Across Virginia
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Usage of a smartphone app intended to notify people if they might have been exposed to the coronavirus is off to a relatively slow start in Virginia.
As of Oct. 1, just over 576,000 Virginians had downloaded the state’s COVIDWISE app since its launch eight weeks ago, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. That’s about 7 percent of the state’s population, or 13 percent of the estimated number of users with a smartphone.
Only 238 people have logged positive results within the app, a small fraction of the 50,377 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state since the app launched Aug. 5, the newspaper reported.
State officials repeatedly emphasized the app’s privacy-protection features during its roll out. It relies on Bluetooth wireless technology to detect when someone who downloaded the app has spent time near another app user who later tests positive for the virus. Those who test positive can anonymously notify others.
The state paid $229,000 to technology firm SpringML for the app’s development and expects to pay an additional $29,000 over the next year for support. Virginia also launched a $1.5 million marketing campaign led by a Richmond-based company.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia and his Republican opponent, Daniel Gade, clashed over topics including policing and coronavirus relief legislation but also found a number of points of agreement Saturday night during their second debate.
The event, held at Norfolk State University, focused on racial disparities and inequities. Gade, a political newcomer and retired Army officer, frequently attacked Warner as a career politician with little to show for his time in Washington. Warner, a former governor, emphasized his background in business and defended his accomplishments and experience, saying at one point, “Virginians know me.”
Although Warner is considered the heavy favorite to win reelection for a third Senate term representing Virginia, which has swung solidly blue in the Trump era, Gade has said he is undeterred by Warner’s advantages.
No Republican candidate has won a statewide election in Virginia since 2009, and Democrats took full control of the legislature in January for the first time in a generation. Warner also holds a significant fundraising advantage over Gade, having raised nearly $10.6 million compared with Gade’s approximately $983,000, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
Gade repeatedly jabbed at Warner during the debate over his “no” vote on GOP coronavirus relief legislation, at one point calling Warner’s opposition to the measure “stunning.” Warner said the measure wouldn’t have done enough for struggling families and noted that it didn’t get unanimous support from Republicans.
The two were also at odds over a question about whether police chokeholds should be banned.
Warner indicated yes, saying, “George Floyd would be alive, Eric Garner would be alive if there were prohibitions on chokeholds.”
Gade said no: “It’s a feel-good measure. It’s from people who have never been on the ground, who have never had dirty boots and have never had to do the hard work that police have to do every day.”
The candidates, who were largely cordial and mostly adhered to time limits, found agreement on several issues.
Both said they would take a COVID-19 vaccine proven to be safe but agreed that such a vaccine shouldn’t be mandated for children. Both raised concerns about the militarization of police forces around the country. Both agreed that the Black Lives Matter movement was about social justice, not sowing discord, and both said they do not support calls to defund police.
One portion of the event involved the moderators asking a series of questions directed only at one candidate, in which Gade and Warner were asked to defend past remarks or choices they had made.
Warner was asked why he didn’t support a 2014 congressional effort to get the Washington NFL team to change its name.
“I probably should have weighed in earlier,” he said.
Gade was asked about a 2019 interview he gave in which he said families “being trapped in these nasty, failing public schools is a recipe for continued degradation across our society.”
Gade vigorously defended school choice, saying, “The most systemically failing thing for Black families is the fact that far too often they are trapped with no recourse in schools that are nasty and that are actually failing.”
A professor at American University in Washington, Gade was seriously injured in Iraq in 2005, losing a leg after his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. He advised President George W. Bush on military and disability issues and was Trump’s appointee to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but withdrew his nomination after a lengthy delay in the Senate over his confirmation.
Warner, a businessman who co-founded the company that became Nextel, served as governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. He was first elected in 2008 to the Senate, where he now serves as vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Saturday’s debate was the second of three planned before Election Day. Norfolk State and its Center for African American Public Policy partnered with TV station WAVY, The Virginia Bar Association and Visit Norfolk to host the event. Due to the pandemic, it was closed to the broader public with only invited guests allowed, according to the school.
The first debate was held last month, and the final debate is slated for Oct. 13 in Richmond.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A bill to charge law enforcement officers with a Class 6 felony if they engage in sexual relations with a detainee has unanimously passed both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly.
Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Centreville, said she proposed House Bill 5045 to close a loophole in the law which currently does not make it illegal for police officers to have sexual relations with someone who has been detained.
“This puts people in a clear power imbalance at a very vulnerable time if they were detained by an officer with ill intent that wanted to take advantage of someone in that situation,” Delaney said. “Unfortunately, that has happened and that is ultimately the purpose of this law.”
Virginia law states employees of correctional facilities or jails cannot have sexual relations with someone in their custody, such as inmates, parolees or pretrial defendants.
“Where we saw that we needed to close the gap further was for law enforcement officers who are detaining individuals pre-arrest,” Delaney said.
