IN THE NEWS:

1. As Democrats arrived in Chicago for their convention, a new Roanoke College poll showed that Vice President Kamala Harris has a 3% edge in Virginia over former President Donald Trump.

2. In July, Governor Youngkin issued Executive Order 33, directing the Virginia Department of Education to draft guidance for public school divisions to adopt local policies and procedures establishing cell phone-free education. With school starting this week, what might the future hold for students and cell phone usage

3. Speaking of polls, Governor Youngkin’s approval has jumped to its highest number.
   In a new Roanoke College survey of Virginia likely voters, Youngkin’s popularity surged to 59%. When compared to others, that rating makes him the sixth-most popular governor in the nation.

Episode Transcript

Cameron Thompson  

I'm Cameron Thompson, in for Michael Pope.

Lauren Burke  

I'm Lauren Burke.

Cameron Thompson  

This is Pod Virginia. A podcast that's celebrating Women's Equity Day.

Lauren Burke  

Back in 2020, Delegate Kaye Kory passed a bill designating August 26 of each year as Women's Equality Day, and so now we have an official date on the calendar. 

Cameron Thompson  

A day that makes 84 cents on the dollar.

Lauren Burke  

Here on Pod Virginia, it's a day that earns the whole dollar. 

Cameron Thompson  

Okay, let's get to the news. Virginia goes Midwest as Democrats arrived in Chicago for their convention, a new Roanoke College poll showed that Vice President Kamala Harris has a 3% edge in Virginia over former President Donald Trump. The poll of likely Virginia voters was done weeks after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for the White House and endorsed Harris. We had Representative Bobby Scott and Senator Mark Warner casting those 119 votes for the top of their party's ticket. Lauren, I know you were in Chicago for that. So, first off, just what was that like? Describe it for me. The last one I was at was in 2016, where it was the Clinton pain ticket.

Lauren Burke  

Oh, yeah, that was in Philadelphia; that was pretty cool. This is actually my 10th convention because I've worked in media a little bit. You're required to go to the Republican and Democratic convention. My first was quite a while ago when I was at ABC News. At any rate, this one was extremely exciting and obviously historic. It was great seeing all the Virginians there. I spent most of my time in the New York delegation, which was on the floor in the back. The Virginia delegation was in-between Oklahoma and West Virginia. It was great to see everybody. It was exciting. To me, it was really interesting because in Virginia we have so many history makers. We had our first Black House Speaker, Don Scott. We had Louise Lucas in the audience sitting there, and Senator Mamie Locke and many others, including Delegate Rozia Henson. It was a very interesting thing to watch, very exciting. Logistically, it was very difficult. As somebody who's been to a lot of big events and a lot of conventions, I think this was definitely the most trying. I looked at my pedometer when I got home, and I think I averaged walking around seven or eight miles a day; that's generally unusual. But, despite all the logistics and the challenges of it, getting from point A to point B. Because of security and other things, it was still extremely exciting. I will say it's amazing that this was put together in 29 days. It was 29 days ago, from the beginning of the Democratic Convention on August 19, that President Biden dropped out of the race. It's pretty amazing to think that everything we saw at the convention was put together in that short period of time.

Cameron Thompson  

I remember from 2016, after day one that I had to buy more comfortable shoes for the amount of distance you had to walk there. From all of those firsts you mentioned from the Virginia delegation, I think I saw at least one of the Pod Virginia All-Stars, was in the shot when they were casting those votes there -- just when the Vice President took the stage. Obviously, as you mentioned, she is the first African American and South Asian heritage nominee for the top of a major party ticket. As was pointed out in articles written about her speech, it was not something she referenced directly in her acceptance speech here. But others sort of did that for her. What are your thoughts on that final night and just the speech that she delivered? 

