VaNews July 17, 2019
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Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: GOV. NORTHAM'S FUNDRAISING LAGS HISTORIC NORMS ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

VPAP looks at how much Gov. Ralph Northam, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring raised in the first half of their second year in office compared to their predecessors at the same point in their terms.


** VISUALIZATION: GOP HOLDS MONEY EDGE, BUT DEMOCRATS CLOSING GAP ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

Republican legislative candidates still hold a cash advantage heading into the November elections, but Democratic candidates have nearly closed the gap. VPAP looks at the collective cash position of the two parties' candidates compared to the same point in the last General Assembly election cycles.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** NORTHAM HOLDS FIRST LISTENING SESSION IN NORTHERN VA. SINCE BLACKFACE CONTROVERSY ([link removed])
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By JULIE CAREY, NBC4

Some African American leaders in Northern Virginia say Gov. Ralph Northam sidestepped some of his harshest critics during his "listening tour" visit Tuesday. Northam held a closed-door session with local African American leaders for more than two hours in Dumfries.


** VIRGINIA GOV. RALPH NORTHAM FACING BACKLASH OVER CLOSED-DOOR ROUNDTABLE ([link removed])
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By NICK SMITH, Fox 5

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam held a closed-door community roundtable Tuesday in Dumfries. According to the invite, he was expected to discuss issues of race and equality. Northam, surrounded by members of his team who shielded him from being approached, would not speak or answer questions following the meeting at the Wilbur Porter Multipurpose Building. Instead, he made his way to a parked SUV telling FOX 5 he had no time, citing the need to beat traffic.


** NORTHAM URGES IRS TO GRANT TAX BREAKS ON SHOOTING DONATIONS ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is urging the federal government to grant tax breaks on donations to the victims of a recent mass shooting. Northam issued a proclamation Tuesday saying that the Virginia Beach Tragedy Fund performs an "essential government function."


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** DEMOCRATS, AIMING TO SEIZE POWER IN RICHMOND, ARE OUTRAISING REPUBLICANS. BUT GOP HAS MORE CASH BANKED ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Democratic candidates for General Assembly seats took the lead in fundraising in most Hampton Roads races over the past month, new campaign finance reports show. But with less than four months to spend on campaigns before Election Day, Republicans — who are defending narrow majorities in the House and Senate — still hold an advantage in the amount of cash on hand.


** BLACKFACE SCANDAL DAMPENS GOV. NORTHAM'S FUNDRAISING ([link removed])
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By ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is struggling to raise big money in a key election year after a blackface scandal nearly ended his political career. But he’s also managed to remain a major source of campaign cash for Democrats, including those who have previously called on him to resign.


** VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS OUTRAISE REPUBLICANS AHEAD OF CRITICAL ELECTIONS ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia Democrats raised more money than Republicans over the past three months through state party and leadership committees, despite a string of executive branch scandals that threatened to cast a shadow over pivotal General Assembly races in November.


** RICHMOND-AREA SENATE DISTRICTS LEAD EARLY GENERAL ASSEMBLY MONEY RACE ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Two state Senate districts in the Richmond suburbs topped the early fundraising charts about four months out from November’s General Assembly elections. Democrat Ghazala Hashmi reported raising $182,793 between May 31 and June 30, surpassing the $114,068 raised by Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Richmond, according to midyear campaign finance reports filed this week.


** AREA STATEHOUSE INCUMBENTS HOLD MONEY EDGE ([link removed])
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By BILL ATKINSON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 5 free articles a month)

Incumbents may have the edge in overall campaign treasury, but challengers in several of those races are beginning to make inroads ... and, in some instances, outgain them in contributions. In what likely will be the most-watched House of Delegates contest in Virginia — the 66th House District — Democratic candidate Sheila Bynum-Coleman actually outpaced House Speaker M. Kirkland Cox in donations by almost $9,000 for the May-June 2019 reporting period,


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** DWINDLING EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTIONS TO VIRGINIA'S HYBRID STATE RETIREMENT PLAN WORRY POLICYMAKERS ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Less than half of public employees enrolled in Virginia’s hybrid retirement program are making voluntary contributions for their own retirement, a sharp drop from nearly 80% two years ago. The decline in participation, documented by staff for the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, worries state policymakers, who might consider ways to boost voluntary contributions so state and local government employees, especially teachers, save enough for their future retirement.


** DEEPLY DIVIDED FEDERAL APPEALS COURT FINDS VIRGINIA'S 'HABITUAL DRUNKARD' LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL ([link removed])
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By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A closely and harshly divided 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday struck down Virginia’s so-called habitual drunkard law as unconstitutional. In an 8-7 decision, the judges of the Richmond-based court reversed a lower court judge’s dismissal of a suit that alleged the law targets homeless alcoholics because of their status — as homeless and suffering from a disease that compels them to possess alcohol — rather than a crime.


