Environmental regulators have approved engineering plans for Richmond-based Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline in a move that means the project has the state’s permission to begin construction.
Virginia’s Wallops Island Welcomes Additional Spacecraft Launch Pad
Virginia’s capture of Rocket Lab’s expansion into the U.S. is a victorious moment for the Commonwealth’s growing aerospace industry, which will undoubtedly increase the state’s overall economic competitiveness.
As Migrant Caravan Moves Closer To U.S., Trump Blasts Situation As An ‘Assault On Our Country’
As the migrant caravan continues towards the U.S., questions have been raised about who exactly is funding the 4,000-strong endeavor. After all, food, water, gas for vehicles, and other necessities is expensive for those who claim they are fleeing Central and South America’s woeful economic conditions.
Virginia’s House Districts To Be Drawn By Professor That Redistricted Congressional Map In 2016
“This deprived Virginia of a high-ranking member of Congress, who was in line to sit on the House Armed Services Committee, to represent the Norfolk region that relies heavily on federal military presence to support its local economy,” House GOP lawyers wrote referring to the court-appointed “special master” that was used for redistricting in 2016 – who is now charged with redrawing the Commonwealth’s legislative districts.
Left Wing Operative That Harassed Barbara Comstock Staffers Arrested After Physically Assaulting Female GOP Campaign Manager In Nevada
A left wing political operative arrested in July for harassing Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (VA-10) and her staffers was taken into custody this week in Nevada for assaulting the female campaign manager of a GOP candidate. Mike Stark, a staffer for the progressive super PAC American Bridge, has a long list of run-ins with Republicans and a record of being physically aggressive with women.
During the Fourth of July parades in Northern Virginia, Stark appeared with members of Democratic challenger Jennifer Wexton’s campaign team and volunteers which targeted the staff of Comstock. He was allegedly sent by Democratic strategist Paul Begala, according to some inside sources.
In an email from the Comstock campaign, a spokesperson said that Stark’s “behavior that day and others frightened volunteers and bystanders alike.” Furthermore, they said he is “in your face, uncivil,” and “the resistance left pays him and encourages him.”
The latest incident of violence involved Kristin Davidson, campaign manager for Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt at an event in Las Vegas. Davidson told police that Stark grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back, leaving her visibly bruising.
Stark reportedly barged into a room where Laxalt, Nevada’s attorney general, was meeting with Davidson and two other staffers, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
After he cornered her in the room, Davidson said in a statement to police, “I could not move.”
“Stark grabbed my right arm, twisted it behind my back, squeezed it very hard, and every time I tried to pull away he pulled me closer and gripped my arm tighter,” she said.
“You can make this stop, Adam,” Stark yelled at the attorney general.
“I kept screaming help me, stop hurting me, you are hurting me,” Davidson recalled. “I was terrified and at that point saw multiple colleagues try to pull him off me but Stark held tighter,” she added.
Las Vegas City Marshals intervened in the situation, relieving Davidson of Stark’s threatening grasp, taking him to the Las Vegas City jail. American Bridge has yet to comment on the most recent arrest involving their staffer.
Laxalt campaign spokesman Parker Briden told reporters after the incident, “Assaulting the female campaign manager of an opposing campaign is disgusting and it has no place in our system. This mob behavior from the left is out of control.”
Violence on part of Democrats has escalated throughout the country, with another situation this week that left two Minnesota Republican candidates reeling from politically-motivated verbal and physical assaults on the campaign trail less than three weeks away from Election Day.
In a report from The Daily Caller, Republican State Representative Sarah Anderson was threatened while door knocking in her district by a man who was following her and tearing up campaign signs. The man, describing himself as a “anarchist,” charged at Anderson yelling “go kill yourself.”
Secondly, Shane Mekeland, a GOP candidate running for an open seat in the state legislature says that he was physically assaulted during a recent campaign event. He has stated that he was “sucker-punched” and received a concussion from a suspect that has yet to be detained.
Treasury Department Official Arrested After Leaking Russia Investigation Documents To BuzzFeed
A U.S. Treasury Department official has been arrested and charged with providing an unidentified reporter from Buzzfeed with sensitive financial reports. The information reportedly related to suspicious banking transactions of several former associates of President Donald Trump relating to the investigation into election meddling from Russia by White House Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
On Wednesday, Natalie Edwards, a senior adviser in the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), was taken into custody by law enforcement officers in Alexandria, Virginia. She was charged with “unauthorized disclosure of suspicious activity reports” and “conspiracy,” both of which carry a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
According to Yahoo News, as far back as October 2017, Edwards disclosed suspicious activity reports connected to former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates, accused Russian agent Maria Butina, the Russian embassy, and a unit of Prevezon Holdings Ltd., a corporation owned by Russian businessman Denis Katsyv.
- Manafort was convicted in August on five counts of tax fraud, one of the four original counts of failing to disclose his foreign bank accounts, two counts of bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and witness tampering. In conjunction, he also has agreed to comply with the Russia investigation.
- Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI, striking a deal to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation, along with testifying against his former boss, Manafort.
- Butina is currently in jail awaiting trial after being charged with conspiracy and acting in the United States as an agent of a foreign government – namely the Russia.
Justice Department prosecutors said Edwards saved the confidential financial reports on a flash drive and sent them to the BuzzFeed reporter using an encrypted messaging application. When Edwards was arrested, she was said to have been in possession of another flash drive and a cell phone containing communications with the aforementioned reporter.
BuzzFeed reported on financial transactions of a Russian billionaire that helped arrange the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. In the article, reporters Anthony Cormier and Jason Leopold cited Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed against Rob Goldstone, an associate of the Agalarovs, the Russian family who sought the meeting by contacting the President’s son, Donald Trump Jr. After Goldstone was identified one year later as the “middleman” for the meeting, his financial institutions flagged payments that he received from the Agalarovs, thus creating the SARs within the Treasury Department.
Furthermore, the media outlet also reported on FinCEN documents related to Peter Smith, a former Republican political operative who searched for Hillary Clinton’s deleted State Department emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. Smith died last year in a Rochester, Minnesota, hotel room from “asphyxiation due to displacement of oxygen in confined space with helium,” according to Business Insider. Despite first being ruled a suicide by police, it has since become part of Mueller’s investigation, indicating that the circumstances of his death are consistent with Kremlin-backed political assassinations.
When questioned by investigators on Wednesday, Edwards “confessed that she had provided SARs to ‘Reporter-1’ via an encrypted application, though falsely denied knowing that ‘Reporter-1’ intended to or did publish that information through” a media organization.
The most recent BuzzFeed article relating to the story appeared on Monday and centered on a loan made by TD Bank to Prevezon – which Katsyv owns – which one of the transactions that was flagged in relation to Goldstone. The report cited records uncovered by FinCEN in connection with investigations by Congress and White House Counsel Mueller, leading to the uncovering of Edwards as the leak.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said that Edwards “betrayed her position of trust by repeatedly disclosing highly sensitive information.”
In a report from The Daily Caller, Goldstone called the leaks “outrageous.”
“I was someone whose personal and private regular banking details were leaked to BuzzFeed, in order to create a salacious story,” also exclaiming that the media outlet showed a “complete disregard for the privacy laws in making personal transaction details public.”
BuzzFeed has yet to comment on the situation.
Vice President Mike Pence To Visit Richmond Saturday To Build Republican Support Before Election Day
Less than three weeks before Election Day, Vice President Mike Pence will appear at a rally and headline a fundraising event for Fourth Congressional District Republican nominee Ryan McAdams in Richmond, Virginia, along with former Governor Bob McDonnell.
Dominion Energy To Keep Surry Nuclear Power Plant Online Through 2053
Dominion Energy has announced that it will file paperwork to renew its operating licenses for its two Surry County, Virginia, nuclear power stations, the first in the Commonwealth to seek a second license renewal with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) beyond the original 40-year license term that was granted in the early 1970s.
The power station operates two nuclear units capable of producing clean electricity for approximately 419,000 homes in Virginia. Under its current licenses, Surry Units “1” and “2” can continue to generate electricity through 2032 and 2033, respectively. With the renewal, the 1,676 net megawatt units may operate until 2052 and 2053, individually.
“Our application to renew Surry Power Station’s licenses for another 20-year period is good news for our customers, the regional economy and the environment,” said Dominion Energy’s Chief Nuclear Officer Dan Stoddard in a news release. “Our customers will benefit from continuing to receive safe, reliable, affordable, and clean electricity from the station through 2053.
Stoddard added, “Renewing the operation of Surry also positions Virginia for economic growth and will help the Commonwealth remain a leader in the production of clean energy among other states in the mid-Atlantic and South. It supports more than 900 high-paying jobs at the station and produces additional economic and tax benefits.”
Earlier this year, Dominion Energy announced that it also will file a similar application to renew the licenses of the two North Anna Power Station units in Louisa County in 2020. The Surry and North Anna generators currently produce 31 percent of the electricity sent to the company’s 2.5 million customers, combined.
In May of last year, the NRC approved construction of a third nuclear reactor at North Anna which would allow for even more safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy for Dominion’s customers.
As much as $4 billion over the next decade could be spent on the Surry-North Anna relicensing program, which has bipartisan support in the General Assembly.
Hurricane Florence’s Virginia Price Tag Only $10.8 Million After FEMA Reimburses 75 Percent Of Costs Incurred
One of the biggest factors for the most costly storm preparation in almost a decade stems from the governor’s decision to evacuate 245,000 residents from low-lying parts of Hampton Roads, the opening of two state-sponsored emergency shelters, and the mobilization of 6,000 Virginia National Guard troops.
Virginians Anticipating Nine Percent Hike For Insurance Premiums Through Obamacare Exchanges
This year’s rising insurance rates have proved to be a challenge for Virginians as year-over-year increases were compacted by a majority of localities throughout the Commonwealth having only one provider.