VaNews Sept. 26, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** The Richmond Folk Festival
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The Richmond Folk Festival, October 11-13, on downtown Richmond's riverfront features seven stages and over 30 different genres of music, offering something for everyone! RichmondFolkFestival.org ([link removed])

Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** MORRISSEY TRESPASSING CASE DISMISSED ([link removed])
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By RICH GISET, Chesterfield Observer

A trespassing complaint filed against Joe Morrissey, a Democratic politician running for office in Virginia’s 16th Senate District, was dismissed in Chesterfield General District Court last Thursday.


** CANDIDATES ANSWER QUESTIONS AT CHAMBER FORUM ([link removed])
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By HILARY HOLLADAY, Orange County Review

Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) will be a write-in candidate on the November ballot because he neglected to file his candidacy paperwork on time, but neither he nor his opponent, Democrat Ann Ridgeway of Madison County, mentioned his summertime saga involving the State Board of Elections during the candidates’ forum sponsored by the Orange County Chamber of Commerce Monday night.


** REPORTER GOES DOOR-TO-DOOR WITH HOUSE SPEAKER KIRK COX ([link removed])
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By SARA MCCLOSKEY, WFXR

...As part of a series looking at the 66th District candidates, Capitol Bureau Reporter Sara McCloskey went door-knocking with the House Speaker. With so many years of experience, Cox has door knocking “down to a science.” A room filled with volunteers help to coordinate letters that are mailed out to voters to let them know when Cox may be in the neighborhood. If someone isn’t home, Cox will leave a personally signed note on their door.


** GOP CANDIDATE SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE ‘NOT BASED ON SCIENCE’ ([link removed])
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By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times

Candidates running for Virginia’s 87th District House of Delegates’ seat clashed on environmental policy, independent redistricting and gun reform in their first debate in Haymarket Monday night. Democrat Suhas Subramanyam, a former White House technology policy advisor to President Obama, is running against Republican Bill Drennan, a retired Air Force veteran, in the Nov. 5 election. ...During the debate, Drennan labeled himself a “climate change skeptic” and called into question scientific research showing the existence of climate change. Drennan said the issue of climate change had become “a religion … not based on science.”


** ONE VIRGINIA CANDIDATE HAS ACCEPTED A MASSIVE CAMPAIGN DONATION ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL POPE, WVTF

Wisconsin-based businessman Richard Uihlein is no stranger to Virginia politics. Campaign finance documents show he donated $160,000 to Republican Ed Gillespie’s campaign for governor, and he gave $32,000 to the Home School Legal Defense Fund. In July, he cut a check for half a million dollars to Republican Delegate Nick Freitas, an amount that Bob Denton at Virginia Tech says is part of a larger trend. “We’re looking at this particular cycle perhaps breaking all in history, exceeding maybe $25 million maybe even $30 million by the time it’s done," Denton explains. "And a single donation in a delegate race of $500,000 is an incredible amount and certainly very unusual.”


** MORE TALES OF BIG MONEY IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY RACES ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Money, money, money. In July and August this year, candidates running for the 100 House of Delegates and 40 state Senate seats collected a cool $14.1 million, Shad Plank’s review of financial filings compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project shows. That compares to $6 million collected in 2015, the last time both bodies were up for election.


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** LIBERTY UNIVERSITY OFFICIAL TO CHALLENGE REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN FOR GOP NOMINATION ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

An athletics official at Liberty University intends to challenge Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman for the party nomination next year. Bob Good, who also sits on the Campbell County Board of Supervisors, said Riggleman has “betrayed the trust of the Republican conservative base” in the 5th Congressional District.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** HAMPTON ROADS HARBOR DEEPENING IS NEARLY A GO AS PORT APPROVES $78 MILLION CONTRACT ([link removed])
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By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Board members with the Port of Virginia approved a $78 million contract on Tuesday to a marine construction company to begin deepening the harbor leading into Hampton Roads. Weeks Marine, Inc., a family-owned company based in New Jersey, was the lowest bidder for a cost of $78,625,500.


** BELIEVE IT OR NUT: VIRGINIA NEEDS ACORNS ([link removed])
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By JACK MOORE, WTOP

Virginia wants your nuts — and acorns. The Virginia Department of Forestry is asking residents to gather up and donate acorns and nuts, which will then be planted at the state-run nursery and help build the “forests of tomorrow,” the agency said in a news release Tuesday.


** CONGRESS
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** VIRGINIA'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION DIVIDED ON IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY AGAINST TRUMP ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Members of Virginia’s congressional delegation have placed themselves in separate trenches as House Democrats launched a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.


