VaNews
December 31, 2020

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** NOVEC
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NOVEC wishes the entire VPAP community a happy, healthy and prosperous 2021.
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Top of the News


** Health official says any interaction with others outside household is 'too risky' ([link removed])
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By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

In the most blunt terms he’s ever used in a town hall setting. Dr. Mike McDermott of Mary Washington Healthcare told a virtual audience Tuesday night that being with others outside the household is more dangerous now than it’s ever been during the pandemic. “Stay at home for as long as you can, do not interact with other humans, even at small periods of time, it’s too risky,” said McDermott, the health care system’s CEO. “You have to assume that almost every other human out there has COVID-19.”
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** In Virginia, slow vaccine rollout frustrates health care providers ([link removed])
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By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury

Earlier this month, Virginia received 285,725 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, shipping them to hospitals and local health departments over the past two weeks. But less than a quarter of those vaccines — 54,295 — have actually been administered as of Wednesday, according to data from the state Department of Health. Though some of that has been attributed to a lag in reporting the vaccinations, logistical challenges and confusion about where some health care providers — who are prioritized under the state’s plan — can receive the doses have contributed to the delay. What it means, however, is that Virginia’s hospitals and local health departments anticipate that some medical workers and long-term care residents — the first priority groups in the state’s multi-phase COVID-19 vaccine campaign — may not start the immunization process until the end of January or later.
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** 500K Virginians enrolled in Medicaid since 2019 expansion ([link removed])
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By RICH GRISET, Va Business Magazine

The Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) has announced that more than 500,000 Virginians have enrolled in health coverage since expanded Medicaid eligibility rules took effect in January 2019. Virginia was the only state in nation to experience a reduction in its uninsured rate between 2018 and 2019, the first year of the expanded eligibility rules.
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** Fairfax County makes sweeping sentencing reforms ([link removed])
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By MICHELLE BASCH, WTOP

Fairfax County, Virginia, Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced major sentencing reforms Wednesday, with the goal of proposing statewide changes in the future. “The overall goal here is to build a more fair and just criminal justice system, while also having a system that actually keeps our community safe,” Descano said. County prosecutors will stop using mandatory minimum sentences in plea deals and charging people who commit minor offenses with felonies.
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** Virginia advocates set to try again on death penalty repeal ([link removed])
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By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

Death penalty opponents are cautiously optimistic they have enough bipartisan support from lawmakers to get a bill passed next year ending executions in Virginia, a state that has put more people to death in its long history than any other. Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell is again sponsoring a measure that would abolish the death penalty, and Republican Sen. Bill Stanley said he will sign on this year as a chief co-patron. The measure would commute the sentences of the only two inmates on Virginia’s death row to life in prison without parole.
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** Pending federal execution a relic of a deadly, consequential era in Richmond ([link removed])
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By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Cory Johnson was sentenced to death a generation ago during a murder wave that swept Richmond and the rest of the country, triggering law-and-order crackdowns in Richmond and Washington. In the decade that started in 1988, there were at least 100 murders per year in the city, a per capita homicide rate that perennially ranked among the highest in the U.S. The toll peaked at 160 in 1994, with many of the killings drug- and firearm-related.
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** New boat landing access fee could strain river outfitters ([link removed])
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By TAD DICKENS, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Take note, boaters and floaters: You may need your papers in order next year. A law passed in March requires commonwealth bona fides beginning Jan. 1, 2021, for boating access sites that the Department of Wildlife Resources owns or manages. For river outfitting businesses, that could bring a logistical quagmire when people show up to canoe, kayak or tube down the river.
The Full Report
33 articles, 20 publications
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** FROM VPAP
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** VPAP Visual How Citizen Members are Selected ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

What happens now that 1,200 Virginians have applied for eight citizen seats on a new panel that will redraw legislative district boundaries? This visual shows the next step comes Friday, when four legislative leaders will each nominate at least 16 people. From this smaller group, judges will select four citizens nominated by Democratic legislators and four citizens nominated by Republican legislators.
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** From VPAP Money in House Special Elections ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

Democrats hold a sizeable money advantage heading into next week's special elections to fill two House of Delegates seats. VPAP makes it easy to view the top-level numbers and browse a list of donors to all four candidates. The totals are current through Dec. 24.
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** From VPAP Maps, Timeline of COVID-19 in Virginia ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

VPAP has revamped its COVID-19 dashboard to focus on recent trends and to include information about cases by age and race. We've also updated pages that include the latest statistics for each city and county. Updated each morning around 10:30 a.m.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** Revving the Engine for Electric Cars ([link removed])
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By SANDY HAUSMAN, WVTF

