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Mounting Layoffs
Businesses notify state officials of 5,000 layoffs in Northern Virginia.
Businesses across Northern Virginia are flooding the Virginia Economic Commission with thousands of layoff notifications, an indication of how deep the region’s economic uncertainty is becoming as the COVID-19 crisis continues its devastating path. Since the beginning of March, the commission has received notification of about 5,000 layoffs in Northern Virginia. That’s more layoffs in one part of the state than all the other regions in Virginia combined.
Alexandria City Council Rezones Waterfront Despite Massive Opposition
Six-to-one vote opens the door to higher density and overturns longstanding ban on hotels.
Members of the Alexandria City Council cast what may become one of the most important votes in their career last weekend, approving a controversial zoning change that would triple density at three sites slated for redevelopment compared to what’s there now.
Mapmaking Politics
Legislative Black Caucus leads effort to undermine redistricting amendment.
Virginia has a horrible history with racial gerrymandering. It started with the ratification of the Constitution, an effort led by Virginians who wanted to count slaves as three-fifths of a person so representation in the south wouldn’t suffer because so many of its inhabitants were non-voting enslaved people. It continued all the way to 2011, when the Republican leaders engaged in a scheme of packing black voters into House districts to dilute their influence elsewhere, a plan the United States Supreme Court later determined was unconstitutional. Now members of the Legislative Black Caucus are worried a proposed amendment might enshrine racial gerrymandering into the Virginia Constitution.
Blue Firefight in Virginia's 10th Congressional District
Six Democrats vying for Democratic nomination to face Barbara Comstock.
Democrats are so eager to take on two-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-10), some of them have actually moved to the district specifically to run against her.
A Stark Choice: Candidates in Special Election Are on Opposite Sides of Key Issues
Voters to choose between radically different views in September.
The summer of 2012 is turning out to be the hottest political season in recent memory, and not just because of the record-breaking temperatures.
Should Virginia’s Governor Be Able to Run for Reelection?
Longstanding ban on second consecutive term to be reconsidered this year.
Virginia is the only state that limits its governor to a single, four-year term, a vestige of the distrust Americans had for executive power during the American Revolution. Now, more than two centuries later, the commonwealth may finally be ready to ditch the longstanding term limit and allow Virginia’s governor to run for reelection.
The Hidden History of Del Ray
Uncovering the secret past in the Town of Potomac.
Gambling. Corruption, Racism. Greed. These are all part of a little-known narrative from the Del Ray's long-ago past, a time when progressive leaders closed a corrupt racetrack and formed the Town of Potomac, only to see an unwanted attempt by Alexandria City Hall to steal the land in a controversial annexation.
Rorschach Politics
Candidates for governor present inkblots on everything from the economy to Confederate statues.
The campaign for governor is a bit like a Rorschach test as the candidates close in on the final stretch toward Election Day. Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie are presenting a series of inkblots to voters about everything from the health of the economy to the value of Confederate statues.
Three Republicans Vie for Virginia Lieutenant Governor Nomination
Two state senators and a delegate hope to snag bid to preside over Senate sessions.
More for Enforcement, Less for Assistance
Since the recession, funding has increased for public safety but decreased for social services.
Since the recession, spending on public safety in Alexandria has increased year after year. According to documents from the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, that category of government spending has increased 38 percent since 2010 as city leaders increased salaries for police officials and funded new positions at the city’s emergency communications center. But during that same time, spending on health and welfare programs has increased only 12 percent. Spending on social services has actually gone down since 2010.
Generational Divide
Senior conservative Democratic senators from Fairfax undermine labor agenda.
When Democrats won both chambers of the General Assembly in November, hopes were high that the new majorities in the House and Senate would move forward with a progressive agenda that had been rejected when Republicans were in power. Labor groups were particularly excited about the prospect of passing a $15 minimum wage, collective bargaining for public employees and a requirement that all employers offer five paid sick days. But the General Assembly session ended this week without fully accomplishing these goals.
Oops! They Did it Again
Lawmakers accidentally gave overtime protection to farmworkers and domestic workers, now they're taking it back.
They didn't mean it. Seriously. And now they're about to undo what they did last year. Lawmakers say the vote last year to create a cause of action for farmworkers and domestic workers to seek overtime pay was a mistake. Senators say they were misled, snookered by the blitzkrieg pace of the General Assembly. Now they're taking action to rectify the situation, stripping farmworkers and domestic workers of the ability to sue for overtime.
Inclusionary Dreams
What if Alexandria could force developers to build affordable housing?
If Alexandria wanted to take a carrot-and-stick approach to development, city officials would soon run into a problem. The lure of density is a big fat carrot, which seems to be getting larger each year. But officials in Richmond are holding all the sticks. Chief among them is the idea of inclusionary zoning, which would require the General Assembly to give Alexandria permission to force developers to build affordable housing.
Virginia Senate Minority Leader Faces Two Primary Challengers
Dick Saslaw hasn’t had a primary challenge since the 1970s; now he has two.
The last time Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw had a primary opponent, Jimmy Carter was in the White House and the Bee Gees were at the top of the charts. This year, for the first time since 1979, Saslaw has primary opposition. Not just one opponent, but two.
Alexandria City Council Election Returns: Precinct By Precinct
How the candidates ranked in all of the city's voting precincts.
A listing of which candidates won which precincts.
The Median Has No Message
Political signs banished from roadsides as campaign season heats up.
Some people call them flowers of democracy. Others call them weeds of political pollution. Whatever one thinks of the campaign signs and placards that appear along the roads of Fairfax County, expect to see a lot fewer of them. Last month, county officials launched a new program in which nonviolent inmates at the county jail hit the streets four days a week to remove illegal signs. With apologies to Marshall McLuhan, the message is no longer in the median. Anger and resentment has been rising over the issue of roadside political signs for years, and campaigns frequently go to war with each other to see which side can plant or steal or deface the largest number of placards. Unlike Prince William County, which had an agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation that allows the local government to collect the signs and fine violators, Fairfax was caught in a bind. Part of the Virginia code made it illegal for the county to remove the signs in Fairfax County until after an election.
Bag It?—Not Any More
Arlington to consider a new five-cent tax for each plastic bag.
Bag It?—Not Any More
Pioneering Change For Autism
University of Virginia seminar studies tension between “The Science & Lived Experience of Autism.”
Despite a recent surge in attention and research over the past decade about autism, controversy exists.
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