VaNews July 16, 2019
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** FROM VPAP
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** NOW LIVE: MID-YEAR CAMPAIGN FINANCE DISCLOSURES ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

VPAP has posted reports that provide the public with a look at the finances through June 30 for all candidates and political committees that e-file with the Virginia Department of Elections. See how much each committee raised during the most recent filing period and browse each committee's itemized contributions and expenditures. Every candidate for state and local office and every political committee were required to file mid-year disclosure reports by midnight Monday.


** ANALYSIS OF MONEY IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

VPAP makes it easy to follow the money in the November legislative elections. You can sort candidates by who raised the most money in June. You can see which party had an overall cash advantage at the start of July. Finally, you can view a side-by-side comparison of candidates running in each of the 40 State Senate and 100 House of Delegates districts.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** AT RECONVENED COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, TENSIONS LINGER ([link removed])
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By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury

While most of the inaugural meeting of Gov. Ralph Northam’s newly reconstituted Council on Environmental Justice flowed smoothly, one moment during the day revealed that tensions still linger from the last iteration of the body. After more than half a dozen residents of Cumberland and Powhatan counties turned out to plead for help in their fight against a mega-landfill proposed by private waste management company County Waste, the council sought for an action it could take.


** VIRGINIA LAUNCHES NEW FORESTRY PROGRAM TO HELP JAMES RIVER ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Virginia is trying to protect its longest river by launching a new program to plant 900 acres of trees, shrubs and other vegetation along waterways. Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday an initiative to plant forested buffers in the James River watershed between Lynchburg and Richmond.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEM LOOKS AT LOWERING INVESTMENT EXPECTATIONS, ESTIMATES LAST YEAR'S RETURN AT 6.5% ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Virginia Retirement System estimates it earned a 6.5% return on its investments in the last fiscal year, below its current annual target but closer to future expectations for the income it needs to pay pension benefits to hundreds of thousands of teachers and state employees.


** A POLICE OFFICER FORCED A BLACK TEEN TO STAND FOR THE PLEDGE AT THE VIRGINIA CAPITOL. THEN SHE APOLOGIZED ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Like many Americans of color, 16-year-old Jaesean Plummer feels his country hasn’t always lived up to its promise of “liberty and justice for all.” So when other visitors in the Virginia Senate gallery stood for the Pledge of Allegiance last week, he chose to sit. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. A Capitol Police officer told him to get up.


** VIRGINIA TO IMPLEMENT STREETLIGHT CHANGES, INTRODUCE ‘WARM’ LEDS ([link removed])
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By MAX SMITH, WTOP

Virginia is planning major changes to streetlights with a switch of thousands across the state to brighter LEDs. Though the change — due to be approved by the Commonwealth Transportation Board Wednesday — is projected to save on energy use, it has also raised concerns about additional light pollution that could keep people up at night or impact wildlife.


** CONGRESS
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** CONSERVATIVE GOP CONGRESSMAN PRESIDES AT SAME-SEX WEDDING IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Anthony LeCounte and Alex Pisciarino promised their guests a “fabulous gay summer wedding.” The setting was a vineyard in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The dress code, a seersucker-linen-chiffon homage to the Kentucky Derby. And the officiant was a Republican congressman from a conservative district in the rural South.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** FCC: $47.5 MILLION TO FUND AN EXPANSION OF BROADBAND IN RURAL VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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WVEC

The FCC on Monday authorized over $47.5 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 18,805 unserved rural Virginia homes and businesses. This expansion is part of the third wave of support from the successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction.


** NYC SUES VIRGINIA COMPANY FOR FLOODING BIG APPLE WITH UNTAXED CIGARETTES ([link removed])
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By EMILY SAUL, New York Post

A Virginia cigarette company schemed with black-market sellers in New York City to funnel tens of thousands of cartons of untaxed smokes into the city every month, officials charged Monday. The city has slapped Cigarettes Unlimited with a racketeering lawsuit, claiming at least three of its Fredericksburg storefronts sold some 15,000 cartons a month to Big Apple bootleggers.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART AT VCU IS LAYING OFF SIX EMPLOYEES — 20% OF ITS STAFF ([link removed])
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By COLLEEN CURRAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

More than 20% of the full-time staff members at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU are losing their jobs. Six full-time employees out of 27 are having their positions eliminated as a result of a reorganization, said Dominic Willsdon, executive director of the ICA.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** NATURE CONSERVANCY BUYS 153,000 ACRES ACROSS SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By JOE TENNIS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

More than 153,000 acres of land across Southwest Virginia are now part of The Nature Conservancy’s Cumberland Forest Project, the group announced Monday. “This new project is just tremendously exciting,” said Brad Kreps, 44, the Clinch Valley program director for The Nature Conservancy in Abingdon, Virginia. “It’s a large property. And, for us, it’s a big scale-up for our conservation work in Southwest Virginia.”


** NATURE CONSERVANCY BUYS MORE THAN 150,000 ACRES IN WESTERN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By BRYAN MCKENZIE, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Charlottesville-based Nature Conservancy has closed its purchase of 153,000 acres of Appalachian Mountain property in Virginia with the intent to protect major rivers, wildlife and forests while continuing to provide residents in that area with occupations and recreation. The Virginia land — part of the organization's 253,000-acre Cumberland Forest Project that encompasses acreage in Tennessee and Kentucky, as well — is north of the Clinch River and northeast of the Jefferson National Forest near Wise.


