VaNews
February 15, 2021

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** The Virginia Lottery
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Circumstances change, but their mission doesn’t, giving back 595 million dollars to Virginia’s K through 12 public schools last year. Learn more at valottery.com/givingback ([link removed])
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Top of the News


** Some Virginia hospitals are nearing 100% ICU capacity, even as COVID hospitalizations decline ([link removed])
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By SABRINA MORENO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Cases are declining. Overall hospitalizations have stabilized. Yet 20 intensive care units in Virginia recently had no available beds. Thirteen hit at least 90% capacity. Four of the 13 maxed out, according to federal data collected from Jan. 29 through Feb. 4. One reached 107%, down from a haunting extreme that spiked Sentara Obici to 148% barely a month ago.
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** Primary care doctors across Virginia frustrated with lack of vaccines ([link removed])
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By ELISHA SAUERS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Dr. Mitchell Miller went to his electronic records and searched for patients he had seen in the past year who were 65 and older. There were about 500 names, and all he wanted was the Virginia Beach health department to give him a small batch of coronavirus vaccines so he could reduce their risk of dying. About 200 doses a week for two to three weeks ought to do it, he thought. He’d enlist some nurse friends to help and administer shots to people in their cars.
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** Virginia Democrats to unveil plan to reopen schools as political pressure mounts ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Democrats in the House of Delegates are set to unveil legislation on Monday to get students across Virginia back into public school classrooms by summer, signaling a way forward for a topic that has become increasingly politically urgent as the coronavirus pandemic drags on. The proposal calls for school systems to devise plans for both in-person and virtual instruction during the 2021-2022 academic year that follow federal health guidelines.
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** A criminal record can be a lifelong sentence. Lawmakers want to provide a clean slate. ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Isaac B. was convicted of crimes in Charlottesville in 1998, and even though he got out of prison over a decade ago, he doesn’t feel like a free man. He tried to make the best of his time while locked up, like getting a college degree. He wanted to prepare himself the best he could before reentering society. He began applying for jobs. But employers rejected him because of his criminal background, which included some convictions for “barrier crimes,” which automatically disqualify him from having certain jobs.
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** Virginia lawmakers move to cut state funding for adoption agencies that refuse LGBTQ couples ([link removed])
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By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury

Virginia lawmakers are on the verge of rolling back a state law that allows faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies to refuse service to LGBTQ families. The legislation has spurred heated debate, with representatives of Catholic charitable organizations arguing that being forced to serve gay couples would violate their faith and civil rights advocates decrying the existing rules as state-sanctioned discrimination. “To say that we can’t place children because they’re in gay families, and therefore they have to age out of the foster care system and not have a loving home, is cruel to these children,” said Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, who proposed the repeal.
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** People moving out of Norfolk public housing are mostly ending up in other poor, racially segregated areas ([link removed])
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By RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Norfolk’s billion-dollar plan to redevelop a swath of the city that includes three 1950s public housing communities is now underway. And not just on paper — the first building has come down, and the first of 4,200 residents have moved out. The city has spent millions to develop ways to help those residents move, and it’s said all along they would have a choice in where they go. In seeking federal grants, the city has written that the plan to redevelop the area, known as St. Paul’s, aims to “help repair generations of economic and racial segregation in Norfolk.”
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** Report: Virginia's land use policies promoted racial segregation, contributed to wealth gap ([link removed])
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By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Zoning and master plans adopted throughout Virginia in the 20th century promoted racial segregation in housing, and played a direct role in growing the wealth gap between Black and white residents, according to a new report. Although explicitly racist zoning laws are now a relic, their effects linger, and present-day land use policies perpetuate segregation by race and income, according to the report put together by the McGuireWoods Zoning and Segregation Work Group and released earlier this month.
The Full Report
31 articles, 16 publications
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** FROM VPAP
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** From VPAP Maps, Timeline of COVID-19 in Virginia ([link removed])
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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.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** House leaders, Northam administration propose new school reopening bill ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

A push to reopen Virginia schools for in-person learning — using the force of state law — will face the will of House lawmakers this week. House Democratic leaders and Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration are championing a new version of a Senate bill that would still compel in-person learning but offer school districts some flexibility in the face of an ever-evolving global crisis.
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** Advocates promote social equity in Virginia marijuana bills ([link removed])
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By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press

Mike Thomas earned a college degree in accounting, but has never worked in his field. Three convictions for marijuana possession put an end to that. Thomas said he’s tried repeatedly, but prospective job offers go nowhere when background checks reveal his misdemeanor convictions. Thomas, who is Black, is an example of one of the main arguments made in the push to legalize recreational marijuana in Virginia.
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** Could trailers be the new face of affordable housing? ([link removed])
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By WYATT GORDON, Virginia Mercury

