Podcasts about attorney general mark herring

Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor Wednesday announced that she will seek the Democratic Party's nomination for the office of Virginia attorney general in next June's primary election. Taylor, who has served her role in Henrico since 2012, had considered launching in 2020 a campaign for the state office but ultimately opted to remain in the county after two-term Democratic incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring somewhat surprisingly opted not to run for governor and instead seek a third term. Herring lost that attempt to Republic Jason Miyares, the current attorney general. Miyares's plans are unknown; he is rumored to be weighing...Article LinkSupport the Show.

Closing out the first year of their Leaning Right and Turning Left podcast, Sadler and the Senator celebrate their 50th episode by looking back on the year that was. In the beginning of 2022, Hermie and Bill were embroiled in (what has turned out to be a totally successful) lawsuit against Governor Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring in a fight for small businesses over government overreach-- so what did these two knuckleheads decide to do? Well first, they started a race team (Sadler/Stanley Racing) in order to highlight short track racing in rural areas and the importance of small businesses in those areas; and then, they started this podcast in order to document their legal fight against the government -- to talk about short track racing and current NASCAR® news -- to explore state and national politics that matter to us all on an honest and open platform --- and even to discuss their mutual passion for professional wrasslin'! I mean, where else can you get all of that content wrapped up in one show? Here, that's where!  The boys announce that because of the incredible success of the show, they have been signed for another year, and discuss all the big topics and celebrity guests in the world of politics, wrasslin' and racing that they are going to have on the podcast in 2023. Listen as they discuss today's political climate, the process of candidate nomination in Virginia, and they even discuss what appears to be the casinos' recent “charm offensive” in the media heading into the GA session. And, perhaps most shockingly, Hermie and Bill reveal what may be a new strategy of the Virginia Lottery to screw small business convenience store owners if they have legitimate skill games in their stores. Sadler and Stanley finish up the first segment of the podcast by talking about how Christmas weekend went for their families, a look back on the year that is ending and the one that is to begin, and even discuss their personal New Year's resolutions to start 2023 on the good foot! And then, Hermie Sadler picks his favorite racing interview of the podcast this year, and we play it for you -- NASCAR® LEGEND KYLE PETTY!!! You don't want to miss this great year-ending episode of “Leaning Right and Turning Left With Sadler and The Senator,” powered by Pace-O-Matic! The Leaning Right and Turning Left With Sadler and The Senator is proudly sponsored by Pace-O-Matic, an entertainment company which develops gaming software that players love to play and can use their skills to win, every time. Pace-O-Matic is focused on people having fun, the small businesses that love them, and generates millions of dollars in Virginia. Their skill games are played in restaurants, bars and convenience stores all across Virginia, and the revenues from these games help these family-owned businesses thrive. Learn more about this great company at www.paceomatic.com. For all your men's grooming needs, look no further than our sponsor www.manscaped.com, and when you place an order for their awesome products, enter promo code “Sadler” at checkout and received 20% off your order, and get free shipping anywhere in the world!! For more information about this podcast, and Hermie and Bill's open-wheel modified race team, Sadler/Stanley Racing at www.sadlerstanleyracing.com, or visit their Facebook® pages (Leaning Right and Turning Left Podcast, and the Sadler/Stanley Racing). If you need a lawyer, contact Bill Stanley at www.vastanleylawgroup.com And don't forget to Save With Conrad, at www.savewithconrad.com ! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Retired NASCAR Driver. Hermie Sadler, joined RMN to discuss his lawsuit against former Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring. He also shared some of his concerns about the new budget in regards to his lawsuit.

