Welcome to Monday! It is snowing in the Richmond-area, although the roads should remain clear for the most part with small accumulation totals expected this morning.
Virginia has spent $33 million on rent and mortgage relief. Thousands are still waiting for help. – Richmond Times-Dispatch
by Mark Robinson
In Virginia’s eviction capital, applications for rental assistance swamped the nonprofit the state enlisted to help households hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Families facing eviction in central Virginia have inundated Area Congregations Together in Service, or ACTS, with requests for help on back rent they have no other way of paying. Meanwhile, landlords won about 2,000 eviction cases against tenants in Richmond and the counties of Henrico and Chesterfield in a two-month span this fall. Settling a delinquent balance is a tenant’s only chance of staying in their home once federal and state protections fall away in the new year.
Virginia Tech pioneers smart reservoirs – Roanoke Times
by Matt Dhillon
There are smart phones, smart cars and smart homes. And now, a team led by Virginia Tech professor Cayelan Carey continues to pursue what’s believed to be a first: a smart reservoir.
In 2018 Carey and her colleagues partnered with the Western Virginia Water Authority to develop and test their technology in Falling Creek Reservoir, the smallest of four reservoirs that distribute water to the city of Roanoke.
Republicans respond to the decision to choose 2021 candidates by convention – Virginia Scope
The State Central Committee for the Republican Party of Virginia met on Saturday to choose a nomination process for the statewide races next year. They will be nominating candidates to run for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General ahead of the 2021 general election. Many people involved in politics believe that this will be the best chance the Republicans have had at a statewide win since 2009.
Experts have stated in recent weeks that in order for the Republicans to be competitive again in Virginia, they need to nominate a candidate that can play well across the entire commonwealth. “There will be Republicans who are angry about Biden’s victory and they will be motivated to work for a Republican candidate in 2021,” said Dr. Stephen Farnsworth, Professor and Director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington, in an interview in November. “If there will be enough Republicans to win an election depends to a great degree on the candidate selected.”
Nearly six hours after the meeting began the committee officially chose a convention as the nomination method, leaving the logistics of the process to be finalized at a later date.
COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations hit new highs in Virginia; Northern Virginia sets daily record – Inside Nova
The Virginia Department of Health reported a record 3,880 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, following 3,793 on Saturday. The health department said Saturday’s number was higher than normal due to a backlog of cases but provided no such information about Sunday’s number.
The reports raised the state’s seven-day average of new daily cases to a new high of 2,730.1, surpassing the prior high of 2,592.3, set last Sunday. The average is up 20% over the past two weeks.
Virginia Republicans chose a nomination process for 2021 – Virginia Scope
Virginia will be voting to elect a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General next year and the State Central Committee for the Republican Party of Virginia met on Saturday morning to decide on a nomination process for that 2021 cycle.
Several candidates have already declared their intentions to receive the GOP nomination, leaving it up to the established party infrastructure to decide on the process for choosing their candidates. The two typical choices are either a convention, which is where Republicans sign up to vote and then typically show up to one location and vote in waves until a candidate receives 50% of the votes; or a primary, which is where the election takes place across the commonwealth at individual polling places. Republicans, or anyone that chooses to participate due to the lack of party registration in Virginia, can show up and cast their vote like a typical election.
Guest Commentary: My year of following fringe political movements led me to Amanda Chase – Virginia Scope
(This is guest commentary from Goad Gatsby, a citizen journalist that has been documenting fringe political movements in recent years.)
2020 has been the longest year of my life as I have been dedicated to following the activities of fringe political movements. This caused me to cross paths with the most controversial elected official in the Commonwealth of Virginia, State Senator Amanda Chase (R), from Chesterfield County.
This is in no way an exhaustive look into her life or politics, but rather the times I have lived the ‘Amanda Chase experience.’
My first encounter with Senator Chase was on January 10th outside of a meeting for the House Rules Committee in Richmond. I was waiting in the hallway because the committee room was at capacity by the time I arrived. The committee was meeting to vote on the prohibition of firearms in the Capitol Building. I witnessed the moment that Senator Chase stormed out of the committee room fuming about how she was now prohibited from open carrying a pistol in the halls of the legislative building. Looking back, she was not just irate about her right to carry a gun, but also about no longer having any power. The Republican Party was no longer the majority party for the first time since she was first elected in 2015. The Democratic leadership could not care any less about her concerns.
More News:
- Test results show fewer Arlington elementary students grasping the foundations of reading – WTOP
- Visual effects of COVID-19 in Virginia – VPAP
- Madison County churchmen revive lawsuit against governor -Daily Press
- Chase plans to run for Governor as an Independent – Richmond Times-Dispatch