0:01News StoryA car at an April 27 rally on the Eastern Shore in support of protecting poultry processing plant workers from COVID-19. (Legal Aid Justice Center)Virginia workplace safety regulators are proposing emergency COVID-19 rules for businesses that would make social distancing mandatory and require employers to notify their employees within 24 hours if a coworker tests positive for the virus.The , published Friday and scheduled to go before the state Safety and Health Codes Board on June 24, represent the state’s first step toward implementing across-the-board safety regulations for...…0:01News StoryA car at an April 27 rally on the Eastern Shore in support of protecting poultry processing plant workers from COVID-19. (Legal Aid Justice Center)Virginia workplace safety regulators are proposing emergency COVID-19 rules for businesses that would make social distancing mandatory and require employers to notify their employees within 24 hours if a coworker tests positive for the virus.The , published Friday and scheduled to go before the state Safety and Health Codes Board on June 24, represent the state’s first step toward implementing across-the-board safety regulations for...WW…

0:02News StoryDeputies from the Henrico County Sheriff’s Department process an eviction on July 12, 2018. The tenants had already departed and the deputies, after checking the unit to make sure it’s empty, watch as the owner changes the unit’s locks.Virginia residents who fall behind on their rent during the COVID-19 pandemic would get an extra 60 days to catch up under a Gov. Ralph Northam is sending to the General Assembly.The extensions, which would be available once the court system resumes normal operations, would only apply to people who aren’t already receiving relief through the...…0:02News StoryDeputies from the Henrico County Sheriff’s Department process an eviction on July 12, 2018. The tenants had already departed and the deputies, after checking the unit to make sure it’s empty, watch as the owner changes the unit’s locks.Virginia residents who fall behind on their rent during the COVID-19 pandemic would get an extra 60 days to catch up under a Gov. Ralph Northam is sending to the General Assembly.The extensions, which would be available once the court system resumes normal operations, would only apply to people who aren’t already receiving relief through the...WW…

17:46News Story(Getty)When layoffs began to surge amid widespread business closures in Virginia, service workers were among the first and hardest hit, initially accounting for more than 50 percent of requests for unemployment benefits.But as the shutdown of normal life has dragged on, workers in more and more industries have faced layoffs. And perhaps counterintuitively, that includes more than 30,000 health care workers, according to data released Thursday by the Virginia Employment Commission.The trend is as the healthcare apparatus shifts into emergency mode to respond to COVID-19....…17:46News Story(Getty)When layoffs began to surge amid widespread business closures in Virginia, service workers were among the first and hardest hit, initially accounting for more than 50 percent of requests for unemployment benefits.But as the shutdown of normal life has dragged on, workers in more and more industries have faced layoffs. And perhaps counterintuitively, that includes more than 30,000 health care workers, according to data released Thursday by the Virginia Employment Commission.The trend is as the healthcare apparatus shifts into emergency mode to respond to COVID-19....WW…

0:05News StoryVirginia State Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, answers questions while in a protective box during the reconvene session to order at the Science Museum of Virginia Wednesday April 22, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Barker recently underwent surgery. (AP Photo/POOL/Steve Helber)Protesters in cars honked endlessly as they circled the Capitol. The Speaker of the House collapsed on the dais as she led a floor session. A lawmaker cast votes from a Plexiglas enclosure.The typically sleepy reconvened session of the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday fully reflected the bizarre world into...…0:05News StoryVirginia State Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, answers questions while in a protective box during the reconvene session to order at the Science Museum of Virginia Wednesday April 22, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Barker recently underwent surgery. (AP Photo/POOL/Steve Helber)Protesters in cars honked endlessly as they circled the Capitol. The Speaker of the House collapsed on the dais as she led a floor session. A lawmaker cast votes from a Plexiglas enclosure.The typically sleepy reconvened session of the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday fully reflected the bizarre world into...WW…

0:02News StoryAt the city jail in Richmond, deputies barricaded the parking lot during a protest calling for more inmates to be released as COVID-19 spreads. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury)Most jails in Virginia remain overcrowded despite efforts to reduce the number of people held in local lockups as COVID-19 spreads, according to state records.And while Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration has touted a 17 percent drop in the jail population since March 1 — a significant decrease in a patchwork system that had been holding 28,000 people — a facility-by-facility review reveals uneven efforts...…0:02News StoryAt the city jail in Richmond, deputies barricaded the parking lot during a protest calling for more inmates to be released as COVID-19 spreads. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury)Most jails in Virginia remain overcrowded despite efforts to reduce the number of people held in local lockups as COVID-19 spreads, according to state records.And while Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration has touted a 17 percent drop in the jail population since March 1 — a significant decrease in a patchwork system that had been holding 28,000 people — a facility-by-facility review reveals uneven efforts...WW…

0:01Brief821 Bakery Cafe advertises for customers that they are still open in Richmond, Va., March 18, 2020. (Parker Michels-Boyce/ For the Virginia Mercury)Businesses from shopping malls to barber shops are making plans to reopen Friday under Gov. Ralph Northam’s loosened stay-at-home restrictions.But for now, the more than 300,000 people receiving unemployment benefits through the state won’t have to go out every week looking for jobs to continue receiving weekly checks.Northam’s chief work force adviser, Megan Healy, said the administration had been considering reinstating the program’s...…0:01Brief821 Bakery Cafe advertises for customers that they are still open in Richmond, Va., March 18, 2020. (Parker Michels-Boyce/ For the Virginia Mercury)Businesses from shopping malls to barber shops are making plans to reopen Friday under Gov. Ralph Northam’s loosened stay-at-home restrictions.But for now, the more than 300,000 people receiving unemployment benefits through the state won’t have to go out every week looking for jobs to continue receiving weekly checks.Northam’s chief work force adviser, Megan Healy, said the administration had been considering reinstating the program’s...WW…