The annual Grand Illumination special event in Colonial Williamsburg’s historic area will not take place this year.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the city announced the event was cancelled in a news release earlier this week because of current statewide coronavirus restrictions as well as an increase in cases despite efforts to continue with the ceremony during the pandemic.
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The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council on Wednesday backed legislation that revises state laws on electronic meetings and gives members of public bodies more freedom to participate virtually instead of in-person.
The council recommended approval of the changes to the Virginia General Assembly, where the final decision will happen, by a 10-2 vote.
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Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) announced earlier this week that the district will not be participating in any Virginia High School League winter sports during the 2020-21 academic year because of concerns over rising coronavirus cases in the area.
Andy Jenks, HCPS chief of communications and community engagement, shared the news in an online message to families Monday and noted that all out-of-season conditioning programs are also suspended for the time being.
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Liberty football’s historic regular season has officially come to an end.
The university announced Thursday that it is cancelling Saturday’s top-25 matchup against rival Coastal Carolina and pausing all team activities because of an elevated number of COVID-19 cases within the football program.
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Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said that initial doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine could arrive in the state as early as mid-December.
During a coronavirus press briefing Wednesday afternoon, the governor shared details on the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plans instead of implementing new statewide restrictions.
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Virginia State Delegate Jason Miyares (R-Virginia Beach) announced Wednesday that he is running for the GOP nomination of attorney general in 2021.
Miyares, who has represented the 82nd District of the House of Delegates since 2016, made the announcement through a video posted to his Facebook profile.
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Party leaders from the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates have appointed the eight lawmakers that will serve on the newly-formed bipartisan redistricting commission tasked with redrawing the Commonwealth’s legislative and congressional lines.
The Senators on the commission will be Steve Newman (R-Bedford), Ryan McDougle (R-Hanover), George Barker (D-Fairfax County) and Mamie Locke (D-Hampton), Amigo Wade, acting director of the Virginia Division of Legislative Services, told The Virginia Star.
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Richmond released a survey for local residents Tuesday asking for feedback on what the city should consider in proposals for a potential resort casino in Virginia’s capital.
The online survey will be open until December 14. The results will help inform the Request for Qualifications/Proposals (RFQ/P) document and outline the expectations of Richmond and its residents for any proposals.
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Starting on Monday, applications for state residents to become citizen members of the Virginia Redistricting Commission are now open and available online.
Virginians have until December 28th, or just under a month, to apply for the possibility to serve alongside eight lawmakers on the commission and take part in the state’s new process for drawing legislative and congressional district lines.
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Richmond upset No. 10 Kentucky 76-64 on Sunday to win the Bluegrass Showcase and secure the first road win against a top-10 opponent in program history.
Despite a 12-point statement win in just the second game of the season, Richmond (2-0) was far from perfect. The Spiders dealt with foul trouble, shot the ball poorly in the first half and were severely out-rebounded by the Wildcats, but were able to exert themselves defensively.Â
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After trailing by double digits late in the second half, Virginia Tech came from behind and upset No.3 Villanova 81-73 in a thrilling overtime game that wasn’t even supposed to happen in the first place.
Despite some late-game adversity, the Hokies (2-0) defeated one of college basketball’s best teams on Saturday thanks to 23 points and eight rebounds from Keve Aluma, 20 points from Nahiem Alleyne off the bench and a stuffed stat sheet by Tyrece Radford with eight points, five assists and 13 rebounds.
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The Liberty Flames easily beat the UMass Minutemen 45-0 on Friday afternoon, bouncing back on both sides of the ball from a stinging one-point loss last week.Â
On the season, the Flames are now 9-1 overall and are undefeated at home (6-0) for the first time since the 2010 season.Â
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When the General Assembly starts its 2021 regular session in January, the volume of legislation will be much different from years past because of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Senator Emmett Hanger (R-Augusta), both the Senate and the House of Delegates will impose limits on the amount of legislation members can introduce for the session.
