By ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press
An unusually broad field of candidates are vying for the governor’s seat in Virginia as the marquee political contest of 2021 gets into full swing. Only New Jersey and Virginia are set to elect governors this year, and the Old Dominion’s off-year contest has a strong track record of being an early indicator of broader national trends, previewing voter backlashes against Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump in recent election cycles.
By ELISHA SAUERS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Over 2,000 long-term care residents have died of the coronavirus in Virginia, representing about 40% of the state’s death toll. Seventy-six of the people who took care of elderly patients at those facilities also have died, according to the state health department. Throughout the pandemic, residents of nursing homes and similar centers have been among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, with cases sometimes spreading like wildfire through their halls and shared living spaces, making thousands seriously ill.
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Hospital workers who have been on the front line for 10 months are tired and worn down. It’s not just the physical schedule, which has worsened recently with record numbers of COVID-19 patients, but also the emotional toll from the ongoing loss of life around them. They’re trying to keep smiling behind their face masks and shields, said Laura Dillon, a nurse at Stafford Hospital.
By JONATHAN EDWARDS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Days after Christmas, landlords and tenants came to courthouses across Hampton Roads — the landlords hoping to wrest control of the apartments they’d rented out; the tenants afraid of losing their homes. One tenant was behind as little as $380 — November’s rent. Another owed $16,800 after using “every trick in the book” to not pay his $1,400-per-month rent for a year. Meanwhile, many of the landlords had mortgages to pay with no money coming in, or at least less of it, and so they turned to the courts to try to reclaim their property so they could lease it to someone who could pay.
By RANDI B. HAGI, Harrisonburg Citizen
Midway through the pandemic-marred 2020-21 school year, the Harrisonburg City Public Schools’ leaders are again looking to adjust by establishing outdoor classrooms on school campuses and seeking to bring roughly 975 more students back into schools and away from online learning. The district continues to try to adapt to both the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the needs of the district’s roughly 6,500 students, some of whom have struggled with the online-heavy learning environment of the fall. . . . Superintendent Michael Richards acknowledged that there are some minor hazards with outdoor learning, like sunburns, allergies, and the occasional bee sting.
By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
In Hampton Roads, rising tides have started to turn some of the region’s stormwater systems — which are meant to usher rainwater into ponds, lakes and rivers via underground pipes — against this coastal community. The result has become a familiar sight for some residents, said Kyle Spencer, a deputy resilience officer with the city of Norfolk. Sometimes, a modest storm will have just started and water will immediately start pooling around a street’s storm drain.
By NEAL AUGENSTEIN, WTOP
Several D.C.-region officials are asking people to avoid going to downtown D.C. to counterprotest demonstrations held in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city was working to maintain safety during the protests, but requested that those not attending the protests avoid the area. . . . Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair-At-Large Phyllis Randall was the first local leader to ask other local elected officials to discourage constituents from going to D.C. to counterprotest during Wednesday rallies in support of President Donald Trump. She called the situation “a tinderbox.”
The Full Report
39 articles, 18 publications
The Virginia Public Access Project
Over the holiday weekend, Virginia legislative leaders narrowed the 1,200-plus applicant pool to 62 nominees for the state's new Redistricting Commission. This visual shows how the finalists and applicant pool compare in terms of geography, age, gender, race and income. There's also a filter for those nominated by Republican and Democratic leaders.
The Virginia Public Access Project
This visual provides an alphabetical listing of the 62 nominees who will be considered for eight citizen seats on Virginia's new Redistricting Commission. There are filters to list people nominated by each of the four legislative leaders.
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.
By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury
Tucked away in the 750-page revised budget Gov. Ralph Northam presented last month is a single line that his administration says would guarantee that transgender enrollees in Virginia’s expanded Medicaid program have access to gender-affirming care. “This is an important equity issue and a critical part of making our commonwealth welcoming and inclusive of all,” Northam’s spokeswoman, Alena Yarmosky, said in an email. If the General Assembly agrees to the language, Virginia would become at least the 19th state to explicitly affirm that transgender care is covered by its Medicaid program, according to statistics gathered last year by UCLA School of Law.
By ANDREW CAIN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Weeks after an election that saw unprecedented early balloting amid the pandemic, voting will again be a focus for Virginia lawmakers in the General Assembly session that starts Jan. 13. Democrats, who gained the majority in 2020, continue efforts to expand access to voting. Republicans have introduced a number of bills to heighten scrutiny of who is eligible to vote.
