By CHRIS SUAREZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Recovery advocates and state lawmakers awaiting millions in settlement dollars from opioid manufacturers and distributors over the next two decades want to put that money to work fighting addiction. Nearly 10,000 people have died of fatal drug overdoses in Virginia since 2007, state data shows, with the bulk of those deaths stemming from prescription or illicit opioid drugs such as heroin or Fentanyl.
By DENISE LAVOIE AND SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press
A bill that would have restored parole in Virginia was killed Friday after lawmakers heard emotional testimony from family members of crime victims who pleaded with them to guarantee their assailants would stay locked up. The Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee voted to send the measure to the Virginia State Crime Commission for study, ending the bill’s chances of passing this year. Virginia abolished discretionary parole in 1995 and began requiring offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.
By AUTUMN CHILDRESS, WAVY-TV
Several criminal justice reform bills are making their way through the General Assembly, including one dealing with police body camera footage. House Bill 1941, authored by Delegate Sam Rasoul, would require police officers to release audio and video recordings within 15 days of a violent incident.
By IAN SHAPIRA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
In an email to thousands of students, faculty, graduates and parents earlier this month, Virginia Military Institute’s interim superintendent defended its one-strike-and-you’re out honor code as “a national model.” But in private conversations with faculty and alumni, retired Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins is raising questions about VMI’s student-run Honor Court, which The Washington Post revealed in December expels Black students at a disproportionately high rate.
By JIMMY LAROUE, Suffolk News Herald
More than 20 people have applied for the vacant Chuckatuck Borough City Council seat, but who they are will stay under wraps. City spokeswoman Diana Klink confirmed that there are 21 candidates who have applied for the open seat, created after Mike Duman, who had previously represented the Chuckatuck Borough since 2011, won a four-way race for mayor. However, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Klink said that state code “exempts personnel records containing information concerning identifiable individuals.
By JOSH JANNEY, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
COVID-19 is partly to blame for the trash that’s piling up along local roads. The reason? The pandemic has halted the inmate workforce from the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center in Frederick County that helps pick up litter. Frederick County Solid Waste Manager Gloria Puffinburger called the roadside trash along Berryville Pike (Va. 7) “awful.”
By COLLEEN CURRAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Crippling fatigue, headaches, chest pain. Blood clots, memory problems, racing heartbeat and shortness of breath. Hair loss, leg weakness and even in some cases temporary paralysis: these are just a few of the mysterious, lingering symptoms experienced by COVID-19 survivors. Over 430,000 have died from COVID in the U.S. as of this writing and more than 25.6 million people have been infected.
The Full Report
44 articles, 22 publications
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. We've added a link to VDH vaccination data. There's also a filter for each city and county, plus an exclusive per-capita ZIP Code map. Updated each morning around 10:30 a.m.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Gov. Ralph Northam is joining a legislative push to require Virginia to set a goal of procuring at least 23% of state contracts from businesses owned by women and people from racial and ethnic minority groups to close the newly verified gap between opportunity and performance in boosting those firms' share of work for state government and higher education institutions.
By ANA LEY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Gov. Ralph Northam says not enough money from state contracts is going to businesses owned by women and minorities, but a new law he’s supporting aims to change that. Citing a state-commissioned study released Friday, the Democratic governor touted legislation that would establish a financial commitment for such firms.
By ERIC KOLENICH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
A House subcommittee shot down a bill that would have capped the price of online education at Virginia public colleges. Since the pandemic, most colleges moved classes to a virtual format. But some parents think the new form of teaching is substandard, said Del. Jason Miyares, R-Virginia Beach, who sponsored the bill. If colleges can't provide the same level of instruction, they shouldn't be able to charge full tuition.
By BILL ATKINSON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)
A bill all but totally eliminating solitary confinement within the Virginia prison system by next year jumped one Senate committee hurdle Friday, but it still has one more to go if it wants to reach the full chamber for debate. A representative of the state Department of Corrections told the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee Friday morning that while DOC was not taking a position on the measure, it did have some issues with some of the details.
By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Proponents of a bill before the Virginia General Assembly to end mandatory minimum sentences, except in capital murder cases, say the mandatory terms have a disproportionately unfair impact on minorities and take away discretion from judges. Opponents of the legislation say minimum mandatory sentences help protect the public’s safety.
By KARA DIXON, WAVY-TV
Virginia’s statewide NAACP conference is calling on legislators to support criminal justice reform bills currently going through the General Assembly. During a press conference Friday morning, officials with the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Virginia State Conference share their support for five bills they believe will help Virginia move toward being more equitable for all, especially minority communities.