This is Day 365, the final 24 hour period of 2021, and the eve of another Day 1. Today takes on many themes for many people, with some choosing reflection, some looking forward, and others simply existing. For me it’s another opportunity to write another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a program and newsletter that seeks to bring you as much information as often as possible. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, ready to get to it.Charlottesville Community Engagement is free to sign-up and you can decide later if you want to pay whatever you can to keep it going! On today’s program:The pandemic surge continues with three days in a row of record new cases, and Virginia’s emergency physicians want a new state of emergencyAttorney General Mark Herring has sued a small town outside Suffolk for a pattern of racial discrimination in traffic stopsCharlottesville City Council briefed on how the city’s affordable housing fund is used and agrees to cancel a sidewalk funded paid for through federal housing fundsMore new bills are filed, including a prohibition on COVID vaccine mandatesIn today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement, Stitch Please if the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. Stitch Please centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. Weekly discussions, interviews, tips, and techniques celebrate and contextualize Black creativity. To support the program, creator Lisa Woolfolk has created a 2022 Black Women Stitch wall calendar with four fusable applique patterns based on original art by Black women artists. Visit Black Women Stitch now to purchase it today! Pandemic updateFor the third day in a row, the Virginia Department of Health has reported a record number of new COVID cases with 17,618. The percent positivity has increased to 21.5 percent. These are numbers that have not been seen at any point during the pandemic. In the Blue Ridge Health District there are 365 new cases reported, which is not a record but it’s close. The seven-day average for new positive tests is 15.2 percent. Yesterday the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians called on Governor Ralph Northam to declare a state of emergency in order to assist emergency rooms across the Commonwealth. Northam’s previous emergency expired on June 30. “Emergency departments are considered a safety net for those patients in need of care, regardless of insurance status, and are federally mandated and morally obligated to provide care to all those who seek it,” reads their press release. “However, Virginia’s emergency medicine system is under threat of collapse due to excessive patient volume.”A declaration would allow access to federal funding, allow hospitals and ER’s to enact triage protocols, and more flexibility in allocating resources. The group also wants the Virginia Department of Health to provide more testing sites. The release notes that hospitalization numbers are below the levels of the winter peak earlier this year and that the majority of patients are unvaccinated.  You can confirm that fact on the Virginia Department of Health’s website. The high number of cases are causing some to alter their plans. The IX Art Park has canceled their Studio 51 New Year’s Eve party due to staffing and safety concerns. Outgoing Attorney General sues town of WindsorWith only two weeks remaining in his second term, outgoing Attorney General Mark Herring has filed a lawsuit against the Town of Windsor for violations of the Virginia Human Rights Act and the Virginia Public Integrity and Law Enforcement Misconduct Act. The latter passed the General Assembly in 2020 and allows the attorney general to sue when evidence is gathered that a law enforcement agency is “engaging in a pattern or practice that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities.”The suit filed in Isle of Wight Circuit Court argues that the town’s police department disproportionately pulls over Black drivers.“From July 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021, the Department conducted 810 traffic stops of Black drivers—representing approximately 42 percent of the stops conducted by the Department,” reads the pleading. “Consequently, the Town stopped Black drivers between 200 percent and 500 percent more often than would be expected based on the number of Black residents in the Town or Isle of Wight County.” The suit goes on to argue that Black drivers were searched more often than white drivers. It also cites an incident of December 2020 in which an officer claimed he was making a “felony stop” when he pulled over an off-duty police officer. “The Department does not have a policy on what constitutes a felony stop,” the argument continues. The suit also accuses the Town of inconsistent reporting and demands the Town adopt policies  to address the violations. Resources:Read the filing Read the Virginia Public Integrity and Law Enforcement Misconduct Act Read the Virginia Human Rights ActRead Herring’s press releaseBills filed to limit voting, prevent COVID vaccine mandates The General Assembly session begins in less than two weeks, and bills continue to be pre-filed. Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) has filed a bill prohibiting COVID vaccines from being mandated and prohibiting people from being dismissed by employers for refusing to be vaccinated. (HB27)Delegate Ronnie Campbell (R-Raphine) filed a bill to add 23.2 more miles of the Maury River to be added to the state’s list of Scenic Rivers. (HB28)Another bill from Campbell would rename and reroute a position of U.S. 60 in Lexington and create a new U.S. 850 for a section of the current route. (HB31)Campbell also filed legislation to allow Bath County to be added to the list of localities that can charge a fee for disposal of solid waste. (HB32)Campbell filed another bill to require vehicles that claim to be for Farm Use to obtain a placard from the Department of Motor Vehicles, at no charge. (HB33)Campbell would also prohibit Virginia from allowing absentee ballots to be dropped off at additional locations outside of registrars’ offices. (HB34)Campbell would also end no-excuse absentee voting. (HB35)Campbell would also abolish the right to be added to a permanent list for voting absentee. (HB36)Campbell also wants to call for a Constitutional Convention to put limit the power of the federal government. (HJ3)Harambe calendarA local educator has released the latest version of a calendar to help people find out about African American cultural events in the community. Alex Zan has been producing the Harambe Family Events calendar for many years. City Councilor Sena Magill made an announcement at last week’s City Council meeting. (download the calendar)“Harambe, Swahili for ‘all pull together,’ cultural events objectives are to inspire and unify area citizens to communicate more effectively and create and maintain a positive environment for change and civility,” Magill said. The calendar can be downloaded as a .PDF and can help map out 2022. “The calendar also strives to strengthen family relationships and nurture cultural awareness, particularly among African Americans who have experienced a lack of inclusion in many area events,” Magill said.Magill said physical copies of the calendar will be distributed throughout the community. *You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement!In today’s shout-out, a shout-out to the shouters-of out! I want to thank all of the individuals and entities that have supported this newsletter and podcast through a $25 a month Patreon contribution or through some other combination of support. Thanks to:The Charlottesville Jazz SocietyCode for CharlottesvilleLEAPThe Rivanna Conservation AllianceLonnie Murray and his penchant for native plantWTJU, The Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society, Jefferson Madison Regional LibraryCharlottesville Area Tree Stewards, Cville 350Piedmont Master GardenersThe Valley Research Center (may not actually exist)  *Council briefed on affordable housing fundsA firm hired to conduct an audit of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund presented preliminary results to City Council at their final meeting of the year in the early morning of December 21. HR&A had already completed an affordable housing plan as part of the Cville Plans Together initiative but Council paid an additional $165,000 to the firm for that audit, as well as creation of a program to ensure that the upcoming rewrite of the zoning code is inclusionary. The adopted plan called for the city to spend $10 million on housing for at least ten years. The Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund was created in 2007 as one tool for the city to increase the number of subsidized housing units. No audit has ever been conducted, and the city has struggled to hold on to housing coordinators, a position which has been vacant since the summer of 2020. “We went back to records going back to 2010 and we’re talking about just shy of $47 million here, the vast majority of $38 million being local and city housing trust fund money,” said Phillip Kash of HR&A. Kash said there are three major areas funded by the CAHF. They are development of new units and rehabilitation of existing ones, programs and operations of housing nonprofits, or city administration. The main beneficiary of city funding has been Piedmont Housing Alliance, followed by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. “That’s really tied to the Friendship Courts project in particular, and this really moves their position on this pretty significantly,” Kash said. The analysis also broke down how much return the city got on its investment. Rehabilitation and construction of single family homes are the most expensive per unit. New construction has been subsidized at a range between $20,000 and $45,000, with rehabilitation between $3,000 and $25,000 a unit. Kash said there are some initial lessons that can be learned. “Funding that was authorized by the city was not spent or followed up on,” Kash said. “While it was awarded, what it was awarded for was not necessarily ending up happening or wasn’t actually used. There are a couple of examples of projects being delayed or projects not being built yet. There were projects actually located outside the city. There’s a clear pattern of needing better reporting or monitoring.” A final report will be developed early next year. Recommendations will inform the next capital improvement program. Outgoing Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she wants funding to go be producing housing and not to support nonprofits.“Keeping an organization afloat should not be our goal if they’re not delivering,” Walker said. “I think what ultimately once this report is finished, the community will see that we haven’t been mindful at all regarding the funds that we are allocating and we need to be more mindful.” Council cancels CDBG-funded sidewalk on Franklin StreetIn their final item of the year, Council agreed to cancel a project to build a sidewalk on Franklin Street using federal funds that come through the Community Development Block Grant process. The project had been selected by a task force but was defunded earlier this year because it could not be completed by a federal deadline. Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders recommended Council consider moving away from the task force model. “Routinely, a task force model doesn’t necessarily help to meet the regulatory conditions because typically what you’re doing is simply allowing community members to pick projects and they don’t necessarily always know the details that go into executing,” Sanders said. In 2017, the city selected the Belmont neighborhood to be the recipient of CDBG funds and a task force recommended $204,263 funding go toward the Franklin Street sidewalk. This spring, staff said they would seek to reallocate funds back to the project, but Sanders had concerns it would once again not be completed in time to meet a May 2022 deadline. “Engineering complications exist today in order for us to be able to move forward,” Sanders said. “The reality is it should not have been selected.” Sanders, who has only been with the city since August, said the process is flawed. In addition, Sanders said this project did little to address low-income residents. Council agreed to cancel the project. Sanders will return with an update to the city’s ordinance to eliminate the task force’s role in favor of a staff advisory body that would seek input from the Planning Commission and Council. Resources:Minutes of the Belmont CDBG Task Force, November 7, 2018Minutes of the Belmont CDBG Task Force, February 12, 2019CDBG-funded Franklin Street sidewalk to be delayed, February 22, 2021An update on Franklin Street sidewalk, April 19, 2021Year in Review relegated to TwitterThis has been a very busy year for Town Crier Productions with 163 newsletter, 51 Weeks Ahead, and a whole lot of reporting and research. I had intended to create a Year In Review, but 2022 is going to begin with a bang so my concentration is going there.However, I am continuing to do a Year in Review on the cvilletowncrier account on Twitter. If you want to review the year, take a look there. After about 16 hours of work reviewing previous installments of this newsletter, I’ve only gotten as far as March. So, take a look there, and please retweet and like and share. Thanks for all of your support this year, and let’s see what 2022 brings us. Stay safe! Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Attorney General Mark Herring sues the town of Windsor over discriminatory law enforcement practices; Nine confederate statues in Richmond could find a new home in a museum; When the General Assembly convenes next month, lawmakers will consider a bill to allow hunting on Sundays; And Jeff Shapiro and Michael Pope discuss the week in Virginia government and politics

Attorney General Mark Herring sues the town of Windsor over discriminatory law enforcement practices; Nine confederate statues in Richmond could find a new home in a museum; When the General Assembly convenes next month, lawmakers will consider a bill to allow hunting on Sundays; And Jeff Shapiro and Michael Pope discuss the week in Virginia government and politics

Eight months after body camera footage of Windsor Police officers pepper spraying and beating a Black and Latino Army lieutenant during a traffic stop went viral, Attorney General Mark Herring has filed suit saying the department disproportionately pulls over Black drivers.

The University of Virginia Medical Center will spend more than $30 million on raises for its staff; Attorney General Mark Herring sues two construction companies over worker misclassification; A new report finds Virginia is well prepared to handle emergencies; And archaeologists in Colonial Williamsburg make an exciting discovery

Attorney General Mark Herring is highlighting his efforts to defend abortion rights ahead of the November Election; A new monument now stands on Brown's Island in Richmond. It commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation; Despite Governor Ralph Northam's request that state employees be vaccinated against COVID-19, many workers are opting for weekly testing instead; and other local news stories.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring join NAAG to discuss how attorneys general serve the military and veteran communities in their states. 