By BRAD KUTNER, Courthouse News Service
Only hours before a sitting Virginia state senator died of Covid-19, another state senator called the opening of a public space at the state’s upcoming legislative session, otherwise closed because of the ongoing pandemic, a “huge victory.” “The decision to close the Pocahontas Building was a clear violation of the First Amendment and communicated an eagerness by Senator Locke and Speaker Filler-Corn, and the Northam administration to shut out public input in the legislative process,” said state Senator Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, in a statement released Friday evening.
By ANDREW CAIN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Virginia legislative leaders have selected 62 finalists for the eight citizen spots on Virginia’s new redistricting commission, with Democrats’ picks coming from mostly population centers and GOP choices chiefly from rural areas. A panel of five retired Virginia judges will select the eight citizen members of the commission by Jan. 15. The judges will meet on Wednesday.
By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee
Local Delegate Les Adams is ready to help determine how the state and Congressional districts will be redrawn this year. Adams, one of eight members from the Virginia General Assembly who will serve on a newly formed, bipartisan redistricting commission tasked with redrawing district boundaries, is tight-lipped about how he thinks the districts should be reshaped.
By OLIVIA JAQUITH, WRIC-TV
The Chesterfield General District Court will be closed Monday, Jan. 4 through Wednesday, Jan. 6, according to a Sunday morning release. County officials say the temporary closure is due to COVID-19 concerns.
WFXR-TV
In an effort to protect many forest species including chestnut oaks that are more than three centuries old, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has purchased more than 800 acres in Giles and Bland Counties. The Virginia DCR also will be expanding an existing natural area preserve within an important ecological forest core.
By STAFF REPORT, WAVY-TV
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) was sworn into office for his third term in a socially distant ceremony by Vice President Mike Pence. The ceremony occurred on Sunday, the first day of the 117th Congress.
By LINDSEY MCPHERSON, Politico
Nancy Pelosi was elected speaker of the House for the 117th Congress... But not every returning Democrat ended up voting for Pelosi, despite stark warnings from senior party members that they should do so....Three other Democrats who didn’t support Pelosi in 2019 — Reps. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey — all voted “present.”
By VALERIE BONK, WTOP
The number of Northern Virginia businesses that received loans in the first round of federal COVID-19 stimulus help is higher than the national average, according to a new report. About 13% of small businesses in Northern Virginia received Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to a report released by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. The national average is 9% of small businesses receiving the loans.
By MICHELLE BASCH, WTOP
What started as an effort by Virginia business leaders to help small businesses battered by the COVID-19 crisis has gone nationwide. The nonprofit Virginia 30 Day Fund provides $3,000 forgivable loans to business owners. Its goal is to keep Virginians working while small businesses waited for federal aid money to come through.
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Opening a business is never easy, but try starting one during a global health pandemic. In Norfolk, one woman signed a lease during the first week of March, the same week that another risk-taker in Chesapeake held her shop’s grand opening, neither seeing the disaster that awaited. Still, others saw the pandemic as an opportunity, the moment to finally leap into the thing that they had relegated to “maybe someday” status while life was comfortable.
By KARRI PEIFER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
In October 2019, Virginia tourism officials gathered in the dining room of a restaurant in downtown Richmond to launch the state's newest branding campaign: “Virginia is for Restaurant Lovers.” The goal of the campaign was to raise awareness about the importance of Virginia's restaurants to local and state economies, and how to build on it. Restaurants' economic impact is significant. In 2019, the restaurant industry in Virginia generated $18.1 billion , and its 14,000 restaurants were responsible for more than 378,000 jobs, representing 9% of employment in the state, according to data shared at the event.
By MATTHEW DELANEY, WTOP
Riders on the Arlington, Virginia, bus system will once again have to pay fares and enter the bus through the front door starting on Sunday. Arlington County said that both practices were suspended by Arlington Transit (ART) last March, but fares can now be paid by either using the SmarTrip card, SmarTrip app or by exact change at the fare box, while plastic glass barriers have been installed to protect the drivers at the front of the bus.
By PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
National Landing, the renamed neighborhood of Crystal City-Pentagon City-Potomac Yards in Arlington and Alexandria, will become the country’s most connected urban center sometime in the next decade, its business boosters say. Eight major transportation projects are underway in the area, with the aim of turning what is often seen as a busy pass-through into a truly urban neighborhood where residents, office workers and visitors have easy access to local and regional amenities as well as long-distance travel.
