Across Virginia
NEWS RELEASE: RICHMOND – Beginning January 2, 2021, Virginians may apply for a driver privilege card at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Applications will be accepted by appointment only; appointments can be made at dmvNOW.com/appt.
This change in Virginia law, authorized by the Virginia General Assembly, creates a driving credential for individuals who are non-U.S. citizens and cannot meet Virginia’s legal presence requirements, making them ineligible to receive a standard or REAL ID-compliant driver’s license in Virginia.
Customers may be eligible to obtain a driver privilege card if they meet the following criteria:
- are a non-U.S. citizen who is a resident of Virginia
- have reported income from Virginia sources or are claimed as a dependent on a tax return filed in Virginia in the past 12 months
- do not have a driving privilege that is currently suspended or revoked in Virginia or any other state, to include insurance-related infractions
“We are pleased to offer this new credential to give thousands of tax-paying Virginians the opportunity to drive legally on our roadways, something they previously have not been able to do,” said DMV Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb. “Like applicants for any driving credential, driver privilege card applicants must prepare for their visit by gathering necessary documents and studying for all required testing. A good place to start is the DMV webpage dedicated to this new credential, dmvNOW.com/dpc.”
In order to obtain a driver privilege card in Virginia, the following documents must be provided:
- Two proofs of identity (e.g., foreign passport and Consular identification document issued by country of citizenship)
- Two proofs of Virginia residency (e.g., monthly mortgage statement and utility bill)
- Proof of Social Security number (if one has been issued) or the individual’s taxpayer identification number (e.g., W-2 form or ITIN letter)
- Tax return documentation (e.g. Virginia Resident Form, Virginia Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return Form or Virginia Nonresident Income Tax Return Form, filed in the past 12 months)
All documents must be originals and are subject to verification, however; printouts of approved online residency documents may be accepted.
The steps to obtain a driver privilege card vary based on a customer’s licensed driving history. Applicants will be required to pass a vision screening. DMV encourages those eligible to make an appointment for the new year, study and prepare for applicable tests atdmvNOW.com, and organize the documents necessary to obtain a driver privilege card. An interactive document guide, available on DMV’s website, helps to prepare customers for their visit.
According to the latest numbers released this morning by the Virginia Department of Health there are 28 new probable or confirmed coronavirus cases, 4 new hospitalizations and 4 new deaths being reported in the Roanoke Valley. 27 new cases, 3 new hospitalizations and 4 new deaths in Roanoke County, and 1 new case and 1 new hospitalization in Roanoke City. State health officials are reporting three less cases and one less hospitalization in Salem and one less case in Botetourt County.
State Police photo
NEWS RELEASE: Two Virginia State Police troopers are recovering from minor injuries after their patrol vehicle was struck on Interstate 81 in Wythe County Monday morning (Dec. 14). Motorists are reminded no matter where they’re traveling in Virginia today, to please be mindful of and drive for the wet, slick conditions. Drivers are also reminded of Virginia’s Move Over law, which requires all vehicles to move over a lane or pass cautiously any vehicle equipped with flashing red, blue or amber lights and is stopped on the side of a road.
According to the latest numbers released this morning by the Virginia Department of Health there are 33 new probable or confirmed coronavirus cases being reported in the Roanoke Valley. State health officials report 18 new cases in Roanoke County, 1 new case in Roanoke City, and 14 new cases in Salem. There are no new cases reported in Botetourt County.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Commonwealth University’s president says revenues likely will fall at least $75 million in the spring 2021 semester.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that President Michael Rao told the school’s board of visitors on Friday that’s the best-case scenario for a future still clouded by the pandemic.
Revenue losses could reach $144 million. VCU Health is projecting a loss of $60 million. Rao says the university will do everything it can to avoid that.
The university’s overall budget this year is $1.3 billion.
VCU has saved costs by refinancing bonds, freezing some spending and hiring and integrating its purchasing and accounts payable systems to be more efficient.
The board voted Friday to refinance $35.2 million in Virginia College Building Authority bonds, which were used to pay for School of Medicine buildings, the Massey Cancer Center, housing, parking and other amenities.
Enrollment is down at the university, and fewer students lived on campus this year, meaning fewer students paid for room and board, meal plans and parking.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam on Friday announced a proposal to spend $25 million to transform historical sites in Virginia, including the Richmond spot where a soaring statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee became a recent focal point of protests against racism.
