IN VIRGINIA GUN DEBATE, NRA FLEXED ITS MUSCLES

The morning that Virginia’s legislature convened a special session on gun control, the National Rifle Association set up shop in prime real estate: the conference room belonging to Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox. The NRA’s supply of 200 T-shirts and 250 hats quickly ran out as an army of gun rights activists stopped by. NRA officials provided directions to legislators’ offices along with some advice: Be courteous. Don’t react if protesters shout at you. Guns are allowed on the House side, not the Senate.

IT’S NOT THE NRA’S MONEY THAT SWAYS VIRGINIA POLITICS: IT’S THE MEMBERS

Before the short special session on gun control earlier this week, hundreds of gun rights advocates poured into the city block around the capitol and legislative building. They wore shirts and hats with the National Rifle Association’s logo and sported bright orange “Guns Save Lives” stickers. Some showed up with handguns in holsters. Others carried rifles slung over their shoulders.

90-MINUTE SESSION ON GUNS COST VIRGINIA TAXPAYERS $500 PER MINUTE

Between lawmakers’ daily allowances and costs to reimburse the mileage it took them to get to Richmond, the General Assembly’s 90-minute special session on guns cost taxpayers nearly $45,000. Senators and delegates left the Capitol Tuesday with no action on any legislation and a promise to have a bipartisan crime commission study gun violence prevention proposals instead.

CRIME COMMISSION SETS AUGUST MEETINGS TO TAKE UP GUN BILLS

The Virginia State Crime Commission has scheduled two days of meetings in August to hear the gun bills the Republican-led General Assembly refused to take up this week. The Crime Commission will meet Aug. 19-20 to begin its deliberations on the bills, according to an announcement on the commission’s website. The meetings in Richmond will be open to the public, and the commission has set aside three hours for public comment at the Aug. 20 meeting.

LAWSUIT CLAIMS DEL. DAWN ADAMS ILLEGALLY ACCESSED AIDE'S EMAIL ACCOUNT, DELETED FILES

A former aide to Del. Dawn Adams, D-Richmond, has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Adams of “hacking” into her personal email records to delete files related to work the aide performed for Adams’ medical consulting business.

AIRD AMONG 3 NEW RBC APPOINTEES

Del. Lashrecse D. Aird has a new “day job.” Aird, D-Petersburg, was named chief of staff at Richard Bland College Friday, one of three new appointments announced by the college. Aird, formerly the college’s assistant director of development, has been with RBC for six years.

EX-CEO OF VIRGINIA BEACH FIRM HEADED TO JAIL FOR HELPING DEL. RON VILLANUEVA DEFRAUD FEDS

A man who worked with then- state Del. Ron Villanueva to secure special government contracts for which their company didn’t qualify will serve one month in federal prison for his role in the scheme. Khalil Naim was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court and also must pay back $479,641.23,

GOP CHALLENGER PUTS ABORTION AT CENTER OF VIRGINIA HOUSE RACE

The abortion wars that flared up unexpectedly in Virginia earlier this year will see another battle this fall in a key House of Delegates race in Fairfax County. Nick Bell, the Republican challenger running in the 39th District of the House of Delegates, is putting the issues of infanticide and abortion at the center of his campaign in hopes of ousting veteran Democratic Delegate Vivian Watts.

SCOTT TAYLOR PAYS NORFOLK PROPERTY TAXES LATE — AGAIN

Norfolk property taxes were due June 5, but former one-term congressman Scott Taylor, who announced a bid for U.S. Senate this week, has taken more than a month to pay his overdue bills for two properties he owns. Taylor, a real estate investor who owns a company called Assurance Holdings LLC, owes the city of Norfolk $1,097, including nearly $100 in late fines.

AUTOMOBILE DEALERS ASSOCIATION SAYS IT WILL APPEAL COURT DECISION ON TESLA STORE IN HENRICO

The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association is pressing its legal challenge against electric automobile maker Tesla Inc.’s company-owned store in Henrico County. The powerful trade group, which represents independent automobile dealers in Virginia, said Thursday that it will appeal a Richmond Circuit Court decision from June that upheld a 2016 ruling by the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles allowing Tesla to open its own dealership in Henrico.

