Archive for May, 2016

Kroger and Union Workers Reach Tentative Agreement

Kroger Creative Commons

Photo: Creative Commons

Kroger and the food workers union have a new deal…one that will stop a possible strike next week. The tentative contract agreement comes after two days of negotiations between Local 400 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, and the biggest supermarket chain in the country.  Joe Staniunas reports.

 

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Does McAuliffe Investigation Show Feds are Getting More Aggressive?

FBI

The news that federal officials are scrutinizing campaign contributions to Governor Terry McAuliffe sets up another potential showdown between federal prosecutors and high-ranking elected officials in Virginia. It’s latest in a series of investigations in recent years. But as Michael Pope tells us, investigations don’t always lead to charges.

 

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Patients Seek Narcotics in the Emergency Room

OpioidsAs the Virginia death toll from opiates continues to rise, two big healthcare groups recently endorsed new opiate prescription guidelines aimed at hospital emergency rooms in an attempt to curb the epidemic. Jessie Knadler talks to two ER physicians in Augusta County about the guidelines, and what it’s like to work on the front lines of the drug scourge.

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GOP Files Suit Over Voting Rights Restoration

va-capitol-2 - CopyRepublicans in the General Assembly are not just speaking out against Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe’s plan to restore voting rights to 200,000 former felons. They’re taking their case to court, filing a lawsuit in the Virginia Supreme Court. Michael Pope reports.

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Car-Title Lending Industry: Possible Knockout Punch Coming

Predatory Lending Creative Commons 02 Cory Doctorow

Stock Photo/Cory Doctorow, Creative Commons

Car-title lenders in Virginia may have dodged a bullet earlier this year when the Virginia General Assembly passed on reforming their industry. But the industry now faces a new threat from Washington. Michael Pope continues our coverage, with the latest on the new federal rule that could dramatically undermine predatory lending. 

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Study: Mountain Valley Pipeline Will Cost Billions to Locals

Proposed-Route-10-23-15-7CIn our region, the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline has aroused controversy.  So has another proposed natural gas line through Southwestern Virginia.  A new study takes a look at local costs of the pipeline that would stretch from West Virginia to a compressor station in southern Virginia. 

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Virginia Ranks Tenth For Employment In Political Organizations

Jobs Creative Commons

Image: Creative Commons

Now that the presidential election cycle is heating up, so is the job market for people who work in political organizations. Michael Pope reports.

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Big Craft Beer: Good for the Local Guys?

stone Brewery tasting room

Stone Brewery Tasting Room

Been out to a bar lately? Chances are you had more beer choices than you used to. That’s a sign of the state’s growing craft beer economy. The number of breweries in the Commonwealth has almost tripled in the past three years. Today, a look at that industry, and how it could change, as large out-of-state companies move into the market.  Reporter Mallory Noe-Payne kicksoff with a question: Is big beer actually a boon for the local guys?

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Behind the Scenes: Title Lenders & Campaign Contributions

Tom Woodward/Creative Commons

Tom Woodward/Creative Commons

When members of the General Assembly convened in January, they were considering more than a dozen bills aimed at cracking down on the car-title lending industry. All of those efforts were scrapped, though, when lawmakers decided against passing legislation and instead asked the state regulator to take action. Now new campaign finance numbers that show what was happening behind the scenes. Michael Pope reports.

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Local Governments: Budget Basics

BudgetAcross Virginia, local governments are balancing books any way they can. Some are raising taxes on hotel guests. Others are increasing the cost of street parking.  Michael Pope has the story.

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VaNews: Miscommunication over VT Speaker; VA Beach’s Big Pier

VPAPnewDevelopers are hoping to build a giant pier at Virginia Beach and one city councilman wants the public to have free use of it….Virginia Tech is making plans to host a conservative columnist who said a previous invitation to the university was canceled. Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s VaNews link on vpap.org More from Fred Echols.

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Car Title Lenders & Secret Documents

Confidential Sized

stock photo

Regulators at the State Corporation Commission are siding with car-title lenders against open government, denying a request for information from the Center for Public Integrity. But, as Michael Pope tells us, open government advocates are taking their case all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court.