By KARA DIXON, WAVY-TV
A local delegate is hoping to get a bill passed through the General Assembly that will allow people to prosecute others who have sent them unwanted or obscene photos. Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler, who represents the 21st District, is the co-patron of House Bill 2254 and says it’s gotten bipartisan support. “Everyone is on board with the intent of this bill and I think that’s what will make it successful,” she said.
By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Chesterfield County's longest serving Black judge and one of only two in the county's court system apparently has lost her bid for re-appointment amid an ongoing debate about her performance during her 12 years on the bench. Critics says Chesterfield General District Judge Pamela O'Berry is too harsh on defendants who are people of color, while supporters says she's fair and unbiased.
By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Del. Dave LaRock (R-33rd) is calling on Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates Eileen Filler-Corn (D) to reinstate him to the House transportation committee after a recent court ruling on when ballots need to be postmarked in future elections. LaRock was stripped of his transportation committee duty shortly into the regular session for sending a letter to Vice President Mike Pence (R) to nullify Virginia’s presidential election results.
By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
In August, Del. Dave LaRock, R-Loudoun, filed a resolution endorsing hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 despite various clinical trials by national medical associations warning against its use and lack of efficacy. On Thursday night, he warned a House Health committee that COVID vaccines rigorously tested and authorized by the Food and Drug Administration with a 94.1% efficacy rate against the virus couldn’t be trusted.
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
With all of the discussion about which statues should come down and go up around the commonwealth, Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, wants a statue of Booker T. Washington to go up in the Virginia State Capitol. Suetterlein is asking the General Assembly to set up a commemorative commission to work toward putting a statue of Washington, one of the most influential Black leaders of his time, in the Old Senate Chamber in the Capitol.
By EVAN WATSON, WVEC
The Virginia Employment Commission has finished its programming of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance extension program, and qualified workers can once again apply for benefits. Unemployed independent contractors and self-employed workers can now apply for additional benefits through the Gov2Go site. A VEC spokesperson said payments will start on Feb. 2. At the same time, 15,000 Virginians are still waiting for reviews or adjudications of their outstanding unemployment claims.
By STAFF REPORT, WHSV-TV
On Friday, Governor Ralph Northam announced that Smiley’s Ice Cream will build a new ice cream manufacturing facility and retail store in Rockingham County. In a press release, Northam says the project will invest more than $1.15 million and create eight new jobs. Northam also says as part of the expansion, the company will source an additional 18,000 gallons of Virginia-produced dairy and an additional 2,500 pounds of Virginia-grown fruits over the next three years.
By JEFF STURGEON AND CASEY FABRIS, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Roanoke restaurant operators Moises and Lisa Nucamendi have gotten a second cash infusion from the Paycheck Protection Program for their beleaguered business accounts as they continue to plate and box up Mexican classics amid the pandemic’s deadliest phase so far. Taxpayer-funded relief helped sustain Alejandro’s Mexican Grill’s three Roanoke Valley locations and staff of about 45 people in 2020, they said.
By MARYANN XUE AND EVA SUROVELL, Cavalier Daily
Provost Liz Magill and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis outlined the logistics of mandatory weekly testing this semester, clarified the consequences for students who fail to report for testing and announced the installation of heated outdoor tents and fire pits for small group gatherings in a Return to Grounds email sent Thursday afternoon. The email also stressed the need for all students to comply with University and statewide public health guidelines throughout the spring semester. . . . All students who have indicated that they plan to return to the Charlottesville area are required to report for weekly testing through the end of the spring semester.
By JADE BURKS, WVVA
Southwest Virginia Community College (SWCC) will soon be the first community college in Virginia to offer student housing. The $2.5 Million project was announced Thursday. Those funds will build 15 four-bedroom units that will be conveniently located across the street from the SWCC campus.
By ZACH ROSENTHAL, MARYANN XUE AND AVA MACBLANE, Cavalier Daily
The University announced in an update Friday that first-year applicants for undergraduate admission will not be required to submit standardized test scores in the Fall 2022 and 2023 application cycles. Applicants will be able to choose whether or not to include SAT or ACT scores for consideration in the application process, a step that the University hopes will make “the admissions process more accessible and equitable” in a time of uncertainty due to the pandemic.
By RICHARD CHUMNEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
For decades, Liberty University students have been a familiar presence at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. — an annual event that regularly draws tens of thousands of abortion opponents to the nation’s capital. But after the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns forced organizers to cancel this year’s rally, Liberty decided to bring a scaled-back version of the event to its own campus.
