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VaNews Nov. 21, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** Craft + Design, Presented by McGuireWoods
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Shop the work of over 150 artists at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond's 55th Annual Craft and Design Show, Presented by McGuireWoods, November 22-24. [link removed]

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** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: TURNOVER IN THE VIRGINIA SENATE ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

While the 2019 elections will change party control, turnover in the Virginia Senate has been lower than normal this election cycle. This ribbon chart shows how many members have left the Senate -- and the reasons why -- over the last two decades.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXPANSION OF ISRAEL AEROSPACE IN FAIRFAX COUNTY ([link removed])
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Inside NOVA

Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday announced that Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI), Israel’s largest aerospace and defense company, will expand its North American headquarters operation at a new location in Fairfax County.


** NORTHAM PICKS PRIVATE HOSPITAL LEADER AS NEW BEHAVIORAL HEALTH COMMISSIONER ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

With Virginia’s public mental hospitals in crisis, Gov. Ralph Northam has chosen a leader of a private, nonprofit health system here as the state’s next commissioner of behavioral health and developmental services. Alison Land, vice president of behavioral health services at Sentara Healthcare, will become commissioner in mid-December.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE TO MULL BUDGET, EDUCATION TRENDS ([link removed])
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By JESSICA WETZLER, Daily News Record (Subscription Required)

The state Senate Finance Committee will convene in Harrisonburg today for its annual meeting, discussing a variety of topics from trends in health care to higher education. The two-day meeting will consist of eight sessions held at Hotel Madison and Shenandoah Valley Conference Center.


** VIRGINIA BOOSTS INVESTMENT AS PUSH FOR HIGH-TECH DEGREES GAINS SPEED ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia’s commitment to invest in educating high-tech talent won the sweepstakes for Amazon’s second headquarters a year ago, but now some big bills are coming due in the next state budget to help public colleges and universities deliver on the promise. The $1.1 billion, 20-year plan will require an additional $30.4 million in the two-year budget that Gov. Ralph Northam will present next month, on top of $16.6 million in annual funding already assumed in the budget.


** SENATE DEMOCRATS PICK SASLAW TO BE MAJORITY LEADER FOR 2020 SESSION ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Senate Democrats, who will hold a slim majority in the General Assembly’s upper chamber when the 2020 session begins in January, on Wednesday elected Sen. Dick Saslaw of Fairfax County as the next majority leader and re-elected Sen. Mamie Locke of Hampton as the caucus chair.


** 150-YEAR-OLD PRECEDENT FACES CHANGES IN NEW, BLUE VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By BRAD KUTNER, Courthouse News Service

In the wake of a mass shooting at a Virginia Beach city building earlier this year, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney held a press conference at city hall. “We’re just tired of waiting for the General Assembly, and frankly, enough is enough,” said the young mayor who announced hopes to ban firearms in municipal buildings.


** VIRGINIA’S LEGISLATURE WILL TACKLE GERRYMANDERING IN THE NEW YEAR ([link removed])
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By HANNAH SCHUSTER, WAMU

Months after a federal court upheld a new district map because 11 of Virginia’s legislative districts had been racially gerrymandered, it’s almost time to redraw the Commonwealth’s maps again. Gerrymandering has a long history in Virginia, but the state’s political landscape looks a lot different today than it did in 2011. And now, political observers in Virginia wonder whether Democrats will use their newfound power to gerrymander the districts to their benefit.


** WHAT’S THE AVERAGE TEACHER SALARY IN VIRGINIA? DEPENDS WHO DOES THE MATH, LAWMAKERS FIND. ([link removed])
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By MECHELLE HANKERSON, Virginia Mercury

To help lawmakers tackle a bipartisan goal of raising teacher pay, state budget staff tried to untangle for them exactly what the average teacher’s pay is in the state. The takeaway: There are different ways to calculate that number, but it’s clear some districts fall far below any of those averages while others easily exceed those estimations.


** WITH MAJORITY, DEMOCRATS POISED TO ROLL BACK MARIJUANA LAW ([link removed])
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By PETE DELEA, Daily News Record (Subscription Required)

When Democrats won a majority in the Virginia General Assembly in elections earlier this month, they paved the way to likely passing several crime-reform bills, including marijuana decriminalization. Citing Virginia State Police data, The Washington Post reported in July that the number of marijuana arrests in the state reached the highest level in at least 20 years last year at nearly 29,000, more than three times the number in 1999. The figures sparked calls for reform to Virginia law.


** JUDGE WITHDRAWS APPLICATION FOR RE-APPOINTMENT ([link removed])
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By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Facing mounting opposition and the public release of a judicial inquiry of his misconduct several years ago, 11th Judicial District Judge Robert B. Beasley Jr. on Wednesday withdrew his application to the Virginia General Assembly to be elected to a second six-year term.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** STATE REPORT ENDORSES MVP LINKAGE ([link removed])
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By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Roanoke Gas Co. acted prudently when it decided to build two gate stations, in Franklin and Montgomery counties, to connect with the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a hearing examiner for the State Corporation Commission has determined.