** WITTMAN’S WORKING WATERFRONT, FISH HABITAT AND WETLANDS BILLS ON THE MOVE ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Who says Congress is all wet? Three bipartisan bills focusing on wetlands, fish and working waterfronts co-sponsored by Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, and Democrats from California, Texas and Maine are on the move, winning nods from the House Natural Resources Committee. The committee approved a bill Wittman and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., sponsored to authorize $60 million per year for wetlands conservation from 2020 to 2024.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** CONTINENTAL TO CLOSE NEWPORT NEWS PLANT BY 2024, AFFECTING 740 WORKERS ([link removed])
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By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Several hundred workers at Continental’s Newport News plant were told Wednesday the plant will close in a little less than five years. About 740 people work at the factory that manufactures hydraulic components for gas engines.


** TEAL-JONES GROUP TO INVEST $21 MILLION, CREATE 67 NEW JOBS IN HENRY COUNTY ([link removed])
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By PAUL COLLINS, Martinsville Bulletin

Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday that The Teal-Jones Group, a lumber company in Canada that operates Pine Products Inc. in Henry County, will invest $21 million and create 67 new jobs. The jobs will pay an average annual wage of at least $35,450, which is higher than the average salary in Henry County, according to County Administrator Tim Hall.


** ALTRIA GROUP AND PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL END MERGER TALKS ([link removed])
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By STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Henrico County-based tobacco giant Altria Group Inc. has ended merger talks with Philip Morris International Inc., the company it spun off in 2008. The two companies had announced in late August they were discussing a potential all-stock, merger of equals.


** JUUL TO END ADVERTISING AND LOBBYING EFFORTS; CEO REPLACED BY ALTRIA EXECUTIVE ([link removed])
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By FROM WIRE REPORTS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Juul Labs Inc., the e-cigarette maker at the center of a public uproar over a surge in youth vaping, said Wednesday that its chief executive officer is stepping down and being replaced by a top official from Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc., which has a large stake in Juul. Juul also said it was immediately suspending all product advertising in the United States


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** LIBERTY ACCREDITOR ASKS FOR UNIVERSITY'S 'SIDE OF THE STORY' IN WAKE OF FALWELL ALLEGATIONS ([link removed])
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By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Liberty University’s accrediting body has asked the college to share “their side of the story” in the wake of media reports alleging misconduct under President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s stewardship.


** ACCREDITOR ASKS FOR INFO AFTER FALWELL REPORTS ([link removed])
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By SARAH RANKIN AND ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press

The accrediting body that oversees Liberty University has asked the college for more information about recent news reports that have questioned President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s leadership style and personal business interests, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges recently sent the Lynchburg, Virginia, university a letter asking it to “respond to the media reports,” Janea Johnson said this week.


** UVA-WISE WANTS MORE TEACHERS WITH ADVANCED DEGREES IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By MECHELLE HANKERSON, Virginia Mercury

The University of Virginia at Wise has asked the State Council of Higher Education to start a master’s in education program by fall 2020 which could help 30 more teachers in Southwest Virginia earn advanced degrees every year....There’s a statewide teacher shortage, but Henry said there’s an added challenge in Southwest Virginia: Only about 20 percent of teachers in the region have advanced degrees. In other parts of the state, like Northern Virginia, almost all teachers have advanced degrees, she said.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** A NEWSPAPER REPORTED THAT A MAN’S ANCESTORS WERE SLAVEHOLDERS. HE’S SUING FOR DEFAMATION. ([link removed])
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By HANNAH NATANSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Edward Dickinson Tayloe II was not happy. A Charlottesville newspaper had published a profile this year featuring him as one of 13 people suing to prevent the removal of the city’s embattled Confederate monuments. So far, okay — but the story focused heavily on his family’s slaveholding history....By referring to his family’s slaveholding past in a story about Tayloe’s fight to preserve the monuments, Tayloe’s lawyers argued, the C-Ville Weekly and Schmidt implied their client was a racist


** LOCAL
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** HE’S RUFFLED FEATHERS WITH SWEEPING CHANGES TO THE COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY’S OFFICE ([link removed])
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By RICH GRISET, Chesterfield Observer

...Aside from the occasional office staffer or sheriff’s deputy, light dockets on a recent Wednesday afternoon have left the hallways mostly empty as Scott Miles, Chesterfield’s commonwealth’s attorney, makes his way through the county courthouse. For Miles, it’s a rare break from his typically packed schedule. Since taking office last November, Miles has kept himself busy, making the rounds of community events in a way that his longtime predecessor, Billy Davenport, didn’t. He’s also transformed the culture of his office, deemphasizing the prosecution of minor offenses, such as marijuana charges, and reducing cash bail requests, among other initiatives.


** RICHMOND COLISEUM REDEVELOPMENT LIKELY TO LEAD TO LESS STATE FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS, EXPERTS SAY ([link removed])
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By ROBERTO ROLDAN, WCVE

Since Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced the $1.5 billion Coliseum redevelopment plan in August, city officials have promised that the project will be a boon for public schools. The developer, NH District Corp., says on its website the project “will not divert any existing money from Richmond Public Schools.” But education policy experts say Richmond is likely to lose some state education funding if city officials approve the proposed project.


