Virginia Lt Gov resists calls to step down

Hope wants to introduce articles of impeachment

RICHMOND, Virginia, Feb 10, (AP): Virginia’s embattled lieutenant governor has urged authorities to investigate sexual assault allegations made against him, but hasn’t heeded calls to resign and it is unclear what comes next for the once-rising star of the state Democratic Party.

Two women have made allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax. But on Saturday, Fairfax issued a statement repeating his strong denials that he had ever sexually assaulted anyone and made clear he does not intend to immediately resign.

Democratic Del. Patrick Hope said he wants to introduce articles of impeachment against Fairfax on Monday, but Hope is not a powerful figure in the House and there’s little sign there’s a broad appetite for impeachment with lawmakers set to finish this year’s legislative session by the end of the month.

If an impeachment hearing does occur, though, Meredith Watson, 39, is willing to testify that Fairfax raped her while they were students at Duke University in 2000, her attorney said in a statement.

“Ms Watson stands ready, although it will be painful, to tell the Virginia Legislature what Mr. Fairfax did to her when she was 20 years old,” the statement said.

Attorneys for Vanessa Tyson, a California college professor who said Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex on him at a Boston hotel in 2004, also released a statement saying their client would be willing to testify.

“We are confident that once the Virginia legislature hears Dr. Tyson’s harrowing account of this sexual assault, the testimony of many corroborating witnesses, and evidence of his attempts to mislead the public about The Washington Post’s decision not to run a story in 2018, it will conclude that he lacks the character, fitness and credibility to serve in any capacity,” the statement said.

In a Spanish-language radio program, Diaz, who is a Pentecostal minister, said the homosexual community controls most of the 51 council members. The 75-yearold, Puerto Rican-born politician, who opposes same-sex marriage, called Johnson a “homosexual married to another man.” The speaker is openly gay and single. (AP)

Fairfax has denied both allegations and on Saturday asked that “no one rush to judgment.”

“Our American values don’t just work when it’s convenient – they must be applied at the most difficult of times,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Ralph Northam pledged to work at healing the state’s racial divide and made his first official appearance a week after a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page surfaced and he acknowledged wearing blackface in the 1980s. Northam has also defied calls from practically his entire party to step down.

Allegation

After the second allegation against Fairfax was made Friday, he was barraged with demands to step down from top Democrats, including a number of presidential hopefuls and most of Virginia’s congressional delegation. Fairfax is the second African-American to ever win statewide office.

Northam – now a year into his fouryear term – has told his top staff he’s staying in office and said he wants to focus the rest of his term as governor on taking concrete steps toward increasing racial equality.

In his first interview since the scandal erupted, a chastened Northam told The Washington Post on Saturday that the uproar has pushed him to confront the state’s deep and lingering divisions over race, as well as his own insensitivity. But he said that reflection has convinced him that, by remaining in office, he can work to resolve them.

“It’s obvious from what happened this week that we still have a lot of work to do,” Northam said in the interview, conducted at the Executive Mansion. “There are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area of equity.”

Northam said he planned to focus on addressing issues stemming from inequality, including improving access to health care, housing, and transportation.

Pregnant woman killed in crash:

Authorities in Maine say a pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed in a snowmobile crash.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife said Elizabeth Abelson was driving a snowmobile Saturday at 11 am on a trail in Greenwood when she lost control, was ejected from the snowmobile and collided with trees. Greenwood is in western He also repeated his contention that he is not pictured in the photo on his yearbook page that shows someone in blackface standing alongside someone in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe. But he could not explain how the photo wound up there, or why he initially had taken responsibility for it.

“I overreacted,” he said. “If I had it to do over again, I would step back and take a deep breath.”

On Saturday, Northam made his first official public appearance since he denied being in the photo, attending the funeral for a state trooper killed in a shootout. But he made no public comments upon arriving in Chilhowie, four hours west of the tumult in Richmond.

Meanwhile, the lieutenant governor did not make any public appearances Saturday and released his statement late in the day, after Republican state House Speaker Kirk Cox and the Democratic Party of Virginia joined a chorus of other calls for Fairfax to resign.

Since the two allegations against Fairfax were made, many top Democrats running for president in 2020 have called for Fairfax’s resignation, including Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Virginia’s Democratic congressional delegation was split.

Party elders Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Bobby Scott said Fairfax should resign if the allegations against him are true.

Other congressional Democrats made unqualified calls for Fairfax to resign.

If Fairfax were to leave, it’s unclear who could replace him. Northam may try to appoint a Democrat, while Republicans could mount a legal challenge with the goal of having Sen. Steve Newman, the Senate’s pro tem, serve as both a voting senator and temporary lieutenant governor.

The tumult in Virginia began Feb 1, with the discovery of the photo on Northam’s yearbook profile page.

part of the state and is home to Mount Abram ski area.

The 30-year-old from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and her unborn child were pronounced dead at Stephens Memorial Hospital. Officials said the child was due in March. The 30-year-old from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and her unborn child were pronounced dead at Stephens Memorial Hospital. Officials said the child was due in March.

Abelson’s husband was also riding the snowmobile. Authorities did not say if he was injured in the crash. The crash is under investigation. Abelson was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. (AP)

Fire chief wants changes:

A Las Vegas-area fire chief who warned lawmakers months before a 2017 mass shooting at a music festival that Nevada should bolster its emergency management planning says he wants to bypass state lawmakers to get changes made.

Six months before the Oct 1, 2017, shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that killed 58 and left hundreds injured, Clark County Fire Department Chief Greg Cassell testified before state legislators in favor of a bill that would have required more coordination of emergency medical resources ahead of such a large event.

Investigators say gunman Stephen Paddock acted alone when he fired from a high-rise suite in the Mandalay Bay casinoresort into the crowd of 22,000 at the Route 91 Harvest festival. The FBI concluded Paddock sought notoriety in the attack but said it found no “single or clear motivating factor” to explain why he opened fire on the concert. (AP)