By SALEEN MARTIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Old Dominion University students will spend the first two weeks of the spring semester learning remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a news release from the university. Remote instruction will last from Jan. 19 to Feb. 1. The decision, the university said, is due to a rising number of coronavirus cases in Hampton Roads and across the nation.
By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Hundreds of former and current Liberty University students are calling on the evangelical Christian school to shutter the Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty, a campus “think tank” known for promoting conservative political causes. More than 450 students and recent graduates have signed a student-led petition demanding the university-funded center be dissolved, according to Matt Morris, a Liberty freshman who created the online petition last month.
By MIKE BARBER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Sunday morning, Liberty men’s basketball associate head coach Brad Soucie tweeted a message advocating against wearing masks to slow the spread of COVID-19. By Sunday afternoon, Soucie had deleted the tweet and his boss, who is currently away from the team after testing positive for the virus, had responded. “Liberty men’s basketball has and will continue to adhere to the government guidelines and recommendations in order to fight against this virus,” Liberty coach Ritchie McKay said in a statement sent to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
By ALAN RODRIGUEZ ESPINOZA, WCVE-FM
Universities across Central Virginia say participation in international education dropped during the pandemic. While a dip was expected due to health risks, they say a tense political climate also contributed to the decrease in international students. At Virginia Commonwealth University, the Global Education office says the international education department enrolled 983 international students for the Fall 2020 semester, a drop from 1,170 last fall.
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Another 5,124 people across Virginia had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Sunday, marking the fourth consecutive day that new virus cases broke the 5,000-mark statewide. But then, the number of cases statewide, as well in the nation, have been rising steadily since Thanksgiving and surging even higher after Christmas. Virginia has reported more than 4,900 new cases every day since Tuesday, Dec. 29.
By ELISHA SAUERS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Did you sit snugly with friends around the fireplace during Christmas? Ring in the new year at a crowded house party? Or did you keep your New Year’s Eve kisses just between you and members of your household? While many were busy celebrating a good riddance to 2020 last week, data scientists say how people spent the recent holidays will largely affect the course of the pandemic in early 2021.
By DERRICK BRYSON TAYLOR, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
When a Black man appears in a Virginia courtroom this month to stand trial on charges of eluding the police, assaulting an officer and other crimes, he will face a scene that defendants in that room have not experienced in decades: The portraits of white judges will no longer line the walls. A judge late last month ordered the removal of the portraits ahead of Terrance Shipp Jr.’s Jan. 4 trial, ruling that the presence of the artwork, depicting judges who served in Fairfax County, could have suggested that the legal system is biased.
By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Public defenders work long hours, manage heavy caseloads and earn far less than the prosecutors. The pay disparity between the two is so stark it leads to high turnover rates and inexperienced attorneys representing poor criminal defendants, said Virginia Beach’s Public Defender Cal Bain. In the wake of discussions about criminal justice reform this year, Bain decided to ask the city council to consider providing up to $850,000 in its next budget to make the offices equal.
By ALLISON WRABEL, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Albemarle County government buildings will not reopen until at least March 15. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the county’s office buildings have been largely closed to the public, and most employees have been working from home. County Executive Jeff Richardson said the closures will continue until mid-March at the earliest, which will mark nearly a year since the county closed its buildings to the public, with limited exceptions.
By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee
City officials are going to request to add the West Main Street corridor and the surrounding neighborhood to the Schoolfield master plan that is being developed. The project was put on hold last summer pending the outcome of the vote on whether to allow a Caesars Virginia casino at the former Dan River Inc. site at Schoolfield on West Main Street.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Virginia is on track to do something governments don’t usually do, especially ones run by Democrats — turn away revenue. Come next summer, Virginia is set to ban the so-called “electronic skill games” often found in convenience stores, restaurants and truck stops. Virginia was about to ban them this year but Gov. Ralph Northam persuaded the General Assembly to extend their life one year, with the most of their revenue going into a COVID-19 relief fund.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
While it’s taken on a slightly partisan hue, there’s an opportunity to address proposals to restructure the Virginia Court of Appeals and publicly discuss it in ways that illuminate rather fulminate. Essentially, Gov. Ralph Northam wants to spend $5.1 million to expand the Virginia Court of Appeals from 11 to 15 judges. This proposal has been objectively examined, has the support of the Virginia Bar Association, and appears thoroughly consistent with the broader purpose of judicial efficiency.
Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Bureaucracies are notoriously slow to take action. Every department and sub-department head has to make sure all the t’s are crossed and all the i’s are dotted before sending an urgent matter on to … another department, which then proceeds to do the same thing. Most of the time, such slow-walking is merely annoying or inefficient. But in health care, delays can be deadly.
By RYAN K. SMITH, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Jefferson Davis still stands in Richmond. This is true even after widespread protests engulfed Confederate monuments following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, when Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue became the epicenter of the anguish expressed against these symbols of white supremacy. Monument Avenue’s tribute to Jefferson Davis was among the first to go — his bronze likeness was sprayed with paint and a noose hung around his neck before finally being toppled by protesters on June 10.
Smith is a professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of the newly released book, “Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries.”
By JAMES SOCAS, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
More than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson had budget problems. On Jan. 25, 1819, the Virginia General Assembly voted to make his vision of a state university a reality but failed to provide adequate funding. Jefferson observed that, “We shall fall miserably short in the execution of the large plan displayed to the world, with the short funds proposed for its execution.”
Socas served two terms on UVA’s Board of Managers for the Alumni Association. He invests in technology businesses for The Blackstone Group.
By SEAN BIELAWSKI AND HENRY FROST, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
In the upcoming legislative session, Virginia can build a bipartisan cultural bridge and set an example for the South by officially and completely abolishing the death penalty. In the last 20 years, prosecutors, juries, judges, politicians, and citizens from both sides of the aisle have decided that the death penalty is the wrong choice for the commonwealth, and use of the death penalty has continuously dwindled to the point of being obsolete.
Bielawski is a Master of Public Policy student at the University of Virginia. Frost is a graduate student at UVA, pursuing a Master of Business Administration.
By GORDON C. MORSE, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
What will matter to Virginians in 2021? Or, more to the point, what will shape the state elections this year? It’s frequently asserted, to cliché, that elections turn on the future. That’s where we’re going to live, the campaign logic explains, so lock onto that. Even so, there’s long been a tendency in Virginia to keep a grip on the past, always careful not to outrun the electorate in a mad rush to the horizon.
After writing editorials for the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot in the 1980s, Gordon C. Morse wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles.
By JAMES DELLAVALLE, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
I joined Thomas Nelson Community College as dean of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in 2000 and retired in 2011 as professor of physics. Prior to applying to TNCC I had never heard of Thomas Nelson but upon reading his biography I was surprised to learn that he is considered a Founding Father. He was a member of the Virginia General Assembly, governor, member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, a general in the militia at the siege of Yorktown, and, yes, a slave owner.
DellaValle is a resident of Yorktown
published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
In January 2002, my wife, Lisa, and our youngest daughter were walking across Capitol Square, outside our new home in the Executive Mansion. Our daughter had just finished a lesson on civil rights in school, and she had a question. Glancing around at all the statues of old, white men on the lawn, 7-year-old Eliza asked her mother, “Where is Rosa Parks?” While Rosa Parks wasn’t a Virginian, that innocent question got us thinking. It had taken the wisdom of a young child to immediately notice what we had not: that there were no statues honoring women or people of color in this public square designed to tell the story of our commonwealth and its people.
Warner, a Democrat, represents Virginia in the U.S. Senate.
By PEGGY SANNER, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Have you ever noticed a blooming dogwood in the spring? Relaxed in the shade of a spreading oak on a hot day? Stayed dry under the canopy of a leafy tree during an unexpected downpour? Day in and day out, trees quietly lend a hand in our communities without us giving it much thought. The list of benefits tree canopies provide is vast — mitigating local flooding, filtering air pollution, reducing polluted runoff, cooling areas prone to extreme heat, creating homes for wildlife, taking carbon out of the atmosphere and more.
Sanner is executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
By NORA V. DEMLEITNER, published in Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) promised to make racial justice and equality a centerpiece of his term after a photograph of a person in blackface on his medical school yearbook page surfaced almost two years ago. Yet his commitment does not appear to extend to incarcerated Virginians and their families and communities. Virginia recently registered the highest infection rate ever in its state correctional facilities, but Northam continues to sit on his hands.
Nora V. Demleitner is the Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University.
|
|
|