By NORM WOOD, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
In its second public announcement in the last nine months regarding measures designed to help mitigate budget shortfalls created by the coronavirus pandemic, Virginia revealed Friday it’s implementing athletic department layoffs and won’t fill many open positions. U.Va. didn’t reveal how many employees would be affected by the “reduction in staffing levels and (by) not filling several open positions.” It’s the latest step taken by an athletic department that on May 1 announced 72 head coaches, assistant coaches and staff members would take voluntary salary reductions of 5 to 10% from mid-April through the end of 2020.
By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
More than 143,000 cases have been reported since the start of January. About 5,700 of the people who tested positive began having symptoms four days after New Year’s Eve. With the state averaging 4,880 new cases per day over a seven-day period, Virginia is estimated to surpass 500,000 on Saturday. The total number of cases on Friday was 497,912.
By STAFF REPORT, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Virginia reported 4,238 new COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing the state’s cumulative total during the pandemic to 497,912, the Virginia Department of Health reported. As of Friday morning, there had been 6,379 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia, an increase of 71 from Thursday.
By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
State and health officials are ramping up the urgency in addressing the striking racial disparities of who’s receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and the almost 350,000 vaccinations that do not have race and ethnicity recorded. The moves come in the wake of a Richmond Times-Dispatch report last Saturday noting how the massive gaps in race and ethnicity data for people receiving vaccines undercut Virginia’s pledge to equitably distribute a vaccine in limited supply. As of Friday, 72% of those vaccinated were white. Less than 17% were Black or Latino, two groups that are more than a third of the state’s COVID deaths.
By JOSETTE KEELOR, Northern Virginia Daily
The Lord Fairfax Health District is one of six districts around Virginia seeing a surge in new coronavirus cases, according to the University of Virginia’s COVID-19 Model. Friday brought 142 cases to the Lord Fairfax district, closing out a seven-day total of 1,487 new cases. The district, which covers Winchester and the counties of Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah and Warren, has a seven-day average of 212 new daily cases.
By JAMEY CROSS, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Fifty-five new positive cases of COVID-19 were reported in Lynchburg-area school divisions this week. Together, Lynchburg City Schools and public schools in the counties of Campbell, Bedford, Amherst and Nelson have reported 727 positive cases of COVID-19 since their school years began.
By CHARLES WILBORN, Danville Register & Bee
Details emerged Friday surrounding four COVID-19 outbreaks in Danville and Pittsylvania County — three in schools and one at a long-term care facility — the same day two additional virus deaths were added to the toll. The location and caseloads for the outbreaks were revealed when a once-a-week update was posted to the health department’s outbreak database. The Pittsylvania-Danville Health Department did not answer questions on the outbreaks in previous email attempts during the past week.
By PARKER COTTON, Danville Register & Bee
The Danville Community Market hosted a large-scale vaccination event Friday morning, where roughly 860 people received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The event follows a similar undertaking last weekend, when 1,000 people received vaccines at Averett University’s North Campus.
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
During Thursday’s virtual town hall, Dr. Mike McDermott, CEO of Mary Washington Healthcare, repeatedly gave the same answer to questions about how to get an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine. “Your best course of action is to register with the Rappahannock Area Health District,” he told the virtual audience several times. Later during the hour-long session, McDermott also said that MWHC’s appointment website is no longer active and will remain that way—at least until things change, once more, in the rapidly evolving vaccination rollout.
Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Residents of Virginia’s Mount Rogers, LENOWISCO and Cumberland Plateau health districts can now fill out an online survey to join a waiting list for COVID-19 vaccine appointments, the districts said in news releases. The Mount Rogers Health District, which serves the cities of Bristol and Galax along with Washington, Wythe, Bland, Carroll, Grayson and Smyth counties, posted its survey at www.redcap.link/MRGwaitlist.
By JILL PALERMO, Prince William Times
Two more COVID-19 vaccination clinics will open in Prince William County next week thanks to a recent addition in the number doses expected by the local health district. Potomac Middle School, 3130 Panther Pride Drive in Dumfries, will open as a vaccination site from Monday, Feb. 1, through Saturday, Feb. 6. Also, Prince William County school division’s Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center, 14715 Bristow Road in Manassas, will open as an additional site on Tuesday, Feb. 2 through Friday, Feb. 5, according to Kathy Stewart, spokeswoman for the Prince William Health District.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Independent seniors at Westminster Canterbury Richmond will receive their first COVID-19 vaccinations next week after CVS reversed a decision to cancel previously scheduled clinics to immunize the residents who live independently at the Henrico County retirement community.
By DANIELLA CHESLOW, DCist
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay, a Democrat, celebrated a new policy Friday that will cut off all voluntary cooperation and information sharing between local government, including police, and federal immigration authorities. “This new policy overarches all other county departments and says all county agencies will not communicate with ICE when people in our community are coming to us for services,” McKay said in a press conference simultaneously translated into Spanish. “We’re the first jurisdiction in Virginia to adopt a Trust Policy. I hope that we’re not the last.”