Tuesday, June 8, was the Democratic primary for statewide offices, and the results were fairly unexceptional. Former Governor Terry McAuliffe handily won the nomination for governor, State Delegate Hala Ayala won the nomination for Lieutenant Governor, and incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring beat out a primary challenger; meanwhile, outspoken delegates Lee Carter, Mark Levine, and Ibrahim Samirah failed to win their bids for re-nomination. All in all, a fairly clean sweep for the Democratic establishment as many progressive candidates lost out to their more moderate, corporate-friendly challengers. So what happened to Virginia's progressive moment? Has the state already reached a new equilibrium in the post-Trump era? To answer that question, we spoke with Richmond-based journalist Peter Galuszka, as well as Brennan Gilmore, Executive Director of Clean Virginia, an organization dedicated to fighting corruption in Virginia's government.

Virginia colleges are beginning to announce mandatory fall COVID-19 vaccine policies following the state attorney general's opinion that higher education institutes can require the vaccine. Virginia public colleges and universities can mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for faculty and students returning to campus this fall, Attorney General Mark Herring stated in late April. “Virginia’s college and university students deserve the chance to go to classes in-person and take advantage of all that their schools have to offer, but over the past year we have seen numerous COVID outbreaks on school campuses, so we must make sure that they are doing so...Article LinkSupport the show (http://henricocitizen.com/contribute)

This episode of VHHA's Patients Come First podcast is part of a limited-run spinoff series featuring interviews with 2021 candidates for statewide office in Virginia. Listen to our conversation with Attorney General Mark Herring, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Virginia Attorney General. Send questions, comments, or feedback to pcfpodcast@vhha.com or contact us on Twitter or Instagram using the #PatientsComeFirst hashtag.

For the first time in its history, Virginia will have a Secretary of Labor; Attorney General Mark Herring says colleges and universities in the commonwealth CAN require students to get vaccinated; Republicans in Virginia reverse an earlier decision to prevent people from voting absentee in their upcoming nominating convention; And local US Forest Service rangers conduct a prescribed burn on national forest land in Augusta, Rockingham and Pendleton counties

Good morning, RVA! It’s 48 °F, and it looks like we have a wonderful day ahead of us. Expect highs in the mid 80s and a reason to get out of bed.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 719 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 15 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 82 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 33, Henrico: 33, and Richmond: 16). Since this pandemic began, 1,268 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,117. Another day with a three-digit number of new reported cases! If we keep this up, our seven-day average of new reported cases will dip below 1,000 for the first time since October 20th. Locally, we’re seeing a seven-day average of 123 new cases, or 11% of statewide total. Back during this winter’s horrible peak, our region accounted for about 14% of all new cases. I don’t know if that’s useful information or not, but I’m really interested in the urbanization/politicization of the vaccine. Will the map of case counts per 100,000 people start to look like the inverse of the map of vaccinations per 100,000 people?Eric Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Attorney General Mark Herring says colleges “may condition in-person attendance on receipt of an approved COVID-19 vaccine during this time of the pandemic.” I’m still a little confused on what is and is not allowed when it comes to requiring a vaccine that’s under Emergency Use Authorization, but it sounds like we’re pretty close to finding out.City Council’s Public Safety committee will meet today and hear a presentation about pay raises for police and fire personnel from the Richmond Coalition of Police and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local #995. This conversation is tied up in the Gallagher pay study, one of my new recent obsessions. The Gallagher study—which Council already approved, has partially funded, and is a huge priority in the mayor’s proposed budget—lays out a methodical way of increasing pay for all City employees to raise them all up to market-competitive rates. This year, some Councilmembers have proposed budget amendments to increase pay for police and fire beyond this already approved study, which I think is ridiculous. Last week’s budget session offered a little clarity on this, and Council staff basically said police and fire were unhappy with the existing proposed increases and have submitted their own suggested pay increases instead. That Council would even consider additional pay increases for police and fire, above and beyond the currently planned increases, after the last 18 months of life in America!, boggles the mind. I haven’t listened yet, but VPM’s Roberto Roldan did and says “Richmond City Council is abandoning the idea of trying to implement an increased pay plan for police and firefighters. Both will get the two pay raises already in Mayor Stoney’s proposed budget. They’re going to hire a consultant to study a new pay plan.” While that sounds better than the alternative, I’m still salty about spending any of the City’s on another study—we have a study! How can I submit a rogue salary proposal for Parks & Rec and Planning employees to force the City into studying giving them some more money? Is there a form on the City’s website or something?Related and as expected, City Council passed the red pulse lane ordinance yesterday. I imagine it’ll take a while to get this project moving forward, but I fully expect to see Mayor Stoney out on Broad Street with a paint roller before next summer.The Washington Post has a piece explaining recently-passed federal emergency aid to college students, which opens with a look at how the program helped a first-generation VCU student. As with all of these pandemic programs, the natural next question is “…what if we just kept doing this forever?”The 2020 Census is out! America officially has a “resident population” of 331,449,281, and Virginia now has a population of 8,631,393. The latter is slightly higher than the Weldon Cooper number of 8,535,519that I’ve been using (what, you don’t have a favorite population estimate for your state?). Lots of the media coverage I’ve seen focuses on how the new counts will impact congressional seats ahead of the 2022 midterms, but, idk, to me, access to new data seems like a way more interesting thing to care about.Richmond Public Schools’ #ReopenWithLove2.0 virtual student and family conversations kick off tonight at 6:00 PM with a conversation for Southside families. From the flyer: “[these] virtual conversations will be hosted with RPS and members of the Richmond health community to discuss RPS’s fall reopening plans.” Spanish interpretation is available, too. If you’ve got questions about the general thrust of the reopening plan or needling specifics about what’s happening at your own school, this is a great opportunity to ask. Check out the call info and the rest of the dates and times here.This morning’s patron longreadConjuring Maine’s Clairvoyant KushSubmitted by Patron Daniel. I think Virginia’s marijuana legalization laws close this specific psychic delivery loophole, but life finds a way, doesn’t it?So Justin has remained an Incredibles patron. Earlier this month, he suddenly lost an eighth of an ounce of Bop Gun (sativa hybrid) and another eighth of Raspberry Diesel (indica hybrid). He’d lost other types before but not these. He inquired with Incredibles about recovering them after a jog one afternoon. “We have started to use our Psychic Power to find your lost products,” a text message came back. “Our Psychic is on the way to your location now!” The psychic arrived within five minutes, before Justin had time to take off his socks. The smiling driver passed two sealed jars through the window of the car.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the Day

Leaders in Virginia react to the guilty verdict in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin; Virginians collecting unemployment benefits will be required to report looking for work starting in early June; Attorney General Mark Herring is asking the Virginia Supreme Court to dissolve a restraining order preventing Virginia from removing the statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond; And the University of Virginia Health System has announced new billing policies that focus on a patient’s ability to pay.

In leaked audio published on Sunday by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Governor Ralph Northam’s staff questions the Virginia Inspector General’s authority to investigate alleged violations at the parole board; Now that the COVID-19 vaccine is available to all residents over the age of 16, Virginia Senator Mark Warner encouraged residents to protect their communities by getting a shot; Attorney General Mark Herring is asking the Virginia Supreme Court to dissolve a restraining order preventing the state from taking down the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, and other local news stories.

