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Some of the changes Northam said they’ve made include expanding voting laws, making election day a holiday, decriminalizing marijuana and eliminating a holiday commemorate Confederating generals. Going forward, the Governor presented four pillars of a plan for going forward with reforms that address racial inequities:

“This emergency declaration will provide the necessary support to localities as they work to keep our communities safe,” Northam said in a release. “There are many voices speaking out for justice and healing across the United States and in our Commonwealth, but others are exploiting this pain and inciting violence.”

Gov. Ralph Northamissued an order from his governor’s mansion in Virginia requiring every man, woman and child in the commonwealth — on that last, those over the age of 10 — to wear face masks as a condition of entering any enclosed space. But boy, what a monkey-like, banana republic gymnastic jump over rule of law he did. In Virginia is Code 18.2-422, a “prohibition of wearing of masks in certain places,” the one that makes clear it’s “unlawful for any person over 16 years of age to … wear any mask, hood or other device whereby a substantial portion...

Governor Ralph Northam started Tuesday's briefing by directly addressing the criticism he received after photos showed him not wearing a mask during a visit to Virginia Beach over the weekend. He said he was at Virginia Beach to thank the mayor and city leaders for their work on that effort, thank first responders in the city, and thank ambasadors in the area, all while in open air along the beach with social distancing in each meeting. According to the governor, he was not planning to interact with members of the public while he was there. His account of the situation...

Face coverings will be required inside public establishments starting Friday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday. He also addressed photos of him without a face covering interacting with well-wishers in Virginia Beach over the weekend. At a briefing, Northam said that anywhere people can congregate in groups — including but not limited to stores, restaurants, barbershops, government buildings and public transportation — must wear face coverings, with a few exceptions for people: Eating or drinking at a restaurant Exercising Who have a health condition that prohibits a face covering Who are under the age of 10, although Northam strongly recommended...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was reportedly caught without a face mask at Virginia Beach Saturday as the Democrat weighs a statewide order requiring citizens to wear masks. Northam was seen on the beach reviewing security at the beach without a face covering, local outlet NBC12 reported Saturday. The governor’s office later explained in a statement that Northam was “not expecting to be within six feet of anyone.” “The Governor has repeatedly encouraged wearing face coverings inside or when social distancing is impossible,” Northam’s office said. “He was outside today and not expecting to be within six feet of anyone.”

Democrat Ralph Northam invoked executive privilege to initially block release of travel dates but relented on appeal. On a Saturday night in the dead of August last year, Virginia taxpayers footed the bill as a state-operated plane roared from Richmond to one of North Carolina’s desirable beach destinations. The King Air 350 turboprop made the journey twice in six hours. The VIP passengers? Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife, Pamela, the first lady of Virginia. The listed purpose for a back-and-forth jaunt? The Northams took a brief break Aug. 31, 2019 from their Outer Banks beach vacation home in...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) fired back at President Trump Tuesday after the president referred to Northam as “crazy” and an opponent of Second Amendment rights. Trump, speaking at a White House event Tuesday, followed a speaker from Virginia by saying, "We're going after Virginia, with your crazy governor, we're going after Virginia. They want to take your Second Amendment. You know that, right? You'll have nobody guarding your potatoes." “I grew up on a Virginia farm, Mr. President - our potatoes are fine. And as the only medical doctor among our nation's governors, I suggest you stop taking hydroxychloroquine,”...

Under Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s eased coronavirus restrictions in effect Friday, the state’s oceanfront was relegated to fishing and exercise only, and social distancing was required. But that didn't keep crowds away from Virginia Beach over the weekend as temperatures reached the high 70s. Sunbathers took to the sand, bikers peddled along the bustling boardwalk and newly reopened gift shops were crowded with customers buying hermit crabs and snow cones, The Virginian-Pilot reported. On Friday, Northam, a Democrat, gave the green light for houses of worship and some businesses to operate at 50 percent capacity. Outdoor dining – with different...

Virginia's Democrat governor, Ralph Northam, is begging for help to execute his draconian lockdown order in the state, but a patriotic sheriff is refusing to enforce the measures.Culpepper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins has rejected Gov. Northam's request for help enforcing his mandatory lockdown on certain businesses in the northern part of the state.

An influential Virginia sheriff has rejected a request from Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration to enforce the ongoing business lock-down in parts of northern Virginia. Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins said that he and other law enforcement were contacted to help enforce the closures in the area that reaches into northern Virginia’s Prince William County, home to many federal workers. But the sheriff, who has advised the White House and vowed to fight proposed gun grabs from state Democrats, said that he will not help enforce Northam’s Executive Order #61 that maintains the weeks-long economic shutdown.