VIRGINIA TO RECEIVE PART OF OPIOID SETTLEMENT FOLLOWING INVESTIGATION INTO ANTI-ADDICTION DRUG

The commonwealth of Virginia will receive part of a more than one billion dollar opioid settlement following an investigation into the marketing of an anti-addiction drug. The U.S. Department of Justice says the company “Indivior” tried to increase “Suboxone Film” prescriptions by deceiving healthcare providers into believing the drug was safer than other opioid addiction treatments.

RESPONSE TEAM BEING SENT TO HELP WORKERS IMPACTED BY BLACKJEWEL BANKRUPTCY

After a number of Southwest Virginia miners found themselves out of work with bounced paychecks, state officials are starting to mobilize resources to help those impacted by coal company Blackjewel LLC’s bankruptcy. Gov. Ralph Northam said he’s “deeply concerned” about the impact the company’s woes are having on more than 450 Virginians.

VIRGINIA ENTREPRENEUR COUNTS ON INDIVIDUAL FARMERS TO MAKE A BETTER CHICKEN

An assembly line of headless, featherless chickens whirs above me as two birds per second are eviscerated and their meat, livers, hearts, necks and gizzards are turned into money. I am touring an expensive new processing line at the Farmer Focus certified-organic-chicken plant in Harrisonburg, Va., the flagship of Corwin Heatwole’s bid to grab a slice of the growing market for food that’s good for you....His $100 million company, Shenandoah Valley Organic (Farmer Focus is the brand name), is the result of a five-year-old idea: Take control over raising chickens away from giant poultry conglomerates and turn it over to the farmers.

IN COURT, MARY WASHINGTON HEALTHCARE SUSPENDS LAWSUITS FOR UNPAID BILLS

Mary Washington Healthcare officially has suspended, through September, all pending lawsuits against patients for unpaid medical bills. MWH also got permission in Fredericksburg General District Court on Friday to move all trials scheduled for October and November to the August docket so they can be suspended as well. No other court cases involving Mary Washington Hospital, Stafford Hospital or MWH’s 40 other affiliates are set beyond that date. The action comes after the health care organization found itself in the national spotlight for aggressive collection practices.

WORK ADVANCES ON 66 EXPRESS LANES OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL BELTWAY

The next phase in Virginia’s plan to expand its network of toll roads is well underway as work on the 66 Express Lanes outside the Capital Beltway picks up.

DAYS AFTER PROBE FOUND HE KISSED STUDENT, WILDER SAYS CLAIMS AGAINST HIM ARE UNTRUE

Former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder said Friday morning that claims of sexual harassment against him are untrue, days after an investigation funded by Virginia Commonwealth University found that he kissed a 20-year-old student without her consent. The Democrat made the comments in a tweet, breaking his public silence on the matter for the first time since the start of the investigation five months ago.

VCU'S MICHAEL RAO IS VIRGINIA'S HIGHEST-PAID STATE OFFICIAL, TOPPING $1 MILLION

A decade after his arrival at Virginia Commonwealth University, Michael Rao is a million-dollar man. Rao, 52, earned more than $1 million in total compensation in the past year, putting him at the top of the state salary database compiled by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

VCU'S RAO RANKS HIGH AMONG HIGHEST-PAID PUBLIC COLLEGE PRESIDENTS

Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao is one of the country’s highest-paid public college presidents. The Chronicle of Higher Education, the country’s largest news organization dedicated to covering colleges and universities, on Sunday night released its annual rankings of public college president salaries.

RYAN, NO. 2-COMPENSATED STATE EMPLOYEE, 'EARNING HIS PAY'

Up and up. University officials are now among the highest-paid public employees in Virginia, accounting for seven of the top 10 spots, thanks to increased use of deferred compensation clauses in contracts.