Lauren Burke  

I thought the speech was great. It was a typical final night, filled with balloons and all that. I have to tell you that, as someone who has seen Vice President Harris in the Senate, my focus was on other things. Even though you pay attention to the big speeches, I like the stories of the individuals who are from the places that I know. The New York and Virginia delegations are special to me. To see things like Congresswoman McClellan, for example, who's the first Black woman to be in the Virginia congressional delegation. She was seated with the delegation in there and was present; at events, that's a special thing. It's sort of easy to take these things for granted. But it's really exciting and amazing when you think about it. You know, time goes by so quickly, and these news cycles are so fast that you don't really get to appreciate some of the history that you see. But I'm still sort of processing everything I saw, and I'm really just exhausted by it. But exhausted in a good way, in a very good way.

Cameron Thompson  

Yeah, I know one thing the pundits were wondering was what was going to be done with a certain subject leading into the DNC regarding the ongoing war in Gaza. The last time you and I co-hosted the show, you had just been to the state convention where the pro-Palestinian protesters had made appearances, both inside and outside here in Richmond. It was addressed by speakers at the DNC. They gave time to a former Virginia family who was one of the people still being held hostage, Herbert Poland. They did not give stage time to a Palestinian American, which was a request from the uncommitted delegate movement. How do you think that topic was handled as a whole?

Lauren Burke  

Well, as usual, there's always this sort of game of not saying the quiet part out loud at these types of events. Nobody wants any controversy. Everybody wants it to look perfect. But there are certain discussions that I think need to be had. There was a sort of a protest, you could say, in the hall of the United Center of folks linking together. There were protesters outside who were pro-Palestinian. They were protesters outside of the United Center, in the United Center, they sort of linked arms. These armlinks are a little bit more of a quiet protest, I guess you could say. Of course, nobody was allowed, apparently, to say the word APAC. It's a little bit silly because if you're involved in democratic politics, you know about all of these things. So I'm not sure why some of it's not a little bit more out on the table. But a lot of this is now, as you can see from that convention, its production value and showmanship. I mean, where else can you see Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, John Legend, Pink, and the Dixie Chicks, who are now known as the Chicks. It was amazing when you think about it, But you're right; in my view, there was a dodging of that serious issue. That has to do with politics; it has to do with donors. It has to do with keeping certain constituencies happy. It has to do with so many things and, of course, our politics. That was interesting. I do think it was written that the demonstrations outside were not as big as expected. I think that was generally true. I remember in Boston; I was at the Boston Convention. Democrats were in Boston in 2004, and there were a ton of demonstrators. There was a ton of Boston police. Yeah, it was a lot bigger, There were a lot more demonstrators in 2004 than what I saw last week.

Cameron Thompson  

Before we get to the second half of this first story here. Is there anything else from the convention that sticks out in your mind? That maybe we didn't see on the TV cameras or from the reports?

Lauren Burke  

Well, there's a lot you don't see at these conventions. There's actually a a basement area and a suite area on the top of all of these arena's, as people are probably aware of. When you go to see a sporting event, you know they're the suites that folks buy, and it's the same thing at the political conventions. I had the good fortune to be in the suites some of the time. And then, I had the good fortune to be in the basement because I had several different types of passes, primarily a media press pass. That's a floor pass, which kind of gets you almost any place. But it's interesting to see some of the interest groups that have the suites at the top of the United Center. And frankly, to just be able to eat for free is a big deal. I mean, I'm very focused on food.

Cameron Thompson  

If you're getting those seven miles a day, you need the calories.

