Redistricting commission gives up on producing new districts and more Virginia headlines

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

• Virginia’s new bipartisan redistricting commission appears to have given up any hope of producing new congressional or legislative districts after failing to agree on what a politically fair map would look like.—Washington Post

• Political experts attributed the commission’s total failure on an organizational structure that included highly partisan sitting legislators. “Commissions in other states have tended to be very successful, but those have tended to be much more nonpartisan. They don’t include sitting state legislators.”—Roanoke Times

• New polling from Monmouth University shows Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin deadlocked in the governor’s race, with both candidates showing 46 percent support among registered voters.—Politico

• “National activists worry that President Joe Biden’s falling approval ratings, and a lack of action by the Democrat-controlled Congress on voting rights and issues important to African Americans, could spell trouble for McAuliffe in a race … that already looked exceedingly tight.”—Associated Press

• “The leading candidates for Virginia governor have gone quiet on commitments both previously made to disclose at least some information from recent tax returns before the Nov. 2 election.”—Associated Press

• Leaders in Fairfax County signed off on an ordinance allowing the county’s 12,500 public employees to bargain collectively. Arlington County and the city of Alexandria have already adopted similar policies.—Washington Post

• Many school districts have not adopted model state policies aimed at protecting transgender students, saying they’ve been told “our policies are good as is.”—VPM

• Deschutes Brewery is closing its taproom in Roanoke as its plans to build a major production facility in the city remain on indefinite hold.—Roanoke Times