Attorney General Mark Herring is using his authority, under a new state law, to probe the Windsor Police department’s overall policies and training; One of the survivors of the Virginia Tech mass shooting speaks about his experience 14 years later; Senator Tim Kaine is reintroducing legislation that aims to reduce gun violence; and other local news stories.

While there’s a pause on using the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, Virginia’s leading vaccination official says the state remains on track to make other doses available to all adults by next week; Attorney General Mark Herring has directed his Office of Civil Rights to investigate the Windsor Police Department following the December traffic stop of an army officer; After the removal of Confederate monuments last year, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney wants to make sure the city never again displays symbols of hate; and other local news stories.

Attorney General Mark Herring sues Libre by Nexus – he says they’re preying on immigrants… Virginia will be the first state in the south to ban the death penalty… How close are we to herd immunity? An expert at UVa answers that question….

Attorney General Mark Herring sues Libre by Nexus – he says they’re preying on immigrants… Virginia will be the first state in the south to ban the death penalty… How close are we to herd immunity? An expert at UVa answers that question….

Thank you for joining us for our Episode of Get In The Herd from Friday, Feb. 12th, 2021 as we will be talked with Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring about the National Opioid Settlement Discussion within The Recovery Community, the creation of the Virginia opioid abatement authority, the distribution of those funds for recovery from addiction, as it stands now 70% of these funds must go to treatment and recovery, what it may look like for non-government organization (NGO's) and authentic Recovery Community Organizations (RCO's) providing these currently non funded services. This was a Historic and very important discussion, you are not going to want to miss it! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

State, city and Capitol police are collaborating with city agencies to prepare for potential unrest in Richmond as the presidential inauguration approaches; Historians weigh in on the breach of the U.S. Capitol; Attorney General Mark Herring announced a settlement in a price gouging case; and other local news stories.

Del. Jason Miyares (R-82) joins Jeff to discuss the Virginia Parole Board releasing yet another convicted killer and the silence of Attorney General Mark Herring.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and, whoa temperatures. You can expect highs today near 80 °F, which is surely fine on this the 10th of November and not at all concerning in a climate-change way. Rain moves in tomorrow and Thursday, so bask in the sunshine this afternoon if you can.Water coolerRichmond Police are reporting two murders. This past Thursday, November 5th, officers responded to the 6800 block of Midlothian Turnpike and found Ja’Shawn Pressley shot to death inside of a car. Then, yesterday, officers were called to the 1700 block of W. Cary Street and found Christina Cunningham stabbed to death in a nearby residence. An arrest was made on the scene.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,302↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 6↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 167↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 90, Henrico: 33, and Richmond: 44). Since this pandemic began, 439 people have died in the Richmond region. VDH has updated their weekly pandemic metrics, and the Central Region (where we live) continues to experience “substantial community transmission,” the highest level. We’ve been at this level of community transmission for five weeks now, but hovering just on the edge between “substantial” and “moderate”—aka could be worse, I guess. Related to spreading the virus in the community, Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that three people in Richmond’s General Registrar’s office have tested positive for COVID-19 as well as a person associated with Mayor Stoney’s reelection campaign. This means 15 folks in the registrar’s office are headed to quarantine, and…so is the mayor! Stoney says, “My staff & I are well prepared to serve the residents of Richmond from home. It’s the safe, responsible thing to do while RCHD traces possible exposures stemming from the Registrar’s Office. This should serve as a sobering reminder that the pandemic is still very real.” Yes, yes it is. Oh, also! Read the Biden transition team’s response to the news that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine looks to be 90% effective. How normal and reassuring! BREATH OF FRESH AIR.As foretold, last night City Council adopted ORD. 2020–222 and ORD. 2020–224, the pedestrian improvements near St. Catherine’s School and the renaming of Confederate Avenue respectively. They also ended up deciding to continue the rezoning of properties along and around Broad Street, ORD. 2020–103, until their December 14th meeting. Apparently, Council also had a bit of discussion around ORD. 2020–215, their regularly-scheduled ordinance to keep the real estate tax rate at $1.20. I didn’t even flag this ordinance as worth noting yesterday, because voting against it and allowing the real estate tax to drop to $1.176 (which happens automatically without this ordinance because of a dumb, austerity-inspired state law) would be absolutely catastrophic to the City—especially this year as a coronarecession looms. This paper comes up every year, has passed unanimously for at least the last five years without issue, yet this year Councilmembers Gray and Trammell voted against it. Absolutely shocking, and I’d love to hear what services Councilmember Trammell had planned on cutting in the 8th District to keep the budget balanced.Yesterday’s email from RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras included a reflection from Thomas Jefferson High School principal Cherita Sears, which you should read in full. I’ll quote a bit here: “I have been holding my breath for 4 days. Waiting for relief. Waiting for peace. In my daughter’s words ‘We are free.’ Interesting how November 7th feels like Juneteenth. When the word came, I cried…screamed…and danced. Not only is it freeing. But as a black woman, living in an America that does not fully love me, my black husband, my black son, and my black daughter… it is spirit-lifting to finally see a woman of color in the white house…as a leader, not a servant.”Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments in California v. Texas, a case which could decide the fate of Obamacare (again). The Virginia Mercury has a What’s At Stake piece that’ll give you some of the scary context. Also, Virginia’s Attorney General Mark Herring has a column supporting the ACA in today’s paper.Logistical note! Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day, a federal holiday, and as such I’ll be taking the morning off to ride my bicycle in the rain. I hope you’ll find time to do whatever the equivalent is in your life, too!This morning’s longreadClimbing’s Little HelperI continue to love reading about whatever thing is tearing some specific, unknown-to-me community apart. The high-altitude climbing community is reeling, I’m sure!The doctors immediately sent a Sherpa to Easterling’s tent to collect any drugs he could find. When the Sherpa returned, the doctors gasped: he was carrying a tray full of dexamethasone, also known as dex, a controversial anti-inflammatory steroid. Prescribed to treat everything from tumors to asthma, dex has become popular among mountaineers in recent years because it can mitigate some of the effects of altitude sickness and high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), like brain swelling, and because, when taken prophylactically, it can help climbers ascend quickly. Used to excess, it can also have dangerous side effects. On the tray sat 30 unopened vials of dex—more than Goodman stocked to serve every climber on Everest for an entire season. The Sherpa also handed Goodman a bottle of pills. At one point it had contained 90 doses of dexamethasone. Now it contained four.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and today looks like the warmest, nicest day of the week. Expect a pleasant afternoon with highs in the mid 70s. Tomorrow, though, the rain moves in, temperatures start dropping, and by Friday I’m wearing overalls.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,134↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 19↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 109↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 29, Henrico: 45, and Richmond: 35). Since this pandemic began, 415 people have died in the Richmond region. We are one week away from the 2020 election—a date that’s seemed both infinitely far away and right around the corner for four years. It’s ultra important that you vote, but there is a pandemic on. I think by now, y’all know the basics for safe coronavoting—masks, distance, hand washing, and giving yourself plenty of time to deal with lines and delays—but do you know what to do if you end up in isolation or quarantined between now and Election Day? Lucky for you (well, not so lucky as you either have COVID-19 or were exposed to someone who does), the Virginia Department of Health has some helpful information on casting an emergency absentee ballot (PDF). The dates are important here, so don’t screw it up: You must request to vote emergency absentee before 2:00 PM on the day preceding the election and the completed form must be turned in by 5:00 PM. You can find some more information on the Department of Elections website, too. Don’t let a virus keep you from exercising your right to vote!On Monday, police in Philadelphia shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old Black man who was experiencing a mental health crisis. Since then, protestors have filled the streets of Philly, and the Philadelphia Inquirer has an intense set of photos from the last couple of days. This is horrible, well-worn territory that we seem unable or unwilling to stop repeating. Last night, a couple dozen Richmonders marched in solidarity with the folks in Philly and in remembrance of Marcus David-Peters, who, while experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot and killed by Richmond Police. I can’t really tell from the news or the Twitter this morning if folks were arrested, but here’s at least one video of Police man-marching down a street in the Fan and rushing after someone. I’m still waiting for, maybe stupidly, a dramatic shift in tone from the RPD—a shift both in their language and their physical response to what appear to be generally peaceful protests. This shift could be implemented by the Chief of Police or, of course, by the Chief’s boss, the Mayor.Yesterday, Attorney General Mark Herring made some progress in the ongoing legal battle to take down the state-owned Robert E. Lee monument. From his Twitter: “We WON the Lee statue case after a judge found that it was raised against a backdrop of white supremacy and that it is against public policy to keep it up. The ruling is stayed pending appeal, but this is a HUGE win and we’re on the path to bringing down this relic.” Governor Northam released a short statement, too, saying “The Lee monument was built to celebrate the Confederacy and uphold white supremacy. This victory moves Virginia forward in removing this relic of the past—one that was erected for all the wrong reasons.” Sounds like the people that want to keep this particular monument to white supremacy up have 30 days to appeal, which I’m sure they will. I just don’t see a world in which the man-and-horse portion of the Lee monument sticks around, but it may be well into 2021 before the State sweeps away any remaining legal issues preventing its removal. In the meantime, Richmond City should kickstart a public planning process to figure out how best to move forward with the now very-sacred space. I shouldn’t be the one to decide, but removing the stone plinth at this point, which I think is the State’s current plan, doesn’t seem appropriate.In the RTD, Jessica Nocera has a stressful story about Chesterfield County Public Schools’s reopening process. Yesterday, the District’s health panel decided—in a split decision—to send the final, older cohort of students back to in-person instruction on November 9th. From the article (and from having read a bunch of PDFs), it sounds like the County’s panel is using the newish CDC School Metrics and maybe the associated Virginia Department of Health’s guidance(PDF) on those metrics to make their decisions. As with most things in our country’s / state’s / city’s response to the pandemic, these documents are mostly just that: Guidance, not requirements. Disease is complicated, turns out. I definitely do not envy the panel who must make these very important, very public decisions.Candidate questionnaires are important—not just to inform voters (which, there’s a good chance you’ve already voted) but to keep candidates accountable after they win their elections and start in on the business of running our town. Richmond Mayorathon has posted most of the responses to their policy-heavy questions so you can hear from candidates on things like bikes, buses, combined sewer overflow, police, and all kinds of other topics you most likely care about. Print these bad boys to PDF, file them away, and let’s check back in 2022 on promises kept and promises broken.The RTD’s Mark Robinson has a ton of mayoral fundraising details for you to wade through. Most interesting to me: Alexsis Rodgers has outraised Kim Gray.Style Weekly has released their annual Top 40 Under 40 list—a list of 40 rad people doing rad things all under the age of 40. You’ll recognize some of these names! That makes sense, though, because of all the rad stuff these folks get into.This morning’s patron longreadParenting Is a Job. During the Pandemic, It’s Impossible.Submitted by Patron Jeff. Parenting is a lot of work under normal circumstances, and right now, under the most bizarre of circumstances, it can feel hopelessly overwhelming. If you work with folks responsible in some way for a tiny human, give them a little extra grace.The most impossible of situations falls to single parents, most of whom are single moms. A quarter of US families are single-parent households (and four out of five of those households are headed by single mothers). A single mom must somehow manage to parent all day and all night, while also working and being the sole provider of income. In the cases where schools and daycare centers are closed, single parents are not able to work. Without a job, they are left with little to no unemployment benefits to feed and shelter their children, and with no other parent in the house to take over while they apply for jobs or run basic errands to get groceries. During the pandemic, the lack of social supports for single parents is heightened, because social-distancing measures make it nearly impossible to get outside help. There is, as one economist bluntly put it, “no escape.”If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

