Federal judge orders immediate reopening of voter registration in Virginia
Virginians who couldn’t register to vote because a state website crashed were given one more chance to sign up after a federal judge on Thursday ordered the state to reopen the voter registration period until 11:59 p.m. Friday. Click here to register. The court ruling, welcomed by Democrats and Republicans, was brought about by a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a civil rights group arguing that potentially thousands of Virginians had been affected by major problems with the state’s online voter registration system ahead of Monday’s registration deadline. Gov. Terry McAuliffe said earlier this week that he couldn’t extend the deadline himself because it’s fixed in state law. The office of Attorney General Mark R. Herring did not contest the lawsuit.

CITY OF RICHMOND

Richmond schools disappointed by accreditation ratings but say a turnaround is coming
Richmond school officials are asking for patience as they work to recover from admittedly disappointing accreditation ratings released last month. “While we are disappointed that we did not continue our significant progress made during the previous school year with an approximately 55 percent improvement in the number of schools fully accredited, over the past two school years, we have been able to move and maintain more schools meeting the fully accredited status,” the district said in a statement Monday night. The city’s School Board was presented the numbers at its Monday evening meeting, where officials discussed where the school district had gone backwards and the steps it was taking to turn things around.

Richmond schools funding formula likely won’t materialize by end of year
A new, dedicated funding formula for Richmond Public Schools, intended to avoid much of the budget battling that has unfolded among the mayor’s office, City Council and the school system over the past several years, appears unlikely to materialize before the end of the year. That, at least, was the judgment of Councilwoman Kathy C. Graziano, chairwoman of the council’s Finance and Economic Development Committee, which voted Thursday to delay action until next month on legislation by Councilman Jonathan T. Baliles that would dedicate 60.8 percent of the city’s real estate tax revenue to the operation of the school system. The continuance until the committee’s Nov. 17 meeting will put the measure after the Nov. 8 election, when the new occupants of the mayor’s office and at least four council seats will be decided.

CHESTERFIELD

Chesterfield schools denied accreditation for first time in district’s history
For the first time in Chesterfield County Public Schools history, two of its schools will be denied state accreditation. School officials said Monday that the state is expected to deny accreditation for Ettrick Elementary School and Falling Creek Middle School this week after the Chesterfield district decided to abandon efforts to seek partial accreditation. A denial of accreditation signals a failure to meet state student achievement benchmarks for four consecutive years. It will be the first time that even one Chesterfield school has been denied accreditation.

Proffer push: County braces for influx of zoning cases
Recent changes to the county’s cash proffer policy could result in a logjam of property owners rushing to rezone their undeveloped residential parcels. Kirk Turner, the county’s planning director, said earlier this month that his staff has already been contacted by “a lot of people” who want to reopen zoning cases to adjust their cash proffers. “I expect there will be a significant uptick [in rezoning applications] over the next year as we cycle through these cases,” Turner added.

Chesterfield School Board advances plans to build new Manchester Middle
The Chesterfield County School Board wants future Manchester Middle School students to attend an entirely new school instead of a renovated one. But the change in the project’s scope has brought it back to square one. After higher-than-expected construction bids pushed Manchester’s renovation millions of dollars over budget, School Board members scrapped plans to renovate the school Monday. With no discussion, they voted unanimously to advance plans to build an entirely new, and smaller, facility. The change will still leave the project over budget, and could delay any changes at Manchester by a year.

NATIONAL

Race, School Ratings and Real Estate: A ‘Legal Gray Area’
With her infant son in a sling, Monique Black strolls through a weekend open house in the gentrified Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. There are lots of factors to consider when looking for a home — in this one, Monique notices, the tiny window in the second bedroom doesn’t let in enough light. But for parents like Black and her husband, Jonny, there’s a more important question: How good are the nearby schools? It’s well known in the real estate industry that highly rated schools translate into higher housing values. Several studies confirm this and even put a dollar figure on it: an average premium of $50 a square foot, in a 2013 national study. In Chappaqua, N.Y., an affluent bedroom community for New York City, the town supervisor recently went so far as to declare that, “The schools are our biggest industry — whether you have kids in the school or not, that’s what maintains our property values.”

ELECTIONS

Richmond mayoral candidates agree schools need a turnaround, but not on how to pay for it
All the candidates for mayor in Richmond have pledged to make fixing the city’s troubled school system a priority, but so far, they’ve laid out very different approaches to the most contentious aspect of such a turnaround: paying for it. Former Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, who has led recent polls, proposes dedicating 40 to 44 cents of the city’s $1.20 real estate tax rate to schools. He said the money would go into a “lock box,” and only the school system would be able to touch it. Former Venture Richmond director Jack Berry, who has placed second behind Morrissey in polling, said he supports dedicated funding for schools, but said it’s irresponsible to commit to a number until he’s elected and can meet with the superintendent to create a five-year plan.

