Severed Fiber Cable Causes IT Issues for Department of Elections on Last Day to Register to Vote

A severed fiber cable in Chesterfield County caused Virginia’s voter registration system and other systems used by state agencies to fail Tuesday. 

The outage came on the final day Virginians can register to vote for the upcoming November election.

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At the State Voter Registration Deadline, Almost One Million Virginians Have Already Cast Their Ballots

Woman voting at booth

With Tuesday’s voter registration deadline having now passed, the Commonwealth is entering the final stretches before the general elections in November and Virginians have been feverishly casting their votes with nearly 1 million in-person and absentee ballots already submitted.

Specifically, 532,983 in-person votes and 444,390 votes by mail have already been cast in the state with an additional 642,687 absentee ballot applications that have not yet been returned to general registrars, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) early voting dashboard.

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With Another Monument Vandalized, Richmond Residents Ask if Graffiti Will Ever Be Cleaned

One of the last remaining city-owned Confederate statues in Richmond was vandalized recently, raising questions about how long the graffiti littered throughout downtown and other prominent areas will remain.

After a summer of civil unrest, graffiti on monuments, buildings, sidewalks and even some houses has become a normal sight for those who visit or live in the city of Richmond.

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Former State Delegate Tim Hugo Announces Bid for Lieutenant Governor in 2021

Former member of the Virginia House of Delegates Tim Hugo announced Monday that he is officially entering the 2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election.

Hugo is the fourth Republican to enter the race and is the ninth person to announce their candidacy overall.

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Gov. Northman’s Virginia Power Grab Defies Science

The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) presented analysis of COVID-19 hospitalization data on patient demographics, age and sex, accompanying chronic conditions and length of stay during a webinar on Thursday.

The study reviewed statewide data trends from over 8,700 COVID hospitalizations in Virginia between January and June of 2020, and was presented by David Vaamonde, vice president of data analytics for the VHHA.

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Disabled Veterans’ Vehicles to be Exempt from Property Taxes If Constitutional Amendment Two Passes

Virginia proposed Constitutional Amendment #2 asks whether or not permanently and totally disabled veterans receiving 100 percent of disability income should be exempt from paying personal property taxes on their motor vehicle.

The decision to enact that change is squarely up to Virginians casting their ballots in the upcoming November general elections.

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A Week from Hell for William & Mary Athletics: Athletic Director Resigns and Student-Athletes Test Positive for COVID-19

In the span of a single week William & Mary athletics director Samantha Huge resigned after facing backlash from cutting seven sports programs last month, and a mix of student-athletes and athletics department staff have tested positive for Coronavirus.

The university announced Tuesday that Huge was stepping down from her position and then on Wednesday news broke that athletics employees and athletes had tested positive for COVID-19.

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State Inspector General Substantiates Multiple Allegations Against the Virginia Parole Board

The Office of the State Inspector General (OSIG) has released reports substantiating multiple allegations that the Virginia Parole Board (VPB) violated state statutes as well as its own policies and procedures after investigating complaints regarding the parole of specific Department of Corrections offenders.

On Tuesday, the OSIG released copies of the reports, originally sent to Governor Ralph Northam’s administration, to media outlets who requested them that were mostly redacted and did not offer the specific findings of the investigation into the VPB.

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Senate Lawmakers Send Numerous Bills to Joint Conference Committees with House

The Senate sent a number of bills to be considered by joint conference committees, and appointed conferees to join their colleagues in the House of Delegates to consider legislation on Wednesday.

Three or four Senators and Delegates are assigned to different conference committees and must try to agree on compromised language for similar bills from each body or the legislation will die. If compromised versions are agreed upon, those bills will go back to the House and Senate for a final passage vote.

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Two Richmond Detectives Indicted by Grand Jury on Misdemeanor Assault Charges Related to Summer Protests

Two Richmond police detectives have been indicted on misdemeanor assault and battery charges stemming from the protests that took place during the summer, the Richmond Police Department said in an emailed statement Monday night.

The charges were brought against the two detectives after Richmond’s Commonwealth Attorney Colette McEachin presented 18 sealed indictments to a Grand Jury on Monday concerning the actions of certain officers during the protests.

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JMU Students Have Returned to Campus and Resumed In-Person Classes Again

Students at James Madison University (JMU) resumed in-person classes on Monday after spending almost a month away from campus learning virtually because of a significant rise in COVID-19 cases and inadequate isolation/quarantine spaces.

At the beginning of September, university president Jonathan Alger announced JMU was temporarily sending most on-campus students home and switching to virtual instruction. Now, students are back at the Harrisonburg, Virginia campus to give the 2020 fall semester another shot.

