Today's Sponsor: Dominion Energy

VaNews Nov. 18, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** Dominion Energy
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Solar facilities can be more than just a source of carbon free energy. We are creating habitat for bees and other pollinators. [link removed]

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


** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: REPUBLICAN HEADWINDS ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

The challenging environment this fall for Republican legislative candidates extended well beyond the suburbs. An analysis of precinct-level results found that even in rural areas many GOP candidates drew a smaller share of the vote than Republican candidates had in 2015, the last time all 140 General Assembly seats were on the ballot.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** NORTHAM ORDERS HIGHEST FLOOD-PROTECTION STANDARDS IN THE US FOR NEW STATE-OWNED BUILDINGS ([link removed])
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By TAMARA DIETRICH, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam has put Virginia at the forefront of flood-risk building standards for state-owned property, incorporating federal projections for sea level rise. Already, state buildings in Virginia can’t be erected in flood-prone areas without a variance. Under an executive order announced Friday, those buildings now must be erected at even higher elevations to minimize the risks from flooding.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** HOUSE REPUBLICANS PICK GILBERT FOR MINORITY LEADER, BYRON FOR CAUCUS CHAIR ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The floor leader of Republicans in the House of Delegates hasn’t changed, but Del. Todd Gilbert will preside over a GOP minority when the General Assembly convenes in January. Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, the current House majority leader, was chosen minority leader by an estimated 42 Republican delegates and delegates-elect who gathered in Richmond on Sunday afternoon to elect their leadership.


** VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS PLAN SWIFT GUN CONTROL. GUN-RIGHTS GROUPS PROMISE “A BIG BACKLASH.” ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In the days following the election, a pro-gun-rights group compared Virginia Democrats’ impending passage of gun control measures to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. “I fear that all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve,” Philip Van Cleave*, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, wrote in an email to members


** VIRGINIA COULD DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA WITH NEW DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY IN LEGISLATURE ([link removed])
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By PATRICK WILSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Advocates for reform of Virginia's marijuana prohibition laws say the new makeup of the legislature means Virginia could vote to decriminalize marijuana next year. Certain Republican leaders in recent years stopped decriminalization bills from reaching a full vote of the House and Senate, but in January they won't be in charge anymore.


** REDISTRICTING? IT’S COMPLICATED, A CNU POLITICS PANEL NOTES ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A former governor’s hesitation on a post-Election Day radio talk show prompted Christopher Newport University political scientist Quentin Kidd to press on a political sore point during the CNU Wason Center’s own post-election forum on Thursday — namely, what will the new General Assembly do about redistricting?


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** AFTER BIG 2019 TURNOUT, ELECTION OFFICIALS EYE BUSY 2020 ([link removed])
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By EMILY SIDES, Inside NOVA

As state and local officials work on certifying the results of the election Nov. 5, election officials know they’re set to implement a big change in the way voters in Virginia will cast their ballots next fall.


** VIRGINIA CANDIDATES RAKED IN MILLIONS. WHAT CAN THEY DO WITH WHAT’S LEFTOVER? ([link removed])
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By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE

This month’s General Assembly elections brought in huge fundraising hauls for candidates. Now November 5th’s winners and losers are left with a difficult decision: how to spend the leftover cash. Virginia election law gives the former candidates lots of options, ranging from work-related meals at Arby’s to five-figure donations to a favored political action committee.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** SOCIAL SERVICES FAILURES IN DEATH OF ROCKBRIDGE INFANT UNDERLINES LARGER, LONG-TERM PROBLEMS IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By ALISON GRAHAM, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Charlee Marie Faith Ford came into the world struggling to live. After an emergency C-section at 37 weeks, her lungs failed for nine minutes before doctors revived her. She was born with opioids and marijuana in her system. Doctors diagnosed her with cerebral palsy and she suffered from severe seizures. Her mother was a drug addict, her father a convicted felon.


** CONGRESS
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** SEN. WARNER DISCUSSES VIRGINIA’S ELECTIONS, IMPEACHMENT ([link removed])
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By AMY SIMPSON, WRIC

Virginia Senator Mark Warner (D) listened to constituent concerns over healthcare costs and coverage during a roundtable Friday at the Health Brigade in Richmond’s Museum District. Warner was also keeping tabs on the latest from Capitol Hill.


