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Candidate says PAC illegally got her security clearance; Restraints in public schools; Vikings batted climate change and other headlines
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. Spangberger says PAC illegally obtained her federal security clearance application The former CIA officer running for Congress against Dave Brat, Abigail Spanberger, says there’s no way the Republican group could have gotten the document legally, The New York Times reports. The PAC, meanwhile, insists […]
During special redistricting session, will Republicans stall, play ball or both?
The General Assembly will reconvene at noon on Thursday, called back to Richmond by Gov. Ralph Northam to address a federal court order requiring lawmakers to redraw 11 House of Delegates districts. The court ruled in June that the districts were racially gerrymandered to contain a set threshold of black voters, diluting their political influence […]
Attorney general says plan to arm teachers in Lee County is unlawful
Attorney General Mark Herring said in an opinion Tuesday that a plan approved last month by the Lee County School Board to arm teachers is unlawful. “For five years in a row the General Assembly rejected specific proposals to arm teachers, so there’s really no ambiguity,” Herring said in a statement. In an effort to get […]
A police-shooting jury award; more money for opioid treatment; 5th district race sinks deeper into mud
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. After four hours of deliberation, a jury found two Virginia Beach police officers acted with gross negligence when they shot and killed a Navy veteran in 2015. The jury cleared two other officers. They recommended $800,000 in compensation be paid to her estate. – The […]
Low expectations for special session; A new tally on fraudulent signatures and Confederate imagery in Albemarle schools
Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. The special session of the General Assembly called by Gov. Northam this week to redraw House districts in response to a federal court ruling isn’t expected to yield new maps or much of anything else. – WVTF Tim Kaine and Corey Stewart appeared together at a Virginia […]
Documenting hundreds of mentally ill people who died in jail; more long prison sentences for white supremacist rally attendees
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. Hundreds of deaths, brutal treatment The Virginian-Pilot’s Gary A Harki is out with a massive and beautifully presented investigation into the terrible treatment mentally ill receive in the nation’s jails, no doubt prompted by a string of deaths in Hampton Roads Regional Jail. As […]
Another Virginia inmate says he was locked in solitary over prison politics
Kevin Rashid Johnson – active in the push to reform prison labor — says he was placed in a cell on death row despite never having been sentenced to death. “There can be only one reason they have put me here – to shut me up and prevent me fraternising with other prisoners as they […]
Virginia ERA campaign launches Sunday
As we reported last month, only one more state needs to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and advocates think there’s a good chance it could be Virginia. Those advocates say they’re kicking off their statewide campaign on Sunday with screenings around the state of “Iron Jawed Angels,” which tells the story of the women who […]
SOL pass rates down; more on Reublicans’ Corey Stewart angst; a clinic for truckers
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. SOL pass rates are down across the state They dropped slightly in every subject, with 79 percent of students passing in reading, 78 percent passing in writing, 77 percent passing in math, 81 percent passing in science and 84 percent passing in history […]
Like UNC, VCU has its own Confederate memorial dedicated with explicitly white supremacist speech
Earlier this week, protesters on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tore down a long contested Confederate memorial dubbed “Silent Sam,” which was targeted in part for the explicitly white supremacist speech that marked its 1913 unveiling. Confederate veteran Julian Carr extolled the Confederacy’s defense of the “Anglo-Saxon race” and […]
A $2,000 glass of whiskey, a state law banning bars and a years-long fight lawmakers can’t seem to untangle
It’s really thick, intensely flavored and, at McCormack’s Whisky Bar in Richmond, it goes for $2,000 a glass. “It’s absolutely unique compared to other spirits,” says owner Mac McCormack, describing The Macallan M, one of the world’s most expensive whiskeys. A bottle retails for as much as $6,500, so the mark up is reasonable in […]
Ballot shenanigans in Hopewell; Also: KKK leader sentenced and ‘Top Gun’ in Norfolk
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. Manafort, you may have heard, was found guilty A jury in Alexandria convicted the former Trump campaign chairman on eight of 18 counts. They were deadlocked on the other 10. He was found guilty of filing false tax returns, not reporting a foreign […]