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Virginia’s Great Gun Grab

In recent months seven localities throughout Virginia have now passed gun ordinances restricting where citizens can carry, openly possess and transport firearms or any components of a gun.

So far, Arlington and Fairfax counties and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Charlottesville, Newport News and Richmond have passed gun ordinances.

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Vote Fraud? Richmond Metro Area Mailboxes Broken into, USPIS Investigating

The United State Postal Investigative Service (USPIS) has launched an investigation after a group or individual forcefully opened and stole mail from collection boxes throughout the Richmond metro area between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

“This morning we received several calls from some of our local post offices as they opened up that they believed their blue collection boxes, outfront of their post offices, had been tampered with or vandalized,” Michael J. Romano, U.S. Postal inspector team leader, said in an interview with The Virginia Star. “It would appear that the boxes themselves were pried open and entry was gained.”

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Former House Speaker Kirk Cox Is Serious About Bid for Virginia Governor

Longtime state Delegate Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) is very serious about running for Virginia governor in the 2021 gubernatorial elections, but he is steadfast on waiting until the rapidly-approaching general elections have concluded to officially announce his campaign. 

Despite recently filing paperwork with the state of Virginia to establish a campaign committee, Cox feels the November election, specifically securing another term for President Trump and congressional seats for Republicans, take priority at the moment. 

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COVID-19 at Virginia Colleges and Universities: What Do the Numbers Say?

As many colleges and universities in Virginia continue on with in-person instruction for the 2020 fall semester during the coronavirus pandemic, the schools’ COVID-19 dashboards offer insights into how the pandemic is affecting those institutions.

Since the global pandemic hit the United States back in March, more and more schools have created online COVID dashboards that present a plethora of data on total tests, case counts, positivity percentage and 7-day moving averages for positive tests. 

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Senate Passes $134B Budget Bill Allocating Funds for Local COVID-19 Relief, Criminal Justice and Policing Reforms and Law Enforcement Bonuses

The Senate passed its $134 billion budget on Friday with funding for criminal justice and police reforms, bonuses for law enforcement, coronavirus relief payments for local school divisions and language eviction and utility disconnect moratoriums. 

Senate Bill (SB) 5015 passed the Senate by a vote of (Y-24 N-15) with three Republican members voting alongside their Democratic colleagues on the prevailing side. 

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Senate Dems Kick GOP Colleagues to the Curb

The Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate rejected almost all budget amendment proposals from Republican members during a lengthy session Thursday afternoon. 

As the Senate moves closer to a passage vote on its comprehensive budget, Thursday’s session made it clear that Senate Democrats are ultimately running the show. 

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Nearly 500,000 Virginians Have Already Voted

Since the start of early voting on September 18, 482,674 Virginians have already cast their ballots for the rapidly-approaching November general election. 

Of the almost half a million votes, 285,805 were in-person and 196,869 were through the mail,  according to the Virginia Public Access Project’s (VPAP) early voting daily dashboard. 

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Virginia House Passes $134B Budget with Rental and Utility Assistance, Justice and Police Reform Funding

The Virginia House of Delegates passed its two-year $134 billion budget on Tuesday with specific funding for rental and utility assistance, public education, internet access, affordable housing, criminal justice and police reform.

The revised budget from the House does not perfectly lineup with the proposed budget Governor Ralph Northam presented to the General Assembly at the beginning of the 2020 special session.

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Virginia Colleges Enrollment Plummets

Enrollment in Virginia’s public and private nonprofit colleges and universities for the fall semester declined by 1.3 percent or 6,658 students, according to early enrollment estimates from the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) released Tuesday.

The data used by SCHEV is directly provided by 64 colleges and universities located in the Commonwealth, including some of the state’s most prestigious and largest schools such as William and Mary, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Washington and Lee University.

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VCU Faculty Are Considering Requiring Courses on Racism

Faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) are currently considering making a change to the university’s general education requirements by adding a courses on racism.

The classes would be required for all freshman and grouped under the subject diversities of human experiences, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

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Virginia Department of Health Launches New Pandemic Metrics Dashboard

The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) on Monday launched a new pandemic metrics dashboard with more specific, aggregated data to show where COVID-19 is spreading in Virginia’s different regions and any changes occurring over time. 

The new dashboard will be updated weekly and features three different tabs: About the Data, Daily Region Metrics, Weekly Transmission Extent. Additionally, School Metrics from the CDC are included within the dashboard.  

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Vote Fraud Hits Virginia as Hundreds of Voters Receive Multiple Ballots

Almost 1,400 Virginia voters have recently received duplicate absentee ballots in the mail because of printing errors.

So far, voters in three jurisdictions – Fairfax and Henrico counties as well as the City of Richmond – have reportedly received duplicates ballots as the November 3rd election quickly approaches.

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