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Richmond’s yearly reminder that hosting the Redskins is a bad deal and other headlines
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily round-up of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. The Redskins returned to summer training camp in Richmond, prompting a fresh round of agonizing about how terrible the agreement with the team has been for the city. Mayor Levar Stoney and City Council Members marked the occasion by reiterating they would rather […]
Wild ponies, rising health insurance costs and arming teachers a ‘bad idea’
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily round-up of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. ACA rates keep climbing Insurance companies told state regulators that individual premiums are expected to rise again in 2019, though not as dramatically at the 68 percent increases seen this year, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. They told the state to expect rates to go up […]
Virginia businesses that rely on foreign workers wrestle with uncertainty over federal cap
Graham and Rollins in Hampton is one of the state’s oldest remaining crab houses, but its owner, Johnny Graham, says finding workers to do the tough, seasonal job of actually picking the sweet meat out of the sharp, crusty shells has gotten harder and harder. “You can imagine what a nasty, monotonous, crab-smelling job this […]
No Unite the Right reunion in Charlottesville? A round-up of Virginia headlines.
Subscribe to our newsletter to get this news round-up delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. The organizer of last August’s deadly white nationalist rally had been seeking a federal court order allowing him to mark the anniversary of the event with a second rally – a prospect city leaders and residents have vehemently opposed. […]
Only one more state needs to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Will it be Virginia?
In May, Illinois became the 37th state to sign off on the federal Equal Rights Amendment, leaving the decades-long effort to guarantee men and women equal stature in the U.S. Constitution just one state shy of ratification. Now advocates are looking to Virginia as the most likely candidate to tip the effort over the edge. […]
Lobbyists dodge disclosure, Charlottesville considers an elected mayor and more headlines
Our round-up of headlines from around the state and elsewhere. Sign up for our newsletter for direct delivery to your inbox every weekday morning. Lobbyists dodge disclosure Recently unmuzzled veteran lobbyist and former journalist Steve Haner, who is now a contributing editor to the public policy blog Bacon’s Rebellion, has a column in the Times-Dispatch about a […]
Advocacy group will monitor Staunton detention center
The disAbility Law Center of Virginia will look for signs of abuse and neglect at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center, the Staunton News Leader reports. Immigrant children being held at the facility have alleged they were “beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering concrete cells,” the […]
We know eviction rates are high in Virginia. New research effort aims to tell us why.
Major research released earlier this year found eviction rates in Virginia cities are among the highest in the country, drawing unprecedented attention to the issue and prompting a policy debate that’s still unfolding. But what has yet to be addressed in a rigorous academic setting is why eviction rates are so high here. That’s where […]
Bad week in court for two Virginia public officials and other news from around the state
The trials of two public officials, one current, one former, wrapped up this week. —In Portsmouth, a jury found Councilman Mark Whitaker guilty of falsifying signatures on financial documents but recommended he serve no jail time, the Virginian Pilot reports. —In Danville, former School Board Chairwoman Sharon Jones was sentenced to serve 60 days in […]
Business down at Virginia Papa John’s amid fallout from founder’s slur
Alexandra Cline at the Richmond Times Dispatch reports that a Virginia Papa John’s franchiser with 21 locations in Richmond, Hampton Roads and Charlottesville is taking steps to distance itself from its corporate parent after the pizza company’s founder used a racial slur in a conference call. “We’re of all walks and creeds,” Matt Sanders, a […]
State board clears local jails of responsibility in 23 deaths but won’t release details of investigations
The Virginia Board of Corrections wrapped up its first batch of inmate death investigations Wednesday, voting unanimously to clear about a dozen jails in 23 deaths that occurred in 2017 and 2018. The new review process was established by the General Assembly last year in a bid to increase oversight of local jails following the […]
With annexation off the table, officials studying ways to prod struggling cities to merge with counties
Residents of Martinsville are slowly coming around to the idea that the best thing for the city might be for it to cease being a city at all. Off-and-on discussions have been ongoing for decades about whether the shrinking, 13,500-population city in southern Virginia should revert to town status and be absorbed by surrounding Henry […]