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Late Va Senator Ben Chafin’s daughter is featured in a new VDH commercial about Covid-19 vaccines
Virginia Senator Ben Chafin passed away due to complications from Covid-19 last year - now his daughter is encouraging people to receive the vaccine to protect themselves in a new video from the Virginia Department of Health.
"We lost my father on Jan. 1, 2021, the first day of the year. This year has been, I can only put it into words that it’s been the worst year of our life,” Sophie Chafin-Vance said. “We are constantly reliving that loss. As the pandemic continues I didn't think twice about walking through those doors and taking that vaccine. I wanted to live. And that ultimately is what it comes down to. Do you want to live? Because this gives you a chance at life. If you don't take it you can look at all the statistics and see you're going to have a rough ride. In order to move forward in a safe manner, we are going to need to get vaccinated.”
4:00 pm: GOVERNOR GLENN YOUNGKIN RECEIVES COVID-19 UPDATE FROM SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN RESOURCES JOHN LITTEL
LOCATION: Patrick Henry Building - CLOSED PRESS
4:30 pm: GOVERNOR GLENN YOUNGKIN ATTENDS BUDGET CONFERENCE MEETING WITH SECRETARY OF FINANCE STEVE CUMMINGS
LOCATION: Patrick Henry Building - Closed Press
Interesting fact about Virginians
AmericanAddictionCenters.orgconducted a survey of 3,704 people aged 21 and over about their drinking habits to determine how many would be classified as ‘gray area drinkers.’ The survey uncovered that a significant percentage - 18% - of Virginians would be considered ‘gray area drinkers.’ This is approximately 823,000 people in Virginia who sometimes drink alcohol excessively or emotionally, despite not having a severe alcohol use disorder.
The study also analyzed these results broken down by age and discovered that, overall, those aged 25 – 34 had the highest percentage of gray area drinkers with nearly one-third (32%) meeting the criteria. The second-highest percentage belonged to those aged 35 – 44, in which one-quarter (25%)
Rep. Don Beyer Welcomes Designation Of Line-Of-Duty Death Designation For Fallen Capitol Defender Officer Jeffrey Smith
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who represented fallen MPD Officer Jeffrey Smith, today welcomed the D.C. Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Relief Board’s determination “that Officer Smith sustained a personal injury on January 6, 2021, while performing his duties and that his injury was the sole and direct cause of his death.” Officer Smith died by suicide days after he responded to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Board’s determination, which has important repercussions for Officer Smith’s surviving next of kin, came after a struggle of over a year by his widow, Erin Smith, to winofficial recognition of the fact that her husband’s death occurred in the line of duty.
“Officer Jeffrey Smith would still be alive today if he hadn’t risked his life to defend all of us at the U.S. Capitol and our democracy itself on January 6th. His heroism led to his death, which absolutely occurred in the line of duty, and the official acknowledgement of that fact is an important moment that I hope will bring a measure of solace to his family and friends. I am particularly thinking of Erin Smith tonight, who has shown remarkable tenacity and courage through the terrible ordeal that began with the loss of her husband and lasted through the long fight to win this recognition.
“I continue to support full memorial honors for Officer Smith. With the official recognition that Officer Smith’s death occurred in the line of duty, there should be no question that he deserves them.
“Going forward, it remains incumbent on policymakers, including Congress, to continue to update our laws in ways that remove stigma wrongly attached to suicide. Far too many people in uniform have been lost to suicide after experiencing severe trauma, and we owe it to them to right this wrong and fight for more empathetic responses to their struggles and sacrifices even as we fight the scourge of suicide itself. This moral imperative is made clearer by the loss of Jeffrey Smith and his fellow officers after their bravery at the Capitol on January 6th.”
Wittman talks gas prices again in email to supporters
Here is the latest fundraising email from Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA01):
“Gas prices are soaring across the country. While Biden continues to grandstand on American energy production, Americans are left feeling the pain in their pockets.
It’s simple, the President MUST stop all dependence on foreign energy. We are the greatest nation in the world, but we can’t produce our own energy according to Biden.