** AT HENRICO TOWN HALL, SPANBERGER SHARES CONCERNS ABOUT CONSTITUTIONAL OVERREACH BY TRUMP ([link removed])
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By PATRICK WILSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, defended the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Saturday during a town hall meeting in Henrico County in which a Trump supporter sparred with her over constitutional authority.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** HEMP GROWING SEASON 'A LEARNING EXPERIENCE' FOR PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY GROWERS ([link removed])
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By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee

Though some of the more than 16 reported acres of industrial hemp planted in Pittsylvania County still is in the ground waiting to be harvested, growers and industry specialists already are learning some lessons from this year.


** 2018 BILL SPARKED HEMP’S WIDESPREAD INTEREST ([link removed])
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By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Growing industrial hemp in the Mountain Empire became possible with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized it in all 50 states and removed it from the government’s list of controlled substances. Prior to 2018, it was grown in controlled research settings under terms of the 2014 Farm Bill. The most recent change in federal law sparked widespread interest in the crop


** LOCAL POLICE FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN HEMP AND MARIJUANA ([link removed])
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By ROBERT SORRELL, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

As hemp continues to gain popularity across the region, local law enforcement officers are finding it difficult to differentiate this legal product from illegal marijuana, requiring them to submit evidence to backed-up state laboratories.


** PROTESTERS ACCUSE PAYDAY LENDERS OF LOAN SHARKING ([link removed])
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By EVAN GOODENOW, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Car title and payday loans are billed as short-term fixes for people low on cash, but critics say they’re legalized loan sharking due to astronomical annual percentage rates (APR) that trap vulnerable borrowers into endless cycles of debt. In Virginia, the APR for a 14-day, $100 loan is 687% percent, according to the Consumer Federation of America. “It’s perfectly legal. That’s the saddest part about this,” the Rev. John Copenhaver, Valley Interfaith Council vice president, told 26 people during a protest on Friday near the Advance America payday lending office


** WITH UPCOMING CLOSURE, IKEA HOSTS JOB FAIR FOR EMPLOYEES ([link removed])
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By CALEB AYERS, Danville Register & Bee

An operator who had started when the company first opened its manufacturing plant in Danville, Michael Felts, 50, was expecting to work there until his retirement. “It was such a good place to work,” he said. To help employees like Felts find their next job, Ikea hosted a job fair exclusively for their employees Thursday afternoon at the Danville Community Market, where 24 regional employers fielded applications and spoke with employees.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** STUDY FINDS MORE COMMUTERS, AND LONGER DRIVES, IN FREDERICKSBURG REGION ([link removed])
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By SCOTT SHENK, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A study of the Fredericksburg region’s workforce shows a growing number of residents drive out of the area for jobs—and most of them drive alone. All told, 42 percent of the area’s workforce commutes outside the region. Ten percent spend at least three hours a day driving to and from work.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** 'LAYERS OF ISSUES' RELATED TO MISSING RADFORD STUDENT NEWSPAPERS, SAYS WIFE OF LATE PROFESSOR ([link removed])
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By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Kim Tibbetts isn’t bothered by the photo that riled Radford University administrators after it appeared on the front page of the school’s student newspaper. That’s because she provided the paper with the image of her late husband and their daughter. Published Sept. 18 on the cover of The Tartan, the picture has prompted questions about why most of that day’s edition disappeared from campus news racks. A university investigation has raised as many questions as it has answered.


** 'SOMETIMES YOU MAKE MISTAKES': UVA REINSTATES 21-GUN SALUTE FOR VETERANS DAY CEREMONY ([link removed])
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By NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The University of Virginia has backed off its decision to nix the 21-gun salute from Veterans Day events. On Saturday, President Jim Ryan said the salute will be reinstated next year. “Sometimes you make mistakes,” he wrote in a post on Facebook.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** ‘LIKE CHASING SHADOWS’: UNCOVERING COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG’S LGBTQ HISTORY ([link removed])
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By SAMANTHA SCHMIDT, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Aubrey Moog-Ayers was outside of an apothecary shop a few years ago, working as an orientation interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, when two men pulled her aside. The men, who said they were partners, asked her questions that stayed with her years later: What did she know about queer people in 18th-century America? Did anyone ever cross dress?


** FEDERAL AUTHORITIES LAUNCH NEW INITIATIVE TO COMBAT GUN VIOLENCE IN D.C., REGION ([link removed])
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By PETER HERMANN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Federal authorities in the District, Maryland and Virginia announced on Friday plans to more tightly enforce gun laws and coordinate investigations among jurisdictions to better prosecute firearms traffickers whose crimes often affect the region.