When the General Assembly opens for business next month, a coalition of 33 businesses and non-profits is hoping for action on two bills that would make electric cars more affordable and available in Virginia. About half the carbon pollution in Virginia comes from cars, trucks and buses, so environmentalists are asking lawmakers to promote the sale of electric vehicles that don’t pollute.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** Virginia House special election set for next week ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Two special elections for Virginia House seats are set for next week after sitting lawmakers resigned. Voters in Virginia’s 2nd House District, which includes the counties of Prince William and Stafford, and the 90th House District based in Norfolk will vote on Jan. 5.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** Want to be a lawyer, but don’t want to go to law school? Virginia is one of four states that allows it. ([link removed])
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By JANE HARPER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

As she sat in court on countless occasions, first as a police officer, and later as an advocate for crime victims, Tammy McClenney would watch the prosecutors and defense attorneys argue their cases and question witnesses. “I thought, ‘I can do that,’” McClenney said. “And sometimes I thought, ‘I can do that better than they can.’” But the married mother of two young girls wasn’t willing to take on the expense of law school. . . . So she decided to take another route: Virginia’s Law Reader Program.
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** Late surge pushes citizen applications for redistricting panel to 1,200; pool lacks state's diversity ([link removed])
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By ANDREW CAIN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

A late surge before Monday’s deadline pushed citizen applications for Virginia’s new redistricting commission to more than 1,200 hopefuls for eight spots, but the pool still does not reflect the state’s diversity. The Virginia Public Access Project reports that among applicants who answered demographic questions, 62% are men and 38% are women, and 46% of applicants are between the ages of 61 and 81.
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** New Virginia law will take away online option for concealed carry permit course ([link removed])
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By SIERRA JENKINS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Virginians on January 1 will need to attend firearm trainings and safety courses in-person for a concealed handgun permit. Any resident over the age of 21 can take an online course to satisfy application requirements under current state law. The new statute will require residents to attend in-person classes to submit an application, removing the online option.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** Cost still rising for nursing home and long-term care, Genworth says ([link removed])
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By JOHN REID BLACKWELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what were already steadily increasing costs for nursing home and at-home healthcare services, according to a recent survey. The annual Cost of Care survey conducted by Henrico County-based Genworth Financial Inc. showed that the median cost for a private room in a nursing home in Virginia has increased about 7.4% this year to about $105,850. Nationally, costs also rose 3.6% to about the same amount.
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** Small businesses in NRV's college towns adapt to stay alive ([link removed])
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By YANN RANAIVO, HENRI GENDREAU AND SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Since the coronavirus pandemic first shuttered the campuses of Virginia Tech and Radford University in March, businesses in the New River Valley — which rely heavily on the colleges for a vibrant economy — have struggled. ...While Blacksburg couldn’t immediately provide data on recent business closures, town revenue from meals, lodging and sales taxes are down significantly, according to the locality’s most recent figures. Meals revenue fell more than 30% in October from the same month last year, and visitors have spent less than half on hotels as they did in 2019.
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** In a tough year for movies, Chester gets its long-awaited theater ([link removed])
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By JIM MCCONNELL, Chesterfield Observer

Amid a global pandemic that shuttered movie theaters for several months earlier this year, Cinema Café opened its sixth location a week before Christmas in northeastern Chesterfield County. At 45,000 square feet, with nine wall-to-wall, digital movie screens and 1,400 seats, the new Chester dine-in theater on Jefferson Davis Highway is the largest yet for the Virginia Beach-based company, which has expanded beyond the Hampton Roads region for the first time.


** CORONAVIRUS
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** Leaders in Washington region pledge to increase speed of coronavirus vaccine rollout ([link removed])
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By MEAGAN FLYNN, RACHEL CHASON AND REBECCA TAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Vaccine rollout has moved slowly in the Washington region and nationwide as the year comes to a close, though officials stressed Wednesday that they were moving to pick up the pace. Virginia has distributed more than 285,000 doses of the vaccine to hospitals and long-term care facilities across the state, but as of Wednesday, only 54,295 people had received the shot.
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** Virginia Vaccination Rate Lower Than W.Va. ([link removed])
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By IAN MUNRO, Daily News Record (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

As Rockingham County recorded its single deadliest day during the pandemic, vaccinations began at Bridgewater Retirement Community Wednesday. But across the rest of the state, the rollout of the vaccine at other nursing homes continued slowly. Over the state line, West Virginia has vaccinated nearly 2% of its population, while Virginia is at 0.55%, according to state health department data.
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** ‘At the forefront of my mind’: As local doctor received her vaccination, her thoughts turned to her mom ([link removed])
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By JILL PALERMO, Prince William Times

