VaNews Sept. 25, 2019
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Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** SPANBERGER FILES PAPERWORK FOR 2020 RE-ELECTION ([link removed])
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By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE

Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission this month indicating she’ll run for re-election in 2020. Spanberger campaigned in 2018 as a no-nonsense former CIA operative willing to work across the aisle. The strategy gave her a narrow win over Tea Party Republican Dave Brat in the sprawling, conservative-leaning 7th Congressional District.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** STATE FISHERIES MANAGERS UPHOLD STRIPED BASS EMERGENCY REGULATIONS ([link removed])
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By LEE TOLLIVER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The fall recreational striped bass harvest was essentially cut in half Tuesday when Virginia fisheries managers voted to uphold an emergency management order issued in August.


** VIRGINIA TAX REFUND CHECKS ARE IN THE MAIL. ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Almost 2.7 million checks are on the way to Virginia taxpayers with a one-time refund from a political compromise over a state windfall from federal tax reforms. Eligible taxpayers will receive $110 if they filed individually and $220 if they filed jointly as a married couple. The Virginia Department of Treasury began mailing checks to eligible taxpayers on Sept. 16 and expects to finish by Oct. 15.


** STATE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION HEARS FROM CHS STUDENTS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVES ([link removed])
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By RUTH SERVEN SMITH, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Charlottesville High School is expanding two pioneering programs this fall aimed at helping students improve their mental health and peer support groups. Atif Qarni, Virginia’s secretary of education, visited the school Tuesday morning to talk to student leaders about their initiatives and see if the projects could be expanded statewide.


** CONGRESS
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** REPS. MCEACHIN AND SCOTT JOIN GROWING CALLS FOR TRUMP IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS ([link removed])
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By PATRICK WILSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th, and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd, on Tuesday called for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. McEachin, whose district includes Richmond and parts of its suburbs, issued a statement in a news release with the headline “McEachin calls for impeachment.”


** DEMOCRATIC REPS. LURIA AND SPANBERGER OF VIRGINIA JOIN CALLS FOR TRUMP’S IMPEACHMENT ([link removed])
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By JENNA PORTNOY, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The day after two Virginia Democratic congresswomen joined a chorus of calls to impeach President Trump, Reps. Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger got their wish.


** ELAINE LURIA CALLS FOR TRUMP IMPEACHMENT OVER UKRAINE ALLEGATIONS ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Norfolk, and other Democrats said this week that new reports of President Donald Trump pressuring a foreign government to investigate a political opponent were grounds for impeachment.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** ANOTHER POTENTIAL LOSER TO EXPANDED GAMBLING IN VIRGINIA: STRIP CLUBS? ([link removed])
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By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury

Strip clubs and casinos might be expected to co-exist in a peaceful, vice-adjacent synergy. Not so, says a representative of the owner of nine Richmond topless clubs, including three in close proximity to Colonial Downs’ biggest casino, Rosie’s Gaming Emporium. “Ever since Rosie’s opened, our business at those clubs has been cut in half,” said Mike Dickinson, projects director at the clubs, which include the Candy Bar, Daddy Rabbits and Paper Moon


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** HAMPTON ROADS “HAS FALLEN VICTIM” TO RISING SEAS, SAYS ANOTHER NATIONAL FLOODING REPORT ([link removed])
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By KATHERINE HAFNER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Yet again Hampton Roads is being singled out by a national group as an example of the perils of rising seas. This time, it’s in a report from the American Geophysical Union that urges investment in science to find solutions to flooding caused by climate change.


** JUNK FOOD AT MONTICELLO? ALICE WATERS HELPS LEAD A REVOLUTION ([link removed])
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By JANE BLACK, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Alice Waters made her first pilgrimage to Monticello in 2011. Long an admirer of Thomas Jefferson, she marveled at the gardens full of heirloom varietals, like Tennis Ball lettuce and Marseilles fig, and paid homage to the man who praised small farmers as “the most valuable citizens,” Americans who are “tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.” Then she visited the cafe.


** R-MA CANCELS REMAINDER OF FOOTBALL SEASON DUE TO LOW NUMBERS ([link removed])
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By TOMMY KEELER JR., Northern Virginia Daily

Randolph-Macon Academy announced on Tuesday it is canceling the remainder of its football season due to low numbers. R-MA head coach and Athletic Director Frank Sullivan stated in a news release Tuesday that the team was down to 16 players due to injuries. At the start of preseason, the Yellow Jackets had 22 on the roster.


** LOCAL
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** FAIRFAX COUNTY APPROVES PURCHASE OF 1,210 POLICE BODY CAMERAS ([link removed])
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By ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Fairfax County on Tuesday moved to purchase 1,210 body cameras for its police force, putting into place the last big piece of a series of changes prompted by the 2013 fatal police shooting of an unarmed man outside his home.


** FAIRFAX COUNTY TO FULLY IMPLEMENT BODY CAMERAS FOR POLICE ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Virginia’s most populous jurisdiction is outfitting its police officers throughout the county with body-worn cameras. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to issue more than 1,200 cameras across the county over the next three years.


** ARLINGTON AND ALEXANDRIA SPLIT IN THE 1870S. COULD AMAZON BRING THEM TOGETHER? ([link removed])
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By PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Amazon’s arrival in Northern Virginia may do something that hasn’t happened in more than 100 years — bring Arlington County and the city of Alexandria together in the way that they govern their communities.


