A one-day “veto session” April 7 resulted in approval of amendments to legislation requested by Gov. Ralph Northam (D), specifically marijuana legalization for up to 1 ounce effective July 1 and approval of $250,000 for a private law firm to investigate and report on the state parole board and the inspector general’s office. The former was legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond). The latter was in response to blowback after an inspector in the state IG’s office, Jennifer Moschetti, was fired after she sought whistleblower protection related to the release of information about the parole board not notifying the…
Browsing: Chesterfield Government
During the Chesterfield supervisors’ March 24 meeting, county administrator Joe Casey noted the county was nearing 50 percent of its goal to vaccinate 75 percent of the population above age 18. Casey credited a new vaccination site at Virginia State University with helping the county progress toward its goal. He noted that VSU’s site was vaccinating 2,800 people a day on average. Casey said the county is ranked third amongst localities in the state for COVID-19 vaccinations. In addition, jail inmates are now being vaccinated, he said, referring to a comment from Sheriff Karl Leonard. Casey reminded the public of…
Those seeking a COVID-19 vaccine in the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Health District may get either the Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Dr. Alexander Samuel, the county’s health director, updated the county supervisors during their March 10 meeting. Although hopeful the district would be able to start vaccinating those in Phase 1C soon, Samuel said that Phase 1B was still the focus. Almost 70 percent of vaccines in the county have gone to those 65 and older, with the rest going to essential workers, including fire, police and hazardous materials workers, childcare and preK-12 staff, and food/agriculture, manufacturing and grocery…
During the March 9 Chesterfield County Public Schools board meeting, the board approved up to $7.7 million to purchase “mega trailers” for three schools. The mega trailers, which have restrooms and cafeteria units, include three for Falling Creek Middle School and one each for Hening and Chalkley elementary schools. Josh Davis, chief operations officer, noted that the school district had approved a lease of the five mega trailers almost two years ago for use at Crestwood and Reams elementary schools. “Those buildings have served those schools very, very well,” Davis said. “We’ve come up with a great plan for those…
The Chesterfield Health District recently announced that second doses of COVID-19 vaccines can be received within 42 days of the first one. Dr. Alexander Samuel, health district director, noted that during the Feb. 24 supervisors’ meeting. Samuel said that due to a glitch in the state’s scheduling website, people were sharing appointments for second doses with those who needed a first dose and that caused health department staff to send people away when they showed up for vaccinations. Staff would then have to call and email people to fill the slots, Samuel said. He was hopeful the glitch would be…
On Feb. 9, the Chesterfield County Public Schools board unanimously approved a return to in-person learning five days a week for students in grades six through 12 on Tuesday, March 9. Students can still choose to learn 100 percent virtually through the end of the school year. On Feb. 5, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) requested that all public schools offer some form of in-person learning by March 15. Deputy Superintendent Thomas Taylor said that the “overwhelming majority” of teachers will have received two COVID-19 vaccinations by March 9. In spite of that, Taylor said, “We have heard from the [Centers…
A number of bills have passed both houses of the General Assembly and await final passage after clearing a conference committee. State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) highlighted several of the bills on Sunday, Feb. 21. Legalization of marijuana — HB2312 and SB1406 — are under discussion. Some of the details yet to be ironed out between the two bills include licensing and distribution, Morrissey said. HB2047 would make a defendant’s mental health condition available at trial. Currently, state law only allows for an insanity declaration, which Morrissey described as an all-or-nothing approach. Other bills that could be signed by Gov.…
On Feb. 1, state Sen. Amanda Chase (R) filed a federal lawsuit against the state Senate and its clerk after she was recently censured by the Senate. The civil rights complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond. On Feb. 6, Chase noted that Judge Robert E. Payne had already held two hearings on the case with a trial scheduled for March 17. Chase was hopeful of a good outcome, noting that Payne was nominated to the seat by then-President George H.W. Bush on Nov. 20, 1991. Payne was unanimously confirmed by the…
By a vote of 24-9 with six abstentions, the Virginia Senate censured Chesterfield Sen. Amanda Chase on Jan. 27. It was only the second time in state history that a senator has been censured. The first was Sen. Peter K. Babalas (D-Norfolk) in 1987 for unethical conduct. That vote was 25-14. The censure of Chase was for failure to uphold her oath of office, misuse of office and conduct unbecoming a senator. Three Republicans — Tommy Norment of James City County, Bryce Reeves of Spotsylvania County and Jill Vogel of Fauquier County — joined all 21 Democrats in voting for…
Despite the efforts of freshman Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) to avoid the censure of Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield), it appeared that the Senate would vote to censure her this week. “I worked tirelessly so we could come to a compromise,” Morrissey said on Saturday, noting he supports the freedom of speech. The compromise included Chase apologizing for certain things and denouncing certain things, Morrissey said. However, on Friday, Jan. 22, Chase instead gave a general apology while condemning violence that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. On Jan. 8, the state’s Senate Democrats called on Chase to resign…