** 2 PIPELINE PROTESTERS ARRESTED IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY ([link removed])
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By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A Giles County man was charged with assaulting a Mountain Valley Pipeline worker during a protest at a construction site Monday. Virginia State Police were called to an area in eastern Montgomery County near where the natural gas pipeline crosses Flatwoods Road and found about 15 protesters blocking access to a worksite, Sgt. Rick Garletts said.


** ATLANTIC COAST PIPELINE SEEKS TO LEASE AMHERST SITE FOR STORAGE, TRANSPORTING WORKERS ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN FAULCONER, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Amherst Town Council is set to hold a public hearing next month on a proposal by Dominion Energy, the Richmond company backing the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline, to lease an area in a town industrial park for storing equipment and transporting workers to pipeline construction sites in other localities.


** FIELDS SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON ON STATE CHARGES ([link removed])
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By TYLER HAMMEL, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The man who murdered Heather Heyer and injured more than 30 others during a violent white nationalist rally was formally sentenced Monday to life in prison plus 419 years. James Alex Fields Jr., 22, was convicted in Charlottesville Circuit Court in December of 10 charges, including the first-degree murder of Heyer


** LOCAL
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** OVER 1,000 RESIDENTS SUBMIT FLOOD DAMAGE REPORTS, CREWS HAUL 60 TONS OF DEBRIS ([link removed])
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ArlNow

Over a thousand residents have reported damage to their homes and several tons of debris was collected after last week’s torrential rainstorm that caused widespread flooding in Arlington. The deadline for residents to report initial damages to their homes was Friday, July 12. Today (Monday) officials told ARLnow that a total of 1,029 people filed post-storm damage claims.


** STATON JUMPS INTO BOARD RACE AS REPLACEMENT IN ASHBURN ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Loudoun Now

The Loudoun County Republican Committee announced Monday that Mick Staton would file to replace Rich McMunn as the party’s nominee for Ashburn District Board of Supervisors seat. McMunn stepped out of the race, saying he plans to take a job out of state. Staton, the son-in-law of retiring state Senator Richard H. Black, represented the former Sugarland Run District on the county board for one term, 2004-2008.


** BOAT OWNERS ROCKED BY HIGHER TAX BILLS ([link removed])
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By JIM MCCONNELL, Chesterfield Observer

Wayne Jones was surprised when he opened his 2019 personal property tax bill from Chesterfield County and noticed the annual assessment for his 2011 Sea Hunt boat had jumped by more than $8,000. The 18-foot watercraft, which Jones purchased new with a trailer for $20,000, was assessed at $2,280 in 2018. Jones’ tax bill was $82.08.


** VIRGINIA BEACH LOOKING AT HOW TO STOP CELLPHONE DISTRACTIONS IN CLASS ([link removed])
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By MIKE CONNORS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Schools Superintendent Aaron Spence recently sat in on a discussion involving some of his student leaders when the topic of cellphones arose. The presenter asked the youngsters if they'd been on their phones while he had been talking. Everyone said yes. Next, he asked if they'd been on their phones during class that day. Again, everyone said yes. Last, he asked if they thought the phones diverted their focus. Again, the answer was yes.


** PROSTITUTION CHARGES DISMISSED, EX-MAYOR TO RUN FOR HIS VACATED SEAT ([link removed])
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By JOSH GULLY, Northern Virginia Daily

After a misdemeanor prostitution charge against former Mayor Hollis Tharpe (Front Royal) was dismissed Monday, he announced his candidacy in a special election to fill his vacated seat.


** JUDGE RECUSES HIMSELF FROM EDA-RELATED CASES ([link removed])
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By JOSH GULLY, Northern Virginia Daily

An expected plea by Jennifer McDonald, former Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority executive director, on 12 felony counts of embezzlement and obtaining money by false pretenses was delayed indefinitely Monday when Warren County Circuit Court Judge William W. Sharp recused himself from all EDA-related cases.


** PETITION FILED WITH COURT FOR ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD REFERENDUM ([link removed])
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By BRIAN BREHM, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A petition signed by 2,258 people who want a voter referendum on an elected city School Board was turned in late Monday afternoon to the Winchester Circuit Court Clerk’s Office.


** FREDERICK COUNTY AMENDS DISCRIMINATION POLICY TO PROTECT LGBT, PREGNANT EMPLOYEES ([link removed])
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By JOSH JANNEY, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Frederick County has expanded its anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy to protect LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) and pregnant employees from discrimination and to provide more detail on what constitutes harassment.


** EDITORIALS
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** VOTERS WILL HAVE SAY ON BRIEF SPECIAL SESSION ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

How will Virginia voters react to last Tuesday’s so-called special session of the General Assembly on gun violence? Will they reaffirm the Republicans’ contention that the session was “an election-year stunt” by Gov. Ralph Northam? A waste of everyone’s time? Or will they wonder why the men and women charged specifically with addressing one of the most troubling issues of our time can’t even discuss it in civilized fashion?


** ELECTIONS MEAN LITTLE IN AMHERST ([link removed])
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News & Advance Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, voters in the Town of Amherst elected five members to Town Council. On Wednesday, July 10, council decided that election didn’t mean a thing, when four councilors — suddenly and without explanation— expelled one of their own, in the process making a joke of the foundation of our democratic republic.


** OP-ED
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** FOX: ELECT CANDIDATES WHO WANT TO STOP GUN VIOLENCE ([link removed])
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By LEANNE FOX, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

We talk a lot about guns in our home, which means we also talk a lot about safety. Coming from a military family, I learned about the responsibilities of gun ownership long before I ever held a gun for the first time. And like most gun owners, I talk seriously and honestly with my own children about the guns in our home and how we use them.

Leanne Fox of Crozet is a gun owner, mother and volunteer with the Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
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