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Here are some stats for 2020:
* Number of articles: 15,533
* Number of subscribers: 19,912
* Number of subscribers who donated so far this year: 952

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Most-clicked headlines by section for 2020:

FROM VPAP


** MAP OF COVID-19 BY ZIP CODE ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

New data released Friday by the Virginia Department of Health provides a more granular look at how COVID-19 is spreading across Virginia. VPAP has calculated the number of cases per 10,000 residents in each of the state's nearly 900 postal codes. Plotted on a map, the location of hot spots becomes apparent.

May 9, 2020

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

HOW GOV. RALPH NORTHAM DECIDED WHEN VIRGINIA MIGHT EMERGE FROM SHUTDOWN ([link removed])

By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER AND LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam looked like anyone else working from home on Sunday night, wearing an old flannel shirt and sweatpants. But he was dialing into a conference call that would determine when 8.5 million Virginians could go back out and earn a living or get a haircut or eat in a restaurant amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

May 8, 2020

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

VA. POLITICAL LEADERS NAME 8 LEGISLATORS WHO'LL SERVE ON NEW REDISTRICTING COMMISSION ([link removed])

By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

The group of eight Democratic and Republican legislators who will serve on Virginia’s new redistricting commission will be made up of five men and three women, including two senior members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. The legislative members, who will wield significant power over how legislative and congressional districts are redrawn when new U.S. Census data comes in next year, come from districts that touch most regions of the state, ensuring some level of geographic diversity in the process.
December 2, 2020

STATE ELECTIONS

COVID-19 COULD FORCE THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES TO HOLD ELECTIONS 3 YEARS IN A ROW ([link removed])

By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

If any Virginia delegates felt they didn’t get to talk about guns and minimum wage enough in the 2020 session, they might get the chance to have it out on the campaign trail in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Under normal circumstances, the 100 seats in the House of Delegates are only up for election every two years. But — as it has with so many other aspects of civic life — the coronavirus pandemic could significantly disrupt Virginia’s legislative election calendar.

May 6, 2020

FEDERAL ELECTIONS

HOW A GAY WEDDING FRACTURED REPUBLICANS ([link removed])

By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE

Alex Pisciarino and Rek LeCounte’s wedding day last July was hot -- the kind of soupy mid-summer heat that slows the South to a crawl. “We warned everybody to wear seersucker and some light fabric,” LeCounte said. “And some folks didn't listen to us and you could tell how they wish they had.” At the time, the couple had no idea their day would make national headlines.

June 8, 2020

STATE GOVERNMENT

VIRGINIA POISED TO CREATE FIRST PANDEMIC WORKPLACE SAFETY MANDATES IN NATION ([link removed])

By ELI ROSENBERG, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia took a big step on Wednesday toward ushering in a new set of coronavirus-era safety rules that companies would be forced to implement to protect workers from infection — a first in the country and potentially way forward for other states in the face of federal inaction.

June 25, 2020

CONGRESS

GOP CONGRESSMAN-ELECT CALLS THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC 'PHONY' ([link removed])

By JOHN L. DORMAN, Business Insider

GOP Congressman-elect Bob Good on Saturday labeled the coronavirus pandemic as "phony" during an appearance in Washington, DC, at the second "Million MAGA March" in support of President Donald Trump. Good, a conservative who will represent Virginia's 5th Congressional district beginning in January 2021, made the statement in front of a throng of supporters who were in town to protest election irregularities in the 2020 presidential election, despite no evidence showing widespread voter fraud.
December 14, 2020

ECONOMY/BUSINESS

VA. GUN SALES TOP 81,000 IN JUNE, A NEW RECORD, AMID FEARS OF VIRUS, PROTESTS AND DEFUNDING POLICE ([link removed])

By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia gun sales soared to historic levels in June, the second record spike in three months, in a tumultuous year marked by the long-term uncertainty of COVID-19, the economic turmoil it brought, protests over racial injustices and activists’ demands to defund the police.

July 6, 2020

TRANSPORTATION

VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY'S BEAUTIFUL BRIDGE TO NOWHERE ([link removed])

By DAVID KIDD, Governing

Intended to bring much-needed industry and tourism to Appalachia, a state-of-the-art four-lane bridge was completed in 2015, connecting Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. To date, not a single vehicle has made the crossing from one state to the other. At least not legally. ...Federal funding for the project dried up before construction began on the connecting roads, leaving the southern states with an award-winning bridge to nowhere. But work has recently resumed on newer, less-ambitious plans for the thoroughfare.

