Across Virginia
SMITHFIELD, Va. (AP) — A person has been charged with boating under the influence in Virginia after a craft overturned and 10 people had to be rescued. The Daily Press reports that the incident occurred early Saturday morning in the James River between Smithfield and Newport News.
Multiple agencies were called shortly before 4 a.m. to the incident near the James River Bridge. They found 10 people adrift. Two were taken to a hospital for minor scrapes.
The operator of the boat has not been identified. He or she was charged by the Virginia Marine Police. Details on what caused the boat to overturn were not immediately available.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia House Democrats have unveiled their proposed fix to the state’s electoral map after a court ruled that 11 legislative districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered. Democratic House Minority Leader Del. David Toscano discussed the proposal at a news conference in Richmond Wednesday, a day before lawmakers are to reconvene for a special session. In June, a federal court ordered lawmakers to redraw the map after finding they had illegally packed black voters into certain districts to make surrounding districts whiter and more Republican. GOP lawmakers are appealing that decision, though judges ordered the map be redrawn by Oct. 30. Toscano says the proposal should be immediately referred to a committee for consideration Thursday. Parker Slaybaugh, a spokesman for GOP House Speaker Kirk Cox, couldn’t immediately be reached.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is asking to move his upcoming trial out of the nation’s capital. His lawyers cite “intensely negative news coverage” and possible juror bias in requesting that the case be relocated to Roanoke, Virginia. Manafort was found guilty of eight counts last week in a separate trial in Alexandria, Virginia. His lawyers had also asked for that trial to be held in Roanoke, but the request was denied. In a court filing Wednesday, Manafort’s lawyers said it’s hard to imagine any other prosecution that’s received “media attention of the same magnitude.” They contend that reporting on the case has been sensationalized and negative. They say an inaccurate tweet from President Donald Trump may have contributed to a negative perception.
Do you consider yourself a hard worker? If a new Wallet Hub study is any indication, you might be working harder than your out-of-state friends. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is warning a rural school district that its plan to arm teachers is unlawful. Herring’s office released an opinion Tuesday saying the school board in Lee County should not proceed with its plan to let an undisclosed number of teachers and staff members carry guns in school. The board voted in July to arm teachers, saying it’s a cost-effective way to protect against school shootings. The board wants school employees who carry guns to be designated as “special conservators of the peace” to try and exempt them from state law prohibiting guns in schools. But Herring, a Democrat, said this board’s plan is still prohibited by law and arming teachers would make schools less safe.
The Virginia Department of Transportation will combine with other state agencies to conduct a public meeting today in Salem on future improvements for the Interstate 81 corridor. Among the matters you are encouraged to address: how to pay for any improvements that might eventually take place. WFIR’s Evan Jones hs more in today’s AM News Extra:
The meeting runs from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at the Salem Civic Center.
From VDOT: The Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation continue to study the entire length of the Interstate 81 corridor in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in accordance with Senate Bill 971 (now 2018 Acts of Assembly Chapter 743). The study team has scheduled the second series of meetings for late August, which will focus on potential improvements and revenue sources.
Feedback provided by members of communities, industries and other stakeholders will be considered as team members continue study of the corridor throughout the summer and prepare a draft plan report in the fall. The team will make recommendations to the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) for adoption prior to the opening of the 2019 General Assembly session.
Presentations will be held at the beginning of each meeting at 4 p.m. followed by an open house through 7 p.m., which will allow attendees to speak one-on-one with study team members, ask questions and provide written and verbal comments.
The latest Roanoke College Poll offers more evidence that Virginia no longer appears to be anything other than a “Blue” state. The poll asked likely Virginia voters whether they would prefer Democrats or Republicans to control Congress next year, and the Democratic difference is greater than that found in most recent nationwide polls. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
Click here for full poll results and methodology
Update: Virginia State Police have cancelled a Senior Alert for missing 88-year-old, James Oliver Tyson.
Per State Police policy, Senior Alerts have to be cancelled after a certain amount of time. This does not indicate if Tyson has been found or not.
From news release: The Virginia State Police has issued a Senior Alert on 08/25/2018 at 0059 hours.
The Virginia State Police is looking for James Oliver Tyson, a white male, 88 years old, height 5’11”, weight 201 pounds, with blue eyes, and white hair. He is wearing a short sleeve light blue button up shirt, khaki or brown pants and brown dress shoes.
