GOVERNOR NORTHAM SPEAKS TO HUNDREDS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

Governor Ralph Northam visited the Star City today. He spoke to a room full of town and city leaders for the Virginia Municipal League's Annual Conference

12 YEARS AFTER VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTINGS, MAJORITY OF SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED, REVIEW SHOWS

Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration launched a review, in the wake of a stalled special session on gun violence this summer, of the recommendations made after the 2007 Virginia Tech mass shootings and found the state has implemented the vast majority of the proposals.

GIFFORDS GUN-CONTROL GROUP SPENDS $300,000 ON ADS TARGETING VA. REPUBLICANS

A national gun-control group is bankrolling a $300,000 ad buy that blasts Virginia Republican legislators for blocking tighter gun laws, including by shutting down a special legislative session called in response to the May mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

MASS SHOOTING TAKES CENTER STAGE IN VIRGINIA BEACH STATE SENATE CAMPAIGN

Karen Havekost was in Virginia Beach’s Municipal Building 2 when a shooter opened fire in May. “I walked out of the bathroom and saw the gunman on the other end of the hallway,” she says in a political ad released at the end of September. “I saw a coworker in the middle, and he looked at me and he yelled, ‘Go.’ So I was lucky, but not everyone was.”

SURVEY FINDS DIMINISHED DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT FOR RIGHT-TO-WORK LAW

A majority of Democratic lawmakers polled by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce say they oppose the state’s right-to-work law. That growing consensus appears to mark a major shift on a law long seen as a sacred cow in Virginia politics.

JMU STUDENTS PRESS LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES ON GUNS, ENERGY AND MONEY

Speaking to JMU students Monday evening, Republican Del. Tony Wilt and Democratic challenger Brent Finnegan repeatedly — but politely — drew bright lines between their positions on promoting renewable energy, helping raise wages and accepting campaign donations from corporations. The two candidates for the 26th state House district, which covers Harrisonburg and northern Rockingham County, made their best pitches to students in the lobbies and common rooms of three JMU residence halls as part of a Traveling Town Hall event less than a month before the Nov. 5 election. More than 50 students showed up at each of the first two stops.

FORMER MARINE ANNOUNCES 2020 RUN AGAINST RIGGLEMAN

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Claire Russo announced her campaign Tuesday for the Democratic nomination for Virginia's 5th Congressional District, joining an already crowded field.

STATE TASK FORCE TAKES UP HOW FOIA APPLIES TO POLICE BODY CAMERAS

State officials who are grappling with the rollout of body-worn cameras across law enforcement agencies on Tuesday discussed murky issues of how the state’s freedom of information laws apply to the footage. Alan Gernhardt, executive director of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, told state and law enforcement officials that video captured by the cameras involving criminal activity is likely sealed by a broad exemption in Virginia’s law.

VIRGINIA WOMEN’S MONUMENT UNVEILING AT RICHMOND'S CAPITOL SQUARE ON MONDAY

After almost 10 years in the works, the Virginia Women’s Monument is going to be unveiled at Capitol Square on Monday. Seven life-size bronze statues of Virginia women are being installed on Capitol Square

STATE SUPERINTENDENT IMPRESSED WITH VSDB, STAUNTON'S 'HIDDEN GEM'

The Queen City has a diamond in the rough. “I call VSDB the ‘hidden gem’ in Virginia,” said Patricia Trice, superintendent at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton. “People still don’t know what we do or that we’re here.” Dr. James Lane, Virginia’s superintendent of public instruction, agreed while visiting VSDB for a tour Tuesday afternoon.

SPANBERGER DISCUSSES STANCE ON IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY, VIRGINIA’S 7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) sat down with 8News anchors Juan Conde and Constance Jones on Tuesday to discuss a variety of topics. The Virginia congresswoman shared her views on the House’s impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, issues concerning Virginia’s 7th Congressional District and the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

BALLAD OPENS URGENT CARE IN LEE COUNTY, SAYS HOSPITAL TO COME NEXT YEAR

Ballad Health on Wednesday will open an urgent care center in Pennington Gap as the first step toward restoring hospital services to Lee County.

SILVER LINE PHASE TWO TEST TRAINS BEGIN RUNNING TO ASHBURN

Silver Line test trains are now running into Loudoun County. Trains are making their way into the county from the aerial guideway on the Dulles Airport property through the Loudoun Gateway Station to the Ashburn Station.

MARYMOUNT PRESIDENT WANTS TO DOUBLE SCHOOL’S SIZE, ESTABLISH ITSELF AS “ARLINGTON’S UNIVERSITY”

Marymount University President Irma Becerra isn’t slowing down. With the 2019-20 school year underway and 455 students moved into the new upscale apartments at the newly-acquired “Rixey” building in Ballston, part of a $250 million investment in Marymount’s expanded Ballston presence, Becerra is continuing to push her Strategic Plan to double the Catholic university’s in size by 2024.

