VaNews July 18, 2019
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Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: MONEY IN THE BANK ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

This November, 68 General Assembly incumbents face a major party challenger, the most since VPAP began tracking elections in 1997. At the mid-year point, most of these legislators held a cash advantage over their opponents. But as of June 30 a few House of Delegates challengers had more money in the bank. VPAP lists the incumbent:challenger money ratio in each of the 68 contests.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** NORTHAM CREATES COMMISSION TO STUDY STEM EDUCATION ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A new commission created by Gov. Ralph Northam will craft a plan for science, technology, engineering and math education in Virginia. Northam on Wednesday signed an executive order that established the Virginia STEM Education Commission. The group - which Northam appointed - has been tasked with creating a state STEM plan


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** A HINT AT AN UNEXPECTED SENATE FIGHT ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Sometimes, early donations from General Assembly caucus leaders suggest battle lines — and so Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment’s donations to the GOP candidates in three districts long represented by Republicans but that voted for Democrats in recent statewide races probably aren’t a surprise. But his fourth early contribution may be.


** CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS SHOW DEMOCRATS PUSHING HARD FOR STATE SEATS ([link removed])
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By NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Democrats are pushing hard to flip Central Virginia’s seats in the General Assembly by putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into campaign war chests. Democrats outraised their Republican counterparts in six out of 10 local races contested between the two parties, according to the latest campaign finance reports.


** HEALTH CARE, BENEFITS? FOR CARTER'S UNIONIZED CAMPAIGN STAFF, THE ANSWER IS YES ([link removed])
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By DANIEL BERTI, Prince William Times

Worker’s rights have been a key part of Del. Lee Carter’s platform since he first ran for office in 2017. Since then, the freshman delegate has sponsored numerous bills to increase worker protections, including a bill to repeal Virginia’s right-to-work law and bills to strengthen workers’ compensation laws. Now, Carter, D-50th, has taken it a step further by allowing his campaign staff to unionize.


** ACTIVISTS QUESTION TIES BETWEEN EX-ICE CONTRACTOR AND VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS ([link removed])
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By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE

As the co-founder and CEO of MVM Inc., Dario Marquez Jr. oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts for work done everywhere from Iraq to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In 2014, MVM won a contract now worth over $300 million to transport an influx of unaccompanied minors coming to the U.S. southern border. Closer to his home in McLean, Marquez has contributed nearly half a million dollars to Democratic politicians and causes in Virginia over the past decade


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** LAW ENFORCEMENT REMAIN STRESSED BY DEMANDS OF TRANSPORTING PSYCHIATRIC CRISIS PATIENTS ([link removed])
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By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia police chiefs and sheriffs were alarmed earlier this month when, for the second holiday weekend this year, mental health officials warned there might not be enough hospital beds to immediately accommodate people in psychiatric crisis. Already required to transport patients under temporary detention orders (TDOs) sometimes hundreds of miles across the state, a shortage could require law enforcement officers to look after people in critical need of psychiatric care even longer until a state bed opens up.


** LOTTERY REAPS RECORD PROFIT, BUT EXPANDED GAMING CLOUDS OUTLOOK ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Virginia Lottery reaped a record profit last year, providing an unexpected boon to public education and raising some officials’ hopes that Gov. Ralph Northam will seek to restore money cut from the budget this year for expanding the use of school counselors for student mental health.


** RIVERSIDE REGIONAL JAIL FAULTED IN TWO INMATE DEATHS AND PLACED UNDER CLOSER STATE SUPERVISION ([link removed])
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By FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Riverside Regional Jail was placed under closer state supervision Tuesday — and forced to receive two unannounced audits every six months — by the Virginia Board of Corrections in the wake of two inmate deaths in 2017. The board placed the facility on “probationary certification” for three years after the board’s jail review committee found shortcomings at the facility in Prince George County that may have directly or indirectly contributed to the deaths of two inmates in 2017.


** VIRGINIA NEEDS MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CHILDREN DIVERTED FROM FOSTER CARE, REPORT SAYS ([link removed])
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By KATIE O'CONNOR, Virginia Mercury

Every year, between 100,000 and 300,000 children are diverted from the foster care system to live with relatives, according to a new report from the national research group Child Trends that answers some — though not all — questions around the practice.


** WALKING AROUND WITH ALCOHOL IN OPEN CONTAINERS FROM RESTAURANTS IS NOW LEGAL IN VIRGINIA AT SOME EVENTS - WITH CAVEATS ([link removed])
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By KARRI PEIFER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Restaurants being able to legally advertise happy hour specials wasn’t the only Virginia alcohol law to go into effect July 1. A bill allowing drinkers to leave a restaurant carrying an alcoholic beverage and walk around with that beverage and into another establishment (that’s not a restaurant) is now legal in Virginia during licensed events and in designated areas.


