customer this year: Folks on either end of a private deal. For the first Yuletide ever, a new law makes it illegal for Virginians to sell their personally owned firearms without buyers clearing the kind of background checks that can only be handled by federally licensed dealers.
By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Starting Jan. 2, an estimated 300,000 undocumented immigrants in Virginia will be able to drive legally, thanks to aggressive, yearslong efforts from immigrant rights advocates and a Democratic stronghold in the 2020 General Assembly session. But while supporters say the measure will boost public safety, power economic growth and allow people without legal status to commute without fear, it is not what advocates wanted.
News-Gazette
“We have hopefully arrived at a beginning of an end,” Rep. Ben Cline said of the recent release of vaccines from pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Pfizer during a districtwide telephone town hall on the coronavirus Monday evening. In the town hall, Cline was joined by the chairman of the Congressional Doctors Caucus, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D., and Dr. Laura Kornegay, health director for the Central Shenandoah Health District to discuss the local implications of the vaccines and answer questions of those tuning in. Kornegay voiced excitement for the distribution of the vaccines in the Shenandoah Health District, calling the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines powerful weapons to help end the ongoing pandemic.
By MICHELLE SMITH, News on the Neck
When Representative Rob Wittman signed the amicus brief backing a Texas lawsuit related to the November general election, it was a breaking point for some District 1 voters. And they made that known by protesting at Wittman’s Tappahannock office. On Thursday and Saturday, protesters came from counties across the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck armed with signs bearing phrases such as “Traitor Rob” and “Wittman chose Trump over democracy.”
By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
For weeks, it seemed like the phones at Interfaith Outreach Association would not stop ringing. Since late June, the Lynchburg-based nonprofit has served as the local state-designated grantee tasked with helping distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars in housing assistance to residents who have lost income due to the coronavirus pandemic. Interfaith has been flooded with calls from residents late on rent who are desperate to stay in their homes during the worst public health crisis in a century, according to Shawne Farmer, the association’s longtime director. “Our lines stayed so busy, we couldn’t call out,” Farmer said.
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press
Caesar’s Palace it’s not, but for the first time northern Virginia is getting in on the expansion of gambling that has been spreading throughout the state. Early next month, Rosie’s Gaming is opening its fourth slots parlor of sorts in the state, with a 150-machine facility in Dumfries, in southern Prince William County. For all practical purposes, the machines play like slot machines, and casual gamblers would be hard-pressed to notice the difference between Rosie’s machines and any other slot machine.
By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The history of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, from the time it was first proposed to its projected completion, will soon span the terms of three U.S. presidents. So what impact will the incoming administration of Joe Biden — whose views on climate change and clean energy are the polar opposite of President Donald Trump’s — have on the deeply divisive natural gas pipeline?
By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A Chicago-based company is aiming to build a 2,700-acre solar farm on various pieces of property throughout the county. Hecate Energy is requesting a special-use permit from the county to lease several pieces of land zoned for agriculture to build a solar farm that will generate up to 280 megawatts of renewable energy, according to its application with the county.
By YANN RANAIVO, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Torc Robotics will expand into and add to an existing property at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center as part of the company’s plans to eventually create another 350 jobs. A performance agreement that the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved earlier this month suggested those plans, but Torc later confirmed further details about its upcoming expansion in Blacksburg.
By STEFANIE JACKSON, Eastern Shore Post
Construction continues on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel’s first parallel tunnel, near the Virginia Beach side of the bridge, with projected completion in 2024, approximately two years later than originally estimated. “The key emphasis for the collective project team is high quality and durability over speed for completion deadlines,” said Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Executive Director Jeff Holland.
By HENRI GENDREAU, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A former Virginia Supreme Court justice will become the next CEO of the Virginia Tech Foundation. Elizabeth McClanahan, president and dean of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, will take control on June 1 of the organization that manages the university’s $1.3 billion endowment. McClanahan, 61, will succeed John Dooley, who announced in August that he would retire.