We talk to Virginia's Attorney General Mark Herring about his priorities for police reform. Then we unpack what happened at the General Assembly.

Virginia's attorney general joins the show to discuss how the state eliminated a backlog of untested rape kits. Then we talk about the crisis faced by foreign students who may have to leave the country.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 67 °F, and highs today will land somewhere around 80 °F. It’s looking like we might catch some sunshine today—or at least a break in the rain.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 444 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 12 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 102 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 57, Henrico: 21, and Richmond: 24). Since this pandemic began, 208 people have died in the Richmond region. I still think something different is going on in Chesterfield, but, who knows for sure. Check out these cumulative reported positive case graphs for Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield. They all different and interesting shapes, with Richmond’s starting to bend into an S-curve, Henrico’s looking like a straight line, while Chesterfield’s much more resembles a classic exponential curve (blah, blah standard disclaimer about these graphs being a function of testing still applies!). Make sure you tune in to the Governor’s coronabriefing today, as he plans to share some details about what moving into Phase Three will look like across the Commonwealth.Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has an interesting piece on proposed statewide COVID-19 regulations for businesses. I super agree with this quote from the Legal Aid Justice Center’s Jason Yarashes about the necessity of actual-factual regulations: “With enforceable regulations, workers will feel more empowered to speak out for their safety in the workplace, particularly during COVID when essential workers are risking their lives to keep the economy alive and feed their families.” It’d have been cool if the Governor had set up these rules and regulations before opening up businesses and moving the Commonwealth in the Phase Two, but, unfortunately, that’s not the timeline in which we live!Whether because of the rain or because folks just needed to catch up on some sleep, I think last night was Richmond’s first night without a major protest downtown since May? However, the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Sabrina Moreno returns from furlough and has a few pictures from an event that took place on the Southsidealong with some video of the ridiculous fort built by the Richmond Police Department outside of their headquarters. I don’t know what the dip in protestor activity means. Are folks generally satisfied with the Mayor’s decision to fire the Police Chief? Have they run out of monuments to tear down? Are they maybe just tired and need a hot second to catch their breath? I have no idea!You know who’s not taking a break? Attorney General Mark Herring, that’s who. A judge will hear the case delaying the removal of the Lee monument today, and yesterday the AG filed his brief which he helpfully explains in this twitter thread. The brief quotes John Mitchell Jr, and ends with “The ‘pride’ plaintiff asserts that he and other unidentified members of his family have felt ‘for 130 years’ when pondering the statue of Lee towering over Richmond and the plurality of its population Lee fought to keep enslaved is not shared by all…Each day it stands cuts a deeper wound into the hearts and minds of those who have endured the pain of systemic racism and injustice for far too long.” About the lawsuit to keep the statue up, Herring’s spokesperson had this to say: “This random person who came out of nowhere doesn’t get to dictate what the commonwealth does with its own statue…The statue needs to come down and AG Herring will continue to work to make that happen.”GRTC had their regularly scheduled board meeting this week, and you can download and check out the board packet (PDF) which is filled with all kinds of interesting things. Probably of most interest to normal people is the ridership report on page 33. Even in the midst of an ultracrisis, the Richmond region’s fixed-route bus ridership (everything that’s not an express route) is down just 29%—and down just 22% on buses that are not the Pulse. In fact, year-to-date ridership compared to last year, across every route, is down a total of 0.31%. The lack of cratering ridership that some other cities have seen speaks to the importance of public transportation to our region’s essential workers.At tonight’s Richmond 300 virtual summit you can spend some time talking through the plans for Stony Point Fashion Park. I know, I know, I can hear some of your eyes rolling at this very moment, but the quick plan outlining the potential for that disconnected and underused part of town is surprisingly interesting (PDF). It’s not like the current plan for the area is working out, right? You can register for tonight’s summit over on the Eventbrite.Tomorrow is Juneteenth, and some folks will have the day off for the first time. Superintendent Kamras says RPS employees will have Monday off because Friday was already a planned summer holiday and “declaring Friday ‘off’ doesn’t provide any additional benefit to our employees.” In yesterday’s email, Kamras shares some background on Juneteenth from Dr. Henry Louis Gates, which you should read but I’ll quote a bit: “Hardly the recipe for a celebration — which is what makes the story of Juneteenth all the more remarkable. Defying confusion and delay, terror and violence, the newly “freed” black men and women of Texas, with the aid of the Freedmen’s Bureau (itself delayed from arriving until September 1865), now had a date to rally around. In one of the most inspiring grassroots efforts of the post-Civil War period, they transformed June 19 from a day of unheeded military orders into their own annual rite, “Juneteenth,” beginning one year later in 1866.”This morning’s longreadFear of Public Transit Got Ahead of the EvidenceThis is some good news. I haven’t found my way back on a bus yet, but that’s mostly because I’m privileged enough to not have needed to find my way back anywhere.Even during a pandemic, public-transit systems show themselves to be indispensable to the functioning of big cities, transporting essential workers to jobs, while also acting as a major engine of economic stability and equity. As New York and other cities take steps to reopen, transit agencies’ most pressing job, next to managing massive budget shortfalls, will be managing fear while they seek to reclaim the passengers they have lost. High-visibility cleaning and strong health-messaging campaigns, coupled with universal mask wearing, can help reassure passengers that they can return to a safe transit system. But more reassuring still is the lack of evidence that public-transit systems have played a role in COVID-19 transmission—and a growing body of research pointing in the other direction.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and you can expect cooler temperatures and more rain. You might see the sun tomorrow, though!Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 445 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 18 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 103 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 65, Henrico: 22, and Richmond: 16). Since this pandemic began, 205 people have died in the Richmond region. Almost a quarter of the new coronavirus cases in Virginia reported yesterday came from the Richmond region. Out of the three local jurisdictions, Chesterfield has the highest percent positivity at 12.1, with Richmond and Henrico at 11.0 and 8.6 respectively. I don’t really know what to make of it, but the graph of the seven-day averages of new cases in the region by locality is pretty interesting. Something is different about Chesterfield! At the Governor’s press conference yesterday, which featured Pharrell, he (the Governor, not Pharrell) said the Commonwealth would not move into Phase Three this week and that he would have more details on the particulars of Phase Three on Thursday.Yesterday, after three straight nights of violent police response to people protesting violent police responses, Mayor Stoney asked for and received Police Chief Will Smith’s resignation. You can read the Mayor’s press release here and you can watch the press conference here (which you should definitely do). Major William Jody Blackwell will serve as the Interim Chief.Policywise, the Mayor doubled down on his commitment to a community review board, the Marcus Alert, and “strengthening the Richmond Police Department’s ban on chokeholds and duty to intervene policy.” He also announced the Richmond Task Force on Reimagining Public Safety which will “bring more than 20 individuals from the activist, legal, academic, law enforcement, behavioral health and other communities together to agree on a set of actionable steps forward within 90 days of the first meeting.” Note the “reimagining” language which was used yesterday by both the ACLU of Virginia and Sen. McClellan. It sounds like if you want to defund the police, this is the task force for you. No word on who those 20 folks are yet.Vibewise, to me, this speech was two weeks late and sounded like the speech Stoney needed to give on June 3rd—after police gassed peaceful protestors at the Lee monument and after he committed to protestors to put together a community review board and the Marcus Alert. Missing for me were an acknowledgment of the police’s inappropriate use of force over the last several nights and a promise that it would stop. The Mayor blamed any and all violence on a small subset of protestors who, in his view, aren’t supporting the cause of Black and Brown folks. It’s hard for me to buy that line of reasoning when every morning I wake up to videos of cops using their cars as weapons, throwing flashbangs at members of the press, or arbitrarily pepper spraying crowds. Stoney never mentioned any of this and either implicitly—or at times, outright—supported the aggressive police behavior. What’s the point of firing the Chief yet fully supporting the unacceptable on-the-street