Across Virginia
WACHAPREAGUE, Va. (AP) — The Coast Guard rescued four people on a boat taking on water and sinking about 32 miles off Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
After receiving a report via VHF-FM radio on Thursday, the Coast Guard dispatched boats and a helicopter from stations at Wachapreague, Chincoteague and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. A crew transferred a pump to the sinking boat and took the vessel under tow. Six hours later, the vessel was moored in Wachapreague, where it was later trailered. No injuries were reported.
It’s important to have a working VHF-FM radio and make sure everyone on board is wearing life jackets, Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Butierries, the search and rescue mission coordinator at Coast Guard Sector Virginia, said in a news release.
“Situations can change very quickly while you’re out on the water, which is why it’s so important to have the requisite safety equipment in case of an emergency,” Butierries said.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s road to legalizing simple possession of marijuana has had some twists and turns, so it’s not surprising that advocacy groups have been flooded with calls from people trying to understand exactly what will be allowed under state law as of July 1.
Legislators initially voted in February to legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adult recreational use, but not until 2024, when retail sales would begin. An outcry ensued over the three-year wait before ending pot possession penalties, so in April they voted to move up legalization to this July 1.
Adding to the confusion: lawmakers included a “reenactment clause,” which means the General Assembly will have to vote again next year on major portions of the law, mainly to establish a regulatory framework for the legal marijuana marketplace.
The process has resulted in some contradictions that may not get resolved until years after legalization begins.
Sen. Adam Ebbin, one of the lead sponsors, said people need to understand the law’s limits for now. Possession of up to one ounce (28.3 grams) with no intent to distribute will become legal for adults, 21 and older. Adults will also be allowed to grow up to four marijuana plants per household. But not much else will change.
“People still need to be careful — this is not an official open marijuana market,” Ebbin said.
Virginia is joining 17 other states with laws allowing adults to possess and consume marijuana. In each one, laws have legalized simple possession before establishing a legal marketplace for buying and selling marijuana, said Jenn Michelle Pedini, the development director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Under Virginia’s law, buying and selling marijuana will remain illegal until Jan. 1, 2024, when retail sales are expected to begin. Smoking marijuana in public also remains against the law.
Pedini, who is also the executive director of Virginia NORML, said the organization fields questions every day from people who are surprised to learn that selling pot won’t be allowed for another three years.
“The only legal sale of cannabis in Virginia is through the medical (marijuana) program,” Pedini said.
Virginia NORML has a page on its website to answer frequently asked questions and clear up confusion. The state also launched a website to answer questions about the new law.
Although people can legally cultivate marijuana plants beginning July 1, it will still be illegal for anyone to buy cannabis seeds or cuttings needed to grow those plants. That’s one of the contradictions bothering Republican Sen. Ryan McDougle, who voted against the legislation.
“The biggest inconsistency is you cannot legally buy marijuana for recreational use in the commonwealth of Virginia,” McDougle said.
“Under federal rules you can’t transport it (into Virginia), but if you have it, you can possess up to one ounce of it in Virginia. How you get that is the inconsistency. You can’t legally get it, but you can possess it,” he said.
In the original bill, both possession and sales of marijuana would have been legalized in 2024. But many social justice advocates pushed to immediately end the disparate treatment of people of color under existing marijuana laws.
The General Assembly’s research and watchdog agency found that from 2010-2019, Black Virginians were 3.5 times more likely than white Virginians to be arrested for marijuana possession, and 3.9 times more likely to be convicted, even though both populations used marijuana at similar rates.
“We want to do this the right way, and what that means is ending the disparate enforcement, which is going to make a huge change in the lives of thousands of Virginians,” said Alena Yarmosky, Gov. Ralph Northam’s spokeswoman. She said the administration also recognizes the “reality” that “people have marijuana now,” even though it is illegal in Virginia.
According to New Frontier Data’s U.S. Cannabis Report, Virginia had the fourth-largest illicit market last year, encompassing about $1.8 billion, or 3%, of an estimated $60 billion in total illicit sales nationwide.
“Because marijuana remains illegal at the federal level and because Virginia needs time to stand-up the regulatory structure for safe sales, it will not be legal to sell seeds or other marijuana until 2024,” Yarmosky said.
