VaNews Oct. 4, 2019
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Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** AFTER BLACKFACE SCANDAL, VA. GOVERNOR HAS HUNG ON – AND IS MAKING AMENDS ([link removed])
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By NOAH ROBERTSON, Christian Science Monitor

Virginia state Del. Delores McQuinn was with Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam the night the racist photo surfaced last February. A member of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus, she was shocked that the man she had helped elect two years earlier once wore blackface. But while she expected him to resign, she advised against it. “It is not time to retreat,” Ms. McQuinn says she told him. “It is time to teach. This is a moment to turn this pain for all of us into something different.”


** OCCONEECHEE PLAYS HOST TO NORTHAM, GOVERNOR’S ANNUAL FISHING CHALLENGE ([link removed])
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South Boston News & Record

Gov. Ralph Northam kicked off his second annual fishing challenge at Occoneechee State Park on Saturday as part of his five-day tour of Virginia’s state parks. The event was open to state employees, their families and retired state employees.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** ONCE A PARIAH AMONG VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS, JOE MORRISSEY IS NOW THE BELLE OF THE BALL ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Sometimes revenge is best served swelteringly hot by the swimming pool with a plate of barbecue. So it was Wednesday night when Virginia Democrats officially embraced Joe Morrissey, the bad-boy former delegate and disbarred lawyer who defied the party to reenter politics.


** STAKES ARE HIGH AS POLITICAL NEWCOMER TRIES TO UNSEAT HOUSE SPEAKER ([link removed])
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By MALLORY NOE-PAYNE, WVTF

You’d be forgiven for not recognizing Virginia’s most powerful Republican. He was wearing plastic gloves and handing out Little Caesar’s pizza. “Cheese or pepperoni?” Kirk Cox asked a young boy during a pizza and movie night his campaign hosted at the ballpark in downtown Colonial Heights.


** HOUSE CANDIDATES SPIN THROUGH POLICY AT HENRICO DEBATE ([link removed])
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VCU Capital News Service

Candidates vying for seats in the 72nd and 73rd House Districts engaged in a fast-paced debate and fielded constituent questions Tuesday at the Libbie Mill Library in Henrico County. GayDonna Vandergriff is running against incumbent Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, hoping to reverse the county’s recent switch to blue. Henrico’s 72nd and 73rd Districts both shifted from Republican to Democrat in the 2017 election.


** MCGINN MAILER ACCUSES ROEM OF BACKING ABORTION BILL ([link removed])
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By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times

A campaign mailer issued by Republican candidate Kelly McGinn claims her opponent, incumbent Del. Danica Roem, supported a contentious abortion bill killed in the General Assembly earlier this year, a claim Roem denies.


** REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES IN TIGHT STATE RACES SAY THEY BACK MEDICAID EXPANSION ([link removed])
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By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times

Virginia lawmakers voted to expand Medicaid in 2018 after years of resistance from the GOP-controlled House and Senate. Now, several Republicans running in competitive House districts in Northern Virginia say they’ll vote to include Medicaid expansion in the 2020 budget if elected.


** GOP CANDIDATES ANNOUNCE BROADBAND INITIATIVE IN WESTERN LOUDOUN COUNTY ([link removed])
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By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times

Four candidates vying for local and state offices in November have announced plans to address needed rural broadband services with the Western Loudoun Telecommunication Initiative.


** FLUVANNA DEMOCRATS HOLD FUNDRAISER ([link removed])
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By RUTHANN CARR, Fluvanna Review

The Democratic Crab Fest fundraiser Saturday (Sept. 28) brought out office holders, those running for office and those contemplating it. About 250 people gathered at Fluvanna Board of Supervisor Mozell Booker’s (D-Fork Union) pastoral, lakefront property to eat crab, munch on corn and sup with the like-minded.


** REPUBLICANS HOLD FALL PICNIC TO RALLY FLUVANNA BASE ([link removed])
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By TRICIA JOHNSON, Fluvanna Review

About 80 Fluvanna Republicans gathered under stormy skies at Pleasant Grove on Saturday, Sept. 28, for their party’s annual fall picnic. Attendees heard speeches from Delegates Rob Bell and Lee Ware, state Senator Mark Peake, and Kim Hyland, who is campaigning for the office of Fluvanna Treasurer.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** TEST SCORES ARE DOWN. THE NUMBER OF SCHOOLS ACCREDITED IS UP. HOW CAN THAT BE? ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

More Virginia students are failing state tests, but more schools are passing the state’s new system for evaluating schools. How can that be? The Virginia Department of Education changed rules for rating schools last year to take more than test scores into account


** VIRGINIA AIMS TO IMPROVE WATER QUALITY BY TRANSPORTING TONS OF POULTRY WASTE ([link removed])
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By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury

Virginia has a novel new approach to meeting its water quality goals: moving chicken waste around the state. As the 2025 deadline for Chesapeake Bay cleanup approaches, the commonwealth is vastly expanding a program that transports poultry litter — a product that includes not only fowl excrement but also leftover bedding and uneaten feed — out of the watershed’s most intensive poultry-producing counties.