** COURT REINSTATES CHALLENGE TO ‘HABITUAL DRUNKARD’ LAW ([link removed])
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By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press

A lawsuit challenging an unusual Virginia law that allows police to arrest and jail people designated as “habitual drunkards” was reinstated Tuesday by a deeply divided federal appeals court. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the challenge to Virginia’s so-called interdiction law can move forward.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** DEADLY PIG DISEASE IN CHINA OPENS WINDOW FOR U.S. HOG PRODUCERS, INCLUDING RIGHT HERE IN VIRGINIA. ([link removed])
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By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A deadly pig fever in China is bringing ripple effects right to the doorstep of the commonwealth. Smithfield Foods has increased shipments of pork to China "with projected weekly volumes expected to triple," according to minutes from the Port of Virginia's most recent public board meeting in May.


** VIRGINIA, KENTUCKY AGS ASK US TRUSTEE TO ENSURE BLACKJEWEL MINERS GET PAID ([link removed])
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By SLATER TEAGUE, WJHL

The attorneys general for Virginia and Kentucky have requested federal help in ensuring coal miners get paid. Virginia AG Mark Herring and Kentucky AG Andy Beshear jointly asked the Office of the United States Trustee to help ensure that all employees of Blackjewel LLC receive paychecks owed to them.


** RESOURCE SESSION HELD FOR BLACKJEWEL EMPLOYEES IMPACTED BY BANKRUPTCY ([link removed])
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By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

John Paul Shortridge is in the midst of his second layoff from a coal mine since 2017, but this time caught him off guard. Shortridge, 46, from Cleveland, Virginia, worked at the P12 Flat Rock mine in Honaker until July 1, when he said he was told at the end of his shift that employees would be out of work until further notice. Blackjewel LLC, which owns the mine, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy the same day.


** ‘AMAZON EFFECT’ INVIGORATES NORTHERN VIRGINIA’S HOUSING MARKET ([link removed])
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By SHELLY HAGAN, Bloomberg News

Home prices in Arlington County, Virginia, are likely to reach their peak in July with a median sales price of $675,640, according to a report from the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. Listing prices have remained robust in the Arlington housing market following Amazon.com Inc.’s November announcement that it’s building a second headquarters in the region. Median home prices in the county are projected to increase 17.2% by the end of 2019.


** SUMMER OF THE POTATO: VIRGINIA TUBER PRICES MORE THAN DOUBLE ([link removed])
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By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury

It’s the Summer of the Potato in Virginia, where ideal growing conditions at home and poor ones elsewhere have conspired to produce a bumper crop for farmers that is fetching unusually high prices on the market.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** CITING SUCCESS OF BLACKSBURG-D.C. ROUTE, VIRGINIA PLANS TWO NEW CROSS-STATE BUS LINES ([link removed])
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By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury

After a state-run bus line between Blacksburg and Washington beat ridership estimates by more than 200 percent, state officials are planning to introduce two new routes connecting Southside Virginia with points north. The Virginia Breeze debuted at the end of 2017. The 50-seat buses run seven days a week, and tickets cost between $15 and $50.


** VIRGINIA SEARCHING FOR FIX TO REGULAR ROUTE 28 BACKUPS NEAR DULLES ([link removed])
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By MAX SMITH, WTOP

Officials in Virginia are searching for solutions to consistent traffic backups where Route 28, the Dulles Greenway and Dulles Toll Road meet. Fairfax County supervisors approved their share of project funding Tuesday, and Loudoun County supervisors are set to make specific requests Thursday to consider weaving problems and delays at the Route 606 ramps.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** UVA SLAVERY MONUMENT TAKES SHAPE ([link removed])
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By RUTH SERVEN SMITH, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Charlottesville’s list of memorials is popularly dominated by two statues of Confederate generals, but in the next five years, local officials hope three new monuments will reshape the landscape.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** CORPS OF ENGINEERS TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING ON SURRY-SKIFFES CREEK POWER LINE ([link removed])
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By JACK JACOBS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Army Corps of Engineers will hold a public meeting to discuss the scope of an upcoming environmental study on the Surry-Skiffes Creek power line Wednesday evening at the DoubleTree by Hilton Williamsburg. The Corps will prepare a court-ordered environmental impact statement to further study the environmental effects of Dominion Energy’s Surry-Skiffes Creek transmission line,


** SCIENTISTS: HAMPTON ROADS TO GET STEAMIER AND "FLOODIER" ([link removed])
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By TAMARA DIETRICH, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Summer in the South is a sticky season, as any quick trip outside this week will prove — temperatures approaching 100 degrees and humidity making it feel well above that. Climate scientists have long warned that such heat waves will only get hotter and more frequent as global carbon emissions broil the planet. Now some of them have released a report that spells out by how much.