People will be allowed to share small amounts of seeds with one another, but they can’t sell them.
“The primary objective of legalization is to reduce criminalization and then to regulate safe legal access, so we’re checking one box, but we’re not checking the other this year,” Pedini said.
Pedini said may states have expedited adult access to marijuana through their medical marijuana dispensaries, something advocates hope Virginia lawmakers will vote to do in 2022. “Most people aren’t going to grow cannabis, but most people who will want to participate in the adult use market will prefer to do so through a legal avenue,” Pedini said.
The issue of critical race theory was at the center of a Franklin County School Board meeting. WFIR’s Clark Palmer has that story.
The VDH today reported 1 new coronavirus death and 1 new related hospitalization in the Roanoke Valley in the latest 24-hour reporting period. State officials also report 11 new coronavirus cases among Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Salem and Botetourt County. According to the department, there is 1 new case and 1 new death in Roanoke City, 4 new cases in Roanoke County, 2 new cases in Salem, and 4 new cases and 1 new hospitalization in Botetourt County.
DINWIDDIE, Va. (AP) — A man mistook his best friend for an intruder outside his Virginia home and fatally shot him, authorities said.
Matthew Sharpf and his family were asleep in their home Tuesday night when Jonathan Hankins showed up unexpectedly, Sheriff’s Maj. William Knott told The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Hankins “came banging around to the door and the side of the house,” Knott said. “I don’t know whether it was to shock him, or whether it was a joke or prank.”
Sharpf went to the door with a handgun and saw the silhouette of a person outside, Knott said. A shot fired through the front door struck and killed Hankins, he said.
“I don’t think he intended to shoot,” Knott said of Sharpf. “The gun discharged; it may have been an accident.”
Hankins, who apparently went to Sharpf’s house in Dinwiddie County for a visit, didn’t announce who he was while outside Sharpf’s home, Knott said. The men, both 37, had been best friends for years, Knott said.
Although the incident remains under investigation, Knott said there are no signs of a quarrel.
A member of Sharpf’s family called the sheriff’s office, and deputies found Hankins dead.
Sharpf was charged with voluntary manslaughter and released on an unsecured bond. He was arraigned Thursday and a preliminary hearing was set for July 26.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — It’s been nearly three decades since Virginia’s only woman to win a statewide race held political office.
That drought will end in November when voters decide whether Democratic Del. Hala Ayala or former Republican legislator Winsome Sears will be their next lieutenant governor. Either will make history as the first woman of color to serve statewide.
In interviews this week, after Ayala’s win in the Democratic primary Tuesday, both Democratic and Republican women expressed excitement about the race and frustration that it’s taken so long to get here.
“I’m thrilled we will be saying ‘Madam President’ come next year,” Republican state Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant said, referring to how the staid chamber addresses the lieutenant governor who oversees it.
The lone female statewide officeholder in Virginia’s long history is Democrat Mary Sue Terry, who served as attorney general from 1986 to 1993.
“If a UFO came and stayed long enough to observe our situation, one gender has most of the power and the majority is second-class,” Terry said during a recent speech at a museum event, the Martinsville Bulletin reported. “There is something wrong with this picture.”
Barring some extraordinary turn of events, this year’s race will pit Ayala, a cybersecurity specialist who launched her political career in 2017 in response to the election of Donald Trump, against Sears, a Marine veteran who has made history as a woman in politics before. Each has cast the other as a radical or extremist.
Sears, who won the GOP nomination at a convention last month, got her start in elected office in 2001 when she stunned both parties by defeating a 10-term Democrat in an overwhelmingly blue district to become the first Black Republican woman elected to the House of Delegates.
She served just one term before deciding not to seek reelection. After moving, she unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott in a race The Associated Press described as “a campaign of raw invective.”
She went on to serve on the State Board of Education and more recently as the national chair of an organization dedicated to reelecting Trump. She’s also led a men’s prison ministry and served as director of a women’s homeless shelter.
The 57-year-old who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica in 1970 when she was 6 describes herself in part as “Christian. Wife. Mother,” in her Twitter bio.
Sears lives in the Winchester area, where she runs an appliance, plumbing and electric company. She will join GOP gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin and attorney general nominee Jason Miyares on their party’s ticket.
