This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis article is free to access.Why?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by Most of Virginia will enter a second phase of reopening from the prolonged coronavirus shutdown on Friday, Gov. Ralph Northam said, citing steady declines in the number of covid-19 hospitalizations and rates of people testing positive since he began lifting shutdown restrictions nearly three weeks ago.Both Northern Virginia and the city of Richmond, which were hit harder by...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis article is free to access.Why?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by Most of Virginia will enter a second phase of reopening from the prolonged coronavirus shutdown on Friday, Gov. Ralph Northam said, citing steady declines in the number of covid-19 hospitalizations and rates of people testing positive since he began lifting shutdown restrictions nearly three weeks ago.Both Northern Virginia and the city of Richmond, which were hit harder by...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareVirginia Gov. Ralph Northam and the state’s two U.S. senators are urging President Trump to send the country’s top public health agency to respond to a coronavirus outbreak inside a privately owned immigrant detention center in the town of Farmville that immigrant advocates have called “a tinderbox” of infection.The outbreak at the Farmville Detention Center is the largest at any such facility in the country, with 262 undocumented immigrants there being monitored after testing positive for the coronavirus, according to .A...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareVirginia Gov. Ralph Northam and the state’s two U.S. senators are urging President Trump to send the country’s top public health agency to respond to a coronavirus outbreak inside a privately owned immigrant detention center in the town of Farmville that immigrant advocates have called “a tinderbox” of infection.The outbreak at the Farmville Detention Center is the largest at any such facility in the country, with 262 undocumented immigrants there being monitored after testing positive for the coronavirus, according to .A...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe two energy companies behind the controversial 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline on Sunday abandoned their six-year bid to build it, saying the project has become too costly and the regulatory environment too uncertain to justify further investment.The natural-gas pipeline would have on its way from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina, building an energy infrastructure proponents said would attract economic development to the region.The abrupt abandonment sparked jubilation among environmental and...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe two energy companies behind the controversial 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline on Sunday abandoned their six-year bid to build it, saying the project has become too costly and the regulatory environment too uncertain to justify further investment.The natural-gas pipeline would have on its way from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina, building an energy infrastructure proponents said would attract economic development to the region.The abrupt abandonment sparked jubilation among environmental and...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareHospitals across the country have deferred or canceled non-urgent surgeries to free up bed space and equipment for covid-19 patients. But that triage maneuver cut off a main source of income, causing huge losses that have forced some hospitals to let go of health-care workers as they struggle to treat infected patients.Last week, Bon Secours Mercy Health, which runs 51 hospitals in seven states, announced it would furlough 700 workers. On Wednesday, Ballad Health, which operates 21 hospitals across Tennessee and southwest...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareHospitals across the country have deferred or canceled non-urgent surgeries to free up bed space and equipment for covid-19 patients. But that triage maneuver cut off a main source of income, causing huge losses that have forced some hospitals to let go of health-care workers as they struggle to treat infected patients.Last week, Bon Secours Mercy Health, which runs 51 hospitals in seven states, announced it would furlough 700 workers. On Wednesday, Ballad Health, which operates 21 hospitals across Tennessee and southwest...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoGift ShareNearly 70 years ago, after a series of trials that lasted little more than a week, seven Black men were executed for the rape of a White woman in Martinsville, Va. Now, advocates and descendants of the executed are asking Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to issue a novel posthumous pardon.The petition does not argue that the men were innocent but contends that the rushed trials and extreme punishment defied any concept of justice.“The Martinsville Seven were not given adequate due process. . . . They were sentenced to death for a...…This article was published more than 2 years agoGift ShareNearly 70 years ago, after a series of trials that lasted little more than a week, seven Black men were executed for the rape of a White woman in Martinsville, Va. Now, advocates and descendants of the executed are asking Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to issue a novel posthumous pardon.The petition does not argue that the men were innocent but contends that the rushed trials and extreme punishment defied any concept of justice.“The Martinsville Seven were not given adequate due process. . . . They were sentenced to death for a...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis article is free to access.Why?