By STAFF REPORT, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
After a one-day holiday weekend lull with only 1,584 cases reported Saturday, the Virginia Department of Health on Sunday reported 3,999 new COVID-19 infections across the commonwealth for a seven-day average of 3,818 new cases a day. Virginia has now recorded 333,576 cases since the coronavirus pandemic began. Statewide hospitalizations increased by 84 in the Sunday data, for a cumulative total of 17,548, while 14 more people died of COVID-19 in Virginia, for a total of 4,854.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Bristol Virginia Vice Mayor Anthony Farnum said Sunday he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and is self-quarantining at home. Farnum made the announcement Sunday morning on his Facebook page. “Friends ... I have tested positive for COVID-19,” Farnum wrote. “I feel terrible. My symptoms are all over the place ... and the worst part; it’s been a different combination of different symptoms different days.” Farnum said he’s had shortness of breath, headache, cough, congestion, muscle aches and fatigue, among other symptoms. He also said he knows “exactly when and where” he contacted the virus.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Two more inmates and one more staff member have died from COVID-19 in recent days and nearly 7,000 of 24,700 state inmates have now tested positive since the start of the pandemic. According to figures posted Friday by the Virginia Department of Corrections, a total of 41 inmates and two staff members who tested positive for the virus have died. There are more than 11,000 employees of the department.
By STAFF REPORTS, Prince William Times
Two more assisted living facilities in Prince William County are reporting outbreaks of COVID-19 involving a total of 56 cases but so far no additional deaths. Meanwhile, the local health district's rate of COVID-19 infections per capita exceeded 60 for the first time on Sunday, Dec. 27, and remains the highest in the region, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
By KATHERINE J. WU, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
On the morning of Dec. 16, the threat of a Virginia snowstorm canceled school for 7-year-old Alain Bell. He instead spent the morning scribbling a scowling face in black marker onto his father’s newly vaccinated upper arm. “It was his idea,” Alain said over Zoom, pointing to his father, Dr. Taison Bell, 37, a critical care physician at UVA Health in Charlottesville. “I feel good that he’s not going to get sick.”
By JONATHAN EDWARDS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
“Virginia” does not appear in the index of “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” the 2016 Pulitzer Prize-winning book that showed how evictions drive poor people deeper into poverty. Neither do Richmond, Hampton, Norfolk, Newport News or Chesapeake. More than two years later in April 2018, Evicted’s author, sociologist and professor Matthew Desmond, launched Eviction Lab. Desmond and other Princeton University researchers tapped 17 years’ worth of court data — 83 million records — to see how often landlords around the country sued to try to evict their tenants and how often they won in court.
By ERIC KOLENICH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The building for the Massey Cancer Center sits atop a hill overlooking Interstate 95 in downtown Richmond. From his first-floor office window, Dr. Robert Winn can see the cars whizzing by, Shockoe Bottom and the place where people were sold as slaves 200 years ago. Last year, Virginia Commonwealth University appointed Winn the director of its cancer center. Among the 71 federally designated cancer centers in the U.S., Winn, 56, is the only director who is Black.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Two federal death row inmates with COVID-19 — one sentenced to death in Richmond — are seeking the delay of their executions, arguing that given their current health, death by lethal injection would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Cory Johnson, 52, and Dustin Higgs, 48, are set to be executed on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15, respectively — both less than a week before President Donald Trump leaves office.
By DAN LEVIN, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
Jimmy Galligan was in history class last school year when his phone buzzed with a message. Once he clicked on it, he found a three-second video of a white classmate looking into the camera and uttering an anti-Black racial slur. The slur, he said, was regularly hurled in classrooms and hallways throughout his years in the Loudoun County school district. He had brought the issue up to teachers and administrators but, much to his anger and frustration, his complaints had gone nowhere.
By HANNAH NATANSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
In the warm, sunny days of August, Heather Rosner’s principal turned to her (on Zoom, of course) and asked, “Are you going to do a winter concert?” “Are you kidding me?” Rosner, a music teacher in Northern Virginia, remembers thinking. “There’s no way. How could I?” But in a world reshaped by the coronavirus — a world in which so much about school and the way she teaches children to play instruments had changed or been lost — Rosner found she was unwilling to give up yet another thing.
By RICK HORNER, Fairfax Times
At a recent meeting of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors it was decided to approve several changes to the County’s holiday calendar. The board approved the addition of Juneteenth and Election Day which follows in the footsteps of the decision made by the General Assembly in Richmond. The Board also removed Columbus Day from the calendar as per a move also made by the General Assembly.