** COURT STRIKES DOWN VIRGINIA LAW FOR ‘CRIMINALIZING AN ILLNESS’ IN TARGETING HOMELESS ALCOHOLICS ([link removed])
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By ANN E. MARIMOW, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A divided federal appeals court this week struck down a Virginia law for “effectively criminalizing an illness” by targeting homeless alcoholics for buying, consuming or having alcohol. The narrowly decided case reversed an earlier ruling from a three-judge panel of the same court, provoked lengthy, passionate dissent and indicated deep divisions on a court known for its civility and genteel traditions.


** DMV NOW OFFERING VIRGINIA MEN'S BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP LICENSE PLATES ([link removed])
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By JOHN SHIFFLETT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Fans of the Virginia men’s basketball team now have a new way to commemorate the Cavaliers’ national championship season. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles announced on Wednesday that it is offering a limited edition license plate featuring the 2019 national champions logo.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** AMAZON PUTTING A LARGE DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN SOUTH RICHMOND, CREATING 150 NEW JOBS ([link removed])
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By GREGORY J. GILLIGAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Online retail giant Amazon is putting a large distribution center along Interstate 95 in South Richmond, creating 150 new jobs. Amazon will put a fulfillment and last-mile delivery center on Commerce Road just south of the Bells Road-I-95 interchange near the Richmond Marine Terminal. The company will lease the 461,700-square-foot speculative warehouse building that Panattoni Development Co. has under construction


** VIRGINIA MARITIME, DEFENSE INDUSTRIES GET $3.2M BOOST ([link removed])
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By HUGH LESSIG, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A promotional campaign that kicked off last fall to boost shipbuilding and ship repair in Hampton Roads has picked up financial steam. The Defense Department has awarded $1.5 million to the Maritime Industrial Base Ecosystem (MIBE), a broad effort aimed at transforming the region’s maritime industry and developing its workforce.


** SURVEY: SOUTHWEST VIRGINIANS REPORT HIGHEST RATE OF HEALTH CARE AFFORDABILITY BURDENS IN STATE ([link removed])
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By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Southwest Virginians report experiencing the highest levels of health care affordability burdens in the state in a survey released earlier this month. The Virginia Consumer Healthcare Experience State Survey polled adults across the commonwealth to find that 55% reported experiencing health care affordability burdens, and 78% were worried about being able to afford future health care.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** MARTINSVILLE HAS NATION'S SECOND-HIGHEST PER CAPITA RATE FOR PRESCRIPTION PAIN PILL DISTRIBUTED ([link removed])
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By PAUL COLLINS, Martinsville Bulletin

Martinsville officials are placing at least part of the blame on drug makers for another startling statistic in the region’s tragic problem with opioid abuse. The city of Martinsville has nation’s second-highest per-capita rate for the most opioid pain pills prescribed between 2006 and 2012, based on information in a database maintained by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration that was made public this week.


** TWO RURAL VIRGINIA TOWNS WERE SATURATED WITH OPIOID PILLS OVER FOUR YEARS, DATASET SHOWS ([link removed])
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By KATIE O'CONNOR, Virginia Mercury

A federal judge ordered the release of a massive Drug Enforcement Administration dataset detailing just how big of a role drug companies and pharmacies have played in the country’s opioid epidemic. The data, according to the Washington Post, tracks the path of each pain pill sold in the country. Though Virginia wasn’t in the top five states with the highest concentration of pills, according to the Post’s analysis two towns, Norton and Martinsville, topped the list for per capital pills in rural areas from 2006 to 2012. Norton received the highest concentration, with 306 pills per person, while Martinsville followed with 242.


** CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS FOR PIPELINE WASHED INTO SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE ([link removed])
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By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Large wooden mats, used as temporary roadways for construction equipment building the Mountain Valley Pipeline, have been swept down the Blackwater River by heavy rains in recent weeks. At least two of the so-called timber mats made it into Smith Mountain Lake, where critics say they posed a public safety risk.


** CLEANUP CREWS MAKING PROGRESS AFTER GREAT DISMAL SWAMP TRAIN DERAILMENT ([link removed])
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By SALEEN MARTIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Cleanup crews in the Great Dismal Swamp are making progress after a Norfolk Southern train derailed last month and sent 36 cars carrying 3,500 tons coal into the refuge, according to refuge manager Chris Lowie. The train derailed on June 25 and cleanup began soon after. A spokesman for the company said Monday afternoon that they'll probably need another week or two, depending on the weather.


