Today's Sponsor: Dominion Energy

VaNews Dec. 4, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** Dominion Energy
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At Dominion Energy, we believe in taking action – to deliver on our promise to help people, communities and the environment. [link removed]

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


** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: A 23-YEAR HISTORY OF PARTISAN CHANGE IN EACH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

Twenty-eight of 40 Senate Districts and 46 of 100 House districts in the General Assembly have been controlled by the same party in the last 23 years. VPAP looks at who has represented each of the 140 legislative districts since 1997, showing any partisan shifts along the way and noting which districts have been reshaped significantly by redistricting.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** ROANOKE COLLEGE POLL: VIRGINIANS BACK GUN CONTROL, EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT, MINIMUM WAGE HIKE ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

As Democrats prepare to take control of the state legislature in January, a new Roanoke College poll shows support for several of their priorities.


** ANOTHER BATTLE OVER PHARMACY BENEFITS IS BREWING ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Behind the PowerPoints state agency heads drone through when briefing General Assembly panels, it’s sometimes possible to see battle lines being drawn — take, for instance, Department of Medical Assistance Services director Karen Kimsey’s presentation Monday on pharmacy benefit delivery models.


** A HAMPTON ROADS VOICE IN A NORTHERN VIRGINIA-DOMINATED HOUSE LEADERSHIP ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

So far, the leadership of the new Democratic majority in the House of Delegates has looked pretty Northern Virginian, but now there’s a exception to that rule — one of the Peninsula’s own, Del. Mike Mullin, D-Newport News, is co-whip. ... It’s one of those quiet jobs that puts you at the very center of things, because it’s all about perhaps the most important thing in politics: Counting.


** LEGISLATORS DEBRIEF LYNCHBURG-AREA BUSINESS LEADERS AHEAD OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY ([link removed])
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By RACHEL SMITH, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Ahead of the Jan. 8 start of the 2020 Virginia General Assembly, local legislators met Tuesday morning with about 75 Lynchburg-area business leaders to brief them about what changes could come in the spring and how their businesses could be affected. Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg; Sen. Steve Newman, R-Bedford County; Del. Kathy Byron, R-Bedford; and Delegate-elect Wendell Walker, who in November was elected to represent Virginia’s 23rd House District, spoke about upcoming issues at the biannual Politics and Pancakes breakfast


** LEGISLATORS HEAR ABOUT ISSUES STUDENTS ARE FACING ([link removed])
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By ANNA MEROD, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Over the past 10 to 15 years, Winchester Public Schools staff have seen an increase in emotional challenges for students, from preschool to high school.... A candid discussion about the issue was held Tuesday at Daniel Morgan Intermediate School with Sen. Jill Vogel (R-Upperville) and Del. Chris Collins (R-Frederick County),


** HUDSON ADDRESSES GUN RIGHTS, MONUMENTS AT FIRST TOWN HALL ([link removed])
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By TYLER HAMMEL, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Delegate-elect Sally Hudson outlined her upcoming legislative priorities at an intimate town hall meeting in Fifeville Tuesday. Hudson, an incoming freshman Democrat, will represent the 57th district when the 2020 legislative session starts on Jan. 8. She is replacing Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville,


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** REPORT: VIRGINIA RARELY HELPS WORKERS COLLECT UNPAID WAGES FROM DEADBEAT EMPLOYERS ([link removed])
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By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury

Ronaldo Vasquez says his employer owed him two weeks of pay when his once-reliable boss stopped responding to phone calls and text messages. So the 21-year-old construction worker who had been building offices in Tyson’s Corner and McLean turned to the state for help, filling out an unpaid wage claim with the Department of Labor and Industry, which is the sole recourse for many low wage workers attempting to recover money owed by employers.


** VIRGINIA BOARD OF EDUCATION REPORT: TEACHER SHORTAGES, UNDER-FUNDING, AND 'PERSISTENT ACHIEVEMENT GAPS' AMONG FINDINGS ([link removed])
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By DANA( SMITH, WVEC

Teacher shortages, under-funding, and “persistent achievement gaps” are among the problems still lingering in Virginia’s public education system. That's according to a new report by the Virginia State Board of Education that was presented to Governor Ralph Northam on Sunday.


** CONGRESS
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** LONE VIRGINIAN ON JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CALLS IMPEACHMENT PROCESS ‘PATENTLY UNFAIR’ ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

It might’ve been his Thanksgiving-themed quip about the impeachment report being a “half-baked bird.” Maybe it was his movie analogy, suggesting Democrats have reached the “Empire Strikes Back” phase of their efforts to oust President Donald Trump, but the rebels will win in the end. Whatever it was that Rep. Ben Cline, a Republican from Western Virginia’s 6th District, said on Fox News this week, it earned him a fan in the White House.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** DOMINION'S APPROACH TO OFFSHORE WIND COULD PROVE COSTLY TO CONSUMERS ([link removed])
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By SANDY HAUSMAN, WVTF

This fall, Dominion surprised industry experts when it announced plans to build a massive wind farm off Virginia’s coast. The company has no experience with offshore wind, and critics say customers could be stuck with big bills if the company is not required to compete for the right to build.


** LIBERTY TAX TO PAY $3 MILLION SETTLEMENT TO IRS, MAKE FRAUD FIXES ([link removed])
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By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that tax preparer Liberty Tax knew, or should have known, that some of its franchisees were filing fraudulent returns for several years and the Virginia Beach-based company failed to do anything about it.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** NCI BOARD EXTENDS CONTRACT OF INTERIM DIRECTOR KAREN JACKSON ([link removed])
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By HOLLY KOZELSKY, Martinsville Bulletin

New College Institute Interim Director Karen Jackson has been hired on for another year in that capacity.