** GANG PROSECUTORS SANCTIONED FOR DISCOVERY FAILURES ([link removed])
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By PETER VIETH, Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Paywall for some articles)

The failure of the Danville commonwealth’s attorney’s office to disclose state grand jury testimony before a gang violence trial was “gross negligence,” a federal judge has ruled. In a sanctions ruling citing prosecutorial misconduct, U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski dismissed the most serious charge against an alleged gang ringleader


** VCU SAYS TIMES-DISPATCH SERIES ON GUARDIANSHIP PROCESS IS ‘OUT-OF-CONTEXT’ ([link removed])
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By HANNAH EASON, Commonwealth Times

VCU Health System sent out a news release and email to employees Sunday on the recent Richmond Times-Dispatch series about the health system’s guardianship practice, saying the article lacks “context, balance, and journalistic ethics.” The Richmond Times-Dispatch released the first of a series of articles on guardianship — the legal process of removing an adult’s right to make life decisions — and said the university and other health providers used the process to disadvantage poor patients.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** VIRGINIANS SPEND MORE ON THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE THAN PEOPLE IN ALMOST EVERY OTHER STATE ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The sums Virginians spend on health insurance through their employers are higher and have climbed faster than the national average, a new study shows — even as employers pay a lower share here than in other states. Typical out-of-pocket costs for employer-provided health insurance rose by 7.1% in Virginia over the past two years to reach $8,143, according to data compiled by The Commonwealth Fund, a century-old foundation that aims to improve health care in the United States. That’s the sixth highest total in the nation.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** METRO BOARD DELAYS NAMING RIGHTS BID AMID FIERCE OPPOSITION FROM N. VA. OFFICIALS ([link removed])
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By DANIEL J. SERNOVITZ AND ALEX KOMA, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)

Efforts to pursue corporate naming rights for a future Silver Line station in Herndon now look to be on hold indefinitely, following an intense backlash from officials across Northern Virginia. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's board of directors was set to consider a proposal Thursday morning to explore renaming the future Innovation Center station to that of an undisclosed “Fortune Global 500 company” looking to open a new headquarters in the area.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** PLANS FOR PRINCE WILLIAM MEDICAL SCHOOL ADVANCE ([link removed])
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By URIAH KISER, Potomac Local (Subscription Required)

The school would be built at the Science and Technology Campus of George Mason University outside Manassas. It could welcome its first class of 50 students in 2022, if all goes to plan, swimmingly, according to university spokesman William Hazel.


** GMU: ARLINGTON EXPANSION WILL BE 'UNLIKE ANY BUILDING EVER BUILT' BY VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By ALEX KOMA, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)

As George Mason University leaders celebrate the 40th anniversary of the school’s Arlington campus, they promise that its Amazon-inspired expansion will be “unlike any building ever built” by a state institution. The Virginia Square campus will become home to a new 400,000-square-foot mixed-use building, powering Mason’s new computer science and digital innovation programs and replacing a 66-year-old former department store on the property.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** AFTER DEMOCRATIC VICTORIES, RURAL VIRGINIA COUNTIES RUSH TO DECLARE THEMSELVES GUN SANCTUARIES ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

In an overflowing meeting room, speakers repeatedly invoked the Virginia-born Founding Fathers who saw fit to enshrine firearms in the U.S. Constitution. One man said the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump — which he suggested could be a “coup” — shows the need for an armed citizenry capable of standing up to tyranny.


** DINWIDDIE DECLARES GUN ‘SANCTUARY’ ([link removed])
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By LOGAN BARRY, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 5 free articles a month)

Joining a string of other Virginia counties declaring they are safe spaces for legal gun owners, Dinwiddie passed its own “Second Amendment Sanctuary” resolution Tuesday night.


** LEE COUNTY DECLARES ITSELF A 'SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY' ([link removed])
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Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Lee County became the latest Virginia locality to declare itself a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” after the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution at its meeting Tuesday.


** CHESAPEAKE BAY DEAD ZONE WAS “HIGH NORMAL” FOR 2019 ([link removed])
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By TAMARA DIETRICH, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In what may be a new normal for dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay, the total volume of oxygen-deprived water hit the “high normal” range in 2019 — but bay scientists say it still wasn’t as bad as it could have been. If Virginia and other bay states hadn’t been taking real steps in recent years to reduce nutrient loads into the watershed, they said, the dead zone could have been a lot worse.


** LOCAL
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** HEALTH OFFICIALS: NO RISK IN ELEVATED LEAD LEVELS IN SCHOOLS ([link removed])
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By BRIANA ADHIKUSUMA, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

When Virginia Beach officials announced two weeks ago that lead was found in the water at 23 schools, local medical and health experts knew there would be concerns. Recent test results show a little over a quarter of the division’s schools contained lead levels up to 40 times the federal and state standards of 15 parts per billion. At one school, the figure reached as high as 614 parts per billion.


