From VaNews <[email protected]>
Subject Political headlines from across Virginia
Date December 19, 2019 12:14 PM
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VaNews Dec. 19, 2019
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** Raytheon Company
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** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** RELAXED AND REFLECTIVE, GOV. RALPH NORTHAM CONSIDERS SCANDAL-CHARGED YEAR ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam grinned like a kid who left a frog in the teacher's desk. He was supposed to be talking about big priorities in the $135 billion state budget he had just presented to lawmakers. But he was excited about one provision that was a teenage dream for someone who grew up tinkering on old cars: ending Virginia's requirement for annual vehicle safety inspections.


** VIRGINIA COULD SEE ITS BIGGEST-EVER JUMP IN SPENDING ON MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

To tackle the overcrowding crisis in state mental hospitals, Gov. Ralph Northam has proposed the biggest single boost ever in state mental health funding in his new state budget. The $228 million package over the next two years includes an 11% jump for Virginia’s chronically underfunded community mental health services as well as some $28 million for more staff and medications at the state’s nine hospitals.


** ‘KINSHIP CARE’ FOSTER FAMILIES WOULD GET MONEY IN PROPOSED BUDGET ([link removed])
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By MECHELLE HANKERSON, Virginia Mercury

Gov. Ralph Northam has proposed spending nearly $17 million over two years to help families who take in relatives’ children before they enter the foster care system. Tens of thousands of Virginia children are being raised by relatives instead of being put into foster care. But unlike formal foster families, these kinship families don’t receive the monthly stipend and other support formal foster families receive.


** PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS PUSH GOV. NORTHAM TO CONSIDER $1 CIGARETTE TAX INCREASE ([link removed])
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By ELIZABETH TYREE, WSET

Governor Ralph Northam presented his $135 billion budget plan Tuesday which includes putting more money in the reserves. The budget includes raising the state's gas tax, doing away with the annual vehicle inspection requirement, boosting help to at-risk schools, giving a pay raise to teachers, lowering the maternal mortality rate of African Americans, helping affordable housing efforts, and cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.


** STICKER SHOCK? GOV. NORTHAM’S PLAN TO END ANNUAL VEHICLE INSPECTIONS SPARKS REACTION FROM MECHANIC ([link removed])
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By TAJ SIMMONS, WSLS

Michael Dudley has made a living as a mechanic for nearly 40 years, and he often finds problems with peoples’ cars and trucks during their annual inspection required in Virginia. “The average person doesn’t get under their car and have the ability to look and see what’s going on,” Dudley said. Gov. Ralph Northam’s budget proposal would make inspections and the accompanying stickers a thing of the past.


** NORTHAM PROPOSES CUTTING BUDGET FOR CONFEDERATE GRAVE MAINTENANCE IN FAVOR OF BLACK CEMETERY FUND ([link removed])
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By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury

Gov. Ralph Northam wants to end state funding for the maintenance of Confederate graves, cutting an annual allocation of $83,000 for the United Daughters of the Confederacy from the budget he presented to lawmakers this week. Instead, Northam proposes using the money to create an African American cemeteries fund.


** NEW LED LIGHTS COMING TO VIRGINIA HIGHWAYS ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Virginia is going replace nearly 10,000 highway lights with LED lights that use less energy and increase visibility, according to Gov. Ralph Northam. Northam on Wednesday announced a new contract with Trane to replace more than 9,600 lights on Virginia roads, rest areas and weigh stations. He said the upgrade will result in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and save the state $4.6 million by 2036.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** VIRGINIA RAILWAY EXPRESS OKS CONTRACT FOR LOBBYING STATE GOVERNMENT ([link removed])
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By SUN GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS, Inside NOVA

How much does it cost a regional transportation provider to lobby state officials in Richmond? Almost $300,000 over five years, according to a new contract approved by the leadership of Virginia Railway Express. The public-transit system’s operating board has adopted a contract with Commonwealth Strategy Group LLC of Richmond for government-relations services in Richmond.


** FORMER STATE SEN. ELLIOT SCHEWEL REMEMBERED FOR KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY ([link removed])
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By EMMA SCHKLOVEN, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine still recalls the first time he met Elliot Schewel. Kaine had just announced his run for Richmond City Council when he met Schewel, then a Virginia senator, at a dinner party in 1994. About two days later Kaine received a note from the senator that included a campaign contribution — Kaine’s first campaign contribution, as it so happened.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** FAIRFAX: I PLAN TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR ([link removed])
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By LOGAN BARRY, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 5 free articles a month)

While his office maintains it was not an “official” announcement, Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax told a group of senior citizens Tuesday that he will “be planning to run” for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2021. Fairfax made his plans known at the end of remarks to the Petersburg TRIAD,


** NANCY GUY OFFICIALLY DECLARED WINNER OF 83RD HOUSE RACE ([link removed])
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By JANE HARPER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A three-judge panel on Wednesday officially declared Democrat Nancy Guy the winner of the 83rd House of Delegates race, with the final margin of victory standing at 40 votes over Republican incumbent Chris Stolle. On election night, the former Virginia Beach school board member led Stolle by just 27 votes.


