Across Virginia
Virginia Republicans hoping to upset Hillary Clinton’s former running mate Tim Kaine in a U.S. Senate race are clashing over who is more loyal to President Donald Trump. WFIR’s Lillian Boyd has highlights from last night’s debate.
CHATHAM, Va. (AP) _ The federal government is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a lawsuit over Virginia’s ban on uranium mining. Attorneys for the Department of Justice and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission filed a brief with the high court earlier this month supporting a Virginia company’s bid to have its challenge heard. The brief says a decision last year in the case from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was incorrect. It also says the central question of the lawsuit is an important one that’s likely to recur in other nuclear-safety contexts. Pittsylvania County-based Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine a huge deposit of the radioactive ore. It argues a federal law should pre-empt state regulations, which prohibit the mining. Virginia’s ban has been in place since the 1980s.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Democratic lawmakers say a Virginia woman who has spent weeks up in trees protesting a natural gas pipeline that would cross her property is being treated inhumanely by authorities, who have cut off her deliveries of food and water.
Around a dozen Democratic members of the Virginia House and Senate held a press conference in Richmond to protest authorities’ response to the 61-year-old Mountain Valley Pipeline protester.
They also raised a host of other concerns about that multistate project as well as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and called on Gov. Ralph Northam to impose further conditions on both.
Developers of both projects say they can be built in a way that’s protective of the environment and pledge they will help lower energy costs and boost the economy.
Photo: Lynchburg PD Facebook
The photo of a Lynchburg Police officer who lost his home to the tornado is becoming is no doubt becoming a social media hit in his home area. Sergeant Gary Fink is seen sitting and smiling on one of the few remaining things from his Elon house – a toilet still in place – amid widespread destruction all around. State officials say more than 100 homes were seriously damaged — some of them destroyed — and Fink’s neighborhood was among the hardest-hit of them all. The photo was taken by his sister Dawn.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – The Richmond International Film Festival has named former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe as the recipient of its 2018 Pioneer Award for Excellence in Public Service & Leadership.
Each year, the festival honors state and national leaders who are paving a future path in leadership and evoking change in communities.
This year, McAuliffe was chosen for effectively ending homelessness among the state’s military veterans.
The award will be presented to McAuliffe by Gov. Ralph Northam during the festival’s Military Spotlight on April 29.
More than 150 award-winning films from 35 countries will be screened at the festival, which runs from April 23-29.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia Democratic challengers to sitting members of Congress are having success raising money.
Campaign finance reports released on Sunday show Democrats outraised incumbent GOP Reps. Dave Brat and Tom Garrett during the first three months of this year.
Several other Democratic challengers also posted strong fundraising totals.
Fundraising among incumbent Republicans was mixed. GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock raised the most money last quarter, followed by Republican Rep. Scott Taylor.
Republicans currently hold 7 out of eleven U.S. House seats in Virginia, but Democrats are hopeful they will gain seats thanks to voter antipathy toward President Donald Trump. Democrats easily won all three statewide offices last year and made major gains in the state House.
Gas prices are now at their highest level since July of 2015, and experts say it probably isn’t over. Prices typically rise into late spring, but concerns over Syria and China trade are raising crude oil prices. And the U.S. is exporting more of its domestically-produced oil. Annual prices usually peak between now and early June. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
The National Weather Service has issued Tornado and Flash Flood Watches until late Sunday night for areas that include Roanoke, Salem and surrounding counties. A watch does not mean a tornado or flash flooding is imminent; it does mean that conditions are present that might lead their creation.
From the National Weather Service:
TORNADO WATCH 53 REMAINS VALID UNTIL 11 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN VIRGINIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 26 COUNTIES IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA:
AMHERST APPOMATTOX BUCKINGHAM CAMPBELL CITY OF LYNCHBURG
IN SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA:
BEDFORD CHARLOTTE CITY OF DANVILLE CITY OF MARTINSVILLE HALIFAX HENRY
PITTSYLVANIA
IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA:
CITY OF RADFORD CRAIG MONTGOMERY PATRICK PULASKI WYTHE
IN WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA:
BOTETOURT CITY OF BUENA VISTA CITY OF LEXINGTON CITY OF ROANOKE CITY OF SALEM FRANKLIN
ROANOKE ROCKBRIDGE
FLASH FLODO WATCH: A strong cold front will approach the area from the west this afternoon and pass across the region tonight. Deep moisture ahead of this boundary will lead to bands of showers and heavier thunderstorms this afternoon and early evening. The potential exists for 1 to 3 inches of rainfall with locally higher totals along the southern Blue Ridge, the far western ridges and into the foothills and Roanoke Valley.
A flash flood watch is in effect until midnight for areas in Virginia that include the New River Valley counties of Pulaski, Montgomery and Giles Counties, as well as Craig, Roanoke, Franklin, Henry, and Patrick Counties.
Bands of showers and thunderstorms could produce 1 to 3 inches of rain, with locally higher totals along the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge. Excessive rainfall may lead to flash flooding in urban areas such as Roanoke and Martinsville, and along creeks, streams an low-lying areas.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS: A Flash Flood Watch means that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding. Flash flooding is a VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. Remember…TURN AROUND…DON`T DROWN! You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action should Flash Flood Warnings be issued.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A University of Virginia statue of Thomas Jefferson was vandalized with the words “RACIST + RAPIST” as the university commemorates the 275th anniversary of its founder’s birth. The Washington Post reports that the words were spray-painted on the base of the statue on the university’s lawn and discovered Friday on Founder’s Day. Virginia spokesman Anthony de Bruyn said “acts of vandalism do not contribute to meaningful discussion” as the university reckons with the complexities of the slave owning Founding Father’s legacy. Statues of Jefferson on campus have been flash points in recent months. During last August’s deadly white nationalist rally, community members surrounded a statue to protect it as torch-bearing white supremacists circled them. The next month, community members shrouded a statue in black, with signs labeling Jefferson a racist and rapist.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A panel of Virginia regulators wants to hear from the public about whether they believe the water quality approvals granted for two natural gas pipelines are adequate to protect the state’s waterways. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the State Water Control Board on Thursday approved a 30-day period to solicit comment on the approvals granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines. Critics have argued the corps’ review process was overly broad and that the Department of Environmental Quality should have done a stream-by-stream study. The department has said the review it did undertake, combined with the corps’ work, will be adequately protective. Asked how the public can weigh in and what will happen at the end of the comment period, DEQ spokeswoman Ann Regn told The Associated Press Friday that additional information will be available “in the near future.”