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by Some of Maryland’s largest jurisdictions added new coronavirus restrictions Thursday as caseloads across the greater Washington region jumped to record territory for a ninth consecutive day.Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties joined Baltimore City on Thursday in implementing Maryland’s strictest limits for indoor social gatherings, forbidding groups of more than 10...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThis article is free to access.Why?The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by Some of Maryland’s largest jurisdictions added new coronavirus restrictions Thursday as caseloads across the greater Washington region jumped to record territory for a ninth consecutive day.Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties joined Baltimore City on Thursday in implementing Maryland’s strictest limits for indoor social gatherings, forbidding groups of more than 10...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift SharecorrectionThe names of two candidates — businessman Pete Snyder, who is running for the Republican nomiantion for governor, and Norfolk City Councilwoman Andria McClellan, who is running for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor — were inadvertently left out of this article. The article has been corrected.RICHMOND — A new released Thursday by Christopher Newport University shows former governor Terry McAuliffe with a significant lead over four rivals in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor.About...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift SharecorrectionThe names of two candidates — businessman Pete Snyder, who is running for the Republican nomiantion for governor, and Norfolk City Councilwoman Andria McClellan, who is running for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor — were inadvertently left out of this article. The article has been corrected.RICHMOND — A new released Thursday by Christopher Newport University shows former governor Terry McAuliffe with a significant lead over four rivals in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor.About...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareRICHMOND — The Virginia General Assembly agreed Wednesday to make it legal for adults to of marijuana on July 1, nearly three years sooner than had been approved by the legislature in February.Both the Senate and House of Delegates approved the earlier date as requested by Gov. Ralph Northam (D) during a one-day reconvened session called for tying up a series of legislative loose ends.The Senate deadlocked 20 to 20 on the marijuana change, with Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) casting the deciding vote in favor. The House...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareRICHMOND — The Virginia General Assembly agreed Wednesday to make it legal for adults to of marijuana on July 1, nearly three years sooner than had been approved by the legislature in February.Both the Senate and House of Delegates approved the earlier date as requested by Gov. Ralph Northam (D) during a one-day reconvened session called for tying up a series of legislative loose ends.The Senate deadlocked 20 to 20 on the marijuana change, with Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) casting the deciding vote in favor. The House...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift SharePETERSBURG, Va. — Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax drew criticism after comparing himself to and lynching victim during a Democratic gubernatorial debate this week.Fairfax condemned fellow Democrats for calling for his resignation in 2019 when two that he sexually assaulted them in separate incidents in the early 2000s. No criminal investigation was ever conducted, and Fairfax the charges and refused to step down."The murder of George Floyd was horrific," Fairfax said in response to a debate question about police reform and racial...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift SharePETERSBURG, Va. — Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax drew criticism after comparing himself to and lynching victim during a Democratic gubernatorial debate this week.Fairfax condemned fellow Democrats for calling for his resignation in 2019 when two that he sexually assaulted them in separate incidents in the early 2000s. No criminal investigation was ever conducted, and Fairfax the charges and refused to step down."The murder of George Floyd was horrific," Fairfax said in response to a debate question about police reform and racial...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareRICHMOND — A judge has indefinitely extended an injunction that prevents Virginia's governor from removing the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from state property on Monument Avenue, giving opponents more time to prove they have standing to challenge the removal.Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced June 4 that he would , which towers 60 feet over Richmond’s grandest residential boulevard, and put it in storage. The action was partly in response to ongoing demonstrations over police brutality against black people...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareRICHMOND — A judge has indefinitely extended an injunction that prevents Virginia's governor from removing the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from state property on Monument Avenue, giving opponents more time to prove they have standing to challenge the removal.Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced June 4 that he would , which towers 60 feet over Richmond’s grandest residential boulevard, and put it in storage. The action was partly in response to ongoing demonstrations over police brutality against black people...WW…