By RENSS GREENE, Loudoun Now
The Board of Supervisors has released half of the frozen spending in the county budget, when it put $100 million into reserve in April as COVID-19 lockdowns began. The pandemic response in the U.S. began as county supervisors were finishing their work on the annual budget. Facing a deadline to get that lengthy process done with enough time for county staff members to prepare for the new fiscal year in July, supervisors opted to pass the budget as is—without any changes to reflect the then-unknown upsets of the pandemic—and freeze $100 million in new expenditures.
By STAFF REPORTS, Prince William Times
A Prince William County Sheriff’s Office deputy has been fired for making “disturbing comments” on social media accounts, Sheriff Glendell Hill said Saturday. The deputy was fired after Hill launched an internal investigation into the comments, which were reported to his office on Christmas Day by a member of the public, Hill said in an email.
By ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
A Prince William County sheriff’s deputy has been fired for posting “disturbing comments” to a conservative social media website, the county sheriff’s office announced Saturday. But the former deputy said that he didn’t make the comments and that his account was hacked. Prince William Sheriff Glendell Hill said he was alerted to the comments on Christmas morning and promptly launched an internal investigation.
By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Boarded-up windows, and the empty units they signal, are multiplying around Latonia Davis’ Creighton Court apartment. The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority stopped leasing units there when residents moved out beginning in 2019. More than a third of the 504-unit complex is now vacant, an indicator that an overhaul of the complex is creeping closer.
By ALISSA SKELTON, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts, who planned to retire in January, died peacefully at home on Saturday morning after celebrating Christmas with his family, the sheriff’s department said. Roberts, 70, will be remembered as Virginia’s longest-serving sheriff and as the first African American to serve as president of the National Sheriffs Association.
By ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts, the longest-serving sheriff in Virginia, died peacefully Saturday at his home, according to the city sheriff’s office, which did not provide a cause of death. Roberts, 70, blazed a trail for Black law enforcement officers in the state after he became Hampton’s first African American sheriff in 1992.
By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
After 49 years on the job, Marge Moore still mops and sweeps her bus every day, trying to set a good example for her students. She keeps the vehicle at her house so she can wash it on the weekends — and she makes sure to wax it every other month. When it’s especially frigid and the gear shift freezes, she drags her blow dryer, with an extension cord, out to the bus to unthaw the transmission. She needs to pick up her kids on time, even during the winter, she said.
By NATE DELESLINE III, Smithfield Times (Paywall)
Residential curbside recycling services will end in Smithfield on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15. Town officials say the move is expected to save about $100,000 annually. Smithfield decided to end recycling as a way to offset a $300,000 budget shortfall due primarily to lost meals tax revenue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The town also implemented a $6 monthly trash collection fee.
By JOSH GULLY, Inside NOVA (Metered Paywall)
Just 247 applications were submitted for Culpeper County's Child Care Relief Program intended to help offset pandemic-related increases in childcare costs. Earlier this month, the Board of Supervisors set aside $730,000 for the program and county officials expected over 1,000 applications from parents of students in grades k-8. The county was able to budget the money due to savings incurred from Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Recovery Act funding. Since the county can not directly make payments to citizens, the Health Services department was enlisted to review applications and mail checks.
By ADELE UPHAUS–CONNER, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Inmates at the Rappahannock Regional Jail continue to report near-constant lockdowns, crowded conditions, inadequate medical care and concern for their mental and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Free Lance–Star spoke to or received letters from nine current and former inmates and their families who described these conditions. Several agreed to have their names used. “I don’t expect him to be staying at the Ritz or even the Motel 6, but they’re treated not even as well as animals and that’s not right,” said Kathleen Leavy, whose boyfriend has been incarcerated at the jail for just over a year.
By ANNGARDNER EUBANK, Rappahannock Record (Paywall)
Responding to citizen, council and staff concerns, the Irvington Town Council on December 17 decided to seek an independent audit of the town’s finances. Following claims of misappropriated funds and general operating funds being commingled with CARES Act funds from a resident at a December 10 meeting, multiple speakers, including Ann Meekins on behalf of herself and the Irvington Business Association, planning commission chairman Julie Harris, and representatives of the Tides Inn, all added their requests for an independent investigation and audit into the town financials by a third party.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
As hard as it is to believe, other things happened this year besides politics, protests and the pandemic. Here are some of the biggest stories of the year that you may have missed. They may not have gotten as much attention in 2020 as they deserved, but the odds are high that someday we’ll look back and mark 2020 as a turning point in ways we don’t realize now. 1. The auto sector in the Roanoke and New River Valley continued to grow.