He is believed to be in danger and was last seen on 08/24/2018, at 1530 hours, in Bath County, Virginia.
Additional information: he is operating a 2007 red Chevrolet pickup with a Virginia license plate of J9024. He is a resident of Spotsylvania County.
The missing senior suffers from a cognitive impairment and his disappearance poses a credible threat to his health and safety. He made need medical attention.
Please contact the Virginia State Police Dispatch at 1-540-898-7767 if located.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A shooting at a video game competition in Florida has left two people dead along with the suspect and prompted calls from gamers for more security at esports tournaments.
“It’s very clear that we need to be more proactive for 2019 and beyond,” tweeted Joey Cuellar, the tournament director for the Evolution Championship Series, an esports event that focuses on fighting games.
The tournament is held in Las Vegas and draws some 15,000 people. In March, organizers called the FBI when someone wrote online: “mass shooting @EVO18 see you there.”
The event went off without a hitch, but Cuellar also wrote on Sunday: “The amount of undercover law enforcement at Evo was unprecedented, and we will be installing metal detectors for ALL days next year.”
Esports are big business. A Goldman Sachs report in 2017 valued eSports at $500 million in 2016 and anticipated market growth. Entire companies have sprung up to form e-sports teams, and the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team sponsors an esports team (One of their players was injured in Sunday’s shooting). And it’s no wonder that everyone wants in on the action — careers can be made and millionaires are minted. Epic Games announced in May it will provide $100 million to fund prize pools for “Fortnite” tournaments during the first year of competition.
At Sunday’s Madden competition, the tournament was streamed live on Twitch.tv, an online network that attracts tens of millions of visitors, most of whom watch footage of other people playing video games.
This weekend’s “Madden 19 NFL Classic” was the first of four planned events.
According to the EA sports website – the game’s developer — the top two finishers at the Jacksonville event would earn a spot in Madden Classic main event in Las Vegas, Nevada, that’s scheduled for October.
There in Las Vegas, competitors will play for a share of the tournament’s $165K prize pool, with the winner taking home $25,000.
It’s unclear what kind of security was at the event, which was held at a game bar inside a waterfront mall.
Derek Jones of Santa Fe, New Mexico, came to Jacksonville to compete in the Madden tournament and was sitting in a fenced-in patio outside the venue when he heard the gunshots Sunday. Jones, 26, said he jumped the fence and ran.
Jones said he didn’t notice any security —either private security guards or off-duty police officers— at the venue. He said it’s a complaint he’s had with tournament organizers in the past.
“I’ve been telling them this for a while that you need to make the players feel safe,” Jones said.
He recalled a past Madden opponent who once kept screaming during their match that he was going to beat Jones up after the game. But Jones said that’s the only time before Sunday he ever felt physically threatened.
Electronic Arts, the Madden game developer, released a statement calling the shooting horrific and senseless. “Our focus right now is on those affected, and supporting law enforcement as they continue their investigation into this crime.”
Some top players and industry watchers said Sunday that security hasn’t caught up with the seriousness of the sport.
“Heartbreaking to hear about the shooting at the Madden event,” wrote Cristian Tamas, the director of esports programs for Twitch, the platform that broadcasts gamers’ live streams. “Unfortunately, this was a matter of when not if. Esport event security, in general, has been extremely poor over the years, we should’ve stepped it up long ago.”
In December, the Call of Duty World League tournament held in Dallas was evacuated — twice — due to bomb threats.
Seth Abner, an XGames Gold Medalist and Call of Duty World Champion, wrote on Twitter in the wake of Sunday’s shooting: “I’ve been saying events NEED better security. Such a damn shame that now event coordinators will respond after a tragedy happens.”
Some gamers say the pressure of competition, the desire to please fans and the intense gaming can lead to anxiety and mental health issues, or worse.
“In the world of competitive video games, mental health issues loom so large and come up so often that the problem somehow becomes invisible,” wrote Tyler Erzberger, who covers esports for ESPN. “In a world where one day you can go from playing in your bedroom to the next being criticized by millions under spotlights, mental health can’t be overlooked.”
His article on mental health and gamers ran online Friday. On Sunday, he tweeted that “99% of the Esports events i’ve been to have had decent to very good security.”