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2020 red flag laws rarely used by most Va. localities
In 2018, police arrested Brandon Lee Rhodes in Chesterfield and charged him with assault and battery of a family member. In April 2023, he was charged again, this time after lighting the house on fire and assaulting his mother, according to a police report. That report said the attack left fingermarks on her neck. His mother explained that Rhodes suffers from mental illness. He was placed under court-ordered probation in lieu of a jail sentence. This January, Chesterfield police again rushed to the family’s home in Matoaca, where Rhodes was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. Family said that Rhodes, during a mental health episode, took his brother’s gun from an unlocked gun cabinet and shot his mother’s best friend.
What’s the future of drone production in the U.S.? Sen. Warner tackles the question at Manassas’ RapidFlight
Sen. Mark Warner visited Manassas-based RapidFlight Thursday for a discussion on the future of domestic drone production. The fireside chat, hosted by Axios reporter Colin Demarest, was held in RapidFlight’s headquarters and production facility in downtown Manassas. RapidFlight was founded in 2021 and announced it would be opening its operation in Manassas in 2022. The company designs and manufactures 3D-printed unmanned systems, more commonly called drones.
Volunteers keep watch over Smith Mountain Lake’s water quality for nearly four decades
For nearly 40 years, volunteers and environmental experts have made sure Smith Mountain Lake is ready for a season of fishing, swimming, and other recreational use. And while finding help over that time is rarely a problem, concerns about Harmful Algae Blooms are bringing new focus to their work. Ferrum College laboratory supervisor Carol Love has been monitoring Smith Mountain Lake since the late 1990’s.
Spencer: Despite Medicaid pledges, Wittman and Kiggans folded
“We cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations.” That is what U.S. Reps. Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans, along with 10 other Republican House members, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson on April 14. On May 22, Wittman and Kiggans voted for a House budget reconciliation bill that the Congressional Budget Office says could leave 16 million people without health insurance over the next decade. Millions of those people will lose coverage because of $803 billion in cuts to Medicaid ...
Culpeper man drives SUV through crowd at ‘No Kings’ protest; no injuries reported
A person at a No Kings protest was struck by a vehicle Saturday in Culpeper as a crowd was dispersing near the end of the gathering on the sidewalk in front of Walmart. Police said no injuries were reported and they don't know who was hit, but a Culpeper man has been taken into custody in the incident. Culpeper Police Department officers were in the area of 801 James Madison Highway on June 14 monitoring the conclusion of a lawful protest event organized by Culpeper Democrats as part of a nationwide movement protesting Trump Administration policies.
Thousands gather across Virginia on Saturday for ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump
Saturday was the first time Elizabeth Prom-Wormley had protested, she said. “But it just … enough's enough already,” she said. “I feel hurt. I feel angry. I feel hopeless, and I don't like feeling that way as somebody who pays their taxes on time and gives to my community over and over and over again.” Prom-Wormley was one of thousands who gathered at the Virginia state Capitol, as thousands more across the commonwealth protested against the actions of President Donald Trump’s administration. And the demonstrations in Richmond, Charlottesville, Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., were among thousands of planned protests in the U.S., offering contentious counterprogramming to a military parade for the Army’s 250th birthday, which coincided with Trump’s 79th birthday.
Yancey: 10 questions that Tuesday’s primaries will answer
I don’t know who’s going to win Tuesday’s Democratic primaries for lieutenant governor and attorney general but I can sure tell you who’s going to lose: Donald Trump. If all you knew was what you saw from the television ads of the six lieutenant governor candidates and two attorney general candidates, you’d think Trump is their opponent, not the others on the ballot. That’s likely good politics in a Democratic primary, but it also highlights just how few policy differences there appear to be between the respective candidates. Some primaries are a battle royale for “the soul of the party.” This year’s Democratic primaries for two of the three statewide offices — Abigail Spanberger is already the party’s nominee for governor — does not appear to be one of those.
One Virginia Community Took a Radical Approach to Fighting Addiction. It’s Working.
When Officer Chelsea Johnston came across a wanted felon one evening in May, Johnston jerked her cruiser in front of him, sprinted after him and tackled him to the ground. Still catching her breath, Johnston motioned for someone to step out of the cruiser: Joy Bogese. “Thank God,” the man said. “It’s you.” Bogese, who served time for financial crimes that fed a heroin addiction, now spends many of her evenings in a police cruiser as a recovery specialist helping people with addiction get into treatment. The man asked Bogese to help him get into a drug-treatment program at the local jail, where Bogese occasionally facilitates groups. She is part of a growing effort in Chesterfield County’s fight against addiction.
3 more Southwest and Southside localities come under state fire ant quarantine
Fire ants stayed in one part of Virginia for almost 30 years. Now, the invasive species is creeping toward Southwest and Southside Virginia, and a state quarantine to contain them has expanded yet again. Danville, Lee County and Pittsylvania County are among the 10 Virginia localities that have recently been added to the state quarantine as the warming climate makes western regions of the state more suitable for these small insects. The ants first appeared in Virginia in 1989 at a golf course in Hampton. Until 2017, they stayed put in Southeast Virginia. That year, they started to appear in Southside localities. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences extended a fire ant quarantine to some of these localities in response.
Court rules in favor of Martinsville in sewer contract dispute with Henry County Public Service Authority
A Martinsville Circuit Court judge has ruled in favor of the City of Martinsville in its long-running contract dispute with the Henry County Public Service Authority (PSA), awarding the city more than $7.4 million in damages and declaring the PSA liable for additional future costs. The ruling, issued June 6 by Judge G. Carter Greer, states that the city is entitled to $7,403,434 in compensatory damages — representing 47 percent of the cost to rehabilitate the Smith River Interceptor (SRI), a major sewer line. The court also found that the PSA will be responsible for its share of the cost to rehabilitate the Jones Creek Interceptor (JCI), based on the volume of its sewage that flows through that line. Work on the JCI has not yet been completed.