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Today's Sponsor:
Sara Garland
In loving memory of David Evans (Arlington/Woodstock) who began mornings with VPAP, followed by calls to his many friends to discuss the day's news.
Va. AG: Dominion has inflated benefits of its wind proposal
The Virginia Attorney General's Office in a new filing says Dominion Energy's proposal for a large offshore wind farm is not needed for the utility's capacity, costs two to three times more than solar energy, and that the company has overstated the project's economic benefits. The Friday filing was made at the Virginia State Corporation Commission by the Attorney General's Division of Consumer Counsel, which represents consumer interests before the commission. The commission is considering Dominion's plan for a $9.8 billion wind farm with about 180 turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach.
Business, Highway Groups Fight Gas-Tax Holidays
Construction and business groups are trying to hold back a wave of state and federal gas-tax decreases that they say could jeopardize much-needed road and bridge improvements, including projects to be funded by last year’s $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law. . . . Gas prices have hit highs this year amid supply shortages exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Already, Connecticut, Maryland and Georgia have completed plans to temporarily halt gas taxes at the state level, and states including Virginia, Ohio and Florida are weighing gas-tax options. . . . Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, wants lawmakers to suspend the state fuel tax for a year when they meet next week for a special session on the budget.
Lawyers in high-profile murder case contend Virginia Supreme Court unconstitutionally stripped ‘speedy trial’ rights
Lawyers representing three defendants in a high-profile Norfolk murder case contended Friday that the Virginia Supreme Court has in recent years unlawfully stripped defendants of a crucial constitutional right. The state’s highest court began issuing a series of “emergency orders” — stemming from the pandemic and related lockdowns — in early 2020 that essentially waived defendants’ rights to have their cases heard in a timely way. The orders, these attorneys maintain, violate the constitutional guarantee of a “speedy and public trial by jury” afforded in the Bill of Rights.
Protestors target judge over efforts to remove confederate statue
People in Orange County are asking for Judge David Franzén to be removed from the bench, after he shared plans to ask the board of supervisors to take down a confederate statue. “He is taking his authority far beyond what he should be doing and engaging in politics,” State Senator Bryce Reeves (R) 17th District said, “We have a judge just sitting on the bench here this morning, that is trying to impanel, a grand jury to force the orange county board of supervisors to take the action about removing a monument. And that’s outside his lane so to speak.”
As the pandemic eases, officials want to get more Virginians back on public transit
. . . As more Virginians return to semi-normal routines, public transit agencies throughout Virginia are launching new efforts to convince people buses and trains are a safe, environmentally friendly and— with gas prices high — low-cost way to get where they need to go. But many officials acknowledge the future looks uncertain, with no one able to predict how many workplaces will ever return to pre-pandemic expectations that employees would show up to an office five days a week. . . .
University of Richmond strips names of enslavers from campus buildings
The University of Richmond announced Monday that it has removed from six buildings the names of people who supported slavery and racial segregation, including its 19th-century founding president. The action reversed a decision the university made a year ago to keep two historical names on the campus map despite their ties to white supremacy. The renamings at the 4,000-student private university in Virginia culminate a lengthy period of historical research and soul-searching over prominent figures from its past and the roles they played in racial oppression.
Booker T. Washington National Monument seeking public’s help unraveling mystery
Officials at Booker T. Washington National Monument are asking the public for help in unraveling one of its biggest mysteries. Hidden away in a section of the park just off its Jack O’ Lantern Trail rests a cemetery that predates much of the known history of the former plantation where Booker T. Washington was born a slave and later freed. The cemetery has few markings to provide context to who was buried there or when they were buried. “It’s definitely one of the biggest mysteries at the park,” said Tim Sims, senior park ranger.