** LOCAL
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** FAIRFAX SUPERVISOR JEFF MCKAY CLEARED OF WRONGDOING IN HOUSE PURCHASE ([link removed])
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By ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia State Police cleared Jeff C. McKay, the Democratic chairman-elect of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, of allegations that he benefited from a quid pro quo relationship with two developers while buying his family home in 2017. In a letter to McKay’s lawyer released Tuesday, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert McClain said police found “no evidence of criminal culpability” in examining McKay’s home purchase.


** TIMELINE: HOW THE VIRGINIA BEACH MASS SHOOTING UNFOLDED ([link removed])
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By GARY A. HARKI, ALISSA SKELTON, PETER COUTU AND TIM EBERLY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

To explain how the mass shooting unfolded May 31 in Virginia Beach’s Municipal Center Building 2, The Virginian-Pilot used the police department’s timeline, the report prepared by security risk management firm Hillard Heintze, witnesses who were in the building that day, and other sources familiar with the investigations.


** REVOLT AGAINST PROPOSED CHANGES TO GUN LAWS DRAWING SUPPORT IN HAMPTON ROADS ([link removed])
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By JESSICA NOLTE, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Gun rights activists converged on government meetings in York and Gloucester counties Tuesday night, to demand that leaders declare those counties what’s become known as Second Amendment sanctuaries.


** HUNDREDS FLOOD VIRGINIA BEACH CITY HALL TO FIGHT FOR GUN RIGHTS ([link removed])
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By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Hundreds of people flooded Virginia Beach City Hall on Tuesday night to ask the City Council to resist gun regulations, so many that police blocked the front doors of the building. The City Council chambers and overflow rooms reached capacity before the regularly scheduled 6 p.m. meeting even began.


** CULPEPER BECOMES A 2ND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY COUNTY ([link removed])
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By ALLISON BROPHY CHAMPION, Culpeper Star Exponent (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Citizens packed the Culpeper Board of Supervisors morning meeting Tuesday for discussion of a resolution declaring the locality a 2nd Amendment Constitutional County. Many donned bright orange stickers reading, “Guns save lives.” The seven-member board easily and unanimously passed the resolution


** ORANGE COUNTY SUPERVISORS SUPPORT SECOND AMENDMENT ([link removed])
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By JEFF POOLE, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Orange County Board of Supervisors essentially adopted two resolutions Tuesday night related to possible statewide gun control legislation—one that satisfied the five board members, and then another that satisfied most of the 750 or more people crowded in and around the Taylor Education Administration Complex.


** ROANOKE COUNTY SUPERVISORS APPROVE GUN SANCTUARY RESOLUTION ([link removed])
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By ALISON GRAHAM, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Roanoke County has joined more than 30 other Virginia localities in declaring itself a Second Amendment sanctuary. The county’s board of supervisors unanimously passed the resolution with no discussion at its meeting Tuesday. The vote came after two hours of public comment with close to 40 speakers — the majority of which supported the resolution.


** AMHERST APPROVES SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY RESOLUTION ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN FAULCONER, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Amherst County is one of the latest localities in Virginia to declare itself a Second Amendment sanctuary, joining about two dozen others to adopt the measure following outcries from gun-rights advocates. The Amherst County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday declaring the Second Amendment sanctuary, joining Campbell and Appomattox counties among Lynchburg-area localities to adopt the measure.


** TAZEWELL COUNTY BECOMES SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY, ADDS MILITIA ORDINANCE ([link removed])
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By JIM TALBERT, Richlands News-Press

Tazewell County joined the ranks of “Second Amendment Sanctuary” counties on Tuesday — and took it one step further. Before a crowd of more than 200, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed two resolutions during their meeting on Tuesday night. The Second Amendment Sanctuary resolution and a resolution promoting the order of militia within Tazewell County both passed to loud cheers from a crowd that overflowed the 189-seat board room.

Today's Sponsor:


** Dominion Energy
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At Dominion Energy, we believe in taking action – to deliver on our promise to help people, communities and the environment. [link removed]


** EDITORIALS
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** NEW GENERAL ASSEMBLY SHOULD SAY YES TO REDISTRICTING AMENDMENT ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Nothing reveals the pettiness of politics more than partisan redistricting. Watching political cartographers carve legislative and congressional districts to fit their party’s needs rather than serve voters is an affront to good government. The usual results? Spindly, spread-out districts that contradict the concept of “compact and contiguous” and expensive, yearslong litigation.


** OP-ED
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** MCCOMMON: WHY IS MARIJUANA STILL CONSIDERED A DRUG? ([link removed])
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By ELIZABETH MCCOMMON, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

The crux (“a puzzling or difficult problem: unsolved question”) of the following is this question: why is marijuana still listed as a Schedule 1 drug by the federal government?

McCommon is a former substance abuse prevention specialist. She is now retired and lives in Blacksburg.


** HAMLAR: CARE DURING OUR TIMES OF NEED IS A SMALL BUSINESS VALUE ([link removed])
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By MIKE HAMLAR, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

With Democrats taking back the state legislature for the first time in a quarter century, there are going to be many competing policy priorities that have been waiting in the wings. For small business owners, their employees and families, a first priority should be passing a comprehensive paid family and medical leave program.

Hamlar is the owner of Hamlar-Curtis Funeral Home in Roanoke and a member of Main Street Alliance.
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