Dogwood Daily: Trump admin could make it harder for thousands of Virginians to qualify for Medicaid, SNAP

Welcome to today’s edition of the Dogwood Daily. We’ve got a round-up of today’s Virginia news coming right up. And if you’re enjoying the Dogwood Daily, there’s more where that came from. Like a lot more. But not TOO much more.

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But First…

A new exhibit at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond traces four centuries of black history in Virginia, from the early days of of slavery though the civil rights era and up to present day. “Determined: The 400-Year Struggle for Black Equality” is set to open Saturday and more information can be found here.

5 things you need to know today…

1. Thousands of Virginians would lose access to food and health programs under proposed change to federal poverty line – The Trump administration is considering changing how the federal poverty line is calculated, which could mean thousands of Virginians losing access to medical and food assistance programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The Virginia Mercury reports that the administration’s new proposal would use a lower measure of inflation than in the past, meaning the poverty line would increase more slowly. The result would be tens of thousands of Virginians will no longer being eligible for the programs, which could prove devastating to lower-income individuals in the Commonwealth. 
   
   
2. Trump administration gives in to pressure, will keep Flatwoods Job Corps Center open – After significant backlash from lawmakers across the country, the U.S. Departments of Labor and Agriculture backtracked from their earlier decision to shut down nine Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers, including the Flatwoods center in Coeburn, Virginia. The reversal keeps Flatwoods, which creates a $6 million economic impact on the region and employs dozens of employees, from shutting down. 
   
   
3. Jerry Falwell’s ‘pool boy’ saga gets even stranger – Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. continues to insist he was not pressured into endorsing President Donald Trump in 2016 based on the existence of compromising photos. New investigations from the Miami Herald and New York Times seem to indicate otherwise, however. Both papers dove into the complicated web of real estate transactions that got Falwell mixed up with Giancarlo Granda, the aforementioned ‘pool boy,’ and the Herald confirmed that photos of Falwell’s wife in various stages of undress do indeed exist. 
   
   
4. Two Tazewell police officers fired over racial profiling accusation – Two Tazewell police officers were fired on Monday after a complaint of racial profiling that arose after a traffic stop. The story spread on Facebook after the victim, William Wilson Jr., shared a photo that showed one of the officers using a clipboard with a Confederate flag sticker on it. The public response to the post prompted an internal investigation, which ultimately led to the termination of the officers. 
   
   
5. A quick business round-up – Car parts manufacturer Metalsa Structural Products will expand its Botetourt County manufacturing facility, investing $6.4 million and creating 25 new jobs in Cloverdale. Elsewhere, MOVA Technologies in Pulaski is developing carbon filtration technology that could have huge clean energy applications and create hundreds of jobs in southwest Virginia. In less positive news, Boeing is moving its space division from Arlington to Florida. But the shift is only expected to affect a handful of D.C. area jobs.