It’s been a trying year for Dr. Kara Siford, a Manassas native and family physician who’s treated so many local residents for COVID-19 over the past several months she says she’s nearly lost count. But when she received her first dose of the new Pfizer coronavirus vaccine last week, Siford said she wasn’t thinking so much about her patients -- or even about herself. Instead, her thoughts turned to her mom. Siford’s mother, the late Kathryn “Kathi” Siford, 73, would have been eager to receive the vaccine, Siford said, if only she’d had the chance.
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** Virginia has vaccinated 54,000 against COVID-19 so far ([link removed])
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By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press

About 54,300 people in Virginia have received COVID-19 vaccines so far, a number that represents only about 20% of the total number of doses the state began receiving from manufacturers two weeks ago, according to an estimate reported by the state Department of Health.
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** Virginia plans for arrival of 100,000 vaccine doses a week ([link removed])
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By LUANNE RIFE, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout should pick up speed now that nursing home residents are receiving doses and plans call for 100,000 more doses to arrive each week, a state health official said Wednesday. Christy Gray, director of the Virginia Department of Health’s immunization division, said during a telephone press briefing that Virginia had received 285,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, with about half of them arriving just before the Christmas holidays.
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** Officials: All long-term care facility residents, staff in Va. could receive first vaccine dose within a month ([link removed])
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By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Stafford Roberts remained steady while the nurse pulled down his blue shirtsleeve to administer a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, three weeks after vaccine shipments first arrived in Virginia. In about 21 days, the long-term care resident will receive the second dose to inoculate him against the virus that has killed more than 2,300 people in Virginia’s facilities like his, Westport Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Henrico County.
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** A grim milestone: 100 residents of Danville and Pittsylvania County have died of COVID-19 ([link removed])
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By CHARLES WILBORN, Danville Register & Bee

A Danville woman 80 or older became the 100th person to die of COVID-19 in the Pittsylvania-Danville Health District, etching in history a grim milestone in the raging pandemic that some health officials fear will grow exponentially following holiday gatherings. Wednesday marked the second consecutive day deaths were reported in Danville from the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. However, those deaths could have occurred weeks earlier.
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** Health district begins vaccination push ([link removed])
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By ROBIN EARL AND COY FERRELL, Fauquier Times

Dr. Joshua Jakum, a physician at Piedmont Pediatrics in Warrenton, was one of the first non-hospital health care providers to receive a dose of COVID-19 vaccine. On the morning of Dec. 29, he was enthusiastic: “This is a remarkable logistic ballet,” he said of the effort to distribute the vaccine so quickly. “People need to recognize what a wonderful positive this is that our country was able to mobilize.” April Achter, population health coordinator for the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, provided some insight Monday on the COVID-19 vaccine and how and when it will be administered.
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** Wave of COVID-19 cases hit Lynchburg-area jails ([link removed])
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By RACHEL MAHONEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Within the past week, 39 inmates and 10 staff members at jails in and around Lynchburg have tested positive for COVID-19, and mass testing is still underway. Joshua Salmon, incoming administrator for the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority, said Wednesday that inmates in the Lynchburg, Amherst County, Bedford County and Halifax County jails started to show symptoms about a week ago.
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** MAP: Virginia ICU capacity for the 7 days before Christmas ([link removed])
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By JOHN RAMSEY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

More than 2,700 people in Virginia are in hospitals being treated for COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. About 550 of those are in intensive care units. Across the state, 82% of the state's staffed ICU are occupied as of Wednesday. According to federal data collected last week, eight hospitals in Virginia had ICUs that were at least 95% full, including VCU Medical Center in Richmond and Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
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** No reports of serious adverse effects in Va. as COVID-19 vaccinations proceed ([link removed])
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By KRISTI KING, WTOP

COVID-19 vaccinations in Virginia have now expanded beyond front line health care workers. “Our long-term care facilities just started this week,” Virginia Department of Health Division of Immunization Director Christy Gray said during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. . . . Vaccinations in long-term care facilities are being administered through a federal partnership program that makes CVS and Walgreens pharmacies exclusively responsible for coordinating vaccinations.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** Too few children in Virginia find forever families ([link removed])
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By THERESA VARGAS, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

