Virginia State Trooper On Leave After Violent Traffic Stop, Two Killed In Richmond Shootings, Hungry Bear Visits Suffolk; More

From the Virginia Mercury:

By Graham Moomaw

July 16, 2020

NEWS TO KNOW
Our daily roundup of headlines from Virginia and elsewhere.

• “Loss of control and a lack of training” were cited as the cause of a helicopter crash that killed two state troopers during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, per the National Transportation Safety Board. —Associated Press

• The Virginia State Police have placed a trooper on leave as they investigate a viral video showing a state trooper hauling a Black man out of a car after claiming to smell marijuana. — NBC12

• Two people were killed and four others were wounded in shootings Tuesday night in Richmond, including a three-year-old. — Richmond Times-Dispatch

• Liberty University filed a $10 million defamation suit against The New York Times, claiming the paper unfairly suggested there was a coronavirus outbreak at the school. — News & Advance

• U.S. Rep. Donald McEachin, a Richmond Democrat, said his office has been swamped by complaints about how Virginia is processing unemployment claims. — Associated Press

• COVID-19 cases are climbing in Southwest Virginia and doctors are worried about hospital capacity. “Just wear your mask, don’t go to crowded areas, don’t go to bars. … That’s our call for our generation, especially the young. I think it’s a sacrifice you can make for the generation that went to Vietnam and Korea who are now in nursing homes,” one doctor said. — The Roanoke Times

• Richmond Police have spent $2 million responding to protests in less than two months. — Richmond Times-Dispatch

• High school football won’t be happening this fall under any of the sports scenarios being considered by the Virginia High School League — Virginian-Pilot

• The Fredericksburg City Council wants the General Assembly to rename Jefferson Davis Highway this summer. — Free Lance-Star

• Election officials in Floyd County are warning against holding a ballot referendum on a Confederate monument, saying putting a racially fraught issue to a public vote could cause havoc at polling places. —Floyd Press

• A rocket successfully launched from Wallops Island Wednesday, carrying a classified payload for the newly formed U.S. Space Force. — Salisbury Daily Times

• Residents in Suffolk are worried about frequent visits from a black bear. “The bear was looking at my husband like, ‘What are you looking at me for?’” one woman said. “‘I’m in the trash trying to get me something to eat.’” — WAVY

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