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FROM VPAP
From VPAP Maps, Timeline of COVID-19 in Virginia
Our Virginia COVID-19 dashboard features VDH vaccination data, including what percentage of the state's population has received at least one shot and the number of vaccinations per 100,000 residents in each city and county. Our dashboard also makes it easy to track the latest available data for tests performed, infections, deaths and hospital capacity. There's also a filter for each city and county, plus an exclusive per-capita ZIP Code map. Updated each morning around 10:30 a.m.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Gov. Youngkin signs law empowering localities to lower tax rates on vehicles
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has signed a new law meant to empower localities across the commonwealth to cut tax rates and prevent huge tax hikes driven by dramatic increases in used vehicle values. . . . If local government leadership does not address the increased value of used vehicles, then taxpayers will likely be facing significant increases in taxes as the Commonwealth of Virginia constitutionally mandates 100 percent fair market value in property tax assessments.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Rasoul remains hopeful plan to study Catawba Hospital transformation will get funded
When it comes to rationalizing the burden of drug addiction in Virginia, Niles Comer prefers to play it straight. “I don’t even talk to people about morality, I talk about numbers,” said Comer, the director of the Roanoke Valley Collective Response to the Opioid and Addiction Crisis (RVCR), an organization working to find new and effective strategies to combat addiction across the valley. . . . For every one person currently addicted to drugs, an average of five people are dramatically and negatively impacted, usually within the immediate family. This means that 72 percent of the population in the Roanoke Valley is negatively impacted by addiction, even if they themselves aren’t addicts, he said. “So if we talk about that number, that number should make people sick to their stomach.”
Lawmakers create the Virginia Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Historic Preservation Fund
A new state fund could give the Patawomeck Tribe a chance to reacquire tribal land and help protect battlefield sites throughout the state where Black soldiers fought and died. . . . Del. Delores L. McQuinn, (D-Richmond), introduced House Bill 141, which lawmakers passed unanimously at every step in each chamber. The measure establishes the Virginia Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Historic Preservation Fund. Money from the fund will go to eligible state and federally recognized tribes, nonprofits and localities. The fund will be made up of state money, gifts and donations.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Courts continue to function under COVID emergency orders
Courts across Virginia continue catching up from restrictions initially imposed two years ago designed to limit the spread of COVID-19. Last Friday the Supreme Court of Virginia extended its declaration of judicial emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing to allow local discretion regarding mitigation strategies.
Up in smoke: Witness’ appeal of contempt conviction denied
A witness who was held in contempt after admitting to using marijuana before testifying at a felony assault trial saw her appeal to vacate her conviction denied. Her 10-day jail sentence, however, was modified to time served. The ruling from Loudoun County Circuit Judge James P. Fisher in Commonwealth v. Orndoff (VLW 022-8-001) was entered Jan. 14, more than three months after he found the witness, Katie Orndoff, in contempt of court and declared a mistrial in the felony assault case. Fisher’s ruling at the time generated national headlines...
CONGRESS
Kaine hears about ongoing nursing shortage, supply chain problems at MWH roundtable
Sen. Tim Kaine visits a lot of health care facilities, but said during a visit to Mary Washington Hospital on Monday that he saw and heard things there that were new to him—including a detailed look at one situation that’s made the nationwide labor shortage even worse. The Democratic senator has been holding roundtable meetings across Virginia to discuss a bill, signed into law by the president, that will help those who take care of the medical needs of others get the mental health services they need.
Sen. Tim Kaine hikes near Staunton in support of proposed Shenandoah Mountain bill
A senator told some of his staff to take a hike, and then joined them. U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats in Virginia, introduced the Shenandoah Mountain Act of 2022 on Wednesday. This proposed legislation would designate about 92,000 acres of the George Washington National Forest as the Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area with embedded Wilderness areas. Four days later, on Saturday afternoon, Kaine took a snowy walk in the woods on Shenandoah Mountain to support his bill and learn more about the legislation he was helping launch.
ECONOMY/BUSINESS
Greater Washington Partnership to announce $4.7 billion pledge to minority-owned businesses
Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday will join a group that includes leaders of corporate giants to promote a $4.7 billion commitment to boosting minority-owned businesses and underrepresented communities in Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas. Harris will speak at an event at Howard University where the Greater Washington Partnership, a nonprofit civic alliance, will unveil the five-year, multibillion-dollar pledge. The funds will go toward businesses and communities in the capital region, including to areas such as Washington D.C., Richmond and Baltimore.
Military pay raise, more shipbuilding and Navy work: What Biden’s budget request would mean for Hampton Roads
President Joe Biden is calling for a 4.6% increase in pay for active-duty military personnel and Department of Defense civilians in his budget request for next year. His proposal also calls for major increases in shipbuilding and Navy operating and maintenance work, both of which are motors of the Hampton Roads economy. All in all, the budget calls for total spending on military programs of $773 billion. That’s up from the $728 billion that the House and Senate agreed to appropriate for fiscal 2022.
