Briefs
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 Republicans’ 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 and […]
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 […]
The lengths Republicans are going to do avoid Corey Stewart; Also, stinkbugs and calculating partisan lean
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. Avoiding Corey The state’s Republican congressional candidates are going to lengths to avoid appearing with (or even near) Corey Stewart as they campaign for office, citing his past associations with white supremacist groups and penchant for saying things that draw negative attention.One candidate’s […]
Gov. Northam calls a special session to redraw House districts
The General Assembly will reconvene Aug. 30 under an order from Gov. Ralph Northam to redraw 11 House of Delegates districts that were deemed unconstitutional. Virginia has been in court over the 11 disputed districts since 2013. Twelve voters claimed the state packed black voters into the district during the regular redistricting process in 2011. […]
Regulators getting cozy with gambling interests? Also Nic Cage, poop and a Roanoke riverwalk
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. How cozy are state regulators with the company hoping to bring casino gambling to Virginia? So cozy that, when accused of being too cozy, the chairman of the Virginia Racing Commission let the company’s representatives ghost write the first draft of a letter […]
Scooter share says it’s operating legally in Richmond, plans meeting with city
The company behind a dockless, electric scooter rental business that popped up in Richmond without warning Thursday says it believes it’s operating legally in the city. Bird, a well funded California tech company, dropped a fresh batch of scooters around the city Friday, less than 12 hours after city officials began impounding the first wave […]
New potential source of money for schools; a moon over Roanoke County and other headlines
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere.Internet sales tax for schools?State Sen. Bill Stanley is pitching a plan to direct a coming windfall in state internet sales tax collections to repairing and replacing public school buildings. A 2013 study found more than three out of five of Virginia’s 2,030 school […]
Richmond is impounding electric scooters that popped up overnight
That didn’t last long. This morning, about 100 electric scooters that people can rent using a smartphone app had been dropped on sidewalks around downtown Richmond and VCU. By close of business, city officials said they were rounding up the scooters because the company hadn’t gotten permission to roll out the system. “The company been advised […]
New Atlantic Coast Pipeline suit takes aim at FERC approval, which underpins the whole project
A federal court in Richmond that has served as a major legal battlefield this summer over federal and state permits for the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines got a new case added to its docket Thursday. The Southern Environmental Law Center and Appalachian Mountain Advocates filed a challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s […]
Dockless electric rental scooters dropped onto Richmond sidewalks overnight. They may not be here for long
Update: A Bird spokeswoman says the company’s entry into Richmond is only temporary. She described it in an email this afternoon as a “pop up” timed to coincide with the beginning of fall classes at VCU. But she didn’t respond to questions about what exactly the company means by pop up and how long they plan […]
Was Blackbeard’s killing extrajudicial? Also: Dominion seeks a way around pipeline stop-work order
NEWS TO KNOW Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere. A defense attorney is trying to get an MS-13 murder trial moved out of Bedford County, arguing local news coverage combined with national debate over the gang and immigration have prejudiced potential jurors. – The News & Advance A Charlottesville couple is suing the […]