** LOCAL
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** COREY STEWART’S COUNTY NO MORE: VIRGINIA COUNTY AIMS TO BECOME LIBERAL MODEL ([link removed])
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By ANTONIO OLIVIO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

With a new Democratic majority, Prince William Board of County Supervisors will shift its priorities next year by revisiting a cooperation agreement with federal immigration authorities and approaching funding for schools, transportation and other services through a lens of social and racial equity.


** NO PUNISHMENT FOR STONEY FOR $1,000 HAWAII HOTEL CHARGE ON CITY CREDIT CARD ([link removed])
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By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Racking up personal charges on a city-issued credit card is explicitly forbidden under Richmond’s procurement rules. But after charging a $1,000 hotel stay during his personal vacation, Mayor Levar Stoney didn’t receive a slap on the wrist.


** CLEARED OF CHARGES, NEW PG COUNTY ATTORNEY READY TO ASSUME ROLE ([link removed])
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By BILL ATKINSON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 5 free articles a month)

Recently hired County Attorney Daniel E. Whitten said he is ready to finally assume his new role after charges were dropped against him in a scandal that saw many top officials in a Northern Virginia county indicted. In a statement released by the county Friday, Whitten said he and his family are now “in the process of moving to the area” from Warren County.


** WITH ELECTION, 6 OF 9 LOCAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICES IN RICHMOND/TRI-CITIES REGION WILL BE RUN BY WOMEN ([link removed])
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By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Thirty years ago, it was nearly inconceivable for a woman to lead a local commonwealth’s attorney’s office, let alone be elected to the job. It was extremely rare even 20 years ago, when only one woman during that era held power locally as an elected prosecutor. Fast-forward to 2019.


** PORTSMOUTH COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY STEPHANIE MORALES IS IN HOT DEMAND AS A SPEAKER ([link removed])
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By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales is not your typical prosecutor. As a 35-year-old black woman, she knows she doesn’t look like a run-of-the-mill commonwealth’s attorney — a profession that tends towards older white men. And despite holding office for almost five years, she’s proud she doesn’t talk like one.


** WITH HAMPTON’S QUEST TO REDEVELOP OPEN LAND, THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS GETTING TO THE STARTING GATE ([link removed])
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By LISA VERNON SPARKS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

After years of middling success, the Power Plant of Hampton Roads is having a moment. Businesses have come and gone from the Hampton entertainment district over the years, and some of it’s building have sat unused for years. But with the addition of two Guy Fieri-branded eateries and the opening of Rosie’s Gaming Emporium, getting on the site alone can be more difficult than ever.


** NORFOLK CASINO NEEDS NEARBY DEVELOPMENT TO MAKE IT A BOON FOR CITY, EXPERT SAYS. THAT COULD BE A CHALLENGE. ([link removed])
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By RYAN MURPHY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Norfolk will need to develop a mix of shopping, restaurants and perhaps offices and homes immediately around a proposed waterfront casino resort to make the development as much of an economic boon for the city as possible, one expert told a group of local business leaders this week.


** REVIEW OF VIRGINIA BEACH MASS SHOOTING REVEALED PROBLEMS WITH POLICE COMMUNICATION, EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE ([link removed])
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By ALISSA SKELTON AND PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

When a Virginia Beach employee started shooting colleagues at the Municipal Center, available SWAT officers kept preparing for the city’s upcoming Patriotic Festival at the Oceanfront. Members of the police tactical team had no idea a mass shooting was unfolding because they were never officially notified, according to an investigative report released this week.


** VIRGINIA BEACH NEEDS ANOTHER $20 MILLION A YEAR TO SPEED UP STORMWATER MAINTENANCE, OFFICIALS SAY ([link removed])
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By PETER COUTU, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia Beach needs an extra $20 million a year — or about twice as much as it gets now — to shorten the time it takes to inspect and improve existing stormwater infrastructure throughout the city, public works projections show.


** CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO REMOVE LEWIS-CLARK-SACAGAWEA STATUE ([link removed])
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By NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

This time, Charlottesville can move a statue. The City Council voted to direct city staff to create a plan for the removal of the West Main Street statue commemorating the Lewis and Clark expedition during a work session Friday.