CLIMATE CHANGE MAY END VIRGINIA’S MAPLE SYRUP TRADITION

For years, the chirping of the spring peeper frogs was one of Valerie Lowry’s signals that the maple sugar season was coming to an end. Twice the frogs would emerge, filling the Highland County air with their familiar call, and twice they would quiet. On their third appearance, Lowry knew, the sap would stop running, and “you quit making syrup.” But this past winter, that long-running pattern changed.

AS AMAZON MOVES IN, ARLINGTON NEIGHBORHOODS JOIN FORCES TO CREATE DOWNTOWN HUB

The neighborhoods around Amazon’s planned HQ2 campus are in the middle of a rebranding effort, and tonight the public gets to join the conversation at the first of two open house events hosted by the Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID). Last month, the Arlington County Board approved the BID’s request to expand into Pentagon City and the Arlington portion of Potomac Yard — a 76% increase in its size. Leaders from the BID believe unifying under one umbrella will best position the area for economic and development success as it prepares to welcome Amazon.

RICHMOND'S HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE, ALREADY LOWEST IN STATE, FALLS AGAIN

Fewer Richmond Public Schools students are graduating from high school, state data released Tuesday shows, in a trend officials foreshadowed when revealing that the district’s state-low graduation rate had been inflated for years. The Virginia Department of Education’s annual release of on-time graduation and dropout rates showed just 7 in 10 city seniors finished high school on time last school year.

NEWPORT NEWS SCHOOLS HIT ALL-TIME HIGH FOR GRADUATION RATE

The state Department of Education was touting good news Tuesday, and the Newport News Public Schools found even better news. The state’s numbers for 2019 showed that once again more than 90% of students who enter ninth grade are graduating on time four years later — 91.5%, to be precise, almost identical to last year.

VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD ARGUES OVER SUPERINTENDENT COMPLAINTS, OPEN-MEETING LAWS

The School Board’s internal dispute over the superintendent burst into public view Tuesday night, as the board argued for almost three hours over whether some members had treated him fairly and whether a meeting to discuss the issue in August was legal.

NOTICE WILL BE SHORTENED, BUT REFERENDUM QUESTIONS PERSIST

The Winchester Circuit Court Clerk’s Office has agreed to reduce the length of a public notice regarding a citizen-initiated voter referendum that will appear on the Nov. 5 general election ballot.

REGIONAL COOPERATION CAN BOOST ECONOMY

For years, the annual State of the Region report offered a grim picture of the Hampton Roads economy. The effects of the Great Recession lingered here, recovery blunted by federal budget sequestration and other forces that conspired to prolong hardship and inhibit growth.

NORTHAM ADMINISTRATION AUDITED THE TECH REPORT; HERE'S WHAT IT FOUND

Soon after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, then-Gov. Tim Kaine did something that few other governors confronted with a mass shooting have done: He put together a special commission to study what happened and make recommendations for how to prevent another such horror.

POLITIFACT: DUNNAVANT "FALSE" ON RODMAN'S ABORTION RECORD

State Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R- Henrico is denouncing her challenger, Democrat Debra Rodman, as a "liberal activist" who has shown a "lack of judgement" during her two years in the House of Delegates. Dunnavant made the charges in a Sept. 30 mailer that criticizes Rodman on six issues. One particularly caught our attention. She said Rodman "opposes adoption as an alternative to abortion in unplanned pregnancies." We fact-checked her statement.

ALLEN: RURAL FREEDOM, OPPORTUNITY AND JOBS

My fellow Virginians, Freedom, Opportunity and Jobs are being considered by your legislators in both in Richmond and in Washington. When I was honored to serve Virginia as governor, I recruited jobs and investment in and to Virginia proclaiming to the world that “Virginia is Open for Business!” More than 312,000 net new private-sector jobs were created during my term which followed a recession.

George Allen Allen served Virginia in the House of Delegates, Congress, as Governor and U.S. Senator. Allen currently is Chair of Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative of the National Association of Manufacturers

FARNSWORTH AND ENGEL: NORTHAM’S POLITICAL TROUBLES TAKE A BACKSEAT

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam certainly is fortunate that President Donald Trump continues to dominate the news cycle with his many controversies in Washington — thereby distracting state residents from the scandals in Richmond. Last winter, an old yearbook photo surfaced from Northam’s medical school days, allegedly depicting the future governor in either blackface or KKK robes. His name was abruptly thrust into the national limelight, but for all the wrong reasons.

Stephen J. Farnsworth is a professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington. Jeremy R. Engel is a senior political science major at UMW and a research associate.