** APCO SEEKS SCC APPROVAL FOR BROADBAND ([link removed])
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Independence Declaration

Appalachian Power has filed for approval from the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) for a pilot program that would play a major role in bringing high-speed broadband to parts of rural Virginia. The first program would be established for unserved residents, schools and businesses in Grayson County in southwestern Virginia.


** VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF INLAND GAME AND FISHERIES WARNS OF VIRAL DISEASE KILLING DEER ([link removed])
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By SAMANTHA SMITH, WSLS

This time of year, the summer heat is typically gone, which means the sand flies that transmit hemorrhagic disease from deer to deer are starting to die off. Not this year, though.


** CONGRESS
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** VIRGINIA BEACH MAN WHO THREATENED SEN. MARK WARNER SENTENCED TO 4 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON ([link removed])
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By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Anthony Butkiewicz III was handcuffed and sitting in an interview room at FBI headquarters in Chesapeake when he told federal agents that he still wanted to punch Sen. Mark Warner in the jaw. The agents gave him an opportunity to walk his comment back.


** KAINE TALKS HEALTH CARE, LABOR CONCERNS WITH RURAL LOUDOUNERS ([link removed])
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By PATRICK SZABO, Loudoun Now

Loudoun’s farmers and rural business owners had the chance Thursday morning to have their most pressing concerns addressed on a national level. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) attended events in Loudoun, Winchester, and Prince William County this week


** IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY TAKES CENTER STAGE AT REP. LURIA TOWN HALL ([link removed])
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By GEENA AREVALO, WAVY

There were cheers and protests in Virginia Beach on Thursday night during a town hall with Representative Elaine Luria. The impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump took center stage this evening.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** AUTOMATION COULD CREATE, KILL VIRGINIA JOB OPPORTUNITIES ([link removed])
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By ZACH ARMSTRONG, VCU Capital News Service

Automation in the 21st century economy will yield affluence to some Virginia communities while increasing unemployment in others, according to a report from the management consulting firm McKinsey Global Institute. While the disparity between urban and rural communities has grown for decades, that trend accelerated after the 2008 recession.


** EXPERTS TALK ISSUES WITH BROADBAND DATA ([link removed])
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By IAN MUNRO, Daily News Record (Subscription Required)

Kristie Proctor’s farm in Hanover County gets no broadband — yet the tower by her house tells her that she has multiple potential providers. “In my opinion, as someone who lives in an unserved area that actually has a tower that’s reading incorrectly the last time I looked at it — it’s very important we’re sending correct numbers,” said Proctor, who is also the executive director of the Virginia Rural Center.


** START-UP BRINGS 153 NEW JOBS TO BRUNSWICK ([link removed])
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South Boston News & Record

A newly formed company, Echo World Communications LLC, is opening a customer service center and bringing a projected 153 new jobs to the Town of Lawrenceville. “We are thrilled to welcome Echo World Communications to our Commonwealth and to the vibrant region of Southern Virginia,” said Gov. Ralph Northam


** SOLAR FARM IN PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY AMONG FOUR ANNOUNCED BY GOV. NORTHAM THURSDAY ([link removed])
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Chatham Star Tribune

Governor Ralph Northam today announced that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued permits for the construction and operation of four new solar projects across the Commonwealth.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** OFFICIALS ENCOURAGE PUSH FOR PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY ([link removed])
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By YANN RANAIVO, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

State transportation officials joined a handful of local and area lawmakers Thursday to encourage a push to establish new passenger rail service in Montgomery County. The transportation officials included Virginia Secretary of Transportation Shannon Valentine, who was the keynote speaker, and Ray Smoot, a Commonwealth Transportation Board member based in Montgomery County.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** HERE'S HOW MUCH VIRGINIA TECH’S FIRST ALEXANDRIA CAMPUS BUILDING IS EXPECTED TO COST ([link removed])
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By JONATHAN CAPRIEL, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)

Virginia Tech is looking to start building the first part of its $1 billion innovation campus — a 300,000-square-foot academic building — by August 2021. The demand for more tech-savvy graduates requires "rapid execution of this project," the university wrote in documents soliciting a construction manager at-risk. The school expects construction to be completed by February 2024


** WCC ANNOUNCES STAFFING CUTS AMID DECLINE IN STUDENT ENROLLMENT ([link removed])
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By JASMINE DENT FRANKS, Bland County Messenger

Citing a declining enrollment crunch, Wytheville Community College announced Tuesday that it would be laying off 18 workers – 16 full-time and two part-time. The move comes amid a reorganization that will also leave vacant five positions in administration, faculty and support staff.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** JAMES RIVER HEALTH STALLS IN LATEST REPORT ([link removed])
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By TAMARA DIETRICH, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Last year’s record rainfall threatened efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers and streams that feed into it. The 2019 State of the James report released Thursday outlines how those heavy rains stalled progress in James River cleanup and in six key indicators of river health.


** NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RENAMES STONEWALL JACKSON SHRINE ([link removed])
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By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury

The giant sign along Interstate 95 announcing the National Park Service’s Stonewall Jackson Shrine had been confusing passersby for years, says the site’s chief historian, John Hennessy. “As you’re whizzing by, you wonder, what is that? Is it a grotto on a hillside?” he said. It is not. It’s the Caroline County building where the Confederate general died. And after years of off-and-on discussions, the park service changed the name to something a little more straight forward: the Stonewall Jackson Death Site.


** SENTARA HEALTHCARE AND NONPROFIT LAUNCH $100 MILLION EFFORT TO MAKE HAMPTON ROADS HEALTHIER ([link removed])
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By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Citing a need to improve health by improving how people live and work, Sentara Healthcare is getting into the housing, job development and transportation business. Sentara, the hospital system, and its health insurance subsidiary Optima Health, plan to contribute $50 million in matching funds to bring a national nonprofit to Hampton Roads that specializes in revitalizing communities.


** LOCAL
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** JOHN GRAY HIRED A POLITICAL CONSULTANT KNOWN FOR HIS OWN OFFENSIVE TWEETS ([link removed])
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By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times

John Gray, Republican nominee for at-large chair of Prince William Board Supervisors, paid Rick Shaftan, a Corey Stewart political advisor known for his own offensive tweets, $4,800 for consulting earlier this year, according to campaign finance reports.


** PALM TREES NEAR VIRGINIA BEACH SEAWALL MUST BE REMOVED, U.S. ARMY CORPS SAYS ([link removed])
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By STACY PARKER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Palm trees planted along the back gate of the Cavalier Beach Club must be removed because they could compromise the seawall, according to the U.S. Army Corps Norfolk District. During an inspection last year of the seawall on the property across the street from the historic Cavalier Hotel, the corps determined that 15 palm trees were planted too close.


** JENKINS DISCUSSES 287(G) IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AT REPUBLICAN BREAKFAST ([link removed])
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By JEFF SAY, Culpeper Times

Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins discussed the 287(g) immigration enforcement program with visitors at the Culpeper County Republican breakfast Saturday, explaining the program and stressing its importance to the community. Jenkins had just returned from a trip to the White House where he joined 200 other sheriffs in bringing awareness to our border security crisis and sanctuary laws.


** EDITORIALS
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** CONNECTING THE DOTS IN VIRGINIA BEACH ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

More than four months after a civil engineer employed by the City of Virginia Beach used two legally purchased handguns to kill 12 people and wound four others at Municipal Building 2, police there say they have still not been able to determine a motive for the massacre. And without knowing why it happened, it’s difficult to determine what city and state officials can and should do to prevent a recurrence.


** KEEP THE JAMES RIVER HEALTHY ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The James River remains a river at risk. That’s the unsettling verdict of the State of the James report publicly released Thursday by the James River Association.


** ADVANCING THE PUBLIC GOOD ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

On Thursday morning, the atmosphere inside the Library of Virginia was alive with nervous energy. Tables reserved for quiet, independent reading and research morphed into collaborative, vocal spaces. ... Virginia’s Datathon 2019 is an emerging venue to turn open Virginia datasets into transformative tools. A record-high 21 teams are participating in the competition’s sixth year, using new and existing spreadsheets to create 21st-century solutions on a critical topic — equity in education.


** THE POST’S ENDORSEMENTS FOR COMMONWEALTH ATTORNEY IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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Washington Post Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

“The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous.” Those words from then-Attorney General (and later Supreme Court Justice) Robert Jackson nearly 80 years ago underscore the importance of the choices Northern Virginia voters will make in the upcoming contests for commonwealth attorneys.


** THE FRIDAY READ
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** ‘WE NEED EACH OTHER’: SENIORS ARE DRAWN TO NEW HOUSING ARRANGEMENTS ([link removed])
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By PAULA SPAN, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

After her husband died, Freda Schaeffer was left on her own in a three-bedroom house in Brooklyn. “I was lonely,” she confessed. And she worried about finances, because “there’s a lot of expenses in a house.” Tom Logan, who had moved east from California, found that his disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs didn’t stretch very far in New York City. “I needed a place to stay, or I could be homeless,” he said.
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