actions of officers working for the Chief?Yesterday, the Mayor said he’s ready to move in a new direction with policing in Richmond. Firing Chief Smith, the Reimagining Task Force, a community review board, and the Marcus Alert are all steps in that new direction. Yet, at the very moment the Mayor delivered his remarks, City crews were busy erecting enormous cement barricades in front of the police headquarters while cops in riot gear gathered, creating a physical symbol of the RPD’s defensive position. That us vs. themmindset needs to change. The relationship between the Richmond Police Department and the city it serves is fundamentally broken, and there’s a lot of work to do to rebuild—reimagine—that relationship. Unfortunately, for now, I’m skeptical.It’s 2020, and that means protestors tearing down another Confederate monument in Richmond is not even headline news. Last night, despite the rain, a crowd marched their way to the Howitzer statue near VCU’s campus and made short work of it. Be sure you update your Confederate monument bingo card. The Commonwealth Times’s Eduardo Acevedo has a Twitter thread following the night’s protest and you can read a recap of the night over on their site. Also on the monument tip, Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, says “Attorney General Mark Herring asked a Richmond judge not to extend an injunction barring removal of the Robert E. Lee statueon Monument Avenue.” The injunction lifts tomorrow which is when should know more about the short-term fate of the statue.Unrelated to the day’s coronaupdates, at his press conference yesterday the Governor announced that he will introduce legislation making Juneteenth a paid state holiday. Maybe tangentially related to the topic of his press conference, Mayor Stoney announced he’d do the same for City employees. Here’s a Juneteenth piece in the Atlantic I linked to last year, and, should you need it, will serve as a good primer heading into this year’s holiday.Tonight’s Richmond 300 virtual summit looks at Southside Plaza, an area of town I think is filled with opportunities to build more things. You know the deal: Sign up on the Eventbrite and read the Southside Plaza section of the plan ahead of time (PDF).This morning’s patron longreadThe Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I’m One of Them.Submitted by Patron Casey. This is bananas, and, I can only imagine, would make a person extremely paranoid.One of the first witnesses called to the stand: Sgt. Timothy Reynolds, who is white. To get intel on activists and organizers, including those in the Black Lives Matter movement, he’d posed on Facebook as a “man of color,” befriending people and trying to infiltrate closed circles. Projected onto a giant screen in the courtroom was a screenshot of people Reynolds followed on Facebook. My head was bent as I wrote in my reporter’s notebook. “What does this entry indicate?” ACLU attorney Amanda Strickland Floyd asked. “I was following Wendi Thomas,” Reynolds replied. “Wendi C. Thomas.” I sat up.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, rainy, and it looks like it’ll stay rainy for most of the morning. In fact, you should expect a chance of rain each of the next several days.Water coolerRichmond Police are reporting that a male 16-year-old was shot to death outside of a store on the 3000 block of Nine Mile Road this past Thursday.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 219 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and three people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. VDH reports 22 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 8, Henrico: 8, and Richmond: 6). You can now start to see the spread of the virus well beyond the urban crescent and into the rest of Virginia. For what it’s worth, in his briefing on Sunday, the Governor said six people have died from the virus in Virginia. More on that below.Not entirely unexpected, but the City will keep their offices closed until at least the end of the month—this ever-updating list of critical services will, however, remain open. But! Pair that closure, with this new service: On Friday, the Mayor announced that, through a partnership with the YMCA and the Community Foundation, the City will “provide emergency childcare to elementary and middle school-aged children of essential medical personnel in Richmond.” We’ve got a need for medical professionals and, with school shut down for the foreseeable future, they’ve got a need for childcare. This sounds like a great way to meet that need.According to the legislative calendar, City Council will still meet today at 6:00 PM for whatever remains of their regularly scheduled meeting. You can take a look at the agenda as it stands here (PDF), and with Council’s informal meeting canceled, perhaps this is tonight’s actual agenda. Every paper has been continued, except ORD. 2020–091 (reallocating money to the affordable housing trust fund) and ORD. 2020–092 (extending the deadline for filing for tax exemptions). As we continue to live in This Most Unusual Time, it’s worth reading this opinion from Attorney General Mark Herring about how public bodies can continue to meet during shutdowns, lockdowns, and bans on gatherings of more than 10 folks (PDF). There’s a clear tension between Virginia’s freedom of information laws and the need for social distancing and isolation during a pandemic. I am obviously not a lawyer, but, reading through Herring’s opinion, it seems like City Council will be pretty limited in what business it can conduct until either the General Assembly passes some new state laws or we’re on the other side of this crisis. At the moment, “can’t they just have a Zoom” is not an option. Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says five councilmembers will meet in person, as required by law, and four will call in (something that they can only do twice per year). This is clearly something the GA will have to address, right?? Localities can’t just not have their legislative bodies meeting during a literal state of emergency!Over on the schools front, starting today, RPS will expand their meal delivery program by using school buses to drop off food at 34 locations around the city. “Each bus will have volunteers to help hand out the grab-and-go meals, including Spanish-speaking staff for our Southside routes.” They’re also updating their meal distribution sites to focus on the new bus-delivery program. If you want to help out and you’ve thought long and hard about it, you can volunteer by filling out this form.At his press conference on Sunday, which you can read about over at the RTD, Governor Northam said folks should expect the coronavirus crisis to “stretch out for several months.” There are lots of Northam quotes in this piece about the need to social distance and take seriously the recommendations to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. There are, however, no quotes about further restrictions from the Governor—which, honestly, seems wild to me. If you want to see how restrictions and control measures can impact the spread of the coronavirus, the New York Times has a good dataviz piece about when peak-virus hits each county in Americaunder three different scenarios. Anyway, the RTD says, ominously, that “Northam said he would announce Monday an update on school closures at a daily press conference that will be moved to 2 p.m. going forward.” I guess we’ll learn more about schools this afternoon and see if the Governor is willing to implement stronger controls to help slow the spread of the virus.A couple days ago the Bird app went dark, and I think they’ve pulled their scooters from Richmond’s streets. I haven’t left the Northside in a while, so I’m not 100% sure. The Verge says both Lime and Bird have started to pause service as a result of the coronavirus.Here’s an excellent TikTok combining social distancing, VCU men’s soccer, and toilet paper. Yes it’s a link to a tweet about a TikTok. As an official Old, it’s the best I can do.Classic Richmond emergency supplies: Milk, bread, and now toilet paper—but also liquor. Bob Lewis at the Virginia Mercury says folks are stocking up on booze as part of their shelter-in-place supplies. The piece ends with this excellent quote, “‘You can never be too careful,’ she said as she walked toward her car with a bulging bag of liquor bottles. ‘Besides, I have a college kid who’s over 21 and who’s now back home, so I’ve got to stock up.’”It’s almost time to record a new episode of the Sam and Ross Like Things podcast, and for our 75th episode we’re doing things a bit differently. If you’re willing, record an audio clip of you saying your first name, location, and a sentence or two about something that you like. Could be ginger ale, hearing the sound of rain from your screen porch, or epidemiology. Literally anything you like! Then email the file to samandrosslikethings@gmail.com, and we’ll put everything together next we record. By “we’ll” I mean “Sam will do this.” It’ll be a nice way to hear other folks' voices and remember that even during quarantine there’s still stuff worth liking.This morning’s longread‘I’m going to keep pushing.’ Anthony Fauci tries to make the White House listen to facts of the pandemicI’ve tried to keep longreads delightfully unrelated from the coronavirus, but this interview with Dr. Fauci is something else.Q: You’re standing there saying nobody should gather with more than 10 people and there are almost 10 people with you on the stage. And there are certainly more than 10 journalists in the audience.A: I know that. I’m trying my best. I cannot do the impossible. Q: What about the travel restrictions? President Trump keeps saying that the travel ban for China, which began 2 February, had a big impact [on slowing the spread of the virus to the United States] and that he wishes China would have told us three to four months earlier and that they were “very secretive.” [China did not immediately reveal the discovery of a new coronavirus in late December, but by 10 January, Chinese researchers made the sequence of the virus public.] It just doesn’t comport with facts. A: I know, but what do you want me to do? I mean, seriously Jon, let’s get real, what do you want me to do?If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

