VISUALIZATION: TRUMP AND GUNS

After the 2016 presidential election, VPAP looked at several demographic variables (such as education and race) to see if any correlated closely with President Trump's share of the vote in each Virginia locality. None of them matched Trump's performance as closely as the rate of concealed gun permits, a data set relesed earlier this month by the Virginia State Police.

ATTORNEY GENERAL HERRING ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN VIRGINIA: ‘WE WILL BE RELENTLESS’

Attorney General Mark Herring continued this efforts to fight human trafficking Tuesday by collaborating with the Richmond Regional Human Trafficking Collaborative. On Tuesday, the pair new initiatives that will improve the way the Richmond region responds to human trafficking.

SPORTS BETTING, ADDICTION RESOURCES AND THE MOB: 5 MORE TAKEAWAYS FROM VIRGINIA’S BIG GAMBLING REPORT

Monday’s presentation covered the big picture, but there’s a lot more to parse in the 202-page gambling report Virginia lawmakers received this week. Here are five more takeaways from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) study that’s meant to guide lawmakers’ thinking on casinos, sports betting and other types of gambling for the 2020 General Assembly session.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY MAY GIVE ARLINGTON VICTORY IN 2020 ON TOURISM TAX

The incoming Democratic majority in the Virginia General Assembly may give Arlington leaders something they have sought for years. To wit: Elimination of the sunset clause on legislation authorizing the collection of a hotel-bill surcharge in support of tourism promotion.

WITH CANDIDATES 27 VOTES APART, BALLOTS WILL BE RECOUNTED ON DEC. 12 IN STOLLE-GUY DELEGATE RACE

Ballots for a Virginia Beach delegate race that left a Democrat with a very narrow lead will be recounted on Dec. 12, a judge said Tuesday. Lawyers for Republican Chris Stolle and Democrat Nancy Guy, who ran for the 83rd House District on Nov. 5, appeared in Virginia Beach Circuit Court to be briefed on what recount day looks like.

JUDGE SETS GUIDELINES FOR 83RD DISTRICT RACE RECOUNT

Who will ultimately win the closest race in Hampton Roads? The final process to answer that question was handed out Tuesday in the form of rules to guide the 83rd House of Delegates recount. The races is between Delegate-elect Nancy Guy and incumbent Del. Chris Stolle — and the difference is only 27 votes in Guy’s favor.

VIRGINIA GAMING STUDY: REGULATE OR BAN ‘GREY’ SKILL MACHINES

A new study on gaming in Virginia urges state lawmakers to either take steps to regulate or outright ban “skill games.” Thousands of the machines, which resemble slot machines in appearance and interface, are found all over the state in convenience stores, bars, restaurants, truck stops and other businesses. All are presently unregulated and unmonitored by any state agency, and the state collects no revenue from them

STATE COULD BAN 'GRAY' MACHINES IN CONVENIENCE STORES

Local store owners aren't too happy with talk of a possible state ban on so-called "gray" machines, skill-based convenience store video games that elude state laws against games of chance. "I think it's dumb," said Crystal Sims, cashier at the Sunrise store on Westover Drive. "If they want to gamble, they're going to gamble, regardless."

AFTER BEING GRANTED PAROLE ON MONDAY, JENS SOERING AND ELIZABETH HAYSOM NO LONGER ARE IN VA. CUSTODY

Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom are no longer in the custody of the Virginia Department of Corrections and apparently have been turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “They are no longer with us,” said a spokesman for the Department of Corrections on Tuesday.

THE LEFT’S PLAN TO SLIP VOTE-SWAYING NEWS INTO FACEBOOK FEEDS

In the days after the White House released a readout of Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine, setting off the impeachment saga, Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee made a major financial move designed to shape public opinion. ... A Democratic strategist named Tara McGowan watched all this unfold with particular alarm.

MISSING TARTANS: WATCHDOG GROUP SIDES WITH RU STUDENT JOURNALISTS

A pro-journalism nonprofit sent Radford University a letter this week critical of its handling of its student-run newspaper over the last few months, including the school’s investigation of reported missing copies of a September Tartan edition. The Society of Professional Journalists Virginia Professional Chapter is asking for the university to release the employee’s name whom the school has said admitted to removing copies of the Sept. 18 edition of The Tartan from four campus racks.

FIVE DEEMED ‘HIGHLY QUALIFIED’ FOR FEDERAL JUDGESHIP

A Virginia State Bar evaluation panel has recommended five candidates as highly qualified to succeed retiring Norfolk U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. The VSB Judicial Candidate Evaluation Committee interviewed the candidates Oct. 11. The VSB forwarded the evaluation report to the senators on Oct. 23. To date, the senators have been mum on recommendations

THEY SEND PEOPLE TO PRISON EVERY DAY. NOW, THEY ARE PLEDGING TO VISIT.

Prosecutors send people to jail and prison every day, but many have never set foot inside a correctional center. A new initiative signed by roughly 40 of the nation’s most progressive district attorneys aims to rectify that.

