WMRA Daily 7/8/26

For WMRA News, I'm Bob Levicki. Senator Tim Kaine starts a tour of the Shenandoah Valley with a stop at a health clinic in Winchester. A Louisiana County music teacher is the new president of the National Education Association, and Virginia's new law against law enforcement officers wearing masks may not survive in court. This is the WMRA Daily for Wednesday, July 8.

Senator Tim Kaine visited a Sinclair Health Clinic on Monday as part of a tour through Virginia this week. He also visited the clinic's Future Facility. WMRI's Isha Pyrga reports. I noticed the sign down in the pharmacy, which you would never see in a traditional medical office. We do not accept bills hired a job. It shows that their charges are very horrible. Senator Tim Kaine, who is a member of the Senate. Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee has secured a grant of $490,000 in Congressional Directed Spending for Sinclair Health.

Dr. Mercedes Greg Abbott, the clinic's executive director, says this grant will cover 14% of the total cost of renovations for the building. We are bursting at the scene, so we were looking for a way to expand. So this grant particularly is going to help us achieve that goal of expansion and offer the same services for the 3,000 patients that we have, but in a much better than accommodating more patients and more services. Greg Abbott says they established a campaign with their donors that has already raised half a million dollars.

The goal is to be a completely renovated and fully bought floors and everything. Senator Kane also referred to the impact of Medicaid cuts. We're very nervous about Medicaid cuts and what that's going to do to the safety generally and that it's going to push people who have insurance, going to push them away. Sinclair Health Clinics, 2025, Community Impact Report, shows that more than 75% of their patients are uninsured. Around a quarter used Medicaid. For WMRA News, I'm MESHIPIA. Find photos and more information at WMRA.org and on our app.

On Tuesday, Kane paid a visit to Eastern Mennonite University and United Way of the central Shenandoah Valley in Harrisonburg. And then to Stanton for a talk about affordable housing. Today, Senator Cain will visit Buna Vista to host a roundtable on rural economic development at the Virginia Innovation Accelerator. Princess Moss, a music teacher from Louisa County, is the new president of the National Education Association. Moss is only the second Virginia Education Association president to lead the N.EA, a union representing more than 3 million members. She started out as a student member of the VEA while studying music education at the University of Mary Washington. Moss served as the NEA's vice president in 2020. In a statement, Moss said that she, quote, learned to lead in Virginia classrooms.

Full disclosure, the Virginia Education Association Underwrites Programming on WMRA. Three central Virginia counties have allocated a combined three-quartered. of a million dollars to fight the massive Valley Link transmission line project. The Daily Progress reports that Dominion Energy and its out-of-state partners argue the project is necessary to feed the power-hungry data centers in northern Virginia, but communities in the path of the project are fighting back. Buckingham, Goochland, and Louisa County officials have approved $250,000 each to fight the project at the State Corporation Commission, which has jurisdiction over proposed transmission lines in Virginia.

The power line would connect the Joshua Falls substation in Campbell County to the Yeat substation in Culpeper County. But its exact route through there is uncertain. The 115-mile 765-kilovolt line proposed by Dominion and its partners, Ohio-based First Energy and Trans-Source Energy, would connect the data center capital of the world, in northern Virginia with the Ohio River Valley, where utilities regularly produce more energy than consumers their need. You can find our previous reporting on the Valley Link project at

WMRA.org or type WMRA Valley Link into your browser. One of Virginia's newest laws is on hold for now, and it might not survive scrutiny in the courts. Radio IQ's Michael Pope reports. The Supremacy Clause is a part of the Constitution that says states cannot tell the federal government what to do. That's why a new law prohibiting ICE officers from wearing masks is on hold. For now, after a federal judge issued an injunction. The bill was signed by Governor Abigail Spanberger and introduced by Senator Saddam Saleem, a Democrat from Fairfax County. This bill was never about interfering with legitimate federal law enforcement work. It was always about making sure that if they step in Virginia and they have a legitimate claim, hey, we want to go

arrest someone, then you as somebody who's in your house or in a shopping center or at a courthouse have the right to know who, what type of law enforcement this is. Legal expert Rich Kelsey says he always assumed the bill was aimed at promoting a conversation or scoring political points rather than changing policy. It's a political mojo wrapped up as a law. As much as people don't like federal agents wearing masks, a very fascinating policy discussion well worth having. The truth of the matter is, individual states can't pass laws that regulate how federal law enforcement wears its uniform or does its job. The new law would have gone into effect this month, making it a class one

The statement comes after a three-judge panel appointed by the Supreme Court of Virginia refused to consolidate several challenges to a new assault weapons ban. Republican State Senator Bill Stanley is representing a firearms retailer in one of the disputes out of Washington County. Finally today, a rare corpse flower has bloomed at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, and it only lasts a few days. Throngs of people flock to see the flower over the weekend. WHRO's Catherine Hafner was among them.

Corpse flowers get their name from the intense stench that happens when they bloom. Michelle Badanza with the Botanical Garden says the plant mimics the scent of decaying flesh to attract pollinators like beetles. In other words, if you were to climb inside a big metal dumpster in the middle of summer, that is exactly what it smells like. The Norfolk flower is dubbed Lady MacDeath. Fewer than a thousand corpse flowers are left in the wild. Badaza says their tropical habitats have been raised for palm oil plantations. As incredible as she is, at the end of the day, the reason why she is endangered and rare is because of deforestation. I think it is a moment to reflect on that and to think about daily choices that we're making.

She says people can reduce their use of products that contain palm oil. As for Lady MacDeath, it could take another decade before the next bloom. Catherine Hafner reporting. For WMRA News, I'm Bob Levicki. Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoy your Wednesday. !