Today's Sponsor:


** Dominion Energy
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Solar facilities can be more than just a source of carbon free energy. We are creating habitat for bees and other pollinators. [link removed]


** EDITORIALS
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** HISTORIC CHANGES: DEMOCRATIC WOMEN LEAD CAPTURE OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

By flipping control of both chambers of the General Assembly from red to blue, Virginia voters have set up a topsy-turvy time for the state legislature January through March. Progressive Democrats with a new crop of leaders from Northern Virginia have an opportunity to pass bills that year after year had been routinely defeated by three or four Republicans in small subcommittees.


** COMMISSION'S GUN BILL REPLY PROVIDES NO HELP ([link removed])
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Daily Progress Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

What do they think they’re doing down in Richmond — playing a clumsy game of soccer? Gun laws are a lot more serious than that, for both sides. Back in the summer, Gov. Ralph Northam called a special session of the General Assembly to address gun-control legislation, following the mass shooting in Virginia Beach.


** IS VIRGINIA REALLY BLUE? ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

After this month’s elections, Gov. Ralph Northam held a public cabinet meeting to celebrate the Democratic triumph and talk about some of the things his administration would like the new Democratic majority in the General Assembly to accomplish. When a reporter referred to Virginia as “a pretty purple state,” the governor corrected him. “This is a blue state,” Northam said. “Virginia’s blue. I want everybody to know that.” Is he right? Is Virginia really blue?


** ADVICE TO VA. DEMOCRATS: ALL GLORY IS FLEETING ([link removed])
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News & Advance Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

When the 2020 session of the General Assembly is gaveled into order on Jan. 8, history will be made. Democrats will be in charge of both the House of Delegates and the state Senate, for the first time since the mid-1990s; with Democrat Ralph Northam in the governor’s office, it’s a political trifecta not seen by the Democrats since the early 1990s.


** LETTER TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S NEW DEMOCRATIC LEADERS ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

To: The new Democratic majority in the General Assembly. Congratulations on your recent victory. Congratulations, too, to your new leaders. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax County, will be the next speaker of the House — the first woman and the first person of the Jewish faith to hold that position. Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, will be the next House Majority Leader — the first woman and the first African American in that post.


** PROTECTING VIRGINIA BUSINESSES ([link removed])
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Daily Press Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

November began with an announcement that Hubbard Peanut Company will open a new operations center in Franklin, creating 10 new jobs. Then, Gov. Ralph Northam announced a plan to create a strategic international trade plan for the commonwealth. It includes the goal of expanding the commonwealth’s international trade output by 50% during the next 15 years.


** CHANGES FOR THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT, DAILY PRESS OPINION PAGES ([link removed])
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Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Readers may have noticed some changes to the Opinion pages this past week. For the past several months, the editorial board has carefully considered how to engage our readers in a more meaningful way. We wanted to create editorial pages that serve as a marketplace of ideas for the community by providing a platform to a variety of voices, fostering substantive debate about the day’s pressing issues, and suggesting ways in which the community might tackle its most intractable problems.


** BALILES 'OTHER' SPEECH ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

When former Gov. Gerald Baliles passed away recently, the tributes focused on the highlights of his 1986-1990 governorship: n How he persuaded the General Assembly to raise taxes to pay for new roads (taxes that Republicans objected to but never sought to do away with).


** OP-ED
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** REVELEY: GERALD L. BALILES — A FOUNDER FOR MODERN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By W. TAYLOR REVELEY IV, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Figures of renown across history have held the title governor of Virginia — like Walter Raleigh, Patrick Henry or Thomas Jefferson in earlier centuries. And Virginia’s run of governors in modern times rivals any other state in regard to accomplishment and prominence.

W. Taylor Reveley IV is president of Longwood University


** LOOKING TO BUILD A NEW VIRGINIA WAY? LOOK TO JERRY BALILES ([link removed])
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By DAVID TOSCANO, Published in the Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Virginia Way, a term intended to invoke civility and Virginia exceptionalism, is under attack. And for good reason. Unbeknownst to many who have used the term to describe Virginia’s unique way of governing, the phrase itself is rooted in our segregationist past and found its most widespread formulation in the writings of Douglas Southall Freeman in the 1920s and ’30s.

David Toscano was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2005, and served as Democratic leader from November 2011 through December 2018. He is retiring from the General Assembly on Dec. 31, 2019.


** DOUGHTY: TECH TALENT TIDE STARTING TO TURN ([link removed])
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By BETH DOUGHTY, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

There is a lot of excitement around the region’s technology sector these days. A recent report, highlighted in The Roanoke Times, showed that 1,250 new jobs are anticipated to be created in the Roanoke and New River valleys in 2020. While that may be a call to arms for human resource professionals, the battle might be getting easier based on the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s talent initiative Get2KnowNoke.