** NEWPORT NEWS SCHOOL BOARD SEEKS INTERIM REPLACEMENT FOR DELEGATE-ELECT SIMONDS ([link removed])
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By MIKE HOLTZCLAW, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

One by one at Tuesday night’s meeting, the members of the Newport News School Board congratulated Shelly Simonds on her victory in this month’s general election and wished her luck in the House of Delegates. At the end of the meeting, chair Gary Hunter laid out the timeline for bringing an interim onto the School Board to fill her Central District seat until a permanent replacement can be determined in May’s local election.


** EDA LITIGATION COSTS ARE $936,381 AND RISING ([link removed])
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By JOSH GULLY, Northern Virginia Daily

After exiting a closed session during its Tuesday meeting, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to remove the $750,000 cap on legal fees for the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development’s $21.3 million civil lawsuit.


** RESIDENTS SOUND OFF ON POSSIBILITY OF MARTINSVILLE REVERTING TO TOWN STATUS ([link removed])
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By BILL WYATT, Martinsville Bulletin

Virginia law does not allow independent cities to annex property, but as a town, Martinsville could claim Henry County property after two years of reverting. “When you annex, and you know you will, then you’re going to have county and town tax,” said Henry County resident Mary Martin. “You say you’re a city without limits — you’ll be a town without limits.”

Today's Sponsor:


** Craft + Design, Presented by McGuireWoods
------------------------------------------------------------

Shop the work of over 150 artists at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond's 55th Annual Craft and Design Show, Presented by McGuireWoods, November 22-24. [link removed]


** EDITORIALS
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** FINALLY, SOME BLOWBACK ON CLIMATE CHANGE ([link removed])
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Winchester Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Walter Williams of George Mason University is a warrior economist and a purveyor of common sense. His focus is usually on the primacy of capitalism as the foremost producer of individual wealth ever known (though in past months he’s directed his attention to the new totalitarianism on college campuses). This week, though, Dr. Williams shifted away from such academic emphases, if only for a moment, and turned on the folks for whom “climate change” is a religion.


** 5 QUESTIONS ABOUT RADFORD'S MISSING QUESTIONS ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Something doesn’t feel right here. And by here, we mean Radford University. Let’s review what we know in the case of the missing student newspapers and then pose some questions we haven’t seen asked. The Sept. 18 issue of The Tartan had a cover story about the death of Steve Tibbetts, chairman of the school’s Criminal Justice Department.


** VIRGINIA COLLEGE APPLICATIONS WEEK IS HELPING KIDS THRIVE ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

As the 2019 calendar turns toward the holidays, the clock is ticking for thousands of Virginia students to submit their college applications. With regular decision deadlines in early January, only so much time is left to receive in-person assistance at school before winter break. We’re pleased to see so many successes during Virginia College Application Week (VCAW), Nov. 18-22 — an event helping kids thrive across the commonwealth.


** WOMEN FINALLY HAVE A CHANCE TO MAKE HISTORY IN VIRGINIA. THEY ALREADY HAVE. ([link removed])
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Washington Post Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Take a look at the way power works today along gender lines in Virginia’s General Assembly. Now blink. Everything is about to change, astonishingly and for the better. In the current, Republican-led legislature, women chair just two of 25 standing committees, one in the Senate and one in the House of Delegates. When Democrats take control of both houses in January, women will hold leadership positions almost everywhere you look, not just challenging the old boys’ club in Richmond but rendering it utterly obsolete. It’s about time.


** COLUMNISTS
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** SCHAPIRO: DEATH, BE NOT SCARED: BALILES WRITES HIS OWN EULOGY ([link removed])
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By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Jerry Baliles got the last word on his life more than two decades before his death. His funeral — on a chilly Saturday, at a stone church in Charlottesville whose early benefactors included one of his predecessors as Virginia governor, Thomas Jefferson — was a model of Episcopal understatement, complementing Baliles, himself. He was a politician more interested in results than rhetoric but mindful that the former shapes the latter.


** OP-ED
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** BONDURANT AND LEECH: THE 'PUBLIC NEED' ARGUMENT FOR THE MVP GROWS WEAKER ([link removed])
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By ROBERTA BONDURANT AND IRENE LEECH, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Public need is the core constitutional requirement for the taking of private property in eminent domain. The question of public need for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has been questioned since private corporation EQT first proposed it in 2014. The volume of skepticism and public outrage regarding MVP has recently reached a record decibel with new evidence from the State Corporation Commission and EQT/MVP executive decision makers.

Bondurant is Co-chair of Protect Our Water Heritage Rights Coalition. Leech is a member of Preserve Montgomery County.
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