Pete Giesen, who was from Radford, was the last of the “mountain-valley Republicans” who broke the stranglehold on power of segregationist Democrats in Virginia in the 1960s.
What’s News Today: budget discussion, Telecommunicators Week
Here’s a look at some of the stories we’ll be following today as they make headlines across the country and Southwest Virginia.
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What s News Today (WSLS 10)
This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. It’s a week to honor public safety communications officers in E-911 centers. The City of Roanoke will recognize dispatchers throughout the week. Roanoke’s dispatchers handle more than 275,000 calls a year. In Montgomery County, the Board of Supervisors is expected to pass a resolution tonight, honoring the work of dispatchers.
Virginia’s Redistricting Commission will meet today. It will discuss the budget, redistricting website and take public comments. The group was formed to limit political influence in the redistricting process and is made up of lawmakers and citizens.
In 1963, a young businessman from Staunton ran for the House of Delegates on what was then considered something of a radical agenda.
He didnât think much of the poll tax that Virginia levied â and which was used to keep the electorate small, and with as few Black voters and poor white voters as possible.
He wanted to abolish the Pupil Placement Board that Virginia had set up to facilitate the continued segregation of schools after the U.S. Supreme Courtâs landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.
He objected to the tuition grants that Virginia used to pay for white students to attend segregated private schools.
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Field set for special election in southwest Virginia Joe Dashiell
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - The field is set for a special election in southwest Virginia.
Tazewell County Supervisor Travis Hackworth has won the Republican nomination for the 38th Senate District; there were six candidates.
He will face the Democratic nominee, former Radford City Council member Laurie Buchwald. Buchwald was the only Democrat to enter the race before Thursday’s deadline.
They are running to complete the term of Senator Ben Chafin, who died on New Year’s Day because of complications from COVID-19.
Both candidates will face off in a special election March 23 to succeed Republican Senator A. Benton Chafin, Jr., who passed away January 1.