Doughty is executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership.


** POGGENDORF: RECRUITING COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENTS IS ABOUT TO GET (EVEN) MORE COMPETITIVE ([link removed])
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Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

However aggressively colleges are marketing themselves to college-bound high school students, be prepared. This spring and summer might be worse. Earlier this fall, the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) took action that could rock the world — or at least the inboxes — of many students who are about to enter college.

Brenda P. Poggendorf is vice president of enrollment and dean of admissions & financial aid at Roanoke College


** GIBSON: HOW FAR WILL A DEMOCRATIC GENERAL ASSEMBLY GO? ([link removed])
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By BOB GIBSON, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

By flipping control of both chambers of the General Assembly from red to blue, Virginia voters have set up a topsy-turvy time for the state legislature from January through March. Progressive Democrats with a new crop of leaders from Northern Virginia have an opportunity to pass bills that year after year had been routinely defeated by three or four Republicans in small subcommittees.

Gibson is communications director and senior researcher at the University of Virginia’s Cooper Center for Public Service. The opinions expressed here are his own


** HERRING: JUSTICE REFORM A VIRGINIA NECESSITY ([link removed])
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By MARK HERRING, Published in the Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

New Democratic majorities in the Virginia General Assembly and a growing slate of reform-minded commonwealth’s attorneys offer a potentially once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a criminal justice system that is more just, fair and equal. Ours must be a commonwealth where justice, equality and opportunity are guaranteed for each and every person, no matter where they live, what they look like, how they worship, who they love or how much money they have.

Mark R. Herring is the 48th attorney general of Virginia


** STONEY: USE MAJORITY TO ASSIST VIRGINIA LOCALITIES ([link removed])
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By LEVAR STONEY, Published in the Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

For many years, the Republican-controlled General Assembly willfully ignored bipartisan opportunities to positively impact communities across Virginia. This month’s elections firmly established Democratic control over state government in Virginia for the first time in more than a generation. With this new legislative power comes great responsibility and opportunity — and I am hopeful that they will take full advantage.

Levar M. Stoney is mayor of the city of Richmond.


** BYRUM AND HOLADIA: VIRGINIA'S JUDICIAL SELECTION PROCESS PRESERVES INTEGRITY AND INDEPENDENCE ([link removed])
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By MARNI E. BYRUM AND MANOLITA HOLADIA, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

This year all 140 seats of the Virginia General Assembly were up for election. This unique event was replete with campaign ads and solicitations ubiquitous online, over the air, in-person and plastered on yard signs and billboards throughout the commonwealth. For candidates it was open season to make a compelling emotional and sensory connection with voters.

Marni Byrum is president of the Virginia State Bar. Manolita “Manny” Holadia is chair of the Virginia State Bar’s bench bar relations committee.


** MORSE: LEADERSHIP TEAM TAKES SHAPE IN RICHMOND ([link removed])
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Published in the Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The new Democratic Party majority in the Virginia House of Delegates — the one taking seat in January — is not just a little new. It’s a whole lot of new. Of the 55 elected Democrats in the House (the current count), 40 will have first won their seats in just the last six years.

Gordon C. Morse wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, then spent nearly three decades working on behalf of corporate and philanthropic organizations.


** NASH: CLIMATE CHANGE, LYNCHBURG'S HEAT AND SILENCE ([link removed])
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By STEPHEN NASH, Published in the News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

What does the Lynchburg area have in common with Indiana? A consistent vote for conservative candidates, for one thing. And maybe this common ground, too: growing — but largely silent — worries about climate change. The heat has been gathering fast here in Virginia for decades, according to the State Climatology Office (see chart), and will be catastrophic if the trend continues. Sea level rise is already starting to swamp our coastal cities. None of that is in question.

Nash, a visiting senior research scholar at the University of Richmond, is the author of “Virginia Climate Fever: How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests”


** CHANGES IN 28TH DISTRICT DOOMED GOP CANDIDATE ([link removed])
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By STEPHEN J. FARNSWORTH & STEPHEN HANNA, Published in the Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

What a difference four years makes for the 28th District of the Virginia House of Delegates. Before 2017, House Speaker Bill Howell (R) routinely coasted to easy victories in this district, which includes most of Stafford County near and east of Interstate 95, and the part of Fredericksburg between the Rappahannock River and the University of Mary Washington campus.

Stephen J. Farnsworth is professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington. Stephen Hanna is professor of geography at UMW.
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