** MOTIVE OF SHOOTER IN VIRGINIA BEACH RAMPAGE REMAINS A MYSTERY, INVESTIGATORS SAY ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL E. MILLER PETER JAMISON AND JOHN WOODROW COX, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

After nearly four months of waiting for — and, at times, demanding — answers on what motivated a Virginia Beach massacre, the families of 12 people gunned down in May at a municipal center received almost none from police Tuesday night.


** NOTHING IN MASS SHOOTER’S PAST HINTS AT WHY HE KILLED 12 AND INJURED FOUR, POLICE SAY ([link removed])
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By PETER COUTU, ALISSA SKELTON AND JANE HARPER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Before anyone could call police, 10 people had been shot dead. Two more had been severely wounded. Within minutes of the first 911 call, two more would end up dead and two would suffer serious injuries in the May 31 mass shooting in Virginia Beach’s municipal complex.


** NORFOLK CITY COUNCIL APPROVES CASINO LAND ([link removed])
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By RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Norfolk’s City Council authorized a land deal with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe that paves the way for a casino resort complex on the waterfront, after a public hearing in which many people asked the council to hold off.


** 14 CURRENT, FORMER WARREN OFFICIALS INDICTED ([link removed])
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By JOSH GULLY, Northern Virginia Daily

Elected officials, along with former and current Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority board members, and high ranking county employees were booked Tuesday after being indicted by the special grand jury investigating local governmental bodies.


** WARREN COUNTY'S TOP OFFICIALS INDICTED IN FRONT ROYAL EMBEZZLEMENT SCAM ([link removed])
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By JOHN MCCASLIN, Rappahannock News

All of Warren County’s leading government officials have been indicted on misdemeanor charges related to an ongoing investigation involving the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority (EDA). A Warren County special grand jury handed up 42 misdemeanor counts on Friday.


** MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE MISSING. THE SHERIFF IS DEAD. A SMALL VIRGINIA TOWN WANTS ANSWERS. ([link removed])
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By ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Before the $21 million allegedly went missing, before the sheriff put his gun in his mouth and fired, before Tuesday’s announcement that the entire top tier of the Warren County government had been indicted, there was the dream. It was a dream of renewal for this town 70 miles from Washington, which fell on hard times after a rayon manufacturing plant closed in 1989, leaving 1,300 people jobless and 440 acres full of toxic waste.


** ROANOKE COUNTY SUPERVISORS LOWER FEE FOR CONCEALED HANDGUN PERMIT ([link removed])
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By ALICIA PETSKA, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

On a split vote Tuesday, Roanoke County supervisors decided to take $10 off the fee applied to residents seeking concealed handgun permits. The change will kick in next summer when the new budget cycle starts. It will lower the fee for a five-year permit from $50 to $40.


** CAMPBELL COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF SOLAR FARM ([link removed])
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By SARAH HONOSKY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

As solar energy gains traction in Campbell County — with its first solar farm slated to begin construction in late fall — another could be on the way after the county planning commission recommended approval for a solar facility Monday night. After a 1,200-acre solar farm was approved in September 2018, a 150-acre solar farm project was approved near Rustburg that November. The proposed Caden Energix Gladys LLC 660-acre solar facility would be the third facility in the county if it garners supervisor approval at their Nov. 7 meeting.


** EDITORIALS
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** WELCOME A FRESH PERSPECTIVE ON HISTORY ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia invested considerable resources into marking the 400th anniversary of several milestones central to the evolution of the commonwealth and the nation — and has helped spark a historical renaissance as a result.


** STRONG PRIVATE SECTOR GROWTH IS GOOD NEWS ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Sandwiched between a Sept. 19 announcement of 200 new jobs in Henrico County and a Sept. 23 announcement of 170 new jobs in Arlington County, Gov. Ralph Northam’s office said last Friday that Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell another 0.1 percentage point in August.


** COLLEGES COUNT ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Each fall, thousands of kids enter Virginia colleges for their studies. As campuses and their towns across the commonwealth grow, so do some challenges in counting our students.


** COLUMNISTS
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** POLITIFACT: BYNUM-COLEMAN RATED "PANTS ON FIRE" OVER COX'S TEACHER PAY RECORD ([link removed])
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By WARREN FISKE, WCVE

Democrat Sheila Bynum-Coleman is trying to label Speaker Kirk Cox as an opponent of teacher raises in a contentious race for the 66th District House seat in Chesterfield County and Colonial Heights. Her first try ran into trouble. “Cox joined with special interests to deny teachers raises,” she said in a TV ad that aired Sept. 4. But a small-print citation Bynum-Coleman used in the ad to back the claim was inaccurate. She cited Cox for a 2013 vote against a state budget with a teacher raise when, actually, he supported it. It was another delegate - John Cox - who opposed the budget.


** OP-ED
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** SOLOMON: NUCLEAR POWER IS OUR ANSWER TO OUR CARBON PROBLEM ([link removed])
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By DIGBY SOLOMON, Published in the Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Cynics might consider Gov. Ralph Northam’s proclamation last week that Virginia will produce 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2050 as another example of our political fascination with virtue signaling on climate change over actual accomplishments. Certainly it is far enough into the future that neither the governor nor his political allies will be held accountable for results.

Digby A. Solomon is a former publisher of the Daily Press.
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