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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
When people go to the polls Nov. 6 to vote in the special election to fill the vacant seat in the Virginia House of Delegates’ 8th District, both candidates say voters will choose between two philosophies about the role of government.
By JAY KORFF, WJLA
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and his Republican opponent, Prince William County Board of Supervisors chairman Corey Stewart, talked environmental policy Tuesday night at the Virginia Climate Crisis Forum sponsored by the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions.
By LISA DESJARDINS, PBS Newshour
Americans know the nation is divided. And they believe race relations are getting worse. Black and white voters are far apart on what “racism” is, and politicians seldom address the most uncomfortable differences directly. But not so Corey Stewart. The unconventional Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Virginia sat down with the PBS NewsHour for a story about how the GOP is struggling with identity and dealing with openly-declared racists who are running as Republican candidates in the 2018 midterms.
By CHRIS HORNE, WAVY
"Oh, no. I'm a Republican." Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.) was quick to point out when 10 On Your Side asked him about an ad getting a lot of airplay on WAVY-TV 10. It mentions "independent leadership" and displays those words on the screen, but does not mention that he's a Republican.
By NICOLE GAUDIANO, USA Today
How did a former undercover CIA operative who spent more than eight years fighting terrorism get branded as a teacher at “Terror High?" The strange ordeal for Abigail Spanberger, now a Democratic House candidate, began when U.S. Postal Service employees wrongly delivered her confidential personnel file to Republican operatives.
By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Republican Denver Riggleman on Wednesday will launch the first major TV ad buy in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. The upbeat 30-second spot introduces voters to Riggleman, a former Air Force intelligence officer and distillery owner who ran briefly for the GOP nomination for governor last year.
By JOE TENNIS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
A packed-house audience rewarded congressional hopeful Anthony Flaccavento, a Democrat, with several rounds of applause in a town hall Wednesday that included questions on college costs, health care, jobs and decriminalizing marijuana. Flaccavento’s “Millennial Round Table” drew about 50 people
By JEFF BRANSCOME, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Republican President Donald Trump has gotten more unpopular with Virginians over the last year, according to a recent survey commissioned by the University of Mary Washington. Of those surveyed by research firm SSRS, 58 percent disapproved of Trump, up 3 percentage points from a UMW-sponsored survey this time last year. Trump’s approval rating of 37 percent is unchanged from last year’s poll.
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Virginia has secured federal approval of two new taxes paid by hospitals that will fund the state’s share of expanding its Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, while boosting the reimbursement rate paid to hospitals for treatment of patients under the program.
By WHITTNEY EVANS, WCVE
A new report shows more and more people who are over the age of 50 are being sentenced to prison in Virginia. And that’s led to a rise in healthcare costs for the Virginia Department of Corrections. The Joint Commission on Healthcare, a research arm of the General Assembly released a study this week that shows between 2010 and 2016, the geriatric prison population, inmates who are age 50 and older increased almost 40 percent.
By GORDON RAGO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The Port of Virginia can breathe a little easier. Cranes the port will import from China at the beginning of next year were removed this week from a long list of goods and commodities on which the Trump Administration will impose a new tariff.
By PETER DUJARDIN, Inside Business
The Daily Press is urging a federal judge to toss a defamation lawsuit by the former head of the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, contending the paper’s news coverage was fair and accurate. The newspaper is asking Senior U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. to dismiss the federal lawsuit by former airport executive director Ken Spirito, saying its reporting about Spirito’s shredding of documents at the airport early last year was based heavily on a Virginia Department of Transportation audit.
By YANN RANAIVO, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
An advisory arm of the Montgomery County’s governing body voted Wednesday night in favor of a special use permit needed for the proposed construction of a natural gas gate station near the border of Montgomery and Roanoke counties. The 4-2 vote from Montgomery County’s planning commission came amid overwhelming opposition from local residents who spoke out against the gate station during a public hearing Wednesday.
Associated Press
Work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline where it crosses a river in West Virginia will be halted as a judge has ordered a temporary stay.
By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
The Department of Homeland Security’s investigative office in Hampton Roads is “clearly rife with offensive and racially hostile behavior,” the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a decision obtained by The Virginian-Pilot. The finding was based, among other things, on a supervisor who called black and Hispanic employees “monkeys” and an agent who had a photo on his phone of a black child in a fried-chicken bucket.
By URIAH KISER, Potomac Local (Subscription Required)
With the lack of Metro rail and a glut of open office space, Prince William County leaders will look again at the types of business it aims to attract to the region. Members of the Board of Supervisors met during an un-televised session of their regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting to discuss how to grow the region’s economy.
By MARGARET EDDS, Style Weekly
In the summer of 1978, a Richmond bus driver named Paul Allen Coles visited the Camelot Townhouses near Regency Mall in western Henrico County looking for a new home. A rental agent informed Coles, who is black, that there were no vacancies at Camelot and politely directed him to the adjacent Colonial Court Apartments. Within hours, a white applicant heard a different story. Housing was, indeed, available at Camelot — for him.
By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A month after ordering an electric scooter pop-up squashed, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is proposing a one-year pilot program that would permit dockless scooter and bicycle companies to do business in the city.
By JEFF BRANSCOME, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Stafford County leaders voted Tuesday to maintain an ordinance that critics say effectively blocked a proposed Muslim cemetery. But the issue is not over, as the U.S. Department of Justice continues to investigate accusations of religious discrimination.
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
We continue to oppose Gov. Ralph Northam’s plan to use federal tax reforms as an excuse to raise state income taxes for hard-working middle-class Virginians.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
U.S. News & World-Report recently released its annual college rankings. In the category of “most innovative schools,” James Madison University placed second and Christopher Newport University ranked 13th in the “regional schools” category. ... There are many remarkable things about this ranking, not the least of which is: Sweet Briar wasn’t even supposed to be here.
By MARK J. ROZELL, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
You don’t have to look back too many years to find leaders who, by all rights, should make modern day Virginia Republicans cringe at how their party has changed. In my lifetime three Virginia Republicans especially exemplified qualities that today are out of political fashion: putting public good before party interests, fighting for social justice, and taking responsibility for their actions.
Rozell is dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
By THOMAS TOMZAK, Published in the Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
The legacy of slavery is not “gone with the wind.” This became very clear in the discussions concerning Fredericksburg’s slave auction block. I was aware that the issue was raising passionate discussion. Then I had the pleasure of meeting with the Rev. Hashmel Turner, my former colleague on the City Council, who made me very aware of the pain that the African–American community associates with the block.
Dr. Thomas Tomzak, a retired obstetrician, was the mayor of Fredericksburg from 2004 to 2012.