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Northern Virginia lobbyist and consultant Puneet Ahluwalia is running for lieutenant governor to offer a fresh perspective in state politics and provide a pro-business mindset to help Virginians overcome the current economic challenges.Â
Originally from India, Ahluwalia announced his bid for the 2021 Republican lieutenant governor nomination in September and is one of many people who started campaigns for the position in the last couple months.Â
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Thanksgiving is all about spending quality time with family and friends away from the everyday responsibilities such as work and school, but the holiday really centers around the large afternoon feast where so much food is consumed that a nap is usually required immediately afterward.
And everybody knows that Turkey is the mainstay of traditionally Thanksgiving meals, hence the nickname Turkey Day, but what about the side dishes? Which classic sides are more popular than others?
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Prominent Virginia Beach lawyer Tim Anderson is running for the House of Delegates 83rd District as a Republican candidate.
Anderson, who is already involved with GOP state politics, officially announced his campaign on Tuesday through a press release posted to his Twitter and Facebook profiles.
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It has been exactly 258 days since conference tournaments around the country were cancelled thanks to the coronavirus, but now fans can rejoice because college basketball is officially back.Â
After what feels like an eternal break from the sport, Wednesday marks the start of the season and features a slate of games from morning to night for what will essentially be non-stop action all day long.
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Many die-hard college basketball fans remember the disappointment they felt last spring when the 2020 NCAA Tournament was cancelled because the coronavirus that was, at the time, starting to emerge in the United States.
For 2021, all signs are pointing to March Madness taking place even while the country continues to live through the pandemic, but the annual spring tradition for college basketball fans will look much different from years past.
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State Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield), a Republican gubernatorial candidate for 2021, called the Democratic Party of Virginia racist and said that the group hates white people.
On Friday night, Chase posted the statement to her Facebook page in response to an article about Virginia Democrats calling for Richmond General Registrar J. Kirk Showalter to either be removed from the position or to resign on her own.
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Virginia State Delegate Glenn Davis (R-Virginia Beach) says he wants to restore the Commonwealth as a bastion of business and help bring increased equity to education throughout the state if elected as lieutenant governor in 2021.
Davis, 47, announced his second run for the position back in September and was the first Republican candidate to enter the 2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election, which will take place next November.
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Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Christmas and Thanksgiving will look quite different this year for millions of Americans across the country, but at least one tradition will make the holidays feel like normal again.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) announced this week that the company had reached an agreement with Apple TV+ to allow broadcasts of two Charlie Brown holiday specials to air on TV in November and December.Â
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The North Carolina State Wolfpack defeated No.21 Liberty Flames 15-14 Saturday night in a thrilling game that came down to the wire, snapping the Flames 10-game winning streak.
In a competitive, low-scoring contest, the Wolfpack sealed its victory by blocking a 39-yard field goal attempt by Flames kicker Alex Barbir with 1:18 left in the fourth quarter after Liberty had driven the ball down the field.
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Approximately 20,000 Virginians who have been relying on extended unemployment benefits over the last several months amidst the coronavirus pandemic will no longer receive those payments come Saturday.Â
The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced Wednesday that it has been notified by the U.S. Department of Labor that the Extended Benefits Program in Virginia will end on November 21.Â
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Richmond Public Schools (RPS) has both the lowest graduation rate and the highest dropout rate among school districts in the state of Virginia, Superintendent Jason Kamras said.
In the daily RPS direct newsletter for Wednesday, Kamras gave an update on the graduation and dropout rates from the 2019-20 academic year for the school districts high schools. Included within Kamras’ online newsletter was data from a presentation given to the school board on Monday by RPS chief academic officer Tracy Epp.
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Four University of Virginia (UVA) undergraduates have created a website called The Collegepedia that aims to make the process of finding the latest reliable, college-specific news about COVID-19 at universities throughout the Commonwealth easier.
“[Journalists] have been working tirelessly to keep communities informed about their health and safety, but there is no single media outlet or aggregator that compiles all of these stories, searchable by community, in an easy to read and straight to the point format. So, we wanted to fill that void.” UVA senior Nik Popli, one of the website’s creators, told The Virginia Star.
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The Democratic Party of Virginia is calling for the removal or resignation of the Richmond City General Registrar J. Kirk Showalter.