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Devils Backbone: Maintaining the Craft Image

Devils BackboneDevils Backbone, the eight year old craft brewery headquartered in Nelson County, was recently bought for an undisclosed sum by global beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev. Now, some Virginia fans of the scruffy indie brand are questioning whether the label has sold out. Jessie Knadler sat down with CEO Steve Crandall to find out what’s in store for the Virginia brewery.

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Airbnb: Who Writes the Rules?

Airbnb 02A deadly shooting last month at an Airbnb rental in Virginia Beach is casting a tragic shadow over this week’s meeting of a Virginia Housing Commission work group. As Michael Pope tell us, the commission panel is set to take up a contentious issue that was unresolved from the General Assembly session: How should the state regulate Airbnb?

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Virginia Gubernatorial Hopefuls Gearing Up For 2017

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Cold Brew Coffee is Hot Trend

Cold Brew CoffeeTemperatures are creeping up — with highs hitting the 80s this week. That may mean it’s time to trade in that hot cup of coffee in the morning for something different.  Cold brew coffee is a quickly growing sector of the caffeine marketplace, and a new company here in Virginia is finding a way to cash in. It didn’t take much to convince reporter Mallory Noe-Payne to bring us their story.

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Many Virginia Schools Start Before Recommended Time

School Buses dhendrix73 flickrVirginia’s fifth largest school district is considering a big change — pushing up its start time for high schools by more than 2 hours, from 7:20 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Chesterfield County, just outside of Richmond, represents the latest in an incremental push statewide to get on board with what scientists, psychologists and educators are all saying: students, especially teens, need more sleep. 

 

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VA’s Outmigration Map

Virginia_flag_map.pngNewly released numbers from the Census Bureau show Virginia added more than 160,000 people last year, although that growth wasn’t distributed evenly. As Michael Pope tells us, some of Virginia’s most urban areas lost more people than they gained.

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Segregation Not Just a Problem of the Past, Says VCU Researcher

segregation Ron Cogswell flickr

Ron Cogswell/flickr

For the first time, last fall, more students of color walked into public schools for first grade, than white students. But even as this country gets more diverse, many school systems still remain segregated.

To help understand why, and what can be done, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University compared approaches to integration taken by four southern cities. As Mallory Noe-Payne reports in the first of two reports, the least successful was right here in Virginia.

Desegregation in the South hasn’t always had a lasting impact. Research shows many public schools are more segregated now than ever before — including here in Virginia.

But one researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University took a look at some practices that have worked. Mallory Noe-Payne reports in this second report, the key is regional cooperation.

 

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VaNews: Uncertain Oyster Plans, Fruit Forecasts

VPAPnewAn April cold snap all but wiped out the peach crop in Virginia’s northern Shenandoah Valley…and there’s some confusion about an effort to revive the oyster population off Virginia Beach. Those have been among the most read stories this week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s VaNews link on vpap.org.

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VA House GOP Weighs in on Gridlock

GridlockFrustration is growing in both parties on Capitol Hill because pressing national issues are going unaddressed, which has led to some questioning whether the gridlock will hurt the Republican Party, which controls both chambers of Congress. Matt Laslo reports. 

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Virginia Supreme Court Weighs in on Divorce Equality

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Virginia Supreme Court Weighs in on Divorce Equality

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

It’s been less than a year since the United States Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriages will be recognized nationally. Now the Virginia Supreme Court is getting into the act. The commonwealth’s highest court is making a move toward divorce equality.  Matt Laslo reports.

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VaNews: Reprinting Ballots in Roanoke City; Drones in Emergency Searches

VPAPnewThe Roanoke City Board of Elections agreed to reprint 15,000 ballots after a candidate for city council said voters might not recognize her name on the originals…and several Virginia law enforcement agencies took part in a demonstration that showed how drones can help in help in emergency searches. Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s VaNews link on vpap.org. Fred Echols has more.

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