Nearly $11 million of the money would be used to reconstruct Richmond’s Monument Avenue, a historical boulevard that was lined with the Lee statue and other Confederate monuments for more than a century.
Most of the statues were taken down in July after Mayor Levar Stoney ordered their removal amid weeks of protests following the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. At 21 feet (6 meters) tall, the bronze statue of Lee astride a horse towers over the avenue on a pedestal nearly twice as tall as the piece itself.
Northam announced plans to remove the Lee statue in June. But its removal was blocked by a lawsuit filed by a group of residents who live near the statue, which is located on state-owned land. A judge sided with Northam in October, but the statue remains standing while the residents appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Northam said the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts would use the funding to hire staff and lead an initiative to redesign Monument Avenue.
“At a time when this Commonwealth and country are grappling with how to present a more complete and honest picture of our complex history, we must work to enhance public spaces that have long been neglected and shine light on previously untold stories,” Northam said in a news release.
The spending proposal is contingent on winning approval from the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. Northam plans to address his proposed “historic justice” initiatives and other components of his budget plan with the money committees of the legislature on Wednesday.
Patrick McSweeney, an attorney for the residents who sued to try to block the removal of the Lee statue, said the public is “deeply split” over the removal of Confederate monuments.
“Instead of a gracious attempt to acknowledge that most opponents of removal of statues are not hateful and racist, the Governor has inflicted an emotional insult that will not soon be forgotten. A deepened divide between the races will be his legacy,” said McSweeney, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.
Alex Nyerges, director and chief executive officer of the museum, said he hopes to bring together artists, art historians, urban planners and residents of the community to contribute to a plan to reinvent Monument Avenue.
“It is about looking to the future, looking to a future that’s inclusive, that’s forward-thinking, and there’s also an element of healing,” Nyerges said.
“These monuments have been on Monument Avenue for 130 years. They were objects of oppression, they were objects of racism, and that has scarred this community, it’s scarred generations of Richmonders.”
Stoney tweeted that the governor’s plan was an “investment in the voices of Black, brown and Indigenous Richmonders too often silenced in our official historical and cultural narratives.”
“It’s time to center those stories,” he said.
Stoney announced in July that the city was committing funding for the development of an ambitious and long-envisioned memorial campus in Richmond’s former slave-trading district, Shockoe Bottom.
Historians and community activists have long called for a greater acknowledgement of the neighborhood’s history, most of which has been bulldozed, buried or destroyed over the years. But commemoration efforts had moved at a glacial pace.
The $25 million investment proposed by Northam includes $9 million for the development of a Slavery Heritage Site and improvements to the existing Slave Trail in Shockoe Bottom. The funding will support efforts to preserve the area known as the Devil’s Half-Acre, or Lumpkin’s Jail, where many slaves were held.
Another $5 million would be used to repatriate tombstones from the former Columbian Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C., and create the Harmony Living Shoreline memorial. Headstones were removed from the historic African American cemetery and relocated in 1960 to make way for commercial development. Some headstones were moved to a new cemetery in Landover, Maryland, while others were sold off by the developer and used to create a riprap shoreline for erosion control along the banks of the Potomac River.
The funding also includes $100,000 to support the Virginia Emancipation and Freedom Monument project on Brown’s Island.
Governor Northam says Virginia is stepping up enforcement of his COVID-19 executive orders. Northam says statewide compliance with restrictions already in place is 90%, but the number must be greater to curb and reverse the recent surge in COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths. The governor says the state has already issued more than 180 enforcement violations; the goal, he says, is not to get anyone in trouble but to see compliance with his emergency orders. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:
An area political analyst says a key argument behind a lawsuit challenging Joe Biden’s apparent victories in four states, has been used in another high profile election case. WFIR’s Clark Palmer has that story.According to the latest numbers released this morning by the Virginia Department of Health there are 97 new probable or confirmed coronavirus cases, 4 new hospitalizations being reported in the Roanoke Valley. State health officials report 47 new cases, 1 new hospitalization in Roanoke County, 35 new cases in Roanoke City, 4 new cases and 2 new hospitalizations in Salem, and 11 new cases and 1 new hospitalization in Botetourt County.