Tacky trailers or the new face of affordable housing? That’s the debate policy-makers and advocates are having across Virginia as they work to figure out what role manufactured units should play in addressing the commonwealth’s affordable housing crisis. So far the biggest challenge has been that no one knows exactly how many mobile homes exist in the state, where they are and what condition they are in. However, that uncertainty could come to an end if an obscure budget amendment survives the 2021 session of the General Assembly.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** Resort casino proposed for Dumfries landfill ([link removed])
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By URIAH KISER, Potomac Local (Subscription Required)

Rosie’s is thinking bigger. Much bigger. Rosies Gaming Emporium, a 19,000-square-foot gaming center opened on January 8 with 95 video slots in the Triangle Shopping Center in Dumfries, proposes building a massive $389 million casino resort on the grounds of Potomac Landfill, a debris junkyard on the edge of town.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** UVa considers tuition, fee increases for next year ([link removed])
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By BRYAN MCKENZIE, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

University of Virginia officials are considering raising undergraduate tuition and fees as much as 3.1% for the next school year, but the exact amount will depend on how much money the state gives to the school and if costs increase. The UVa Board of Visitors will hold a virtual public comment session Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. and will provide more information about the tuition request and process.
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** A college’s basketball team protested the Capitol riot. Its president then forced it to forfeit. ([link removed])
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By GLYNN A. HILL, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The basketball team at a small southwest Virginia college wanted to make a statement against racial injustice in the United States. But when players at the NAIA’s Bluefield College opted to kneel during pregame renditions of the national anthem, and the display attracted attention from local and social media, the school president punished the team amid a postseason push. As his actions draw attention, the players plan to continue to push their message — albeit more subtly.


** CORONAVIRUS
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** Virginia reports 2,575 new cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The state reported 2,575 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the cumulative total during the pandemic to 549,999, the Virginia Department of Health reported. Statewide, the total number of people hospitalized Sunday was 22,906, an increase of 60 from Saturday, though the VDH website notes that hospitalizations are underrepresented. As of Sunday morning, there had been 7,012 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia, an increase of 46 from Saturday.
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** Virginia gets coronavirus break, but new variants cast uncertainty for spring surge ([link removed])
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By ELISHA SAUERS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Coronavirus cases throughout the state are dropping at their fastest rate since the pandemic began, University of Virginia research shows. Vaccinations are up. Hospitalizations are down. About one of every 10 standard nasal swab tests came back positive over the past week, down from 11% one week prior. That rate has been steadily declining since the beginning of the year.
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** State officials hope centralized system will improve vaccine-related frustration ([link removed])
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By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Virginia health officials say hope is on the horizon, not necessarily because more COVID-19 vaccines are coming, but because the state has developed an easier, more consistent way for people to register for them. On Friday, the Virginia Department of Health announced that a centralized registration system will open Tuesday morning and provide a “unified and comprehensive process” for residents to sign up for the vaccine.
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** Fairfax Co. top politician ‘frustrated’ by CVS’s independent vaccine process ([link removed])
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By MIKE MURILLO, WTOP

The head of the Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County, Virginia, believes the rollout of CVS’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts has confused residents about the process as a whole. “This announcement, with no coordination with Fairfax County and no coordination with our health department, has been very frustrating for us this week,” Jeffrey McKay told WTOP. CVS announced last week that 38 stores in Virginia would begin vaccinating 200 people a day, and that includes a pharmacy in off Little River Turnpike in Annandale. McKay said the county, which is managing its own vaccination registration system, only learned of CVS’s vaccination efforts when the general public did.
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** EVMS students are helping administer coronavirus vaccines ([link removed])
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By ROBYN SIDERSKY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Jovanna Tracz knows how to run a tight ship. She planned massive events when she worked in finance in Boston. Little did she know that the experience would come in handy when she started her first year at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Tracz is coordinating the effort to get EVMS students trained and able to help administer vaccinations around the region. “It’s a great way to be involved and volunteer my time and the skills I have honed from a different career,” she said.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** Some good news: masks, distancing, hand-washing, vaccines worked against the flu ([link removed])
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By LUANNE RIFE, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Usually by mid-February, Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital is overrun with flu patients. This year, “we’ve barely seen any at all,” said Dr. Anthony Baffoe-Bonnie, medical director of infection and control. “You can barely count it on one finger, one finger.” Flu season generally runs from fall to spring. From October 2019 to mid-January 2020, Roanoke Memorial treated about 2,170 patients with the flu, about 550 or so a week during the peak, and at least three died.
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** RNC official deletes comment comparing Trump trial to Nazi show trials ([link removed])
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By BEN SALES, Jerusalem Post

