Dogwood Daily: Medicaid enrollees in Trump country

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. And if you’re a fan, please forward to three friends who need to know what’s going on in the Commonwealth and tell them to subscribe here. 

But First…

Check out this truly bizarre (and unsettling) New York Times story about navy pilots encountering unidentified flying objects at a base in Virginia Beach and other locations along the East Coast. Where are Mulder and Scully when you need them?

5 Things you need to know today…

1. Robert Mueller says his report did not exonerate Trump – Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller delivered a statement on Wednesday morning, reiterating that his office was not confident that President Trump did not commit a crime, and they were prohibited from charging the president with a federal crime due to longstanding Justice Department policy. Mueller’s statement is likely to intensify calls for congressional Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
   
   
2. Most new Medicaid enrollees live in places Trump won – Most of the roughly 280,000 Virginians who now have health insurance thanks to Virginia’s Medicaid expansion live in cities and counties won by President Trump, according to a new analysis by the Virginia Mercury. Deeply conservative southwestern Virginia saw some of the highest rates of enrollment, with some localities seeing 8% of residents now covered under the program. This coverage would go away, of course, if President Trump gets his way and repeals the Affordable Care Act.
   
   
3. Republican state Senate candidate says abortion providers cover up for rapists and abusers – Republican Tina Freitas, who is challenging incumbent state Sen. Emmett Hanger (R-Mount Solon), said she wants to ban abortion, compared the anti-abortion movement to the abolitionist movement and claimed that abortion providers covered up for rapists and domestic abusers. Appearing on the John Fredericks Show, Freitas called abortion “abhorrent and barbaric” and said “a lot of times it’s the abuser that’s taking the girl in to get the abortion, to wipe away his evidence of abuse so that he can take her back and abuse her some more.” It’s worth remembering that her opinions are deeply unpopular, as more than 70% of Virginians support abortion rights.
   
   
4. Activists accuse Virginia prisons of denying Muslim inmates constitutional rights – Civil rights groups are accusing at least two Virginia state prisons of denying Muslim inmates their constitutionally protected rights to observe Ramadan. Ramadan, a holy month of fasting, prayer and reflection, requires observant Muslims to fast from food and drink from dawn to sunset. But according to The Intercept, one Virginia prison has not been serving breakfast before sunrise, while another prison is forcing Muslims to wait until an hour after sunset to receive their dinners.
   
   
5. Colorado company wants to build a $2 billion solar farm in Chesterfield – Torch Clean Energy, a renewable energy company based in Boulder, Colorado, wants to turn a 1,500 acre site in Chesterfield County into a solar farm-data center combo. The farm would generate 150 megawatts of power to the adjoining data center, which would take up about 300 acres and employ roughly 100 workers. If Torch’s permits for the Chester Solar Technology Park project are approved, it would entail a $2 billion investment in the site.