Pipeline project proposed in Hampton Roads seeks to boost natural gas amid growing demand
A proposed natural gas project would double the size of a pipeline that runs through Hampton Roads to accommodate the region’s growing demand. The Columbia Gas Transmission system runs from New York to the Midwest and Southeast. Virginia’s the southernmost of the 10 states it touches. But Virginia Natural Gas says the pipeline infrastructure is outdated and can’t keep up. “Since the last significant capacity investment in Hampton Roads 30 years ago, Virginia Natural Gas has seen more than 73% growth in the number of customers,” spokesman Rick Delahaya said in an emailed statement.
Salvation Army Pulls Leadership From Harrisonburg Post
The leaders of the Harrisonburg Salvation Army have been pulled from their local post amid an ongoing investigation into allegations of mismanagement of its homeless shelter. Harold and Eunice Gitau, captains in the organization who headed up local operations since June 2020, have been transferred, according to a statement released by the Salvation Army Potomac Division on Monday.
HIGHER EDUCATION
University of Richmond changing names of six campus buildings linked to slavery, racism
The University of Richmond will change the names of six campus buildings associated with slavery and racism, including two that led students and faculty to protest last year. UR's board of trustees voted unanimously Monday to remove the names of Robert Ryland and Douglas Southall Freeman from an academic building and a dormitory named in their honor. Ryland, who is credited as a founder of the university, owned slaves. Freeman, who led the school as a trustee, advocated for segregation, eugenics and prohibiting interracial marriage as editor of The Richmond News Leader.
Heat-mapping study found major temperature swings within Virginia localities
A report by a group that represents Virginia’s independent colleges and universities demonstrates how much hotter paved-over areas lacking green spaces can be than places with tree cover and other cooling features. The heat-mapping effort, which the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges called the largest study of its kind, aims to give local governments the data they need to “tackle heat-related issues” with policy, such as tree-planting campaigns, as communities plan for climate change, a news release says. The report showed differences in temperature as big as 10 degrees in different parts of the 10 Virginia cities participating in the study.
CORONAVIRUS
The forgotten medical worker: Thedra Nichols works to keep ACRJ safe
As the COVID-19 pandemic began to hit Virginia two years ago and medical providers scrambled to obtain resources, not every provider was treated the same. For Thedra E. Nichols, director of medical health services at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail and a certified family Nurse Practitioner, the first year of the pandemic was a series of escalating challenges as she and her dwindling medical staff worked to keep those incarcerated at the jail healthy and safe.
VIRGINIA OTHER
Afghans Get Help Resettling in U.S. From an Earlier Generation of Refugees
. . . Formal resettlement agencies, which receive small stipends from the State Department, are still underfunded from years of cuts through the Trump administration, and caseworkers are now buckling under family caseloads four or five times what they normally handle. . . . In few places is this dynamic more apparent than in Virginia, where the Afghan community is the second-largest in the country at about 60,000 people, according to the Muslim Association of Virginia. . . . In the past decade, hundreds of former interpreters and translators who worked with the U.S. military began moving here with their families. The Taliban’s return to power last summer created the most recent wave.
Authorities to try to refloat ship stuck in Chesapeake Bay
Authorities will try Tuesday to refloat the huge container ship that has been stuck in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, the Coast Guard said. An “initial attempt” to refloat the 1,095-foot Ever Forward will be made at noon after more than a week of dredging operations, the Coast Guard said in a news release Monday. In another apparent nautical mishap in the same area of the bay, an Anne Arundel County fire boat sank Monday afternoon. All four aboard were rescued and uninjured, a fire department spokeswoman said.
LOCAL
Case against the Spotsylvania School Board will continue
A judge on Friday denied a request to entirely dismiss a lawsuit alleging that members of the Spotsylvania County School Board violated Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. John Martin, Westmoreland General District Court’s presiding judge—who came in to hear the petition after two Spotsylvania judges recused themselves—granted a request to dismiss certain counts but denied others, meaning that the case will be heard again. Specifically, Martin found the lawsuit’s allegations that Board Chair Kirk Twigg “willfully and knowingly” violated FOIA when he “declared and conducted an unlawful closed meeting without holding a vote to go into closed session” and that Vice Chair April Gillespie and members Lisa Phelps and Rabih Abuismail also violated FOIA by following him into the meeting have merit and should be heard.
