For DeShon Langston, having his right to vote restored—and then unrestored—was like having a really nice dream and waking up to reality. That’s his reaction to a 4-3 Supreme Court of Virginia decision July 22 that the state constitution did not give Governor Terry McAuliffe the authority to restore voting rights en masse, as he […]
For DeShon Langston, having his right to vote restored—and then unrestored—was like having a really nice dream and waking up to reality. That’s his reaction to a 4-3 Supreme Court of Virginia decision July 22 that the state constitution did not give Governor Terry McAuliffe the authority to restore voting rights en masse, as he […]
Worst gubernatorial week in Richmond Terry McAuliffe learned May 23 he’s under investigation by the FBI for what was first reported as donations from a Chinese businessman and later for business dealings under the infrequently prosecuted Foreign Agents Registration Act. General Assembly Republicans also sued to overturn his order restoring voting rights for 206,000 felons. […]
As if a presidential election year weren’t exciting enough, about a month after Governor Terry McAuliffe signed his April 22 bombshell executive order restoring the voting rights of 206,000 felons, General Assembly Republican leaders filed a lawsuit to keep them out of the polls. Voter registration has skyrocketed in 2016 from this time a year […]
With the success of the podcast “Serial” and Netflix’s “Making a Murderer,” wrongful convictions are a hot topic. Joining the debate is a documentary about one of central Virginia’s most notorious double homicides—and the convicted murderer who has insisted he’s innocent for 30 years. The Promise: The Story of Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom heads […]
Historic week, part 1 Governor Terry McAuliffe restores voting rights to 206,000 felons April 22 in an election year in which his friend Hillary Clinton is running for president, and in a state where an estimated one in four African-Americans can’t vote because of felony convictions, according to the Washington Post. Historic week, part 2 […]
People actually want to know how much compost is being dropped off at City Market, Lucas Ames was surprised to learn. The creator of Smart Cville, a year-old website that publishes local data, sent a letter to City Council April 12 to ask the city to adopt an open data resolution. Ames, the man with […]
Legislators in Richmond ended the General Assembly session one day early after passing a record $105 billion biennial budget March 11 and sending it to Governor Terry McAuliffe. Both sides of the aisle praise its passage, while regretting the what-might-have-beens. McAuliffe didn’t get the Medicaid expansion he wanted—again—but he commends the oft-contentious legislature for investing […]
Robert Davis stepped outside the walls of a prison as a free man today for the first time since he was arrested at gunpoint nearly 13 years ago. Governor Terry McAuliffe issued a conditional pardon in a case that experts have called a textbook case of false confession. After being released from Coffeewood Correctional Center […]
Former UVA student/convicted murderer Jens Soering has been in prison for 29 years for the stabbing deaths of his girlfriend’s parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom, in 1985. During that time, his case has become an international cause célèbre, and a request to repatriate him to Germany is again before a Virginia governor. In 2010, outgoing […]
While many out-of-towners plan tours of Nelson County to learn the land by way of winery and brewery, Governor Terry McAuliffe has been extended a much more somber, or rather, sober, invitation. Over 1,200 Virginia residents signed Friends of Nelson’s request for McAuliffe to join locals and business owners on a tour of the Atlantic […]