By JUSTIN JOUVENAL, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. calculates that he and other family members have put in a century of service as police officers and firefighters. But on Monday, he will retire, stepping away from a deeply ingrained tradition to pursue a new life. The department he has led for eight years stands at a crossroads, too. Like many across the country, it must find a path forward balancing continued calls for reform amid a national reckoning on policing, while rebuilding morale among many rank-and-file officers skeptical of change and often frustrated with leadership in recent years.
By CHRIS SUAREZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
A notice from the Richmond Electoral Board prompted the city's top election official to send a plea to hundreds of people Thursday night, alerting them that she is in danger of losing her job. Jim Nachman, the board's chairman, said in an interview Friday that he expects it will vote to remove General Registrar J. Kirk Showalter from office Monday. "It's regrettable, but I think it's something that needs to be done," he said.
By MARGARET MATRAY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Twice as many people were killed in Portsmouth last year as in 2019 — nearly all with guns, interim Police Chief Scott Burke said Friday. The city saw 34 homicides in 2020 compared to 16 in 2019. Several of the victims were young children, including a 13-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl killed in separate shootings in December.
By JANE HARPER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia Beach has long been known as one of the safest cities for its size, but whenever there’s a spate of violence, worried citizens often take to social media to question whether crime is on the rise. Were there more shootings at the Oceanfront this past summer, compared to previous years? More break-ins? Robberies? Car thefts? Hopefully, all of that will be easier to determine through a new crime data system the city’s police chief unveiled this week.
By JAMES SCOTT BARON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Stafford County officials, who hoped to open government buildings to the public Feb. 5, have decided to keep the buildings closed until Feb. 26. The extended closure is due to an increase in COVID-19 cases throughout the region, wrote county officials in a press release, as well as Gov. Ralph Northam’s recent extensions of stay-at-home orders.
By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Starting on Sunday, an empty store front in the Seminole Square shopping center will transform into the area’s second COVID-19 vaccination clinic. The Blue Ridge Health District is partnering with the University of Virginia Medical Center on the new site. The district will continue to operate the tent in the former KMart parking lot. Both sites are staffed by UVa and health district staff.
By BRIAN BREHM, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
City Council held a first reading this week of a controversial proposed ordinance that would prohibit citizens from carrying firearms into any city government building, property or event. At Tuesday’s meeting, two people, neither of whom live in Winchester, let council know they are adamantly opposed to the measure that would ban private citizens — even those who have concealed-carry permits — from having guns or ammunition in any location where government-sanctioned activities are taking place.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
This year marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most shameful political events in Virginia history, one that has repercussions to this day. In 1921, Virginia Republicans purged Black voters from their ranks. Virginia Republicans weren’t alone. Republicans across the South were doing the same thing, in a failed bid to make themselves more acceptable to white voters.
By MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
A marker at the Capitol Square statue of Harry Flood Byrd Sr. touts “his devotion throughout a long public career to governmental restraint and programs in the best interest of all the people of Virginia.” That’s a lie, of course. Byrd — a former state and U.S. senator and governor of Virginia — was dedicated first and foremost to keeping Black Virginians in their place as an ardent segregationist and architect of Massive Resistance during a political career that spanned from 1916 to 1965.
By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Amanda Chase is a Republican without a party, a senator without a committee and a politician without many friends. The pistol-packing, Trump-channeling, second-term senator from Chesterfield County who’s running for governor, Chase isn’t deserving of sympathy. However, she might be entitled to just a bit, if viewed through the lens of a grievous Virginia tradition that puts women and people of color on the wrong side of the see-saw of politics.
By DIANA CHRISTOPULOS, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Supporters of Mountain Valley Pipeline make two important errors when they argue that people support their project. (“Poll shows support for pipeline in Southwest Virginia,” Roanoke Times, January 25, 2021). First, they ask a factually doubtful question, claiming that the natural gas in their pipeline is destined for Virginians and others in the southeastern United States.
Christopulos is the retired owner of an international management consulting business who lives in Salem.
By JC HERNANDEZ, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
For more than a decade, Virginia consistently has been ranked near the top of national rankings for economic opportunity, largely based on our laws on right-to-work protections, workforce development and contractor flexibility. This past year, by creating stiff penalties for anyone reclassified as an employee after first being classified as an independent contractor, it has become essential that we make it clear what an independent contractor is to protect opportunities and frivolous misclassification suits.
JC Hernandez is state director of Americans for Prosperity-Virginia
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