** BY MIDCENTURY, VIRGINIA COULD SEE 30 DAYS PER YEAR WITH 100 DEGREE HEAT INDEX ([link removed])
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By PATRICK LARSEN, WCVE

A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy group, provides in-depth predictions for extreme heat this century. The report refers to any day that exceeds a heat index of 90°F as “extreme heat days,” or days on which certain groups of people are more susceptible to harm when outdoors. The Southeast is expected to experience the most extreme heat and the most drastic growth in extreme heat days nationwide.


** LOCAL
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** PROPOSAL WOULD BAN PANHANDLING AT MEDIANS, INTERSECTIONS IN FAIRFAX COUNTY ([link removed])
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By KRISTI KING, WTOP

You don’t have to drive very far in the D.C. area before seeing someone begging for money in traffic. And Fairfax County, Virginia, is considering a proposal to make panhandling illegal from medians and at intersections. “They’re out there stepping into traffic; they’re holding up traffic,” said Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity.


** UNDERCOUNT OF ESL STUDENTS COST RICHMOND SCHOOLS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Richmond Public Schools didn’t properly count more than 1 in 4 students who speak little to no English, costing the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars and increasing the workload of the district’s English as a second language teachers. Chief Academic Officer Tracy Epp told the city’s School Board on Monday that despite the number of English-learning students drastically increasing in recent years, the district didn’t count roughly 800 of them who qualified for programs that are paid for by both the district and state.


** VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL HELD ILLEGAL MEETING ABOUT MASS SHOOTING WITH CITY EMPLOYEES ([link removed])
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By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

For nearly an hour last week, city employees talked to Virginia Beach City Council members about how they were doing in the aftermath of the May 31 mass shooting at the Municipal Center in which 16 people were shot, with 12 killed. Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten arranged the session after she spoke with staff members who wanted to have an open dialogue with the council. The problem was the meeting turned out to be illegal.


** IMMIGRATION SUIT AGAINST CULPEPER SHERIFF TOSSED ([link removed])
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By ALLISON BROPHY CHAMPION, Culpeper Star Exponent (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A federal judge has dismissed a civil lawsuit filed last year by a legal aid group against the Culpeper County sheriff alleging a policy of holding immigrants in the local jail beyond their release date. In a 21-page memorandum opinion issued Monday, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Glen Conrad ruled that Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins did not breach the U.S. Constitution in cooperating with Immigration & Customs Enforcement


** SUPERVISORS TERMINATE COY HARVILLE FROM PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY SERVICE AUTHORITY BOARD ([link removed])
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By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee

A divided Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted to terminate Coy Harville, who represents the Westover District on the Pittsylvania County Service Authority Board. The board, following a closed meeting, chose to terminate Harville because of comments he made to a local businessman in December. The board did not name the businessman nor did it explain the initial incident that led to the comment.


** EDITORIALS
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** WAR APPROACHES AND CONGRESS SITS IDLE ([link removed])
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Daily Press Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Congress must reclaim its role in determining the extent of the military's involvement with Iran. Hampton Roads is especially sensitive to the pressure created when tensions escalate overseas.


** VETERANS HEALTH CENTERS ([link removed])
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Daily Press Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner is, again, raising Cain over complications that have slowed construction of new veterans health centers in Virginia. Two years have passed since Congress agreed to fund 28 veteran health facilities nationwide to address a deep backlog of patient wait times.


** OP-ED
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** BELINSKY: HERE'S HOW THE PIPELINE IS LAWLESS ([link removed])
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By TAMMY BELINSKY, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Today a public servant questioned my description of the ongoing construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline as lawless. Here’s an accounting. First, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the two federal agency decisions to build the pipeline in the Jefferson National Forest. Another Fourth Circuit decision on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline created an additional barrier for MVP by denying authority to cross the Appalachian Trail.

Belinsky is an attorney in Floyd County


** BROWN: STUDENT LOAN DEBT HAS GOTTEN OUT OF HAND AND VIRGINIA IS NO EXCEPTION ([link removed])
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By MIKE BROWN, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Borrowers across the United States are experiencing an unprecedented student loan debt crisis. Student debt in the U.S. has rapidly risen in the past decade, according to Bloomberg, ballooning from $675 billion in 2009 to $1.52 trillion in 2019. According to LendEDU data, 60% of recent graduates are saddled with student debt, averaging $27,975 per borrower.

Brown is a research analyst for LendEDU, a website that helps consumers learn about and compare financial products, including student loans.


** CABRERA: GMU DELIVERS "EXTRAORDINARY VALUE" TO REGION AND STATE ([link removed])
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By ANGEL CABRERA, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In just a few decades, George Mason University has emerged as the largest and most diverse public four-year institution in Virginia and a national tier-one research university. Indeed, it is the youngest institution in the U.S. holding a “Carnegie R1” designation because of its high level of research.

Ángel Cabrera will leave the presidency of George Mason University on July 31 and will begin his term as president of Georgia Tech on Sept. 1
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