Virginia Public Radio

flickr user Keith Allison
Photo: Creative Commons

The Washington Redskins were back in court this week, hoping to overturn a U.S. Patent Office decision that canceled the team’s trademark, because some find it offensive.  That controversy prompted business students at Virginia Commonwealth University to research and choose new names for DC’s professional football team.

The University of Virginia baseball program made history with its first national title, the first baseball championship for the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1955.  In the deciding game of the best-of-three finals, the Cavaliers defeated Vanderbilt, 4-2.

After facing a $439-million shortfall at the end of the last state fiscal year, the Commonwealth is poised to reap the benefits of an improving economy with a multi-million-dollar budget surplus.   As Virginia Public Radio’s Anne Marie Morgan reports, state employees, college faculty, teachers, and State Police troopers also stand to gain.

Ian Echlin

With its back against the wall for the second time in a week, the University of Virginia baseball team came through again.  The Cavaliers defeated Vanderbilt, 3-0, in Game Two of the best-of-three finals at the College World Series.

The Virginia Cavaliers dropped the first game of their best-of-three title series against defending champion Vanderbilt, 5-1, Monday night in Omaha.  It’s a case of déjà. Virginia Public Radio correspondent Greg Echlin has the story.

Virginia lawmakers are trying to force Congress to debate the ongoing war in Iraq and Syria, but congressional leaders don’t seem to want the debate. Matt Laslo has the story on how in Virginia there seems to be bipartisan consensus that the debate needs to happen.

virginiasports.com

If the Virginia Cavaliers win their first baseball championship at the College World Series, they face the task of beating the defending national champion. The title series starts tonight (MON) at 8 (ET) in Omaha and will be televised on ESPN. Reporter Greg Echlin has the story.

The Crooked Road’s Mountains of Music Homecoming is a nine-day festival staged in nineteen counties and four cities across Southwest Virginia. Events range from Barter Theatre performances to canoe and snorkeling trips to tours of an alpaca farm. But at its heart, the Homecoming is about music.  Tim Thornton reports.

The Crooked Road’s Mountains of Music Homecoming, running throughout the week, spotlights the music, environment and culture of Southwest Virginia, including some venues that do that work all the time. Tim Thornton reports.

The Crooked Road’s Mountains of Music Homecoming is a nine-day festival staged in nineteen counties and four cities across Southwest Virginia. But for some people, including Ralph Stanley Museum director Tammy Hill, the work of preserving mountain music and mountain culture goes on all the time.  Tim Thornton reports.

http://www.virginiasports.com

The University of Virginia baseball team was so close to winning the national championship last year.  The Cavaliers are back in Omaha this year to try it again and they’re off to a good start. Greg Echlin reports.

Senate Democratic leaders are hoping to filibuster a bill this week that’s vital to Virginia’s servicemen and women and the state’s defense industry. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has the story on how Virginia’s two senators are planning to buck their party leaders.

Last month fisheries managers from Florida to Maine voted for a ten percent increase in commercial harvests of menhaden. The oily fish is loved by bald eagles, osprey and other fish and is used along the Atlantic as bait to catch tastier fare like lobster and crab. At a rainy ceremony today, Governor Terry McAuliffe threw his support behind Omega Protein, the last fish rendering plant on the East Coast. Pamela D’Angelo reports.

Virginia lawmakers are divided over the free trade agreements winding their way through Congress this summer – the debate over whether the deals will be good or bad for the commonwealth.

Virginia’s Supreme Court has handed down a ruling that could help people wrongfully convicted of crimes. Sandy Hausman has that story.

After the State Board of Elections in April decertified the touchscreen voting machines used in 20% of Virginia’s precincts, the localities with June primaries were left scrambling to find replacements for their WinVote equipment in time. But a state elections official says one way or another, the voters there will be accommodated. While localities are implementing a variety of short-term fixes, the state is working on a more long-term, uniform solution.

An acclaimed example of Virginia history thundered its way home over the weekend to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke. It now prepares to lead excursions, but its long-term ability to do so is largely out of the museum’s control.

The hurricane season won’t OFFICIALY begin for a few more days, but with all the tragic events still unfolding in Texas and Oklahoma due to flooding and violent storms, a number of state agencies are emphasizing that Virginians should prepare now. That means stocking up on supplies AND making sure families have the right insurance coverage during this Hurricane and Flooding Preparedness Week.

Congress is sending the president its thirty-second short term patch to keep the federal Highway Trust Fund funded this summer, but Virginia officials say that’s no way to fund the state’s transportation projects.

Virginia’s child care providers will be undergoing a number of changes that aim to enhance the safety of the children they are babysitting.  To draw attention to the new law, Governor McAuliffe held a bill-signing ceremony with advocates, lawmakers, and parents whose children had died while in unlicensed facilities. Participants said that while this law is a good start, the Commonwealth needs an even tougher one.

For two years, the state of Virginia has been begging cattle farmers to keep animals out of streams on their property – offering to pay the full cost of fencing to prevent pollution of rivers and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.  Sandy Hausman reports on why some have embraced the program and others have walked away.

A number of changes are in the works for Virginia’s open-government laws.  For instance, the General Assembly passed more than a dozen bills earlier this year that would amend the Freedom of Information Act. Other controversial bills were referred to a state advisory council to be studied—and potentially reintroduced in next year’s session. Tommie McNeil reports.

Attorney General Mark Herring and the Federal Trade Commission have announced one of the largest charity fraud actions ever brought by enforcers. The FTC, Virginia, all other states, and the District of Columbia have charged four cancer charities and their operators with bilking more than $187 million from consumers. The joint enforcement action alleges deceptive solicitations.

Hampton Roads has twice the relative sea-level rise of other Atlantic coastal communities, and Virginia is stepping up its efforts to address the associated recurrent flooding. While the General Assembly recently ordered updates to the state’s flood protection plan, the Army Corps of Engineers has rolled out a new, proactive strategic framework. It calls on local, state, regional, and federal governments to work together—due to the enormity of the tasks ahead.

Residents in one of the reamaining rural areas of Fairfax County have stopped  a plan to open a micro-brewery in their community…and in Spotsylvania there’s controversy over whether biosolids – which are made partly from human waste – should be allowed as fertilizer on farm fields. Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s VaNews link onvpap.org.

While a domestic violence victim may be too afraid or embarrassed to admit that he or she is being abused, pets that witness or endure it don’t lie.  And now with a backdrop of the trauma endured by pets, animal control, law enforcement, and victims’ advocates are learning how to identify and pursue domestic abuse cases.