RICHMOND-AREA SCHOOLS LEAD STATEWIDE MOVEMENT TOWARD SOLAR ENERGY

Schools in the Richmond region are starting to catch some sun. The number of area schools with solar panels has increased six-fold in the past two years, mirroring a statewide trend as school districts use a new policy tool to save money on energy costs. “Richmond is at the forefront,” said Devin Welch, the chief strategy officer for Sun Tribe Solar

RESIDENTS NOT HIGH ON HEMP-FARM ODOR

Residents living in the Lake Jordan neighborhood are outraged over the odor produced by hemp plants growing on a farm near the subdivision, and they are letting the county Board of Supervisors know about it. At the board meeting last week, Jarrod Reisweber, a director of the Lake Jordan Homeowners’ Association, delivered a petition to the board on behalf of the neighborhood’s residents. The petition is asking that supervisors disallow hemp harvesting near the neighborhood.

VIRGINIA BEACH’S ESTIMATED TOURISM IMPACT AMOUNTS OVERSTATED BY MILLIONS

A recent audit of the city’s tourism coffers uncovered a $500 million discrepancy in visitor spending estimates that officials have unknowingly — and incorrectly — touted as extra revenue. Though the math was off, the numbers were used to promote Virginia Beach and to justify delaying the start of the school year until after Labor Day.

SMITH EXPLAINS HIS POSITION ON PROPOSED ASSAULT FIREARMS PROHIBITION BILL: 'I'M NOT GOING TO ENFORCE THE LAW'

Augusta County supervisors on Monday indicated that they want to affirm the Second Amendment, but they stopped short of saying for certain whether they plan to vote to become a "sanctuary county." "We're still in the fact-finding portion," South River Supervisor Carolyn Bragg said. "We're still learning. And there are a lot of questions."

BOTETOURT COUNTY JOINS GUN RIGHTS 'SANCTUARY' MOVEMENT

Botetourt County joined more than a dozen Virginia counties that have declared themselves Second Amendment “sanctuaries” in response to promises by soon to be empowered General Assembly Democrats to enact new gun laws next year.

SUPERVISORS UNANIMOUSLY PASS 'SECOND AMENDMENT' RESOLUTION

Dozens of people packed the Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, and about a dozen people voiced opposition to proposed gun laws in Virginia. “This crowd of people here tonight and this resolution sends a strong message,” said Supervisor Randy Pennington

HENRY COUNTY SUPERVISORS QUICKLY STAND UP FOR GUNS IN 'SANCTUARY' VOTE

The parents of a news reporter shot and killed on live television spoke out Tuesday night against the Henry County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous vote to declare the county a Second Amendment Sanctuary. Barbara and Andy Parker sat in the front row at Tuesday evening’s board meting, seemingly the only gun-control advocates in a room packed with NRA hats and hunting camo.

WYTHE SUPERVISORS PASS SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY RESOLUTION

Under the watchful eye of perhaps the largest crowd to ever attend a meeting of the Wythe County Board of Supervisors, leaders unanimously passed a resolution declaring the county a “Second Amendment Sanctuary.” The declaration means that the county will not spend resources to enforce gun control measures it perceives violate the Second Amendment of the Constitution

NEW INITIATIVES WILL HELP FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN RICHMOND REGION

Although the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude more than 150 years ago, sadly human trafficking remains a pervasive problem. The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported a 25% spike in the number of cases from 2017 to 2018, handling nearly 11,000 situations last year.

CLARIFICATION ON SLOTS-LIKE GAMBLING NEEDED

In July, Virginia Lottery officials announced that the lottery had brought in a record $650 million in profit for the commonwealth on sales of over $2.29 billion. This form of organized gambling run by the state was sold to the public as a painless way to raise millions of dollars for Virginia’s public schools. And so it has, to the tune of $9 billion, but only after a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2000 required that all lottery profits be spent on K-12 education.

PROMISING PRISON INITIATIVE

There’s no mistaking Indian Creek Correction Facility for anything other than a prison. Razor wire sits atop a perimeter fence and a guard tower stands between the facility and nearby roadway. But what’s happening inside might be surprising. The prison situated in Chesapeake is considered by state officials to be the largest treatment-oriented facility of its kind in the nation.

WILLIAMS: THE "SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY" MOVEMENT IS A SHAM. BUT MORE LOCAL CONTROL IS A GOOD IDEA.

With the new Democratic majority in the state legislature aiming toward greater gun restrictions, Virginia’s conservative jurisdictions are resorting to four Ps: panic, politicking, posturing and pandering. The result is a nascent “Second Amendment Sanctuary” movement that oddly borrows its nomenclature from the left-leaning effort in cities to provide a safe haven for undocumented immigrants.

MCKELVEY: A FRAMEWORK FOR TRUE 2ND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY

1. Interposition — Interposition can be defined as “interference or intervention.” In government, it is the theory under which the subordinate government would interpose itself between a superior government when the subordinate government determines a law to be unconstitutional or wrongful. According to “Interposition: Theory and Fact”, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both supported this notion against federal power

McKelvey is an attorney in Roanoke.

HAAS: THE SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY FAIRY TALE

On Nov. 5, the people of Virginia sent Democrats to Richmond with a simple message: act on gun violence! Following years of inaction and excuses by Republican leadership in the Virginia General Assembly on gun violence, real change is finally coming to Richmond.

Haas is the Virginia State Director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

VIRGINIA LET’S RATIFY THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

The Equal Rights Amendment popped up on front pages a lot during the recent campaigns for seats in the Virginia General Assembly. That’s because we still haven’t ratified the amendment that was passed 47 years ago by Congress and must be ratified by 38 states to become part of the Constitution.

Ida Kay Jordan is a correspondent and columnist.