Morrissey leads in new mayoral poll, but nearly 40 percent of Richmond voters undecided
Joseph D. Morrissey is maintaining his lead in the Richmond mayor’s race, but nearly 4 in 10 likely voters have not decided who they will support just weeks before Election Day, according to new poll results released Saturday by business group ChamberRVA. In the poll of 1,850 likely voters, 20 percent of respondents citywide supported Morrissey, 17 percent supported Jack Berry, and 15 percent favored Levar Stoney. The poll, conducted from Oct. 5 through Oct. 11, found that 38 percent of likely voters are still undecided, leaving plenty of room for movement in the campaign’s closing weeks. At the district level, Morrissey led in the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th, with much smaller leads in the 3rd and 5th. Berry held solid leads in the 1st, 2nd and 4th districts. Stoney had the second-highest support in all nine districts. Stoney’s strongest district was the 5th, where he had 18 percent support to Morrissey’s 20 percent and Berry’s 15 percent.

Field Notes: A three-man race? Five take aways from the new ChamberRVA poll
A new poll in the Richmond mayor’s race shows Joe Morrissey losing ground to two well-funded opponents — former Venture Richmond executive Jack Berry and former Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar Stoney — and two out of five Richmonders on the fence.  Below are our takeaways.

County officials caught off-guard by ballpark talk; Richmond mayoral candidates at odds over funding
Mayoral candidates in Richmond jostled to respond Tuesday to the latest development in the region’s long-running ballpark saga — specifically whether the city should contribute financially to help construct the stadium. Former Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, the front-runner in the race, held a news conference in front of the gates to The Diamond, where he unequivocally declared he would oppose any city funding for such a project. “Under a Morrissey administration — and this is what separates me from all the other candidates — no taxpayer money is going to be used for a professional sports complex,” he said.

Berry raised more cash than Stoney in Richmond mayoral contest for first time last month; Berry supporters also aid Mosby
Former Venture Richmond Director Jack Berry raised more cash than former Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar Stoney for the first time last month. In campaign finance reports filed with the state Monday, Berry reported collecting $160,759 in donations in September. Stoney, who has led fundraising by a wide margin throughout the race, reported raising $127,397 in his September report.

Only televised Richmond mayoral debate prompts sharp exchanges between candidates
The first and only televised debate of the Richmond mayoral campaign Monday yielded unusually sharp exchanges between the five candidates invited to participate. The event’s moderators, WWBT anchors Curt Autry and Diane Walker along with WCVE news director Craig Carper, teed the night off by asking former Del. Joseph D. Morrissey to respond to a recent attack ad launched by City Council President Michelle Mosby. The ad focuses on Morrissey’s conviction in 2014 on a charge of contributing to a delinquency of a minor.

Stoney participated in ballpark talks as recently as last week; Morrissey pounces
Richmond mayoral candidate Levar Stoney participated in behind-the-scenes negotiations surrounding the latest stadium talks as recently as last week, his campaign said Wednesday. Stoney’s ongoing involvement in high-level regional negotiations concerning the city — first disclosed Tuesday — emerged as an unexpected wrinkle 20 days ahead of the election, and it remains unclear whether it will prove to be an asset or a liability for Stoney as he works to pull out of third place in the seven-way race. Former Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, who has led polls for two months, pounced: “Richmonders have now learned that for the past months, Mr. Stoney has been secretly involved in negotiating this latest baseball stadium ‘deal,’” Morrissey said in a statement.

1^st District City Council candidates emphasize transparency, baseball and confederate monuments
There are three candidates running for City Council in the city’s 1st District: Andreas D. Addison, a 34-year-old former city employee, Jonathan M. Cruise, a 33-year-old IT worker, and Harry H. Warner Jr., a 55-year-old nonprofit consultant. Here’s where they stand on the election and the issues facing the city.

2^nd District City Council race: Real estate developer, School Board member and conflict resolution trainer face off
There are three candidates for City Council in the city’s 2nd District: Charlie Diradour, a 52-year-old real estate developer; Kim Gray, a 45-year-old Realtor; and Rebecca K. W. Keel, a 24-year-old conflict resolution trainer. Here’s where they stand on the election and the issues facing the city.

Wilder endorses Trammell for Richmond City Council, teases at forthcoming thoughts on mayoral contest
Former Richmond Mayor and Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder offered an enthusiastic endorsement of Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell’s campaign for re-election on Thursday and said he would soon offer his thoughts on the city’s heated mayoral contest. “I plan to write something for the RTD that will probably be out in a week or so relative to my positions on the endorsements related to mayor, but I’m here today to say that unequivocally I ask you to join with me to do everything we can to get Reva Trammell re-elected,” Wilder said to a packed crowd at Trammell’s district meeting Thursday evening at the Satellite Lounge. Trammell represents the city’s 8th District, which straddles the Jefferson Davis Highway corridor in South Richmond. Challenging her this year is Amelia Lightner, who was recently endorsed by the city’s Democratic committee and has served on a variety of city boards and commissions, and as the president of the Brooksbury Civic Association.

Richmond mayoral candidates trade jabs on stadium for third day in a row
Former Venture Richmond Director Jack Berry joined Joseph D. Morrissey on Thursday in criticizing their mutual opponent in the mayoral race, Levar Stoney, for his recently revealed role in the latest stadium negotiations. “What we don’t need is a candidate who failed to remove himself or even disclose his involvement after announcing his intention to run for mayor, meanwhile working to influence the outcome behind closed doors,” Berry said in a statement. Berry was also critical of Morrissey, who for the second day in a row publicly challenged Stoney’s involvement in the talks: “We also don’t need a candidate who continues to showboat to make headlines, first calling to renovate The Diamond, then calling to keep city money out of the project, then calling for a referendum,” Berry said.