** O’BANNON SAYS SHE’LL RETURN DEVELOPER’S $1,000 CAMPAIGN DONATION ([link removed])
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By TOM LAPPAS, Henrico Citizen

Tuckahoe District Supervisor Pat O’Bannon will return a $1,000 contribution made by a Richmond development company to her campaign in May, she told the Citizen Tuesday. During a candidate forum Monday at Libbie Mill Library, O’Bannon told the audience and her Democratic opponent, Marques Jones, that she has never accepted campaign donations from developers.


** NORFOLK CITIZENS PLAN PETITION TO UNDO CASINO VOTE ([link removed])
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By RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A band of Norfolk citizens is preparing a petition drive in hopes of reversing the City Council’s approval of a land deal that paves the way for the development of a resort casino on the city’s downtown waterfront. “For me, it’s not about pushing back, but its about due diligence,” said Jackie Glass, a one-time School Board candidate who is involved in the nascent petition drive.


** PORTSMOUTH PLANS NEW WAYS TO COMBAT HIGH POVERTY RATE ([link removed])
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By ANA LEY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Portsmouth plans to create a new task force to come up with ideas to tackle its high poverty rate. That’s one of the steps suggested by a consultant the city hired last year. Indianapolis-based Thomas P. Miller & Associates — which specializes in economic and workforce development analysis — spent about a year and a half on the proposals laid out in a 76-page report made public Monday afternoon.


** CONDEMNATION OF THE PORTSMOUTH CITY JAIL REMAINS ON HOLD ([link removed])
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By MARGARET MATRAY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The condemnation of the Portsmouth City Jail remains on hold, but a Circuit Court judge ruled Wednesday evening that the city can move forward with plans to condemn the other buildings in the Civic Center Complex, including the magistrate’s office and a police evidence building.


** INVESTIGATION WILL EXPLORE WHETHER THE CITY HAS A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT ([link removed])
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By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

For months, African American religious leaders have demanded that investigators take a deeper look at whether the city fostered a hostile work environment before an employee shot 16 people. Initially, the independent firm hired to review the May 31 shooting said those issues were outside of the probe’s focus.


** GRIEF, ‘GHOSTS’ AND FURY AT VIRGINIA BEACH MASS SHOOTING BRIEFING ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL E. MILLER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The families sat in the front of the city council chamber Tuesday night, united in their grief and frustration. Some had flown across the country. Others had driven across town. Most wore reminders of those they had lost in a May 31 rampage at the Virginia Beach municipal complex: a pin mourning a beloved sister, shirts honoring a heroic brother, a necklace that said “VB Strong.”

Today's Sponsor:


** The Richmond Folk Festival
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The Richmond Folk Festival, October 11-13, on downtown Richmond's riverfront features seven stages and over 30 different genres of music, offering something for everyone! RichmondFolkFestival.org ([link removed])


** EDITORIALS
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** WHAT SHADE OF GREEN IS NORTHAM'S ENERGY PLAN? ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam has signed an executive order that sets a goal to make Virginia’s electric grid carbon-free by 2050. This is unequivocally a good thing if you like breathing clean air. It’s also unequivocally a good thing if you are concerned about the massive amounts of carbon that humans keep pumping into the atmosphere.


** VIEWING EXECUTIONS IS ABOUT ACCOUNTABILITY ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The death penalty is the ultimate punishment. It’s a sentence that is reserved for the most heinous of crimes. Capital cases are among the most high-profile of legal proceedings as they wind their way through local, state and federal courts. Media access to all aspects of these cases ensures that the public understand the complexities of the legal system and how their tax dollars are being used. That includes witnessing executions.


** COLUMNISTS
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** SCHAPIRO: FOR VA. REPUBLICANS, NATIONAL HEADACHES 'TRUMP' STATE FOCUS ([link removed])
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By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

An unpopular president threatened with impeachment, perhaps for treason, is the least of Virginia Republicans’ headaches. Roughly 40 days ahead of elections that could cost them the General Assembly, the GOP’s problems come down to three Ps: policy, personality, process. First, policy. Republicans, particularly in the blue-ing suburbs, are playing catch-up.


** OP-ED
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** HOPKINS, DUVAL AND EVERSOLE: WORKING TO CREATE MORE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR VIRGINIA’S MILITARY SPOUSES ([link removed])
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By CARLOS HOPKINS, BARRY DUVAL AND ERIC EVERSOLE, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Military spouses face many unique challenges and deserve recognition for their contributions to our community and to our country. Frequent moves can make it difficult for spouses to build a sense of community and find a job that works with a military schedule. Moves between duty stations also might disrupt spouses’ careers

Hopkins is Virginia’s secretary of veterans and defense affairs. DuVal is president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Eversole is president of Hiring Our Heroes and vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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