By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
For a few minutes, Sen. Ryan McDougle’s bill seemed ready to face defeat in a General Assembly panel. McDougle, R-Hanover, proposed changing a 2015 “Good Samaritan” law requiring that anyone who calls police to report an overdose must “substantially cooperate with law enforcement in any investigation of any criminal offense reasonably related to an overdose” in order to avoid prosecution for a drug offense.
VaNews February 16, 2019
By WHITTNEY EVANS, WCVE
It’s been smooth sailing this year for legislation aimed at curbing evictions in Virginia. A package of bills has already passed both chambers of the General Assembly, and there might be some new money for affordable housing. The topic took center stage in Virginia last year after a New York Times article highlighted the disproportionate number of evictions in the Commonwealth. Five Virginia cities made the top 10 for highest rate of eviction judgements in 2016.
VaNews February 16, 2019
By SAMANTHA SCHMIDT AND EMILY GUSKIN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Amid a recent charged debate over late-term abortions, a clear majority of Virginians say terminating a pregnancy in the third trimester should be legal if the woman’s health is at risk, according to a new Washington Post-Schar School poll.
VaNews February 16, 2019
Associated Press
Virginia lawmakers have approved legislation to require the state's largest electric utility to excavate and clean up unlined coal ash pits. The General Assembly approved legislation Friday to require Dominion Energy to recycle or store in lined landfills millions of cubic yards of coal ash currently located at sites around the state.
VaNews February 16, 2019
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Legislation that would require a mandatory minimum sentence of six months for anyone who maliciously kills or injures a police dog advanced from a General Assembly committee on Friday.
VaNews February 16, 2019
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Michelle Jenkins will leave her longtime post as district director for U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith this summer to accept a judicial appointment. On Thursday, the Virginia General Assembly made dozens of judicial appointments statewide. Jenkins, an attorney from Gate City, was appointed to the 30th Judicial District Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court bench to hear cases in Lee, Scott and Wise counties.
VaNews February 16, 2019
By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Legislation to require the excavation of the state’s legacy coal ash now stored in Dominion Energy ponds is on its way to the governor’s desk, after clearing the House overwhelmingly on Friday. Gov. Ralph Northam, whose administration played a key role in securing a deal on the legislation, is likely to sign it — putting an end to a yearslong fight over how to close the ash ponds.
VaNews February 16, 2019
By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Heading into the 2019 session, the LGBT rights group Equality Virginia had high hopes. The group had lined up a Republican sponsor in the House of Delegates for a bill to ban housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Three House Republicans appeared at a news conference in January to support the bill, enough to show the legislation would likely pass if it came to a vote on the House floor.
VaNews February 16, 2019
By JOE TENNIS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
A Virginia state budget amendment request has been introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates to fund a $10 million extension of Pinnacle Parkway in Washington County, Virginia. The request’s patron is Del. Todd E. Pillion, R-Abingdon, and co-patron is Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Bristol.
VaNews February 16, 2019
By ST, Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily
On Wednesday, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond made waves when it published a list of 42 names of clergy with “credible and substantiated” allegations of sexual abuse involving minors. Some of the names were priests who were assigned in Catholic churches in Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
VaNews February 16, 2019
