VaNews January 2, 2021

State Sen. Ben Chafin dies from COVID-19 complications

By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

State Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell, died Friday from complications related to COVID-19, according to his legislative office. Gov. Ralph Northam and the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus confirmed Chafin died Friday night. He represented a swath of far Southwest Virginia, including part of the New River Valley. He was 60.

On first day of 2021, Va. sees more than 5,100 new COVID cases

By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

For the second day in a row, Virginia’s COVID-19 caseload increased by more than 5,100. Public health officials have said the state could experience yet another spike in infections in the aftermath of holiday gatherings and high traveler numbers since Christmas. The total number of cases surpassed 350,000 on the first day of 2021. Almost 60% — or 206,000 infections — were reported in the past three months.

Del. Lee Carter announces run for governor

By ANDREW CAIN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Del. Lee Carter, D-Manassas, a self-described democratic socialist, formally announced Friday that he is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor, promising to be a voice for “the rest of us.” Carter, 33, a member of the House since 2018, is again pushing to repeal the right-to-work law in which union membership cannot be a condition of employment. He also has called for devoting all future tax revenue from legalized cannabis to reparations for Black and Indigenous Virginians.

Family confronts legacy of sculptor whose statues defined Lost Cause mythology

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

Bill Martin pushed open a wooden door and stepped into a cavernous space filled with faces. Blank eyes stared from shelves on every wall, carvings of hands and feet hanging between busts of people who died long ago. To one side, an enormous white figure of Robert E. Lee lying supine under sculpted drapery. This was the workshop of sculptor Edward Virginius Valentine. Though he missed the Civil War while studying art in Europe, Valentine returned home to the ruins of Richmond in 1865 and shaped the way generations would view that era of American history.

The Full Report

9 articles, 7 publications

FROM VPAP

From VPAP So far, political independents miss the cut

The Virginia Public Access Project

Nearly one-third of the 1,200 Redistricting Commission applicants described themselves as political independents. But lists of finalists released Friday show that independence apparently was not a quality that House legislative leaders had in mind.

From VPAP Maps, Timeline of COVID-19 in Virginia

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

Virginia state Sen. Ben Chafin dies after contracting coronavirus

By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

State Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Lebanon, died Friday as a result of complications from COVID-19. Chafin, 60, was an attorney and cattle farmer from Russell County. He was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2013 and was elected to the state senate in 2014, winning nearly 60% of the votes cast.

Virginia state senator dies of covid-19

By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

State Sen. A. Benton Chafin Jr., a Southwest Virginia cattle farmer and lawyer who broke with fellow Republicans to expand Medicaid in 2018, died Friday at VCU Medical Center of covid-19. A senator since 2014, Chafin, 60, had been hospitalized for about two weeks with the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

STATE ELECTIONS

Del. Lee Carter announces run for Virginia governor

By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times

After hinting at a gubernatorial run for weeks, Del. Lee Carter of Manassas formally announced on Friday that he is running for the 2021 Democratic nomination for Virginia governor. “For too long, we’ve listened to career politicians and pundits tell us that there is no other way,” Carter said in his launch video, released Friday, Jan. 1. “But no more. In this primary we can finally pick a governor that will fight for the rest of us.”

ECONOMY/BUSINESS

Hedge fund wants to buy Tribune Publishing, owner of The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press

By ROBERT CHANNICK, Chicago Tribune

Hedge fund Alden Global Capital is looking to buy Tribune Publishing and take the Chicago-based newspaper company that owns The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press newspapers private in a deal valued at $520 million....A New York-based hedge fund with a reputation for sweeping layoffs at its newspaper properties, Alden owns about 200 publications through an operating company known as MediaNews Group.

HIGHER EDUCATION

JMU Shifts To Virtual Learning First Two Weeks of Spring Semester

By MEGAN WILLIAMS, Daily News Record (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

James Madison University announced it will shift the first two weeks of the spring semester to virtual learning....All on-campus students will receive a two-week credit for their spring housing and dining. The credit amount will depend on the housing and meal plan the student selected. Refunds will be processed as a credit to the student’s account or applied toward any outstanding balance owed.

CORONAVIRUS

Most of NE Tenn., SW Va. region’s COVID-19 cases, deaths came in November, December

By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

In a year rocked by a global pandemic, more than 60% of this region’s COVID-19 cases and more than 650 of 1,100 area deaths occurred during a devastating final two months of 2020. More than 64,000 people in 10 Northeast Tennessee counties, 10 counties and two cities of Southwest Virginia tested positive for the novel coronavirus since the pandemic first struck the region in March, according to departments of health in both states.

LOCAL

Strasburg Town Council discusses use of firearm ordinance

By CHARLES PAULLIN, Northern Virginia Daily

Town staff is looking to clarify an ordinance on discharging a firearm in Strasburg. Town Manager Wyatt Pearson and Police Chief Wayne Sager presented the change to the Town Council Public Safety and Ordinance Committee during a meeting on Dec. 17. “I definitely think discharging a firearm in the town limits is definitely unsafe,” Sager said during the meeting. “It’s not in a good, controlled environment for that.”