April 28, 2020

CORONAVIRUS

LOOK AT THE CORONAVIRUS "CURVE" FOR EACH OF VIRGINIA’S CITIES AND COUNTIES ([link removed])

By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The number of new coronavirus cases continues to increase each day in Virginia, though the rate of growth has slowed compared to weeks ago. But where are these new cases coming from? Because Gov. Ralph Northam has appeared open to reopening Virginia on a regional basis, The Virginian-Pilot examined the count of new cases each day for all of the state’s localities to get a sense of which direction different areas were heading.

May 1, 2020

HIGHER EDUCATION

STUDENT GOVERNMENT CONDEMNS VCU PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT ([link removed])

By PATRICK LARSEN, WCVE

The VCU Student Government Association released an open letter criticizing the school administration for their reaction to violence and property damage at protests last weekend. President Michael Rao issued a statement on property damage caused by protesters this week, saying that the damages to school property total near $100,000. VCU Police released security footage of some of those protesters, asking the public for help with identification. Rao also said that VCU had called on the Commonwealth’s Attorney to press charges.

July 31, 2020

VIRGINIA OTHER

RELEASED FROM JAIL AT HEIGHT OF PANDEMIC, ALEXANDRIA RAPE SUSPECT ALLEGEDLY KILLED HIS ACCUSER ([link removed])

By TOM JACKMAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The incident in Karla Dominguez’s apartment last October was violent, and it was not consensual, she testified in Alexandria District Court in December. The man she accused was indicted on charges including rape, strangulation and abduction and jailed without bond in Alexandria. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit.

August 7, 2020

LOCAL

18 RICHMOND FAMILIES TO GET $500 MONTHLY FOR NEXT 2 YEARS UNDER GUARANTEED INCOME PROGRAM ([link removed])

By C. SUAREZ ROJAS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

An experimental pilot program in Richmond will give $500 a month to 18 families over the next two years, Mayor Levar Stoney announced Thursday. The guaranteed basic income is expected to help randomly selected families that no longer qualify for public benefits programs but are still struggling to make ends meet in essential or service industry jobs making only slightly more than $13 an hour.

October 30, 2020

EDITORIALS

VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS MISREAD WHAT REPUBLICANS JUST DID ([link removed])

Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The two most consequential events of Virginia’s 2021 governor’s race may have already happened. On Saturday, Republicans decided to choose their nominee in a convention rather than a primary — prompting state Sen. Amanda Chase of Chesterfield County to declare that she’ll run as an independent instead. Democrats are absolutely gleeful. Republican conventions tend to be dominated by the party’s most conservative activists — which often lead to nominees who can’t win elections.

December 8, 2020

COLUMNISTS

SCHAPIRO: IN VA. HOUSE, NEW RULES OF ENGAGEMENT ([link removed])

By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

In conference calls, private meetings and occasional dinners, about 10 senior Democrats have been quietly working on ways to blunt a Republican advantage in the House of Delegates that could endure — at minimum, near term — even though the GOP is back in the minority. The incoming speaker, Eileen Filler-Corn, other top House Democrats and two former delegates who led the party as a majority and a minority are rewriting the rules by which the House will do the people’s business.

January 6, 2020

OP-ED

HANER: LEGISLATIVE STAFFER FILES RETIREMENT MID-MEETING ([link removed])

By STEVE HANER, Published in the Bacon's Rebellion

"I am no longer with the Division of Legislative Services. If you need assistance, please contact…” That is the message you get back if you send an email today to one of the key players in all the energy debates down at the General Assembly, perhaps the key player during the actual session.

Note: VPAP included this column as a rare exception to its policy of limiting op-eds to those that appear in print newspapers.

January 18, 2020

THE FRIDAY READ

'THE MYSTERY IS OVER': RESEARCHERS SAY THEY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO 'LOST COLONY' ([link removed])

By JEFF HAMPTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The English colonists who settled the so-called Lost Colony before disappearing from history simply went to live with their native friends — the Croatoans of Hatteras, according to a new book. “They were never lost,” said Scott Dawson, who has researched records and dug up artifacts where the colonists lived with the Indians in the 16th century. “It was made up. The mystery is over.”

August 21, 2020
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