MOST VIRGINIANS WORRY ABOUT HEALTH CARE COSTS DESPITE MEDICAID EXPANSION, SURVEY SAYS

Most Virginians are concerned about the affordability of health care and believe it should be a top issue for policymakers in the coming year, according to the results of the Virginia Consumer Healthcare Experience State Survey. Of the 1,100 people who responded, 55% had been burdened by health care-related costs in the past year

RAM TO DISCONTINUE LEADING WISE COUNTY CLINIC

After providing free health care services in Wise County for 20 years, Remote Area Medical announced Friday that it’s discontinuing its leadership in organizing a free clinic in Wise next year. Moving forward, it will focus on areas that lack the health care provided by the kinds of organizations and nonprofits that have been active in Wise in recent years, RAM said in a news release.

MARKER HONORING LOCAL LYNCHING VICTIMS IS UNVEILED OUTSIDE ALBEMARLE COURTHOUSE

On Friday, exactly 121 years after John Henry James was lynched, a historical marker telling his story was unveiled outside the Albemarle County Circuit Courthouse.

AFTER YEARS OF TALK — AND FLOODING — ARLINGTON RESIDENTS DEMAND FIXES

Alexandra Lettow was near tears as she described the losses her family suffered in Monday’s flooding to neighbors and county officials gathered at a home in Arlington’s Waverly Hills neighborhood. Destroyed this time were the family’s appliances, the heating and air-conditioning system, the hot water heater, a couch, her son’s Xbox, a television and more. It was at least the seventh time the neighborhood had flooded in 19 years.

OFFICIALS: ARLINGTON WILL ‘UP OUR GAME’ ON FLOOD MITIGATION

Arlington officials have started the ball rolling on efforts to seek reimbursement for some of the costs being expended to clean up from the heavy downpours that raced across the area on July 8, and are pledging to find ways to mitigate the impact of such weather events in the future.

EPA TO CONNECT HOMES AFFECTED BY LANDFILL TO PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM

Thirty years since contamination was found in the groundwater near the Hidden Lane LandfillSuperfund site in Sterling, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is making plans to resolve the issue for 124 properties in Loudoun County. The EPA will work to connect 124 properties in the neighboring Broad Run Farms community to a public water system at no expense to the local homeowners.

WITH INCARCERATION DOWN ELSEWHERE, HENRICO LEADERS WANT TO KNOW WHY INMATE POPULATION IS GROWING

Henrico County leaders, grasping for alternatives to incarceration as jails exceed capacity, want to know why more people are being locked up there than in any other locality in the region.

RICHMOND LAWYER SAYS HE HAS ENOUGH SIGNATURES TO PUT COLISEUM DEAL ON THE BALLOT

Local lawyer and activist Paul Goldman says he has collected more than 14,000 signatures for a referendum on Richmond’s coliseum redevelopment deal. The referendum is aimed at the special taxing zone, known as a tax increment financing district, that is a key part of how the city plans to pay for its $600 million share of the project. All new taxes generated in the TIF district would go to paying off the coliseum. But if voters approve the proposed referendum, it would require that 51% of the new tax money go to schools, not the coliseum.

FIVE MILES FROM THE VIRGINIA CAPITOL, A PREGNANT WOMAN IS SHOT RIGHT AFTER FAILED GUN DEBATE

Outrage was still rising Tuesday when Levar Stoney received the text message from his police chief. The mayor of Richmond had spent the morning speaking to crowds outside the state Capitol ahead of a special legislative session on gun control. He’d invoked the victims of a May 31 mass shooting in Virginia Beach and urged lawmakers to pass “common sense” gun laws.

SHOOTINGS IN NORFOLK ARE UP 50% — AND THEY’RE GETTING HARDER TO PREDICT

Shooters are getting younger, Norfolk’s police chief said, and he offered up an eye-opening observation to drive that home: Some kids don’t have the hand strength to effectively fire the gun. “That’s why you’re seeing bullets going everywhere,” Chief Larry Boone told a crowd of more than a hundred gathered in Berkley this week for the second of the Police Department’s four “Guns Down” events around the city.