When her nephew David was about 15, Naomi Moseley Sicks stepped into the Connecticut group home where he lived and told him about the man she planned to marry. His first question remains one she won’t soon forget. “What if he abuses you?” he asked. “I know he won’t because I know his character,” she reassured him. She explained to him that she had seen how Chris Sicks, a widower and father of three, treated his friends and his children.
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** Virginia colony's 'Enchanted Castle' remains return to Germanna ([link removed])
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By CLINT SCHEMMER, Culpeper Star Exponent (Metered Paywall - 20 articles a month)

Anationally important collection of artifacts from British Virginia has, after decades of absence, landed back in the environs from which they were excavated: Orange County. Many of the remains of what was the colony of Virginia’s largest and most impressive structure—bigger than the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg—have returned to the vicinity of Germanna, royal governor Alexander Spotswood’s pioneering settlement on the Rapidan River.


** LOCAL
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** Kuhn to begin talks with Leesburg, Loudoun after purchasing Westpark land ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Loudoun Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

JK Moving Services CEO Chuck Kuhn completed the purchase of about 143 acres at the former Westpark Golf Club in Leesburg Monday, with plans to place the vast majority of the land into a conservation easement. After closing on the land purchase, the Loudoun County businessman and philanthropist now hopes to begin work on a deal with the town of Leesburg and Loudoun County, both of which have expressed interest in acquiring the land placed in the conservation easement and turning it into a public park.
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** A round-up of area school divisions' post-Winter Break plans ([link removed])
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By ADELE UPHAUS–CONNER, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

As COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise in the Fredericksburg region, some school divisions have announced a virtual start to the new semester. STAFFORD Stafford County Public Schools announced Tuesday that all students—even those elementary students who had returned to school buildings prior to the break—will attend school virtually Jan. 4–8.
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** Return to classrooms delayed at least 2 weeks ([link removed])
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By LAWRENCE EMERSON, Fauquier Now

Fauquier public schools will delay students’ return to classrooms at least two weeks when the spring semester begins Wednesday, Jan. 6. Instruction will remain all-virtual through at least Friday, Jan. 15, the school board decided Wednesday night with a 4-1 vote. The decision came after more than two hours of intense debate via Zoom, during an “emergency meeting” announced just five hours before its 6 p.m. start.
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** Fauquier schools will open Jan. 6 under remote instruction model ([link removed])
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By ROBIN EARL, Fauquier Times

Amid rising COVID-19 cases that have overwhelmed the local health department's contact-tracing efforts, the Fauquier County School Board voted 4-1 Wednesday night to revert to all-virtual instruction when school resumes on Wednesday, Jan. 6. The board left open the the option of returning to in-person instruction under the hybrid model as soon as Tuesday, Jan. 19, but decided to reevaluate conditions at their Jan. 11 meeting.
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** Page’s effort to expand broadband gets $1.6 million boost from state ([link removed])
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By RANDY ARRINGTON, Page Valley News

Earlier this month, Page County received a third allotment of federal CARES funding through the state to help improve broadband service to county residents. A Dec. 10 letter from Governor Ralph Northam’s office and the Commonwealth Connect program alerted the county administrator to the largest of three grants the county has received from Broadband Fast Track funding.
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** 6 notices of COVID cases in 5 Page schools ([link removed])
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Page Valley News

Page County Public Schools has issued six press releases in the last two days about COVID-19 cases being discovered among students or staff member at five schools in Page County.

Today's Sponsor:


** NOVEC
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NOVEC wishes the entire VPAP community a happy, healthy and prosperous 2021.


** EDITORIALS
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** New law portends difficulties ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

How often we’ve said it: Passing a law is only half the battle — and perhaps not even half, at that. Enforcement is where the practical power lies. Or, in this case, where the practical problem lies. Among the myriad laws going into effect on Jan. 1 is a new requirement that boaters, kayakers, canoers and tubers be licensed before using any landing owned or managed by Virginia’s Department of Wildlife Resources.
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** 20 Questions, 20 answers ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

When the year began, we posed 20 questions, the answers to which we thought would help shape what kind of year 2020 would be. Here’s how things turned out. 1. How will the impeachment trial of President Trump play out? No one was surprised when the Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Trump.
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** Limiting the governor’s emergency powers ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

On March 12, when Gov. Ralph Northam first declared a state of emergency due to the emergence of the novel coronavirus in the commonwealth, little was known about this highly contagious respiratory disease that would kill nearly 5,000 Virginians and come to dominate the news for the rest of the year. As public health officials scrambled to contain the outbreak (unsuccessfully, as it turned out), the governor used his emergency powers to unilaterally order churches, schools and “non-essential” businesses closed and limited gatherings to 10 people.


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