AP
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia is backing the international accord with Iran. The former Democratic Party chairman made the announcement on Tuesday in a speech on the Senate floor. He says the deal takes Iran’s nuclear program that was on the verge of success and disables it for many years through peaceful diplomatic means. He said the pact reached by the United States, Western powers and Tehran is a “dramatic improvement over the status quo” in boosting global security. Kaine is a member of the Foreign Relations and the Armed Services committees. His support is crucial to the Obama administration and its all-out campaign to secure the backing of congressional Democrats in the face of uniform Republican opposition.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is helping lead a new national effort to give Democrats a greater say in drawing future congressional boundaries. The Democratic Governors Association announced Tuesday that McAuliffe will be co-chairman of a new redistricting fund aimed at ensuring Democratic governors in key states hold power in 2020, when states will begin redrawing congressional maps. Republicans ran a similar effort in 2010 with much success, which has helped the GOP maintain a sizeable majority in the U.S. House. In Virginia, Republicans control 8 out of 11 congressional districts, despite the fact that GOP candidates haven’t won statewide office since 2009. McAuliffe will partner with EMILY’s List President Stephanie Schriock on fundraising and promoting the new effort, which is being called the 2020 Redistricting Fund.
DUBLIN, Va. (AP) _ Proposed updates to Claytor Lake State Park’s master plan will be discussed at a public meeting later this month. The proposals include construction of a new park office and welcome center, trails, picnic shelters, cabins, an amphitheater and a three-slip boat dock. The draft master plan also includes restoration of the historic Howe House and improvements to bathhouses, trails and the road that leads to the cabins. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation has scheduled the meeting for Aug. 24 at the park’s Water’s Edge Meeting Facility in Dublin. State park master plans are updated every 10 years.
BRISTOL, Va. (AP) _ Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the fourth big coal producer to do so within the last two years. The company operates about 60 coal mines throughout Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Wyoming. Coal prices have plunged in recent years as utilities have switched increasingly to natural gas, partly because of price, but also because of changing regulations. President Barack Obama on Monday is expected to require even steeper greenhouse gas cuts from U.S. power plants. Alpha Natural Resources Inc. is based in Bristol, Virginia, Rivals Patriot Coal Corp., Walter Energy Inc. and James River Coal Co., have already sought bankruptcy protection.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) _ Virginians will get a three-day break on sales taxes on a variety of items, beginning Friday. Legislation passed earlier this year combined Virginia’s back-to-school, hurricane preparedness and Energy Star items sales tax holidays into one weekend. The combined tax holiday runs through Sunday. Items exempt from the tax include certain school supplies, portable generators and Energy Star and WaterSense products.
Click here for full information from the Virginia Department of Taxation
DANVILLE, Va. (AP) _ A federal judge says Virginia can ban the Confederate flag from any specialty license plates the state issues in the future but made no decision on existing tags. U.S. District Judge Jackson L. Kiser said after a hearing Friday that he will set aside a 2001 injunction that allowed the image of the Confederate flag on vanity plates honoring the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He did not rule on whether the state can revoke the approximately 1,600 Confederate flag plates already issued. That matter will be addressed in an official order to be filed later. The Virginia attorney general’s office asked Kiser to dissolve the injunction after Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in June that he would move to have the plates phased out. The Sons of Confederate Veterans opposed the move.
SWEET BRIAR, Va. (AP) _ Sweet Briar College alumnae have made the second of three payments required under a settlement to keep the school open. The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that the school’s new administration confirmed Thursday that it received a $3.5 million payment from Saving Sweet Briar Inc. several days ahead of the deadline established under the mediated settlement. Saving Sweet Briar has now paid $8.5 million of the $12 million it was required to raise by Sept. 2. The college says nearly 300 students are enrolled for the fall semester. Convocation will take place Aug. 26, the day after the school would have been shut down by the previous leadership. Classes will begin Aug. 27.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe says he’ll make a renewed push to expand Medicaid now that Republican primaries are over and the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. McAuliffe said Thursday in a conference call with reporters that the Republican lawmakers who have previously blocked Medicaid expansion will be more open to compromise during next year’s legislative session. But a spokesman for GOP House Speaker William J. Howell said the party’s opposition hasn’t softened and higher-than-expected costs of expanding Medicaid in other states have validated Republican concerns about the cost of expansion. Expanding Medicaid is a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, and more than half of the states have chosen to expand the government-funded health care program for the poor.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia State Police have concluded their review of an arrest that injured a University of Virginia student and prompted allegations of racism. State police spokeswoman Corrine Geller said Thursday that the report was submitted to the state secretary of public safety’s office. She said she could not disclose the report’s findings. Gov. Terry McAuliffe ordered the review after Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control agents arrested Martese Johnson outside a Charlottesville pub in March. Photos and video of the bloodied 20-year-old were circulated widely on social media. Johnson, who is black, could be heard on the recordings calling the officers racist. Last month, a prosecutor said a separate criminal investigation found no evidence that the incident was malicious or racially motivated. The officers weren’t charged. The charges against Johnson were dismissed.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The Republican Party of Virginia is calling for an audit of Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s political action committee. Republican officials said Thursday that an outside agency should review donations to the governor’s PAC to verify that there are no foreign donors. The call for an audit comes a day after The Associated Press reported that McAuliffe was returning a $25,000 donation from a company with links to Angola’s state-owned oil company because the company wouldn’t certify that the donation was legally made. Foreign donors cannot give to campaign accounts in the U.S. A McAuliffe political aide said the PAC properly vets its donors and mocked the Republican Party’s “anemic fundraising.”