Today's Sponsor: Retired Delegate Jim Shuler

VaNews Nov. 4, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** Retired Delegate Jim Shuler
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Our democracy is strongest when everyone votes.

Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** FROM VPAP
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** WHO'S ON YOUR BALLOT? ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

Know Before You Go. VPAP has a new tool that provides voters with a customized sample ballot. Just enter your home mailing address (privacy note: we don't save this information) and you'll get a complete list of candidates and any referenda that will appear on tomorrow's ballot for your precinct.


** TARGETED RACE: HD 83 IN VIRGINIA BEACH ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

President Trump carried House District 83 in 2016 as it was configured at the time. But under a new map imposed earlier this year by a federal court, HD83 is now made up of areas that slightly favored Democrat Hillary Clinton. Del. Chris Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) is battling Democrat Nancy Guy. VPAP provides maps and charts to provide insights into the district's new demographics, geography and election history.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** VIRGINIA ELECTION OFFERS PRE-2020 TEST FOR PARTIES ([link removed])
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By JON KAMP AND SCOTT CALVERT, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)

Tuesday’s legislative election in Virginia has drawn high-profile campaigners and millions of dollars in out-of-state donations, in a critical test of voter enthusiasm and party momentum ahead of the nationwide 2020 elections. Republicans are targeting freshman Democratic lawmakers who surfed a wave into the house of delegates two years ago, as they defend the GOP’s razor-thin control of the statehouse. Court-ordered redistricting has put some Republican-held House seats in fresh jeopardy, so the party may need to win back some seats to keep the chamber.


** HAMPTON ROADS WILL BE A MAJOR BATTLEGROUND AS DEMOCRATS TRY TO TAKE POWER IN RICHMOND ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS AND MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The battle for control of the Virginia General Assembly will be largely fought in Hampton Roads on Tuesday. And the question of which side wins will have a lot to do with what kind of laws on guns, voting, abortion and consumer protection Virginians will come under — as well as whether the state ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment and allows people to smoke marijuana without risking jail.


** BIDEN RALLIES VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS AHEAD OF TUESDAY’S PIVOTAL STATE ELECTION ([link removed])
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By PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Joe Biden couldn’t give up the rope line. The Democratic presidential hopeful and former vice president rallied party activists in Virginia on Sunday, two days before a pivotal state election. But he spoke for fewer than eight minutes and then plunged into the crowd in Sterling to spend the next 40 minutes hugging, selfie-shooting and grinning. The partisan crowd of about 200 loved it.


** BIDEN CAMPAIGNS FOR DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATIVE HOPEFULS IN LOUDOUN TWO DAYS BEFORE ELECTION ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Former Vice President Joe Biden rallied campaign workers in Loudoun County on Sunday, lending a hand to state Democrats seeking control of the Virginia legislature when voters take to the polls Tuesday. Biden, among the top-tier Democratic presidential candidates, sought to raise the stakes of Virginia’s statehouse elections, telling a crowd of roughly 300 that success for Democrats here would set the pace for a defeat of President Donald Trump in 2020.


** RESIDENTS RESISTING HYPER-PARTISANSHIP ([link removed])
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By IAN MUNRO, Daily News Record (Subscription Required)

As experts track the increasing political divides in the country, candidates for the 26th Senate District said that local residents were not giving into partisan extremism. In the 26th Senate District, incumbent Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, is fighting to keep his seat from Democratic challenger April Moore, of Shenandoah County, for a second time.


** 26TH DISTRICT ‘ONE TO WATCH’ ([link removed])
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By JESSICA WETZLER, Daily News Record (Subscription Required)

The last time a Democrat had control of the 26th House of Delegates District seat was in 1981, when Lewis Parker was elected, but what has been a red district since then could see a potential flip on Tuesday. Democrat Brent Finnegan, of Broadway, is challenging Del. Tony Wilt, R-Broadway, for the second time after coming short by less than 2,000 votes in 2017.


** LIBERTARIANS RALLY AROUND POLITICAL NEWCOMER AHEAD OF ELECTION DAY ([link removed])
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By AMIE KNOWLES, Martinsville Bulletin

With only a day left before Tuesday’s election, the Martinsville Libertarians are hard at work. Not an official affiliate of the Libertarian Party, the Martinsville group still shares the same ideals as the national organization and visits local neighborhoods sharing their political leanings. This year, Eric Bowling, a founder of the Martinsville Libertarians, and about a dozen active members have made visiting friends, family and community members a priority. That’s because it’s an election year for all 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates, and one of their local party members hopes to take one.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** REPORT LOOKS AT REDEVELOPING COAL SITES ([link removed])
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By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A newly released report suggests that former coal sites could play a critical role in future economic development across Central Appalachia, including in Southwest Virginia. A coalition of advocacy groups is working to support proposals for innovative reclamation projects in coalfield communities throughout the region


** FOR OMEGA PROTEIN CORPORATION, THE TIDE MAY BE CHANGING ([link removed])
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By PAMELA A. D’ANGELO, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Omega Protein Corp., the last of a long line of fish rendering companies that dotted the Atlantic Coast, has battled for years with environmentalists and fishery managers over how many tons of menhaden it should be allowed to harvest, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay. Virginia always had the company’s back. But at last week’s meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in New Hampshire, there was a slight shift in that support.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** VIRGINIA ADDS MORE THAN 300 ACRES TO NATURAL AREA PRESERVES ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Virginia has added more than 300 acres to natural area preserves, including land near the Appalachian Trail. Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday that the Department of Conservation and Recreation had acquired land around the state that will help protect rare plants and animals.


