Welcome to today’s edition of the Dogwood Daily. We’ve got a round-up of all the Virginia news that’s been happening coming right up. Want to subscribe? Click here.
But First…
A new investigation from the New York Times revealed that President Donald Trump lost over $1 billion from 1985 to 1994 and “appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer.” As a result, he avoided paying income tax for eight of those ten years.
If you, like most Americans, have paid your taxes every year, this is the ultimate SMH moment.
Top 5 things you need to know today…
- One dead in shooting at Colorado high school — Just one week after a deadly campus shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the U.S. saw another deadly school shooting, this time in Colorado. One student was killed and eight others wounded after two suspects opened fire at a suburban Denver school. This shooting also comes less than a month after the Denver area marked the 20th anniversary of the Columbine massacre. Virginia knows all too well the horror of school shootings and yet only Virginia Democrats continue to push for action on gun violence.
- Michael Cohen says he helped Jerry Falwell Jr. handle racy photos — Prior to endorsing Donald Trump in 2016, Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University in Lynchburg and an influential figure in the evangelical movement, told Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen that someone possessed photos of him and he needed help handling the situation. Cohen, who described the photos as “personal” ones that would typically be kept “between husband and wife,” intervened on behalf of Falwell and the person with the photos reportedly destroyed them.
- Del. Lee Carter joins Lyft drivers strike — Del. Lee Carter (D-Manassas) revealed that he supplements his $17,640 lawmaker salary by driving for ride-sharing company Lyft. He also said that he would join other Lyft and Uber drivers who are striking nationwide on Wednesday as part of their demands for stronger job security and fare regulation.
- Unlikely coalition pushes to end Dominion and Appalachian’s monopoly on electricity — An alliance of libertarian and liberal groups are working togetherto end Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power’s stranglehold on the electricity market in Virginia. The Virginia Energy Reform coalition is led by former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and groups that advocate for clean energy, consumer protection and the free market. The coalition argues that Dominion’s influence over state laws has allowed the company to monopolize the market and reap untold profits at the expense of customers, and is pushing for reforms that would allow more companies to sell consumer electricity, reducing costs for customers.
- Police will no longer transport those experiencing a mental health crisis — Starting this summer, Virginians suffering from a mental health crisis will no longer be transported to the hospital in the back of a police car, ending a practice that has been called traumatic and a waste of time and money for law enforcement. The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services announced Tuesday that it awarded a private security firm a $7 million, two-year contract to transport the thousands of mental health patients who are involuntarily hospitalized each year.