A COVID-19 update from today's state press briefing; how local nonprofits and food pantries have been impacted by the virus; Henrico reports new confirmed cases of COVID-19; Henrico dining, entertainment venues struggling to stay afloat; Attorney General Mark Herring issues an opinion about electronic meetings; will Virginia students have to take SOLs?; deadline tomorrow for Henrico Citizen's small business assistance programSupport the show (http://www.henricocitizen.com/contribute)

A new report shows Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring rejected hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants to fight gun violence because they refused to certify that local law enforcement in the state would alert ICE to any immigration violations they found among violent offenders. Stephen Gutowski of the Washington Free Beacon joins Cam with more details and a reaction from one high-ranking Republican lawmaker.

Attorney General Mark Herring talks about the push to decriminalize marijuana in our Commonwealth. We hear from a representative of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. Then Cathy Lewis talks to the founder of the Vietnamese Boat People, an organization devoted to preserving the story of people who arrived in this country after the Vietnam war. Finally, Sen. Kaine talks to us about developments in foreign policy concerning Iran.

In the wake of the attacks in New Zealand, we talk about gun control policy and public safety with Attorney General Mark Herring. Then, an alarming study on gun violence in the American Journal of Medicine found that more children were shot dead in 2017 than on-duty police officers and active duty military personnel. We discuss the findings with the study's senior author. Finally, we unpack the latest news on the Mueller report.

On the heels of a Blackface resurgence in fashion and revelations in the lives of VA Gov. Ralph Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring and others, Creative Tension Host Rev. Elliott Robinson, JD, MDiv and Pellom McDaniels, PhD (Curator, African American Collections, Stuart A. Rose Library at Emory University) explore the history and legacy of Blackface in America.  For a visual companion to this episode, visit CreativeTension.org. Follow us on Instagram, FB and Pinterest: @creativetensionpodcast and Twitter @createtension. Until next time, #createtension. Creative Tension can be found wherever you find your favorite podcasts: Apple Podcast: http://apple.co/2wBqYHb  Stitcher: http://bit.ly/2gcmfVp   Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/ctgoogpod    IHeart: http://bit.ly/2h7K69f  TuneIn - http://bit.ly/2gp6ZS8   Spotify - http://spoti.fi/2ydhVbK SoundCloud - http://bit.ly/2fGfU0C  Theme Music - Julian Reid & The JuJu Exchange: http://bit.ly/JRJuJuExch  Thanks to the Emory University Center for Digital Scholarship for their cooperation in the recording and production of the Creative Tension podcast. #createtension #inspireshange #racism #endracism #jimcrow #blm #blacklivesmatter #history #behindtheveil #emory #caricatures #mammy #stereotypes #blackface #podcast #podsincolor #podcastsincolor 