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** 14 CANDIDATES - ALL BUT DELANEY - QUALIFY FOR VIRGINIA'S MARCH 3 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

All but one of the 15 Democratic candidates for president will officially appear on Virginia’s primary ballot, starting with U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. Booker’s name was the first drawn at random Wednesday from the 14 candidates who filed the necessary signatures and paperwork to qualify, according to the State Board of Elections.


** DELEGATE COUNT SET FOR 2020 VA. GOP CONVENTION ([link removed])
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By SUN GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS, Inside NOVA

The Arlington County Republican Committee will be able to send up to 730 delegates to the Republican Party of Virginia’s 2020 Quadrennial Convention, to be held in Lynchburg in early May. The Republican Party of Virginia has announced how many “delegate votes” each jurisdiction statewide will be allowed at the convention. One delegate vote is allocated for each 250 votes Donald Trump received in a jurisdiction in the 2016 presidential race, and based on that criterion, Arlington will receive 146 delegate votes.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** CHRISTY COLEMAN LEAVING CIVIL WAR MUSEUM FOR JAMESTOWN-YORKTOWN FOUNDATION ([link removed])
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By COLLEEN CURRAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Christy Coleman, CEO of the American Civil War Museum, will be leaving her role with the museum effective Jan. 16 to take a job as executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Coleman helped open the new $25 million museum earlier this year to much fanfare.


** MIDDLE RIVER REGIONAL JAIL MOVES FORWARD WITH EXPANSION PLAN THAT COULD COST AS MUCH AS $96M ([link removed])
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By SERGIO OSSORIO, Harrisonburg Citizen

The Middle River Regional Jail Authority Board is moving toward adding 400 beds and voted to submit to the state the most aggressive expansion design — a more than $96 million renovation that would add a new medical area and renovate the kitchen, mental health center and the dormitory. The Jail Authority Board approved a resolution earlier this month at its Dec. 3 meeting authorizing the submission of the Community Based Corrections Plan, said Jeffery Newton, superintendent of the Middle River Regional Jail. As part of that resolution, the board selected Option A to submit.


** CONGRESS
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** VIRGINIANS IN U.S. HOUSE VOTE ALONG PARTISAN LINES ON IMPEACHMENT ([link removed])
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By PATRICK WILSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia’s members of the House of Representatives divided along partisan lines Wednesday in voting on the impeachment of President Donald Trump. The seven Democrats in the state’s delegation voted for impeachment. The four Republicans voted against it. Members under the closest watch are Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, and Elaine Luria, D-2nd, who in 2018 flipped GOP-held districts that Republicans hope to win back next year.


** WESTERN VA. GOP CONGRESSMEN FOLLOW GOP IN VOTING AGAINST IMPEACHMENT OF TRUMP ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

As expected, the three congressmen representing Western Virginia voted against impeaching President Donald Trump. Virginia’s congressional delegation voted Wednesday on party lines following a historic day of debate, ending with Trump being the third president in American history to be impeached.


** GRIFFITH, ROE DISCUSS THEIR VOTES AGAINST IMPEACHMENT ([link removed])
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By ROBERT SORRELL, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Republican congressmen representing Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee voted with their party Wednesday evening as the House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump.


** KAINE HOPES TO CONNECT COMPANIES WITH BRISTOL ([link removed])
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By LEIF GREISS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine told members of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce and Bristol, Virginia city officials Wednesday that he may be able to connect new companies to the Twin City. During a nearly hourlong Skype call with those at the chamber, the Virginia Democrat said he plans to come to Southwest Virginia during one of the first recess weeks of the Senate’s 2020 session and proposed sitting down with Bristol Virginia City Manager Eads and others to talk about economic development plans and goals.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** ROCKET LAB UNVEILS ITS FIRST US LAUNCH COMPLEX AT WALLOPS ISLAND ([link removed])
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By CHARLES FISHBURNE, WCVE

Virginia’s space portal has a new launch pad, unveiled last week at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, which is part of the Eastern Shore. It’s offering smaller, cheaper, and faster flights into space for commercial and government customers. The company Rocket Lab started launching rockets in 2017 from a pad in New Zealand, but has just introduced its very first American launch facility at Wallops Island.