Staunchly conservative, Sears generally opposes abortion rights and gun control, and would support overhauling education funding to increase school choice.
In an interview Friday, she seemed unfazed about the possibility of making history again in November.
“Once you win, it’s history. What matters is going forward. What do you do with the office now that you have it? I’m going to be focusing on education,” she said.
Lieutenant governor, a position first in the line of succession to the governor, mainly involves presiding over the procedural flow of bills through the Senate and breaking tied votes, though the job can also be used to advocate on policy issues.
The role is often a stepping stone to higher office, and with the Senate closely divided, it’s an important one. Outgoing Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has broken ties on a number of bills of significance, including Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization.
Ayala, a 48-year-old mother of two whose campaign said she was not available for an interview, will be looking to keep the position in Democratic control for a third term.
She won Tuesday’s competitive six-way primary, boosted by the support of much of the Democratic establishment, including endorsements from House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and Gov. Ralph Northam.
In a statement after her victory, Ayala emphasized her personal story, including her father’s death to gun violence and a harrowing pregnancy during which she relied on Medicaid for health care.
“I understand the struggles so many Virginia families face because I’ve lived them,” she said.
Ayala, who is of Afro-Latina, Irish and Lebanese heritage, worked at a gas station while pregnant with her son before getting a college degree and starting a career in cybersecurity. She ran for delegate after helping organize the Women’s March on Washington after Trump’s election in 2016. She defeated a four-term incumbent, Rich Anderson, who now chairs the Republican Party of Virginia. She beat him again in 2019 when he challenged her.
She supports abortion rights and campaigned on a promise to expand paid family leave and tighten gun control laws. Filler-Corn said Ayala is smart and “fearless,” with a collaborative approach.
“Hala Ayala is closer to shattering one of the highest glass ceilings in Virginia elected office, which would be a triumph for the entire Latino community,” Nathalie Rayes, Latino Victory Fund president & CEO, said in a statement.
Ayala will be the only woman on the Democrats’ statewide ticket this year, joining incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. McAuliffe ran away with the gubernatorial nomination contest, defeating four primary opponents, including state Sen. Jennifer McClellan and former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, either of whom would have become the nation’s first Black woman governor if elected.
There will still be one woman in the marquee race: Princess Blanding, who is running as an independent, qualified this week to appear on the general election ballot.
The VDH today reported no new coronavirus deaths but 5 new related hospitalizations in the Roanoke Valley in the latest 24-hour reporting period. State officials are also reporting 18 new coronavirus cases among Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Salem and Botetourt County. According to the department, there are 4 new cases, and 1 new hospitalization in Roanoke City , 8 new cases and 3 new hospitalizations in Roanoke County, 3 new cases and 1 new hospitalization in Salem, and 3 new cases in Botetourt County.
A Martinsville-based education provider is offering certification training specifically for workers looking to move into wind energy technician careers. It comes as wind power jobs are growing in Virginia, and they are expected grow even more in coming years. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
The Charlottesville City Council is offering to transfer ownership of one (1) or two (2) statues/outdoor bronze sculptures to an entity, upon terms deemed by City Council to be appropriate and advantageous. From June 7, 2021 through midnight on July 8, 2021 the City’s offer is extended to any museum, historical society, government or military battlefield interested in acquiring the Statues, or either of them, for relocation and placement. On or after July 8, 2021, if the statutes, or either of them, has not been transferred to such an entity for relocation and placement, City Council may make other disposition(s).
The Charlottesville City Manager issues this Request for Statements of Interest (“RFI”) [<–the RFI information at this link will be published on June 8, 2021] to determine whether, and how many, entities are or may be interested in discussing specific terms for acquisition of either or both statues.
The statues that are the subject of this RFI are (i) a bronze statue/ sculpture of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and (ii) a bronze statue/ sculpture of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. The Lee Statue is located in a City park situated on West Market Street, between 1st Street North and 2nd Street NE. Information regarding the Lee Statue can be found at: https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/104-0264/ . The Jackson Statue is located in a City park situated on 4th Street NE, between East Jefferson Street and West High Street. Information regarding the Jackson Statue can be found at: https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/104-0251/.