Virginia Viewpoint – August 5, 2022 – Dog Days of Summer

Election update:

The dog days of summer have arrived. Things have slowed down as the August heat continues to rise.

A Federal judge ended the chances of House members having to run in their new districts this November.  The judge threw out the 2^nd lawsuit submitted by a Richmond author, the Loudoun County NAACP president, and a Loudoun resident. A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of the first lawsuit.  The entire House and Senate of Virginia elections will be held November 2023.  The elections will use the new districts drawn by the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Executive Branch update:

Governor Youngkin updated the COVID-19 guidance for K-12 schools, child care and camps, giving parents more control over masking and health decisions for their children. The Governor also donated his second-quarter salary to the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation. This donation fulfilled a pledge made to donate his salary to charity.

Newsclips:

Court tosses second lawsuit seeking new Virginia elections

By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a second lawsuit seeking to force members of Virginia’s Republican-controlled House of Delegates to hold an unscheduled election this year. U.S. District Judge David Novak found that federal courts lack the authority to grant the “extreme remedy” of ordering new elections for all 100 members of the state House of Delegates using newly drawn legislative maps.

Youngkin names former Rep. Dave Brat to economists panel

By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall – 7 articles a month)

Former Rep. Dave Brat, who staged one of the biggest upsets in national political history by unseating then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary in 2014, is returning to the public policy stage as an economic adviser to Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Brat, now dean of the business school at Liberty University after losing his congressional seat to Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, four years ago, will join the Joint Advisory Board of Economists as it advises Youngkin on Virginia’s economy and revenue estimates for the governor’s first proposed budget revision in December.

Dominion Energy says more power lines needed to support Loudoun data centers

By DAN BRENDEL, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)

Dominion Energy’s warning last week that it may not be able to support future Loudoun County data centers owes to a lack of power lines in the county, not the availability of power itself. The electricity-guzzling data center sector, a goliath in Loudoun’s economy, and county leaders were blindsided by Dominion’s warning, which could put dozens of new data center developments north of Dulles International Airport and tens of millions of dollars of investment at risk.

On abortion, Dems begin offensive in Va. as GOP renews old attacks

By MEAGAN FLYNN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall – 3 articles a month)

At first, the ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee looks like a pitch for a new dating app, as a couple meets for the first time. By the end, the fictional woman in the relationship has died after a doctor says she needs to terminate her pregnancy to save her life, but can’t because in that society the procedure is illegal without exception. A closing message appears on the screen: “Hung Cao wants to ban your right to decide your own healthcare.”

Virginia AG Miyares visits Fairfax Co. officers as police chief issues personnel emergency

By JAY KORFF, WJLA-TV

Thursday night Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares had a candid conversation with members of law enforcement at the Fairfax County Police Association’s lodge. The Q&A session revealing some of the Attorney General’s gravest concerns. He said people will die in Virginia due to issues with magistrates. Magistrates deal with everything from issuing protective orders to search warrants. It’s an issue Miyares has brought to the attention of the Supreme Court of Virginia; the agency that oversees magistrates.

The Crisis Facing Nursing Homes, Assisted Living and Home Care for America’s Elderly

By ALEXANDRA MOE, Politico

December blurred to January, and the night shift blurred into the day shift, as Momah Wolapaye, 53, rotated warm towels beneath the bedridden at the nursing care wing for the Covid-positive. . . . For decades, elder care in the U.S. has been bolstered by an immigrant workforce. As a new immigrant from Liberia, Wolapaye found his first job in America at Goodwin Living 11 years ago. Immigrants occupy nearly 70 percent of jobs at the Alexandria, Va., facility, and are 40 percent of home health aides. But today, international migration to the U.S. is at record-lows. And with native-born Americans apparently reluctant to take elder care jobs, economists like Watson are raising alarm bells: Who will care for America’s elderly?

The FBI is investigating a potential political motivation linked to Justin Fairfax allegations

By RYAN GRIM, AKELA LACY AND DANIEL BOGUSLAW, The Intercept

Federal investigators are probing the origin of twin allegations against then-Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, according to five sources who’ve been interviewed by the FBI. In February 2019, Fairfax was accused of sexual assault by two women the same week that the state’s governor, Ralph Northam, was in the press for a yearbook photo possibly showing him in blackface or in a Klan outfit. The allegations against Fairfax came at a crucial and chaotic moment, when Northam was being pressured to resign, and political power looked up for grabs.

Another mistake? VEC still threatening collection of waived overpayments

By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall – 7 articles a month)

Diane Yane thought her struggles with the Virginia Employment Commission were over. In late May, the state agency notified Yane that it was waiving repayment of $11,160 in unemployment benefits she had received early in the COVID-19 pandemic. . . . But less than two weeks ago, Yane received a letter from VEC requiring her to repay the money the agency already had waived – plus an additional $6,600, for a total of $17,760. VEC officials say the latest letter to her and others in similar circumstances is a mistake – “a timing issue,” Employment Commissioner Carrie Roth said. But the people who received them remain infuriated by a struggling state agency they say has wreaked havoc in their lives because of its errors.

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