** COLONIAL DOWNS RAISES MINIMUM WAGE FOR ROSIE'S EMPLOYEES ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The owner of a growing network of gaming parlors in Richmond and three other localities is raising the minimum wage for more than 200 employees to $15 an hour for those who don’t receive tips and $9 an hour for those who do. Colonial Downs Group said it will raise the minimum wage for 228 employees of Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums in January.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** TRUMP NOMINATES U.S. ATTORNEY CULLEN FOR FEDERAL JUDGESHIP ([link removed])
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By JEFF STURGEON, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

President Donald Trump nominated U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen for a federal judgeship in the Western District of Virginia on Wednesday.


** LOCAL
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** SEVEN LOUDOUN SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS SAY FAREWELL ([link removed])
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By JOHN BATTISTON, Loudoun Times

During its final regular meeting Tuesday, the nine-person 2016-2019 Loudoun County School Board — seven of whom will not return for the 2020-2023 term — took the opportunity to bid farewell to their colleagues and share final thoughts and appreciations with the public.


** SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR CALLS OUT CITIZEN WATCHDOGS IN FAREWELL SPEECH ([link removed])
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By RICH GRISET, Chesterfield Observer

As the outgoing School Board members said their farewells at last week’s business meeting, thanking colleagues and reflecting on their time in office, chairman Rob Thompson took the opportunity to lambast several self-appointed citizen watchdogs who have been critical of the school system, calling out two by name. In his closing remarks, Thompson said he was “all about public information,” but that many of the state Freedom of Information Act requests filed by these citizens were “frivolous.”


** POISED TO RELOAD? INCOMING CHESTERFIELD SUPERVISORS EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR SECOND AMENDMENT RESOLUTION ([link removed])
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By JIM MCCONNELL, Chesterfield Observer

Though the outgoing Board of Supervisors declined to introduce a Second Amendment sanctuary resolution at its final meeting last week, the issue appears to be far from settled in Chesterfield County. That’s because two newly elected supervisors have expressed interest in revisiting it after they take office in January.


** PORTSMOUTH IS SUING THE CITY’S SHERIFF, TRYING TO FORCE HIM TO SEND INMATES TO HAMPTON ROADS REGIONAL JAIL ([link removed])
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By MARGARET MATRAY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

In the ongoing legal saga over the future of the Portsmouth City Jail, the city is now taking the offensive. The city this week filed a petition in Circuit Court, asking a judge to force the sheriff to send inmates currently housed at the city lockup to the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. Sheriff Michael Moore, an independently elected official, has called the regional jail unsafe and stopped sending new inmates there in early 2019.

Today's Sponsor:


** Raytheon Company
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A global technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. Raytheon.com ([link removed])


** EDITORIALS
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** ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN STATE GOVERNMENT ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

AS NEWLY elected state lawmakers prepare to divvy up Virginians’ hard-earned tax money next month, note how much of it is going to pay certain privileged state employees. Thanks to the Richmond Times–Dispatch, which requests annual salary information under the Freedom of Information Act each year, this information is readily available—and it’s eye-opening.


** HAVE DEMOCRATS ALREADY OVERREACHED ON GUNS? ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Democrats haven’t even taken over the General Assembly yet, but it’s not too soon to ask: Have they already overreached? In the wake of the Democratic victories in November, conservative localities in the state — mostly rural ones — have been rushing to declare themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries.” It’s unclear what that really means, but it’s clear that gun owners have — to use the vernacular — freaked out.


** WITH BROADBAND INVESTMENTS, THINK BEYOND DOLLARS AND CENTS ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

On Tuesday morning, Gov. Ralph Northam unveiled his budget proposal, which included a sizable increase in state broadband funding. In 2016, the commonwealth launched the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) to help communities around the state get connected. Localities apply for grants, which are given based on the needs of the area, the benefits of the project, the readiness of the applicant and the efficiency of the proposed investment.


** ELLIOT SCHEWEL: THE GREATNESS OF A GOOD MAN ([link removed])
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News & Advance Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Elliot Schewel was a great man. But he was not a great man because he was a 20-year veteran of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Or because he was a former member of Lynchburg City Council. Or because he was a Schewel. No, Elliot Schewel was a great man because he was a good man.


** COLUMNISTS
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** SCHAPIRO: IN THE NORTHAM BUDGET, LITTLE WORDS HAVE BIG MEANING ([link removed])
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By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Among the dollar signs and decimal points in Gov. Ralph Northam’s gargantuan budget is a tiny land grab. The two-year, $135 billion proposal directs the Commonwealth Transportation Board to seize several city blocks on the south side of Capitol Square, folding them into Virginia’s highway network — not as a thoroughfare for motor vehicles, but as a mall for foot traffic between the statehouse and interim legislative office building.


** OP-ED
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** NASH: MAKE IT HOT FOR LEGISLATORS, TOO ([link removed])
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By STEPHEN NASH, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

What does the area around Roanoke 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 it will be catastrophic if the trend continues.

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.”
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