Northern Virginia, the state’s economic engine, is nowhere near ready to reopen Friday when Gov. Ralph Northam plans to begin lifting shutdown restrictions, the region’s top elected officials said Sunday, citing the continuing increase in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. In a joint letter, the elected leaders in Northern Virginia’s five largest jurisdictions — representing nearly 2.4 million residents — told Northam (D) they are unwilling to lift restrictions in place since late March, which the governor plans to do in a limited capacity Friday in hopes of reviving the state’s ailing economy. Northam announced last week that he will begin...

This is heartbreaking! "@GovernorVA my son is special needs and lives in a residential facility. We have not seen him in two months due to this hoax. Your order now goes to June 10th, another month without seeing him. He asks us everyday if he did something wrong. Can you answer this?" Remember when the left accused Trump of separating children from their families? Apparently, it doesn't count when the Left does it. Her son's name is Caden Bray. If you're on Twitter, please use the hashtag #CadenBray whenever you have extra space to do so. If you could give...

The Justice Department sided with a church suing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) after the pastor was threatened with a fine and jail time for holding a 16-person service on Palm Sunday. Northam is famous for a posing in KKK-blackface in his college yearbook. Kevin Wilson, the pastor of Lighthouse Fellowship Church on Chincoteague Island, was threatened with jail time or a $2,000 fine by police for violating Northam’s unconstitutional Coronavirus lockdown order. A total of 16 people attended the Palm Sunday church service on April 5 and were all spaced far apart from each other in a church that...

VIRGINIA — A solid majority of Virginia residents disapprove of the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, and an even greater majority disapprove of President Donald Trump's performance during the crisis, according to an informal reader survey Patch conducted Friday. About 60 percent of the survey's nearly 1,900 respondents said they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the federal response, compared with 31 percent who say they are either satisfied or very satisfied. Almost 67 percent of respondents said they are either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the president's performance, compared with 28 percent saying they are satisfied or...

Former President Barack Obama violated Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's stay-at-home order by sneaking out to play golf. He also embarrassed his wife whose broadcast message urged folks to "remember, we urge you to stay home except if you need essential health care, essential food or supplies, or to go to your essential job." Barack defended his golf outing contending "it was essential health care. Michelle's great and I love her, but being cooped up at home day after day is very stressful. Besides, what activity could be more socially distancing than golf. I can't understand why Gov. Northam banned it....

Capitol Square closed for nearly two hours Friday afternoon while a group of about 20 people protesting Gov. Ralph Northam's "stay-at-home" order and calling for the government to "reopen Virginia" refused to leave after Capitol police asked them to disperse for violating the order that prohibits gatherings of more than 10 people. The group, which at first numbered between three and four dozen, according to Joe Macenka, spokesman for the Division of Capitol Police, arrived around noon Friday at the pedestrian plaza entrance of the Capitol at 10th and Bank streets. Around 1:15 p.m., some of the group broke off...

State Health Commissioner Norman Oliver addressed the media Friday as Gov. Ralph Northam looked on. Oliver said state law defines nursing homes and assisted care facilities as “a person,” shielding data on cases and deaths by facility as personal medical information. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH The number of COVID-19 deaths that Virginia counts in long-term care facilities nearly tripled overnight on Friday, rising to 311. The increase came as the state’s top health official shielded nursing homes and other facilities from disclosing cases and deaths, saying the facilities are defined as “people” under state law. The state’s tally of COVID-19...

Six members of the boards overseeing James City County, Williamsburg and York County are urging Gov. Ralph Northam to reopen the economy sooner rather than later. The six - three from James City, two from Williamsburg and one from York - pressed for a “phased reopening of businesses as soon as possible," contending in an April 24 letter to the governor that not doing so could cause some businesses to be forever lost. “We are very concerned that (the current expiration date of the governor’s shutdown orders) may put some of these closed businesses in jeopardy of never reopening,” they...

On April 10, disgraced Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed five pieces of anti-gun legislation into law. Those measures criminalize the private sale of firearms, ration handgun sales to one a month, create a "red flag" gun confiscation scheme, punish property crime victims who fail to hastily report a firearm as stolen, and restrict how Virginia parents may store and introduce their children to firearms. Northam sent two pieces of anti-gun legislation back, including legislation that erodes the Right-to-Carry and the state firearms preemption statute, to the general assembly with governor's amendments. The General Assembly enacted both items of legislation...