VIRGINIA BEACH RECEIVES 13 BIDS FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION

Virginia Beach has received 13 bids to lead an independent probe into the mass shooting that ended with 12 dead and four others injured. City Auditor Lyndon Remias, who was tasked with reviewing the proposals, said he will work through the weekend and plans to make a selection by next Wednesday.

FORCED REMOVAL OF AMHERST COUNCIL MEMBER DRAWS CRITICISM; TOWN CALLS MOVE 'DIFFICULT'

Two days after Amherst Town Council voted to remove an elected member from its ranks, some area residents are criticizing the move they said undermines the electoral process while town officials in a statement called the matter a “difficult decision.” On a 4-1 vote following a closed session Wednesday night, council voted to expel Janice Wheaton, who was seven months into her first term

PAGE COUNTY DECLINES CHANCE TO GIVE TWO SCHOOLS FREE LUNCHES

At a recent meeting, four Page County School Board members voted not to pursue the opportunity to provide two elementary schools free breakfast and lunches, despite the school division's growing problem with meal debt.

RESILIENCE COSTS MOUNT AS CLIMATE CRISIS LOOMS

A line of slow-moving summer storms pushed through the Washington, D.C., area on Monday morning, dumping between 3 and 4 inches of rain — the average accumulated precipitation in a typical July — on the nation’s capital in an hour’s time.

HOW MUCH MONEY WOULD LEGAL MARIJUANA PRODUCE FOR VIRGINIA?

Attorney General — and, he hopes, future governor — Mark Herring has proposed that Virginia legalize marijuana. Today, let’s take a closer look at what that would mean in terms of tax revenue.

VIRGINIA AND GAMING: CHANGE IS IN THE AIR

More than 40 years ago, debate raged through the halls of the state Capitol in Richmond as, year after year, the General Assembly dealt with bills from legislators on the fringes of power who wanted to create a state lottery in the Old Dominion. And every year, the bills died either in committee or subcommittee.

BROADBAND COMPETITION ARRIVES IN THE HILL CITY

Competition. The idea that the individual consumer is best served when a myriad of companies joust with each other to offer the best deal on a desired product or service. It’s what American capitalism is founded on.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN

On Wednesday, what seems like a whole lot of nothing happened when the General Assembly convened for a special session called by Gov. Ralph Northam in response to the Virginia Beach shooting at the end of May. Northam proposed a package of gun-control legislation. After less than two hours, the special session was adjourned until November — after elections.

BUSINESS RANKING GLOSSES OVER REGIONAL INEQUALITY

Virginia's elected officials and members of the commonwealth’s corporate community cheered news last week that CNBC had returned the Old Dominion atop its annual list of the best states in which to do business. It was the fourth time Virginia accomplished the feat — most recently in 2011; 2009 and 2007 before that — in CNBC’s 13 years of conducting a comprehensive evaluation that judges each state

SHOULD UVA TRADE UVA-WISE TO VIRGINIA TECH?

The New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association recently traded their star player, Anthony Davis, to the Los Angeles Lakers. Davis was unhappy in New Orleans, and he was expensive. The Lakers needed some additional talent to put around the aging LeBron James.

OUR JOBS: DOES BIGGER MEAN BETTER?

Earlier this month, statewide population projections from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service brought great promise. Richmond and some of its largest suburban areas — including Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties — are all poised to grow over the next two decades. With the notion of “growth,” we expect positives — more places to live, work and play; more economic opportunities that bring results for Virginians. To achieve that goal, raw numbers of people alone are not a crystal ball.

WILL ROANOKE MOVE INTO THE 9TH DISTRICT?

...There’s a question whispered in some quarters for at least a decade that will come to a full debate then — so let’s go ahead and start it now. Should Roanoke be moved into the 9th Congressional District? This is a question that matters not just on Campbell Avenue, but all the way out to the Cumberland Gap. Here’s why.