By ADAM ROSENFELD, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Most people behind bars were not sentenced to die, but as COVID-19 continues to move through our prisons, jails and other carceral facilities, more and more that’s a real possibility. The Virginia COVID-19 Justice Coalition — a group of almost 40 advocacy organizations from all across the commonwealth — is calling on Gov. Ralph Northam to address the ongoing crisis in Virginia’s detention facilities before it’s too late.
Rosenfeld is a recent graduate of George Washington University. He volunteers with the Richmond Community Bail Fund, and the Virginia COVID-19 Justice Coalition.
By CHARLIE JEWELL, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
As regions across the country work to recover from the economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d like to share some signs of optimism emerging from the New River Valley. In late September, Onward NRV (www.onwardnrv.org) conducted a survey of local companies in the manufacturing and tech sectors to assess how the pandemic was impacting them. The survey revealed that while companies in both sectors have certainly faced their fair share of challenges this year, they have weathered the storm relatively well overall and are optimistic about the future.
Jewell is executive director of Onward New River Valley.
By E. THOMAS EWING, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
In October 1918, as the influenza epidemic gripped the United States, Roanoke pharmacists sold out of a serum advertised to prevent pneumonia infections. Even as demand soared, Dr. Brownlee Foster, Roanoke’s Health Officer, offered “no positive recommendation” on a treatment declared “reputable” by the Virginia State Board of Health. The desperate search for a vaccine in 1918 is suggestive of our experience in 2020.
Ewing is a professor of history at Virginia Tech.
By A.E. DICK HOWARD, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
George Mason’s famous Declaration of Rights for Virginia (1776) highlights the idea of community. That document declares that government is “instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community.” But when the declaration turns to the question of who in that community should have the vote, it is more qualified. To have the right of suffrage, men must have “sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community.” In Mason’s day, that meant property owners.
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.
By GLENN DUBOIS, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Countless Virginia families are facing challenges that were unforeseeable a year ago. Virginia businesses are hurting, too. While smaller companies fight to survive COVID-19 complications, medium and large firms desperately seek employees with the skills they need for the high-demand jobs now available. Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed budget amendments include a measure that could help both those families and businesses.
DuBois is the chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges, a position he has held since 2001.
By GEORGE BARKER AND MYECHIA MINTER-JORDAN, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
It’s 2020 and, believe it or not, we have some good news. For too long, Virginia had been one of the 14 states that chose not to include coverage of preventive dental care for adults enrolled in the state Medicaid plan, opting to cover only emergency dental services. This generally meant that the only dental services Medicaid paid for were emergency tooth extractions, causing many individuals to live with an uncomfortable or unhealthy mouth — until now.
Barker, D-Fairfax, represents the 39th District in the Virginia Senate. Minter-Jordan is president and CEO of the DentaQuest Partnership for Oral Health Advancement, a Boston-based nonprofit.
By W. BRIAN MCCANN, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Benjamin Franklin once said that “lost time is never found again.” This might not be true for students with disabilities. Fortunately, the Virginia General Assembly and, in fact, every state legislature in the country, has the opportunity to prove Franklin wrong and find time that these students lost in the classroom to COVID-19.
McCann is the president and CEO of The Faison Center in Richmond, a nonprofit that serves children and adults with autism.
By SEAN PERRYMAN, published in Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
For too long, Virginia’s leaders have used our commonwealth’s reputation as “good for business” as an excuse to overlook the devastation that our 73-year-old right-to-work laws are wreaking on workers. In recent studies by CNBC and Oxfam, Virginia was ranked, respectively, the best state for business and the worst state — literally dead last — for workers. The pandemic has only magnified these inequities in our economic policy: Too many of our workers have consistently faced a lack of job protections while confronting an increased risk to their health and safety. Tens of thousands of others have been laid off.
Perryman, a Democrat, is president of the Fairfax County Chapter of the NAACP and a candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia.
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