Virginia
Virginia House’s legal pot bill heads for final floor vote
Northern Virginia Delegate Paul Krizek brought his chamber’s legal weed market bill to the House floor for its second reading Friday.
It would create a framework for a legal marketplace, with marijuana retail and small business licenses being issued starting in 2025. It requires testing and regulation by the Virginia Cannabis Authority, all while being taxed at 9%, one of the lowest tax rates in the nation. Krizek said that would help compete with the illegal market.
In 2020 the Virginia legislature, with Democrats in control of both chambers and the governor’s mansion, decriminalized marijuana.
But the second step in that process, creating a legal market, failed to pass when Republicans took control of the House in 2021. With Dems back in control of both chambers, and anxiety as the state’s current system has few controls on the market currently in place, efforts to regulate are starting to materialize.
“We only get one shot at a retail market, and we have to get it right,” Krizek said.
While Republicans have gotten softer on legal weed, they still voiced concerns Friday. Eastern Shore Delegate Robert Bloxom was worried that the plan requires localities to opt-out of sales, not opt in. And in rural parts of the state, where towns and counties blend over large areas, it could make a complicated patchwork of laws.
“I don’t need two towns on the Eastern shore to become distributors of marijuana to the rest of the county that doesn’t want it,” Bloxom said on the floor.
The Democratic majority all but guarantees passage of the effort in the House, same as in the Senate. Governor Glenn Youngkin said after his State of the Commonwealth speech earlier this year that he has no interest in supporting a legal market, but those close to the issue told Radio IQ good conversations were happening between legislators, lobbyists and the executive branch.
The House bill will likely be voted out of the chamber Monday. It’ll head to the Senate in the coming weeks.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
Virginia Delegate Dan Helmer led fellow Democrats to major gains in November’s election. Now he’s turning his attention to the redistricting of the Commonwealth, and a run in the newly proposed 7th district. He joins Sydney Persing on The Final 5 to discuss.
FAIRFAX, Va. (7News) — Virginia State Police have identified the man who was shot and killed by a trooper after a crash ended in a stabbing attack on Interstate 495 Sunday afternoon.
Jared Llamado, 32, of McLean, died at the hospital on Sunday after he was shot.
RELATED | 2 dead, dog killed after stabbing spree, trooper shooting on I-495 in Fairfax County
Investigators said Llamado was confronted by the trooper who opened fire around 1:17 p.m. The trooper was responding to a report of a road rage incident and found Llamado with a knife, according to a news release.
Four stabbing victims, all women, were also found at the scene, along with a dog that was also stabbed.
Michelle Adams, 39, died from her injuries. The dog also did not survive. The three other women were all taken to the hospital with serious injuries, according to VSP. 7News is not identifying the surviving victims.
Investigators said the stabbings stemmed from a crash in the southbound lanes of I-495.
The trooper who opened fire was not hurt and is on leave pending the outcome of the investigation into the use of force.
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Investigators said they do not believe the attack is connected to terrorism.
Virginia
Two dead after I-495 road rage incident leads to stabbing, Virginia State Police shooting – WTOP News
A road rage incident led to a shooting involving the Virginia State Police on Sunday on Interstate 495. Four individuals were also stabbed.
Two people are dead Sunday in Annandale, Virginia, after a road rage incident led to a shooting involving Virginia State Police on Interstate 495.
A release issued by the Virginia State Police said a trooper fatally shot a man after responding to a report of a road rage incident on the southbound lanes of I-495 just before 1:30 p.m. at exit 52, near the Little River Turnpike.
The man, transferred to a hospital with serious injuries, has been pronounced dead. VSP said the trooper shot in self-defense after the man confronted him with a knife.
The trooper did not suffer any injuries during the altercation.
Officials found four stabbing victims at the scene, but only identified a 39-year-old woman and a dog. Both the woman and the dog died.
Early findings suggest the stabbings took place after a crash on the Capital Beltway. The crash remains under investigation.
The VSP’s release comes after the main lanes of the Capital Beltway Outer Loop, before Little River Turnpike, were closed to traffic for several hours, only recently opening the express lanes. Main lanes between Arlington Boulevard and the Little River Turnpike remain closed.
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