SCHAPIRO: WHEN THE NRA WAS A VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC FRONT

In Virginia, before the National Rifle Association was a Republican front, it was a Democratic front. It routinely supported Democrats, some of whom are now among its toughest critics. That includes Dick Saslaw, the state Senate minority leader. He’s known to shoot from the lip when it comes to individuals, ideas and interest groups that make him meshugah.

CASEY: WAS BILL STANLEY'S SOCIAL MEDIA 'THREATS' LEGISLATION SINCERE?

Barely six weeks after a handgun massacre claimed the lives of 12 innocent victims in Virginia Beach, state Sen. Bill Stanley arrived in Richmond ready for Tuesday’s special session of the Virginia General Assembly.

PILLION: NO. 1 FOR BUSINESS? SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA SEES A DIFFERENT STATE.

Last week CNBC named Virginia “America’s Top State for Business in 2019.” This ranking is a testament to the fiscally conservative and business-friendly policies that the General Assembly has worked hard to pass in recent years.

Pillion, a Republican, represents Dickenson County, Russell County, and parts of Washington and Wise counties in the House of Delegates.

MORSE: GOP'S GRIM OUTLOOK EVIDENCED BY SESSION

Well that didn’t take long. Last week’s special legislative session, called by Gov. Ralph Northam to address gun violence, proved a quick affair. Blink and you missed it. Was the Republican leadership’s quick adjournment — ala the White Rabbit, “No time to wait, hello, goodbye” — all that surprising?

Gordon C. Morse wrote editorials for the Daily Press and The Pilot in the 1980s. He later wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, then worked for corporate and philanthropic organizations

CORMONS AND BRANDON: COALITION IN VIRGINIA IS TRANSCENDING POLARIZATION

If Americans’ appetite for taking on the status quo is a defining feature of our time, political polarization is another. We celebrate the first as essential to democracy and progress — having spurred reforms from the American Revolution to the civil rights movement — while the second pits us against each other and often paralyzes our system with gridlock. Paradoxically, today we see them rising together.

Tom Cormons is executive director of Appalachian Voices. Adam Brandon is president of FreedomWorks.

SHREVE: BROADBAND FUNDING A PRIORITY FOR AGRIBUSINESSES

Last legislative session, the Virginia General Assembly passed a budget that included $19 million in funding for expansion of broadband services to rural Virginia. The Virginia Agribusiness Council was supportive of that funding being included in the budget, but more is needed to ensure every Virginian has access to high-speed internet.

Shreve is the Executive Director for the Virginia Agribusiness Council, a Richmond-based nonprofit organization representing the agriculture and forestry industries

LANGREHR: I-81 DEMOLITION DERBY

Ironic and apropos, but not surprising. A couple weeks ago the Virginia commissioner of transportation was delayed by a series of tractor trailer/automobile accidents on I-81 as he made his way to a Salem news conference concerning traffic congestion on this very roadway. Unfortunately, such accidents are pretty much part of a typical day for drivers in our region, particularly involving tractor trailers.

Langrehr serves on the Blacksburg Planning Commission.

BOYD AND FARRAR: TRANSPARENCY NEEDED AT REGIONAL JAIL

On Juneteenth, the oldest annual celebration of the end of slavery in the United States, we attended a regular board meeting of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority. We wanted to urge the board to report what it is doing to comply with a 47-page notice from the U.S. Department of Justice in December that its practices are unconstitutional and must change.

James Boyd is president of the Portsmouth NAACP. Bill Farrar is director of strategic communications for the ACLU of Virginia.

SCHEELER AND GOTTSCHALK: PREPARING TODAY'S STUDENTS FOR TOMORROW'S WORKFORCE

It was cause for celebration when Amazon announced Virginia as the site for its highly sought-after HQ2. Not only was it a huge announcement for our state, but it also signified a shift in the economic development world. One of the main reasons the Virginia Economic Development Partnership was successful in its bid was because it tied its proposal in with the workforce pipeline.

Kim Scheeler is president and CEO of ChamberRVA. Pat Gottschalk is a partner at Williams Mullen, served as state secretary of commerce and trade under Gov. Tim Kaine, and is chairman of ChamberRVA.