In a letter to Richmond’s electoral board on Thursday, Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) Chair Susan Swecker, and Richmond City Democratic Committee Chair Jamie Nolan criticized Showalter for her handling of the recent elections.
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The Confederate soldier statue outside the Franklin County courthouse in the small town of Rocky Mount will not be moved after the county’s board of supervisors unanimously voted to keep the monument in its current location during a monthly meeting Tuesday.
The motion was put forth by Boone District Supervisor Ronnie Thompson and seconded by Tommy Cundiff, Union Hall District Supervisor.
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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is delaying the return to in-person instruction for thousands of younger students, Superintendent Scott Braband announced in a letter to parents and staff on Monday.
The largest school system in Virginia had planned to send 6,800 pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and special education students (Group 5) back to school on Tuesday, but decided to put the move on pause because the current community health metrics for coronavirus cases are exceeding the threshold to expand in-person education, according to Braband.
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Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said Monday that he supports the legalization of Marijuana use for adults in the commonwealth.
“Legalizing marijuana will happen in Virginia,” the governor said during a briefing on Monday.
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Governor Ralph Northam announced new statewide coronavirus restrictions last weekend, which went into effect Monday, that will impact a number of retail businesses throughout the Commonwealth.
“COVID-19 is surging across the country, and while cases are not rising in Virginia as rapidly as in some other states, I do not intend to wait until they are. We are acting now to prevent this health crisis from getting worse,” the governor said in a press release.
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Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax County) announced Monday that the Virginia House of Delegates would continue to meet virtually during the upcoming 2021 General Assembly regular session, just as they did during the special session, because of the current status of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the emailed statement, Filler-Corn’s decision was made after discussions with the Clerk of the House and officials from the Virginia Department of Health, which includes a letter from Virginia State Health Commissioner, Norman Oliver, strongly recommending the House hold sessions virtually “to the greatest extent possible.
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As part of a larger, ongoing process to bring mobile sports betting to the Commonwealth, the Virginia Lottery announced last week that it is currently reviewing 25 applications for permits, according to a news release.Â
Since legislation that allow for expanded gaming in the state was passed by the Virginia General Assembly last spring and became effective July 1st, the lottery has been working for months to implemented mobile sports betting as well as casinos.Â
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In a newsletter last Monday Richmond Public Schools (RPS) Superintendent Jason Kamras said the school system will not play high school or middle school winter sports this year.
“Athletics are important for many reasons: they motivate and inspire, improve student health, and can even lead to college scholarships. I am deeply sensitive to this,” Kamras wrote in his daily RPS direct newsletter. “At the same time, given our decision to go 100% virtual for the first semester, and given rapidly rising infection rates, we will unfortunately not be fielding any teams this winter.”
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No.22 Liberty Flames easily cruised past the Western Carolina Catamounts 58-14 Saturday afternoon to remain unbeaten on the season and improve to 8-0 for the first time in program history.
After walloping the Catamounts, Liberty has now won 10 games in a row dating back to the end of last season, the second longest active winning streak in all of college football.
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After a lackluster 2019 season, the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team is aiming to improve in the second season under head coach Mike Young and show they can compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), arguably college basketball’s best league.
When asked by media if the team can improve in the ACC, Young said: “I do, but you’ve heard me say it, you’ll hear me say it again, every year [has] the same goal: to take this team as far as I can take them and see them grow and develop and come together as a unit in a bizarre time for all of us.
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Democratic House of Delegates member Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) announced his bid for the lieutenant governor position earlier this week, officially entering the 2021 race.
Rasoul, who has served as a state legislator since 2014, made the announcement Tuesday morning through a video posted to twitter.
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Following a fantastic 2019 campaign, the University of Richmond men’s basketball team enters the 2020-21 season projected to win the Atlantic 10 (A10) conference and the Spiders will have plenty of tough matchups on the schedule to prove the ranking is accurate.
Richmond received 19 out of 28 first-place votes in Tuesday’s preseason poll, which is voted on by the head coaches and certain media members, marking the first time the Spiders have been picked to win the A10 since joining the conference in 2001.