** LOCAL
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** REPUBLICANS WORKING TO PLAY CATCH-UP IN ARLINGTON POLITICS ([link removed])
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Inside NOVA

From the homey (a summer picnic) to the high-tech (an expanded social-media presence), the chairman of the Arlington County Republican Committee says the local GOP is making some strides. ...For the most part, Arlington Republicans will be sitting out the November general election – the party did not field candidates for the County Board, School Board and most legislative races on the ballot, although there are several non-Democrats who are running that might attract GOP support.


** RICHMOND RESIDENTS RAISE ALARM ABOUT NEW PUBLIC HOUSING PLAN, LACK OF PUBLIC INPUT ([link removed])
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By YASMINE JUMAA, WCVE

This week, Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) sent their five-year plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for approval. RRHA’s board advanced the plan at the June 19 meeting without a lot of resident input -- and more than two weeks before the public comment period closed. At Wednesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, dozens of advocates showed up, many voicing concerns that the agency failed to meaningfully involve residents in the process.


** CAN COUNTY CARRY WATER FOR DATA CENTERS? ([link removed])
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By JIM MCCONNELL, Chesterfield Observer

...Chesterfield presently has just one – a 242,000-square-foot facility owned by Capital One at Meadowville Technology Park – but others could be on the way. Garrett Hart, the county’s economic development director, acknowledged last month that data centers have become one of his department’s top targets because they produce immense real estate tax revenue. Hart has endorsed a proposal by Colorado-based Torch Clean Energy to rezone 1,675 acres in south Chester with conditional use for a hybrid solar farm/ data center....If approved by the Board of Supervisors, the facility also is expected to be by far the largest single consumer of county water.


** VIRGINIA BEACH MASS SHOOTING INDEPENDENT PROBE TO BE LED BY CHICAGO FIRM ([link removed])
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By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A Chicago consulting firm has been selected to lead the independent investigation into the May 31 mass shooting at the city's municipal complex. Hillard Heintze, a security risk management firm, can start the probe immediately after entering into a contract with Virginia Beach.


** EDA CIVIL CASE DELAYED AFTER JUDGE'S RECUSAL ([link removed])
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By JOSH GULLY, Northern Virginia Daily

A motions hearing in the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority’s $17.6 million civil lawsuit scheduled for Wednesday was delayed indefinitely because Warren County Circuit Court Judge William W. Sharp has recused himself from all EDA-related matters. A recusal order states that Sharp cannot preside over the case because individuals either named as defendants or possible witnesses “are personal friends or former clients or persons with whom the judge has otherwise had regular association.” This, the order states, will "ensure that all parties can be confident the judge has no association with any persons who might be involved in a particular case."


** EDITORIALS
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** VRS REVISIONS WOULD AFFECT GOVERNMENTS ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A sound fiscal decision by the state might end up creating painful fiscal repercussions for the state and for localities. The Virginia Retirement System holds in trust the retirement investments of hundreds of thousands of local teachers and state employees.


** PRISON MEDICAL CARE REMAINS UNSOLVED ISSUE ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

“I am not even 40 years old yet, but I am afraid I do not have much longer to live,” said a Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women inmate who was at the center of a legal action against the prison alleging that nursing staff improperly administered her medication. She was right to fear. Margie Ryder, 39, died last week after having been admitted to Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical Center on June 24. She was due to have been released from prison in October.


** REWRITE AMHERST'S TOWN CHARTER ([link removed])
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News & Advance Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

An election, in which citizens select their representatives to govern in their names, is the foundation stone of our democratic republic. Taking part in one is, we would argue, the most important duty of a citizen of this nation. That’s why what happened last week at the July 10 meeting of the Amherst Town Council is so disturbing to us. Four of the five council members voted to nullify the results of the Nov. 6, 2018, election for Town Council when, out of the blue, they voted to expel one of their colleagues without any public explanation at all.


** COLUMNISTS
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** SCHAPIRO: HIGH STAKES IN VIRGINIA DEMAND BOTH SIDES PLAY RACE CARD ([link removed])
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By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

There has got to be something better than race to fight over in Virginia’s legislative elections. But the political parties can’t help themselves. They need something provocative to motivate and mobilize voters in uber low-turnout contests. The stakes could not be higher.


** OP-ED
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** HINCKER: THE STUDENT LOAN CRISIS DEBT STARTS WITH AN INDIVIDUAL DECISION ([link removed])
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By LARRY HINCKER, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Item – Harvard and other Ivy League universities now offer personal finance workshops to help undergraduates understand financial realities. Good thing. They ought to start with the utility of a $270,000 education…and whether that’s a good investment. Indeed, more than 25 percent of its graduating class expects to earn less than $50,000 per year upon graduation.

Larry Hincker is a retired public relations executive and lives in Blacksburg.
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