A member of the Republican National Committee from Virginia has deleted a Facebook comment apparently suggesting that Nazi show trials were fairer than the recent Senate trial of former President Donald Trump. A top Republican Jewish leader called the comment “outrageous and indefensible” before Patricia Bast Lyman, the Republican committeewoman, apologized and said she had been misinterpreted. Lyman was commenting on a Facebook post from another Virginia Republican official, Steve Knotts, which appears to also have been deleted. In her comment, Lyman wrote, “At least some of those tried by the Nazis may have been actual criminals, unlike the current debacle.”


** LOCAL
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** Education Department investigates Fairfax schools for services to disabled students during pandemic ([link removed])
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By JOE HEIM, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The U.S. Education Department launched an investigation last month into reports that the Fairfax County school system failed to provide appropriate educational opportunities to students with disabilities during the pandemic. In a Jan. 12 letter to Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand, the department’s civil rights division said it was authorizing an investigation “due to disturbing reports involving the district’s provision of educational services to children with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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** Ice storm knocks Hopewell water processing plant offline ([link removed])
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By BILL ATKINSON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)

Saturday's ice storm knocked out electrical power to the city's water processing plant, so as a result, the city is under a mandatory water conservation order. In a late-night statement Sunday, Hopewell officials said the power loss caused a "catastrophic failure" at the Virginia American Water Company, Because the plant has been knocked offline, the city has turned to its backup supply, which is only good for 3-4 hours.
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** Census delay could complicate some Fredericksburg-area elections ([link removed])
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By JAMES SCOTT BARON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Several regional county supervisors and school board members facing reelection in November may have to campaign twice for the same office as a result of a delay in receiving federal census data and the redistricting of voting precincts that follows. Every 10 years, states redraw their legislative and congressional districts to ensure their districts are equally populated. Following the 2010 national census, the U.S. Census Bureau delivered local population data to Virginia on Feb. 3, 2011. This year, the release of data from the 2020 census could drag on for several months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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** Pandemic has varying effects on local referrals to Child Protective Services ([link removed])
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By ADELE UPHAUS–CONNER, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected referrals to Child Protective Services differently across area jurisdictions, with some reporting more calls in 2020 as compared with the previous year and others reporting fewer calls or no significant change. The number of valid referrals—meaning calls to social services departments that resulted in investigations—was down in 2020 as compared with 2019 in Fredericksburg and Caroline and Stafford counties, but almost doubled in Spotsylvania County.
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** Mayor says her credit card use is under investigation ([link removed])
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By ALLISON WRABEL, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said on Facebook Live last weekend that she is under investigation by the city after she used her city-issued credit card to pay for gift cards to compensate people who spoke at City Council meetings. In the Facebook Live video and in subsequent posts, Walker said the city has for two months been investigating whether she misused funds by purchasing the gift cards and by making a donation to a City Council meeting presenter’s nonprofit.
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** Judge: JAUNT freedom of information lawsuit can continue ([link removed])
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By TYLER HAMMEL, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

A freedom of information lawsuit filed against JAUNT will continue after a judge ruled that the local paratransit service is primarily supported by public funds. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of local radio show host Rob Schilling, who posted an article to his website in December claiming an anonymous internal source told him that the public transportation group was under investigation for “spending irregularities.” The article, which did not specify who is allegedly investigating JAUNT, claims the investigation was spurred by an agency audit.
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** Discipline incidents down in some Lynchburg-area school divisions ([link removed])
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By JAMEY CROSS, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Lynchburg-area school divisions are seeing at least one positive effect of the COVID-19 pandemic: fewer discipline cases. With fewer students in buildings, fewer students to a classroom and more distance between students, some school divisions are seeing a massive drop in incident reports this year compared to others.
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** City Manager: Local internet upgrades a long-term proposition ([link removed])
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By BRIAN BREHM, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

If the past 11 months have taught us anything, it's the fact that everyone needs a good internet connection. With thousands of area residents working and learning from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reliable online access has become more important than ever. But not everyone has the ability to utilize high-speed internet, either due to its cost or availability. City Manager Dan Hoffman said he plans to address this problem in Winchester, but people need to be patient because money is tight.
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** Pittsylvania students failing at high rates ([link removed])
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By PARKER COTTON, Danville Register & Bee

Students in all grades, kindergarteners through seniors, have been asked for nearly a year to learn under a most extraordinary set of circumstances required by the COVID-19 pandemic. And many of them are failing, some at alarming rates. The question is, exactly how many and why. The students in Danville Public Schools and Pittsylvania County Schools have received a mix of virtual and in-person instruction, on both fixed and hybrid schedules, but not even face-to-face instruction resembles what the traditional school session once did.