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Republican Congressional Candidate Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) said in a statement published to his Facebook page Thursday that the results of Virginia’s 7th District race, which saw Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) win re-election, will probably not change.
In the week following the general elections and Spanberger’s declaration of victory, Freitas and his campaign have been publicly quiet while reviewing post-election canvasses and ensuring that every legal vote cast is counted, according to the statement.
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With the 2020 state congressional elections completed and incumbent Democratic Representative Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) having defeated Republican challenger Scott Taylor, conservative hopefuls must now look toward 2022 when the 2nd District seat will again be up for grabs.
Securing her second term in the U.S. House of Representatives, Luria handily beat Taylor by just under six percentage points and received nearly 21,000 more votes, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
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Two Republican state delegates released a joint statement on Tuesday calling for the Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) to work with members on finding a way to hold in-person meetings during January’s regular General Assembly session.
Delegates Christopher Head (R-Roanoke) and Joseph McNamara (R-Roanoke County) said in the statement they are preparing to be in Richmond for the start of the regular session.
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As the winter months, colder weather and the holiday season are approaching, the coronavirus numbers, encompassing a number of different metrics, have been increasing throughout Virginia over the last month or so, according to government officials.
At a televised briefing Tuesday afternoon, Governor Ralph Northam said the state is seeing a rise in cases, percent positivity – now at 6.2 percent – and hospitalizations.
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The University of Virginia (UVA) announced Monday the school is extending the optional credit grading policy, originally implemented this fall, for all undergraduate and certain graduate classes during January-term and the spring 2021 semester.
Provost Liz Magill made the announcement in a letter to students, which included details on how the grading policy will work.
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In a back-and-forth contest that featured several lead changes, No. 25 Liberty beat Virginia Tech 38-35 on Saturday thanks to a 51-yard field goal with 1 second left on the clock.
The field goal put a stamp on the thrilling game, where Liberty were forced to rally from a seven-point halftime deficit, and moved the Flames to a 7-0 record for the first time in program history.
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As the return of college basketball quickly approaches, the University of Virginia (UVA) men’s basketball team is preparing for what could be one of the most challenging and unique seasons in the history of the sport due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Cavaliers, just like every other team, have been attempting to navigate through an odd preseason full of new protocols and adjustments, and trying to get ready for the regular season with many aspects still unknown.
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The Virginia Senate on Monday adopted a number of slight changes to legislation and the budget recommended by Governor Ralph Northam, including language for the implementation of the recently-approved redistricting commission.
Overall, including the budget, the Senate passed amendments for ten bills from the House and Senate. Most passage votes were primarily along party lines with a couple amendments garnering unanimous support.
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Last week Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation into law from the Virginia General Assembly special session, which gives judges sentencing power instead of juries in most criminal cases.
Sponsored by Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond City), Senate Bill 5007 changes a 224-year practice in the Commonwealth where juries had the authority to pass sentences after a conviction had been made.
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Virginia lieutenant governor candidate Lance Allen is determined to bring a new approach to state-level politics in the Commonwealth and offer Virginians with something that has been lacking: a politician who will listen to their problems.Â
Allen formally announced his entrance into the 2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election back in August, joining a handful of other Republican hopefuls in a pursuit to become the second-highest-ranking government official in the state.Â
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The University of Virginia (UVA) and University of Louisville football game set to take place Saturday has been tentatively rescheduled to November 14, after several Cardinals players and support staff tested positive for the coronavirus this week, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced Wednesday.
This is the second time a UVA football game has needed to be moved from its original date because of COVID-19 this season.
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The majority of Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment this week aimed to prevent and stop political gerrymandering by changing the Commonwealth’s redistricting process.
Sixty six percent of Virginians answered yes to constitutional amendment question 1 on ballots and, overall, voters in every locality were in support except for Arlington, while 34 percent voted no to the question, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
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Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) declared victory Wednesday night over Republican challenger and state Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, after further early voting counts gave her a 5,132-vote lead.
Spanberger took the lead after Spotsylvania County reported its final absentee ballots and Henrico County tallied additional absentee votes, which officials overlooked because the ballots had been saved on a mislabeled flash drive, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP).
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