AP
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A Virginia Senate committee is proposing to exempt gold, silver and platinum bullion from the state sales tax. The exemption would apply to transactions exceeding $1,000. The Finance Committee’s endorsement of Sen. Frank Wagner’s measure Wednesday now goes to the full Senate. Wagner, a Virginia Beach Republican, says bullion buyers are taking their business outside Virginia to states that don’t tax precious metals. The state Department of Taxation estimates that the measure could reduce state revenues by as much as $313,000 a year. Similar exemptions are offered by 31 states. While endorsing one new tax break, the committee proposed repealing an existing one: an income tax credit for political contributions. The repeal bill offered by Sen. Chap Petersen, a Fairfax Democrat, would raise an estimated $680,000 a year in revenue.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) _ The University of Virginia has contracted with an international security firm to guide vulnerable students to safety in Charlottesville neighborhoods near campus. The university says the unarmed security guards will be called ambassadors. The ambassadors may help walk students home, call a safe ride or wait with them at a bus stop. The ambassadors may also call a rescue squad if medical attention is needed and they will have a communications link to the emergency dispatch center. G4S has provided similar services at other schools, including the University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University. The security guards will patrol the popular strip of restaurants and bars known as The Corner, and also be stationed near fraternity houses and off-campus apartments. The program gets under way on Monday.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia’s jobless rate fell to 4.8 percent in December, marking the state’s lowest unemployment rate since October 2008. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was down from 5 percent in November and down from 5.2 percent a year ago. The Virginia Employment Commission says job gains were seen in six major industries, including leisure and hospitality and total government. Job losses were recorded in five other industries, including construction. Virginia has seen jobless rates of 4.9 percent during several months over the last year. But the last time the rate went below that was in October 2008 when it was 4.5 percent. The Labor Department says unemployment rates fell in 42 states in December, rose in four states and were unchanged in four. The national unemployment rate was 5.6 percent.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The Virginia Senate has narrowly defeated a proposal to allow voter registration by political party. The measure was rejected Tuesday on a largely party-line 21-19 vote in the Republican-controlled chamber, with Republicans backing the bill and Democrats opposing it. Two moderate Republicans, Sens. Walter Stosch of Henrico County and John Watkins of Powhatan County, broke ranks and voted “no.” Both have announced they’ll retire at the end of this session. The sponsor of the measure, Sen. Mark Obenshain of Rockingham County, said it would bring Virginia into conformity with most other states, which ask people registering to vote if they’d like to state a party preference. He said the bill would give parties more control over their nominating process. Opponents said it would discourage voter participation and increase partisanship.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A state Senate committee isn’t ready to take Virginia’s overturned gay-marriage ban out of the state constitution. On an 8-7 party-line vote Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Privileges and Elections Committee rejected a proposal to begin the process of repealing the amendment approved by Virginia voters in 2006 defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The ban was effectively nullified by a series of federal court decisions last year, and same-sex couples have been getting married since October. Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin of Alexandria, chief patron of the repeal measure, said it’s time to align the constitution with the court rulings. But opponents said that would be premature, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed this month to decide the gay-marriage issue for the entire nation.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A Republican-led House committee has killed a proposal to raise Virginia’s minimum wage. The House Committee on Commerce and Labor voted Tuesday to table a proposal aimed at raising incrementally the state’s minimum wage above the current $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour by 2010. Proponents included liberal activists and labor officials. They said raising the state’s current minimum wage would help low-income workers escape poverty. But business groups said raising the minimum wage would result in higher unemployment and hurt Virginia’s business climate. The committee also tabled several other Democratic proposals, including a measure to ban pay discrimination based on sex and to enact new regulations for companies that provide short-term, high-interest rate loans.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A further reduction in high-stakes standardized tests taken by Virginia schoolchildren is advancing in the Virginia Senate. On a 3-2 vote Monday, a subcommittee approved a bill from Sen. John Miller that would reduce the number of Standards of Learning tests to the minimum required by federal law within three years. Miller says the number of required tests reached as high as 34 before being reduced to 29 by the General Assembly last year. The Newport News Democrat says his bill would cut the number of required tests in grades 3-8 to 14. Miller says the testing pendulum has swung too far in the direction of rote memorization, causing undue stress and stifling kids’ curiosity and creativity. The Virginia Education Association, the state teachers group, supports his bill.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ The U.S. Forest Service is temporarily closing national forest roads in Virginia for the remainder of the winter. The closures announced Monday include forest roads in Craig, Botetourt, Giles, Bland and Monroe counties. The closures occur every year. They are intended to reduce damage to those roads from vehicle traffic during freezing and thawing temperatures. Closures also minimize soil erosion resulting from damage roads. The roads will remain closed until early April when temperatures consistently stay above freezing. The following roads are temporarily closed:
Craig and Botetourt Counties: Bunch (FS 5008), Cove Branch (FS 275), Enterprise Road (FS 742), Hall Road (FS 209), Hebron Road (FS 5064), Kelly Hollow (FS 267), Lignite Road (FS 180) between Oriskany and Bald Mountain, Mill Creek Road (FS 229), O & I Road (FS 5020), Patterson Road (FS 184), Potts Jeep Road (FS 5036), Price Mountain Road and trailhead (FS 5012 and 5012A), Rolands Run (FS 5027) and Tub Run (FS 257).
Bland County: Round Mountain (FS 668) between Garden Mountain and VA 52 in Bastian
Giles County: Dismal Road (FS 201) between White Cedar Horse Camp and Flat Top Communication Site.
Monroe County, West VA: Wilson Branch (FS 5031)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A Virginia Senate committee voted Monday to prohibit discrimination in public employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The measure proposed by Sen. Donald McEachin, a Henrico County Democrat, was approved by the Republican-controlled General Laws and Technology Committee on an 8-7 vote. Republican Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel of Fauquier County joined minority Democrats in support of the bill. Vogel also cast the key vote on another measure to prohibit state agencies from including on employment applications a question asking whether the applicant has ever been arrested, charged with or convicted of a crime. The so-called “ban the box” bill was approved on an identical 8-7 vote. Measures similar to both bills have cleared the Senate in the past but were killed in the House of Delegates.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ A nonprofit founded by the parents of slain Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington is selling T-shirts to promote personal safety education and advocacy. Help Save the Next Girl operates out of the Harrington family’s basement in Roanoke and the home of Harrington’s art teacher in Blacksburg. The group began selling its “Team Justice” T-shirts yesterday, the fifth anniversary of the discovery of Harrington’s body in a field in Albemarle County. The 20-year-old Harrington disappeared while attending a concert in Charlottesville in October 2009.