At Today's Special Session Legal Action Against Trump Is Mulled, UVA’s Memorial To Enslaved Laborers; More

From the Virginia Mercury:

By Graham Moomaw

August 17, 2020

NEWS TO KNOW
Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere.

• The General Assembly returns to Richmond today for a special session, with COVID-19 relief and police reform as big items on the to-do list.—Daily Press, Roanoke Times

• Virginia is one of several states considering taking legal action against the Trump administration over the president’s attacks on the U.S. Postal Service and criticisms of mail-in voting. “This is not just terrible policy, but it may be illegal under federal law and other state laws as well,” said Attorney General Mark Herring.—Washington Post

• The Republican Party of Virginia selected former Del. Rich Anderson as its new chairman Saturday, switching up its leadership as the party tries to break its losing streak. Incumbent chairman Jack Wilson, who had held the job since 2018, bemoaned “Republican-on-Republican violence” on his way out.—Richmond Times-Dispatch

• Bob Good, the Republican congressional nominee in Central Virginia’s 5th District, is trying to galvanize clergy members with meetings focused on the state’s new LGBTQ anti-discrimination law. “What happens when a male member of your congregation goes on vacation and returns four weeks later as a female?” one invitation said.—New York Times

• Republican gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase appeared at a pro-police rally in Salem, where she said those who support defunding the police “are not Americans” and urged people to join militias to defend against “domestic terrorists.”—Roanoke Times

• Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti is asking the Supreme Court of Virginia to uphold her ability to drop low-level drug charges without giving judges written briefs explaining her office’s decisions.—Associated Press

• Colonial Downs has cancelled the rest of its horse racing season after a jockey tested positive for COVID-19.—Richmond Times-Dispatch

• Rolls-Royce North America announced it will close its aircraft-part plant in Prince George County, eliminating 280 jobs, due to what the company called a “historic collapse in civil aviation.”—Progress-Index

• Developers of the now-cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline paid out $15 million to Nelson County property owners to secure land rights, money they’ll get to keep even though the project isn’t happening.—News & Advance

• An unofficial sign renaming the area around Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue for a Black man killed by police was removed over the weekend. City officials said they didn’t do it and threatened to arrest those who did.—Richmond Times-Dispatch

• “With its amphitheater shape, stagelike plot of grass, and soon-evident handmadeness,” writes a New York Times art critic, UVA’s newly installed Memorial to Enslaved Laborers “feels receptive and usable, a place for things to happen.”—New York Times

• New laser scans of Smith Mountain Lake “give even the layperson a clearer view of its ancient origins — and help explain its fascinating flaws.”—Roanoke Times

Sign up here to get these headlines and the Mercury’s original reporting delivered to your inbox daily in News to Know, our free newsletter.

This story was originally published by the Virginia Mercury. For more stories from the Virginia Mercury, visit VirginiaMercury.com.