** LOCAL
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** FOR NORTHERN VIRGINIA SCHOOLS, A QUESTION OF WHERE TO PUT ALL THOSE STUDENTS ([link removed])
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By DEBBIE TRUONG, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

In some Arlington Public Schools, students eat lunch as early as 10:45 a.m., while others must wait until 1:30 p.m. The staggered lunch schedule is one adjustment the suburban Virginia school system has devised to contend with overcrowding.


** LACK OF COMPETITIVE BID CAUSES RICHMOND TO PAY TOO MUCH FOR NEW SCHOOLS ([link removed])
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By PATRICK WILSON AND JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

In July, a group of Richmond officials told elected leaders that the cost of building three new schools was increasing again. But there was also some good news: Richmond’s construction costs per square foot were still slightly below those of neighboring Chesterfield County. However, Richmond’s construction costs to build its three new schools are significantly higher than Chesterfield’s. And to reach its comparison, Richmond added millions of dollars onto Chesterfield’s construction costs.

Today's Sponsor:


** Retired Delegate Jim Shuler
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Our democracy is strongest when everyone votes.


** EDITORIALS
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** 50 YEARS AGO TODAY, HOLTON'S LANDMARK ELECTION ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Fifty years ago today, Virginia became a true democracy. You might wonder what all the fuss was about back in the summer when we marked the 400th anniversary of the first elections for a legislature in North America — the Virginia House of Burgesses, the forerunner of today’s General Assembly. That was democracy in a way, although that democracy was limited to white men who owned a certain amount of property.


** BALILES LEGACY LEAVES VIRGINIA A BETTER STATE ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia lost another great statesman last week with the death of former Gov. Gerald Baliles. The Charlottesville area also knew him as the former director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, and as a local resident during his later years. Behind his soft Virginia accent lay a formidable intelligence, a voracious appetite for knowledge, and an ability to dispense incisive wit and generous compliments with equal ease.


** IN RACE FOR PORT TRAFFIC, VIRGINIA DIGS IN ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

It's great news for Hampton Roads and the commonwealth that the Port of Virginia has taken another major step toward becoming the deepest harbor on the East Coast. In the shipping industry these days, bigger is better, and a port that wants to claim a healthy share of business must be able to accommodate mammoth ships.


** OP-ED
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** KAINE: HOLTON’S TRANSFORMATIVE ELECTION 50 YEARS LATER ([link removed])
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By TIM KAINE, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

It is hard to imagine the Virginia political world of 1969. We were then governed by a single party that allowed little competition. Both our federal and General Assembly delegations were overwhelmingly Democratic. And the Democratic party at the time was dominated by the Dixiecrat Byrd Machine, which limited voting through poll taxes and other schemes and practiced white supremacy as an ironclad rule.

Kaine is a U.S. Senator from Virginia and the son-in-law of former Gov. Linwood Holton. Kaine is a Democrat; Holton was a Republican.


** GILMORE: PROCESS, NOT PARTISANSHIP, DETERMINES ENDORSEMENTS FOR CLEAN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By BRENNAN GILMORE, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

The Roanoke Times in a recent editorial (“Three Loose Ends” Oct. 26) and Jordan Labiosa in a letter to the editor (“Suetterlein is not only Republican Clean Virginia doesn’t want” Oct. 27) accused Clean Virginia of partisanship, claiming that the only reason we did not endorse Sen. David Suetterlein for Senate District 19 is because he is a Republican. This is untrue.

Gilmore is executive director of Clean Virginia


** LOCAL CHAPTER OF CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY SUPPORTS RECENT CLIMATE INITIATIVE ([link removed])
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By WILLIAM BAKER, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Citizens Climate Lobby is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. Chapters exist globally, although the majority are in the United States. The Blacksburg chapter, which is now called Citizens Climate Lobby of the New River Valley, was established two years ago

William Baker, a retired physician, is a local volunteer with Citizens Climate Lobby of the New River Valley. CCL members Alaina Coppa, Ingrid Mans, Walter Pirie, Peter Greider and Carl Zipper contributed to this piece.


** BROOKING: VIRGINIA NEEDS A STRONGER PHONE-WHILE-DRIVING LAW ([link removed])
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By JANET BROOKING, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

When operating a motor vehicle, a few seconds of distraction can cost you — or someone else — everything. On Tuesday, 54-year-old Richmond attorney Claire Carr pleaded guilty to reckless driving in the deaths of three people she struck in June 2018 as they stood near a disabled car on Route 288 in Goochland County.

Janet Brooking is the executive director of DRIVE SMART Virginia, a nonprofit focused on preventing traffic fatalities and injuries through education and outreach programs
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