In a recent five-year period, 23 people were convicted of felony carnal knowledge of an inmate, parolee, probationer, or pretrial or post trial offender, according to the bill’s impact statement.
The Prison Rape Elimination Act was the first federal law to deter sexual assault of inmates. The measure was passed by Congress in 2003 and signed into law by President George W. Bush. Experts conservatively estimated, according to the 2003 bill, that at least 13% of the inmates in the United States have been sexually assaulted in prison.
Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County has a system in place to train officers and inmates as an attempt to prevent sexual assault. Lt. Brian Bachert, the policy and compliance manager at the jail, said he teaches classes to inform inmates of the rights outlined by the federal bill.
Bachert said that although the act was put in place to protect sexual assault victims, inmates may sometimes take advantage of the measure.
“Inmates like to use PREA as a means to manipulate their housing,” Bachert said. “If they don’t like someone in their housing unit, they may say that person sexually harassed them.”
He said the jail investigates sexual assault allegations and there are repercussions in place for those who make false allegations, such as loss of commissary, visitation and recreational rights.
Delaney said bills similar to hers have been introduced before and received unanimous support but did not pass due to budget restrictions.
“Anytime there is a new crime, there is a cost associated with that because there’s a presumption that any time a new crime is created that there may be some costs with the court and potentially jail,” Delaney said. “I think it was a matter of prioritization with the budget, but I think that now we’ve had the opportunity to really put our criminal justice system in the spotlight during the special session.”
The Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission estimated a minimum of $50,000 be assigned to the bill, according to the impact statement. Delaney said the bill received bipartisan support from both chambers.
“This, I think, was a vital part of police reform that is a very common sense, common ground solution,” Delaney said.
Gov. Ralph Northam must next sign the bill for it to become law.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginians will have an opportunity to voice their views on who the state should honor after a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is replaced at the U.S. Capitol.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the Commission for Historical Statues in the U.S. Capitol will meet remotely on Thursday. The panel will discuss a process for selecting a statue to replace Virginia’s statue of Lee in the Statuary Hall Collection.
People who want to speak at the virtual meeting must register by noon Wednesday at www.dhr.virginia.gov/uscapitolcommission. They can also submit written comments by Wednesday at noon to USCapitolCommission@dhr.virginia.gov.
The panel will also hold at least one public hearing before making a recommendation to the General Assembly.
The panel had voted in July to take down the Lee statue and replace it with a to-be-determined Virginian. The Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond will take the Lee statue.
Suggested replacements include Barbara Johns. She is the schoolgirl who led the walkout at Farmville’s Moton High School in 1951 to protest the students’ substandard segregated school facilities. The Farmville case lead to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that found officially segregated public schools unconstitutional.
People have also suggested James Madison, Booker T. Washington and George C. Marshall.
A Virginia law now in effect bans held-held use of cellphone while driving, but AAA wants the word out now that actual enforcement begins three months from today. The law technically took effect July 1st when Virginia joined many states outlawing hand-held cellphone use while at the wheel. AAA Mid-Atlantic says it is one of several factors contributing to distracted-driving accidents and deaths in the state. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
According to the latest numbers released this morning by The Virginia Department of Health there are 31 new confirmed or probable coronavirus cases , and 2 new hospitalizations being attributed to the Roanoke Valley. State health officials report 14 new cases, and 2 new hospitalizations in Roanoke City, 14 new cases in Roanoke County, 1 new case in Botetourt County, 2 new cases in Salem.
According to the latest numbers released this morning by The Virginia Department of Health there are 67 new confirmed or probable coronavirus cases ,1 new death and 4 new hospitalizations being attributed to the Roanoke Valley. State health officials report 43 new cases, 3 new hospitalizations and 1 new death in Roanoke City, 19 new cases in Roanoke County, 1 new case in Botetourt County and 4 new cases and 1 new hospitalization in Salem.
You either watched the Presidential debate last night or you’ve likely heard some sound this morning – WFIR Political Analyst Dr. Bob Denton joined our Morning Anchor Ian Price and Roanoke Valley’s Morning News Host Joey Self to discuss the debate LIVE by phone:According to the latest numbers released this morning by The Virginia Department of Health there are 46 new confirmed or probable coronavirus cases ,2 new deaths and 2 new hospitalizations being attributed to the Roanoke Valley. State health officials report 28 new cases and one new hospitalization in Roanoke City, 11 new cases, 2 new deaths and one new hospitalization in Roanoke County, 3 new cases in Botetourt County and 4 new cases in Salem.
NEWS RELEASE: – A player on the penny Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines at the Rosie’s Gaming Emporium, located in Hampton, hit it big Sunday morning, September 27. At 9:45 am, the player wagered $2.40 on the “Scorchin Hot Ruby” game and the screen lit up offering congratulations and revealing winnings of $409,401.65. The player, who wishes to remain anonymous, hit the largest jackpot in Rosie’s history.