I have one message for President Biden: The United States must reauthorize the Keystone Pipeline and depend only on AMERICAN MADE energy.
Gas Prices are hitting record numbers again, and there is absolutely no reason for it. Open our country for energy production and restore commonsense policies to Washington.
We can do this. Together, we will take back the House and with a REPUBLICAN majority in Congress, we will enact commonsense energy policies–easing the pain at the gas pumps.
Will you chip in $20.21 to fight back today? We are building a HUGE grassroots movement to take back our country, but it starts with you.”
Candidate criticized for singling out Prince William student - Inside NOVA
A candidate for the 19th District House of Delegates seat is facing criticism after she singled out an eighth-grader in remarks at last week’s Prince William County School Board meeting. Makya Little, a county school system parent who recently announced her bid for the new General Assembly seat in northeastern Prince William and southeastern Fairfax County, called eighth-grader Chloe Murphy’s public comment “disrespectful” and “facetious” at the March 2 School Board meeting.
Murphy’s mother took to Facebook in response, saying Little’s comments about a child weren’t fit for someone seeking elected office, with others promising to organize against Little in her bid because of her remarks.
Left-leaning Va. advocacy groups ask Youngkin to keep Northam’s Board of Education nominees - Washington Post
by Hannah Natanson and Antonio Olivo
A collection of left-leaning Virginia advocacy groups is asking Gov. Glenn Youngkin to reconsider appointing replacements for three state Board of Education members whose terms ended early because of maneuvering by Republican legislators.
The three members — Jamelle S. Wilson, Anthony Swann and Stewart D. Roberson — were all nominated before last fall’s gubernatorial election by the Republican winner’s predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam (D). But House Republicans declined to confirm them during the legislative session in January, after Senate Democrats refused to confirm Andrew Wheeler as state secretary of natural and historic resources.
AG’s office: No need for House elections again this year - AP
by Denise Lavoie
A Democratic activist who is suing Virginia elections officials told a federal appeals court that new House elections must be held this year under newly drawn legislative district lines, but the state said last year’s elections were “perfectly constitutional” and the lawsuit should be dismissed.
The hearing before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday marked the latest turn in a long-running legal battle by Paul Goldman, a former state Democratic party chair who argues that House members elected in 2021 must run again in 2022 under new maps that properly align legislative districts with population shifts.
On his first day in office back in January, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order that his office said delivered on his campaign promise to pull out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or the RGGI. But why does Youngkin say he wants to exit the program, and does his executive order actually withdraw Virginia from the RGGI?
In 2020, Virginia became the first southern state to join the RGGI, an effort in many northeastern states to set a maximum amount of carbon emissions that power producers can emit and charge them for what they do discharge.
Albemarle police never turned over any records in FOIA request at center of legislative debate - Richmond Times-Dispatch
by Patrick Wilson
One of the chief elements in debate over a bill that would close off inactive police files to the public is a November media request to Albemarle County police for records about Jesse Matthew, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to killing college students Hannah Graham and Morgan Harrington.
The parents of both victims testified in favor of the legislation, saying the release of additional records would further traumatize their families.
Legislature passes bill banning admissions discrimination - AP
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
The Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday passed a watered-down version of legislation that bans racial discrimination in admissions at Virginia’s highly regarded Governor’s Schools.
The House of Delegates voted 63-35 in favor of the legislation, which already passed the state Senate. It now goes to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for his signature — he identified the bill as one of his legislative priorities at the start of the session.
From communication firms to restaurants and cryptocurrency agencies, Virginia’s top college athletes had already started taking advantage of the change in NCAA rules allowing them to profit from their name, image and likeness before the Virginia legislature passed a law last week outlining the process in the commonwealth.
Indeed most of the provisions in Senate Bill 223 had already been incorporated into the state’s budget during a General Assembly special session last August. Numerous attempts to get ahead of the curve in this movement started by California had been filed in 2020 and 2021 before the bill by Sen. Jeremy McPike’s, D-Prince William, garnered bipartisan support.