Today's Sponsor:


** The Virginia Lottery
------------------------------------------------------------

Circumstances change, but their mission doesn’t, giving back 595 million dollars to Virginia’s K through 12 public schools last year. Learn more at valottery.com/givingback ([link removed])


** EDITORIALS
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** Why Hudson's tweet rankles ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Del. Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, recently tweeted: retired: coal tax credits admired: Tesla rebates inspired: e-bike discounts This isn’t the most tone-deaf tweet ever but it might be the most tone-deaf one issued by a legislator during the current Virginia General Assembly session.
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** As pandemic fatigue takes hold, focus on hope ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Nearly a year since the coronavirus ground life as we knew it to a halt, many people are struggling to hang on. Not just financially, although that’s true for thousands of families in Hampton Roads, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Pandemic fatigue is real and as infectious as the disease itself. People are tired of the restrictions, tired of going without seeing family and friends, tired of online meetings and online schooling and online restaurant ordering and grocery shopping.


** OP-ED
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** Boyan: How the light gets in: Hope after a fractured year ([link removed])
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By BARBARA D. BOYAN, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

I write this on behalf of the deans of the following engineering schools in Virginia: Christopher Newport University, George Mason University, Hampton University, James Madison University, Liberty University, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University, Sweet Briar College, the University of Virginia, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia State University and Virginia Tech. Most of us never will forget 2020. Many wish its difficulties had not happened. But we don’t get to choose the challenges we face.

Boyan is the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin, Jr. Dean of the College of Engineering at VCU.
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** Vassey: Advanced recycling bill will attract jobs, help create a more sustainable future ([link removed])
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By BRETT A. VASSEY, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Our commonwealth is facing many important challenges these days, from fighting the COVID-19 pandemic to finding new ways to create a better world for future generations of Virginians. One of our most pressing environmental challenges is plastic waste in the environment. Plastics have many important benefits that make life easier, keep us safe and healthy, protect our food from spoilage, make cars lighter and more fuel efficient, and build more energy-efficient homes — but plastic waste never belongs in the environment.

Vassey is president and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association.
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** Stokes: Public defenders are front-line workers ([link removed])
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By SCOTT STOKES, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

In September, Richmond City Council, with Mayor Levar Stoney as a co-patron, approved a resolution to pay public defenders equally with Richmond’s prosecutors. For years, Richmond has supplemented the state salaries of its prosecutors, but not its public defenders. This is evidence of Stoney and City Council’s commitment to work for a more just Richmond.

Stokes is an electrician who currently resides in Chesterfield County, where he lives with his mini-Australian shepherd Jupiter.
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** Snyder: Five days a week, every week with teachers in the classroom ([link removed])
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By PETE SNYDER, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

We are nearly a year into this pandemic and school doors across the vast majority of Virginia’s schools remain locked. The time to open is not tomorrow, five weeks from now, or November. The time to open our schools is now. Ralph Northam’s recent inadequate suggestion to open schools was nothing more than a half-hearted attempt to placate the hundreds of thousands of angry parents across Virginia while kowtowing to the liberal special interests. Northam continues to show no leadership.

Snyder is a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor.
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** Morse: VMI investigation plumbing new depths of ineptitude ([link removed])
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By GORDON C. MORSE, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

So, we have an Indiana law firm — some Hoosier legal eagles — being paid a million bucks of Virginia revenue to “investigate” the ancient, most tradition-laden school of higher learning affiliated with the commonwealth, Virginia Military Institute. And there’s a report already, issued last week and it startled the VMI crowd. The Hoosiers (Barnes & Thornburg, LLC) complained of the conditions under which inquires would be made, namely who would be in the room when questions got asked, what documents would be accessible, etc.

After writing editorials for the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot in the 1980s, Gordon C. Morse wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles.
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** Sinclair and Hosick: Communities In Schools making a difference for Hampton Roads students ([link removed])
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By HOPE SINCLAIR AND WENDY HOSICK, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

A midnight phone call from a student forced to streets after a disturbance in her emotionally abusive home; a high school senior forced to choose between helping feed his family or keeping up with school, putting graduation at risk; empty cupboards, stomachs and bank accounts. Each scenario is real. In each scenario, Communities In Schools of Hampton Roads was a lifeline.

Hosick is chair of the board of directors for Communities in Schools of Hampton Roads. Sinclair is executive director of Communities In Schools of Hampton Roads


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