On Wednesday's Mark Levin Show, President Trump's State of the Union was excellent! Now we know why Nancy Pelosi didn't want him to do it! The liberals are going mad over it; he slammed socialism, he took on late term abortion, and re-stated the case for the border. Despite the historic improvement in unemployment, the liberal Democrats just sat on their hands. While, many in the media fawned over President Obama's SOTU speeches, they stopped short of offering President Trump similar praise. Instead they took exception to his speech tossing critiques like “psychotically incoherent speech" and other derogatory comments. Trump kept the focus on keeping America and her security first, unlike the left. Which begs the question: what exactly about America do they love at CNN, at MSNBC, in the Democratic Party? Then, leftists continue their false argument that all immigrants are good for America; but the argument is over legal versus illegal immigrants coming into the country. Also, capitalism is not a system, it’s the free flow of commerce; to suggest otherwise is simply wrong. Companies are business to make a profit and from those gains they can create jobs for society. Later, the leadership crisis in Virginia continues as the embattled Governor Northam refuses to resign, the Lt. Governor Fairfax fends off sexual abuse allegations, and now their Attorney General Mark Herring, the third in the line of succession for the Governorship, announced he too has dressed up in blackface as a teenager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday's Mark Levin Show, President Trump's State of the Union was excellent! Now we know why Nancy Pelosi didn't want him to do it! The liberals are going mad over it; he slammed socialism, he took on late term abortion, and re-stated the case for the border. Despite the historic improvement in unemployment, the liberal Democrats just sat on their hands. While, many in the media fawned over President Obama's SOTU speeches, they stopped short of offering President Trump similar praise. Instead they took exception to his speech tossing critiques like “psychotically incoherent speech" and other derogatory comments. Trump kept the focus on keeping America and her security first, unlike the left. Which begs the question: what exactly about America do they love at CNN, at MSNBC, in the Democratic Party? Then, leftists continue their false argument that all immigrants are good for America; but the argument is over legal versus illegal immigrants coming into the country. Also, capitalism is not a system, it’s the free flow of commerce; to suggest otherwise is simply wrong. Companies are business to make a profit and from those gains they can create jobs for society. Later, the leadership crisis in Virginia continues as the embattled Governor Northam refuses to resign, the Lt. Governor Fairfax fends off sexual abuse allegations, and now their Attorney General Mark Herring, the third in the line of succession for the Governorship, announced he too has dressed up in blackface as a teenager. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Alexander Mercouris, the editor-in-chief of The Duran; Ann Wright, a retired United States Army colonel who resigned in protest of the invasion of Iraq and became an anti-war activist; Kim Ives, an editor of the newspaper Haiti Liberte; and producer Walter Smolarek.The United States makes a practice of touting international coalitions as a means to achieve a military or foreign policy goal. Just think of the coalition to defeat ISIS, the Coalition of the Willing that was the Iraq War, the coalition that overthrew the Libyan government, the Lima Group, and others. But these international coalitions are really just a myth. They serve as a cover for US intervention around the world in the absence of a United Nations Security Council Resolution or other international approval for military action. Thursday’s weekly series “Criminal Injustice” is about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Paul Wright, the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), and Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, join the show. An international conference of neutral countries will be held today in Uruguay to jumpstart a dialogue between Venezuelans seeking a way out of the current crisis sparked by the U.S.-orchestrated effort to install Juan Guiadó as Venezuela’s president. Spokesmen for the governments of Uruguay and Mexico said they expect at least 10 countries to be represented at the talks today in Montevideo. Brian and John speak with Aline Piva, a journalist and a member of Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice, and Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek The Virginia Democratic Party is in a state of collapse. Senior Democrats around the country are calling for Governor Ralph Northam to resign after allegations that he appeared in blackface and with a friend dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman in college. Attorney General Mark Herring also admitted to appearing in blackface while in college. And Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax is being accused of sexually assaulting a woman. If all three are forced to resign, as appears increasingly likely, the Republican House Speaker would become governor. He became speaker after an election was decided by drawing lots from a hat. Rebecca Keel, a Richmond community organizer and a member of Southerners on New Ground, joins the show. Veterans for Peace is Thursday’s regular segment about the contemporary issues of war and peace that affect veterans, their families, and the country as a whole. Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister who refused orders to deploy to Vietnam and lived in exile in Canada and Sweden for 6 years, organizing with other U.S. military deserters and draft resisters against the Vietnam war, and for amnesty for U.S. war resisters, joins the show. He has been a peace and solidarity activist for almost 50 years and has served on the Board of Veterans For Peace for the last 6 years, currently as national president. This week, Sputnik News analyst Walter Smolarek also joins the show. Jill Abramson, the former Executive Editor of the New York Times, is being accused of plagiarising portions of her new book, “Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts,” which purports to be an expose of Vice News. Abramson told Fox News yesterday that she had no comment, other than to deny plagiarism. But Vice News released a carefully-annotated side-by-side comparison of the book along with passages from Time Out and The New Yorker magazines and the Columbia Journalism Review that show uncanny similarities. Ted Rall, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and columnist, whose work is at www.rall.com, joins the show.Israel’s Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, who now co-chairs a new political party called “The New Right,” recently posted a tweet accusing the Israeli right wing party Likud of being left. That’s a common put-down right now in Israel. But what it really means is the accused is weak and unwilling to kill Palestinians. Brian and John speak with Sputnik news analyst Walter Smolarek.

On today's show, Shannon & Mike discuss the latest problems for the state of Virginia as the Attorney General Mark Herring comes under fire for also dressing up in blackface during the 1980's. And, ABC's 'The View' Joy Behar faces public criticism for a past picture of herself dressed as a 'beautiful African woman'. Also, all charges are dropped against two teachers who were accused of running a toddler 'fight club' at a daycare. Then, bed bugs falling off a lawyer's clothing forces an Oklahoma courthouse to close. Plus more.

A third scandal to hit the Democratic administration of Virginia sent the Capitol reeling on Wednesday. Attorney General Mark Herring, in a statement he issued late in the morning, said he dressed in "brown makeup" and a wig to imitate rappers as a 19-year-old at the University of Virginia. Herring is next in line to become governor if both Gov. Ralph Northam and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax step down. Northam is facing calls to resign over a photo on his medical school yearbook page showing men in a Ku Klux Klan robe and blackface, and Fairfax has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. If all three resign, Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox would be next in line for the Governor's Mansion.pilotonline.com

Attorney General Mark Herring is the latest to admit wearing blackface; tolls on the Dulles Greenway are going up again.

The company planning an insulation factory a few miles from Loudoun's border responds to concerns from Attorney General Mark Herring; a woman from Potomac Station tries to raise awareness of the number one killer of women in the U.S.

The Virginia race, the DNC and Brazile-gate, and the possibility of a shutdown for Dreamers. Lt. Governor Ralph Northam, Justin Fairfax, Attorney General Mark Herring, and Symone Sanders join Jon, Jon, Tommy, and Dan on stage live from Richmond, Virginia.

The Loudoun Sheriff's Office leads the charge against the opioid epidemic with a new training video with Attorney General Mark Herring; Middleburg Community Charter School has its third principal in as many years.

On March 29, the NARO will air the new non-fiction film "The Freedom to Marry." The film explores the history of one of the most successful civil rights movements in America with insight from some of its key players. Today we're joined by Attorney General Mark Herring and Tony London for a discussion about the film and the battle for same-sex marriage legislation.