Great Bridge students win 50k for technology addressing busing issues
Students at a Chesapeake high school are hoping to solve busing issues through creativity. This month, Samsung awarded a team from Great Bridge High School $50,000 for their idea to fix delayed busing routes. . . . The idea blossomed back in the fall when junior Donovan Carter, who rides the bus to school, was constantly late for electronics and robotics teacher Paula Labbe’s first block class. . . . So, they came up with the idea inspired by Carter’s father’s delivery job where they track packages on routes.
Former Virginia Beach School Board candidate pleads guilty to misdemeanors related to nominating petitions
A former Virginia Beach School Board candidate pleaded guilty this past week to two misdemeanor charges related to political nominating petitions he signed off on two years ago though they contained fake signatures. Justin Burns, a college student whose efforts to hold public office received media coverage due to his youth, pleaded guilty to two counts of neglect of duty, both misdemeanors, on Tuesday, March 22, in Circuit Court after reaching an agreement with a special prosecutor.
Danville may consider different way of funding school system
Danville City Council may look into a different method of funding the city’s school system. Mayor Alonzo Jones said residents have asked council to examine more closely the funding the city of Danville provides to its school division. . . . With tax revenue that will be coming in from the Caesars Virginia casino and the 1% sales tax increase to pay for school improvements, the city has an opportunity to look at the division to see what council can do to help Danville Public Schools become more successful, Jones said.
Today's Sponsor:
Sara Garland
In loving memory of David Evans (Arlington/Woodstock) who began mornings with VPAP, followed by calls to his many friends to discuss the day's news.
EDITORIALS
Montpelier fights over who controls the slaves' story
There is a basic truth that the teller controls the tale. That has never been more evident than it is today at Montpelier, James Madison’s colonial estate in Orange County. An open fracture has broken apart the Montpelier Foundation Board, which operates the home of the 4th U.S. president, and the Montpelier Descendants Committee, which helps oversee the story of the people he enslaved.
Youngkin forced kids' parents to sue
Imagine having to sue your governor to force him to do what a 30-year-old federal law required him to do. This is what Albemarle County residents Dr. Elizabeth Lyons and her husband Chris Seaman faced as they tried to protect their child with disabilities. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s race to outlaw COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates in public schools left them no choice but legal action. Youngkin, the Republican presidential wannabe, needed to feed his anti-masking, anti-vaccination political base quickly after his election in November 2021.
Ukraine invasion gives semiconductor bill urgency
The economic sanctions levied on Russia as punishment for President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked, unjustified invasion of Ukraine are unprecedented in their scope and harshness, and the effects they will have on the rest of the world will have unpredictable, unpleasant consequences.
Trading silver for screens
Though it lacks the urgency of pressing issues such as mental health care or public education, the commonwealth’s approach to luring film production deserves more attention from lawmakers — with an eye to strategic improvements in tax breaks and other incentives. Film production can be a real economic boost, bringing in spending and out-of-state investment. It also creates good jobs, many filled by local people. Movies or TV shows filmed in a particular locale can boost the lucrative tourism industry.
OP-ED
Hurt: Adding more and more initiatives worsens education outcomes
An organization can do one or two things well, or many things poorly. This fact likely has greater impact in smaller school divisions, where the same administrative tasks must be carried out, but there are typically fewer folks that have to produce the same output. Let’s take a minute to consider the responsibilities of Dr. Marcia Shortt in Wise County to provide some context. Shortt’s responsibilities include the following: elementary education, middle school education, federal programs, personnel and several others.
Braunlich: Gov. Youngkin's tax plan can lift us out of recession
Richmond, like Washington, has always been a place where an “insider’s game” is played—not in a pejorative sense, but simply as the way things are done. Relationships are paramount, people speak in the arcane language of lawmaking, agendas are confusing for outsiders, and the activities of a subcommittee for an obscure commission are followed in detail because those in the know understand that what happens there will end up as a new regulation.
Mathur and Zhang: To fight climate change, education is key
On the day he was sworn into office, Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared he would pull Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate effort to cap carbon emissions from power plants. The question is: Does anybody care? Why has Youngkin faced so little resistance, especially from young people like us, who will live to see the worst impacts of the changing climate? The answer has to do with what kids are taught — or not taught — in school.