Lauren Burke  

Yeah, and with that, I'd like to give a shout-out to Senator Lucas and the Collective PAC for allowing me to walk into their events for free. Senator Lucas had a Wednesday event during the convention; it was a reception with great food. And collective pack had a similar event. Congresswoman Robin Kelly had a welcome to Chicago event. DNC, of course, had a press party on the Saturday before the convention. All this is free, so great food. The Press party was really A Taste of Chicago party at the end of the day, all these restaurants from Chicago, and that was spectacular. And when. When you've been walking around or carrying a bunch of stuff all day, these are not minor things. So when I go into a suite upstairs or something, I'm really there to eat more than anything else. Just be able to sit down. So a lot of the leadership of the party and of the groups, labor, etc, and so on, are up in the suites. It's nice to see everybody. I saw Donna Brazile up in one suite and probably wouldn't have seen her if I'd been on the floor. The floor has now become very difficult to navigate, which wasn't the case in previous conventions. I used to walk around the floor, no problem. Now it's like, you have to keep moving. There's sort of a different thing, although I will say the Democratic Party did do a very good job at making a space for influencers. I saw a few of the Virginia influencers in that space. Jessica Anderson from Williamsburg was one That was great, that was a good idea on the part to host influencers. These people have, in some cases, a million views on their TikTok. Or a million followers on TikTok or Instagram. That was fantastic. But at any rate, these are the things that were sort of hard to see that, If you're watching on television,  To know what's going on behind the scenes. But over the years, I've been impressed by what has been put together behind the scenes that people don't see. It's like another world, other than the convention that you see on television. And shout out to the delegates. A lot of these delegates are paying their own way. In Virginia, the delegates had to pay their own way to get to Chicago. And pay for their own hotel. Chicago is an expensive city. As a New Yorker, I'm aware. It probably ran them about $2,000 or $3,000 a delegate. A lot of our delegates were on GoFundMe trying to raise money. And that's not easy, so we should mention that as well.

Cameron Thompson  

Well, kudos to them. Circling back quickly, I hope the influencers were demure, which I know is the word right now on social media. I hope you got lots of Lou Malnati's deep dish and Garrett's popcorn for your Chicago food there. Now, obviously, with the convention out of the way, each party has had their followers focused on the last bit of the actual election here. Early voting starts in less than a month here in Virginia. Obviously, we had the Roanoke poll released for this race. It was conducted before the convention, but after Biden had dropped out and Harris was nominated. The poll gives a 47-44 edge in a head-to-head matchup between Harris and Trump; that's within the poll's margin of error. It's 42-45 when other candidates are included. But of course, on Friday, we had RFK saying that he was going to be pulling himself off of some ballots and endorsing Trump. In response to that poll, we had Eric Trump in Albemarle County this week. Or last week, rather, he pointed to that poll and said Virginia is in play. Governor Terry McAuliffe said that's not the case and that Virginia's going to remain blue. Of course, Trump has never won in Virginia for the presidential race. I stress that this and the other planned events are over. Because this election has had many unplanned surprises. Lauren, what do you see most likely over the next two and a half months as we finish this thing up? 

Lauren Burke  

You know, obviously, there is a push by the Republicans to say that Virginia is in play. I certainly think that it was in play when the race was between former President Trump and President Biden. I think you have a different dynamic now, where you have the Democratic base of the party led by Black women voters in a 20% Black state. The Commonwealth is likely, I think, to see what we saw in 2008. We may even see the polling on this. But remember that in 2008, President Obama, when then-Senator Obama was able to pull across the line, other people, such as Thomas Perriello in the fifth and Glenn Nye, who both ended up in Congress for one term. Because of that wave that President Obama caused, can it happen again with Eugene Vindman or Missy Cotter-Smasal? I could see a turnout bump. And we're seeing some turnout numbers across the country and in Virginia that would indicate an increase in excitement on the Democratic side. So it'll be interesting to see if that translates all the way through. But again, you're right. On September 20, early voting will begin. That's the first thing that we're going to have a good indicator of what the excitement levels are. But already, with the fundraising numbers and everything else on Vice President Harris's side. It's amazing to see the switch so quickly after President Biden dropped out. 

Cameron Thompson  

Do you think we'll see any presidential or vice presidential candidate make an appearance in these remaining months in Virginia? 

Lauren Burke  

I would say, yeah. There should be at least one visit, certainly. They'll be going to North Carolina a lot. I'd say that if you're going to North Carolina a lot, it's not hard to stop in Virginia. So we'll see. 

Cameron Thompson  

Okay, let's get to the second news item of the day; record approval ratings for Governor Glenn Youngkin. Speaking of the polls, the same Roanoke poll that polled the Harris-Trump race had Governor Glenn Youngkin's approval rating jumping to its highest number of his term. In a survey of likely voters, Youngkin's popularity surged to 59% when compared to others. That makes him the sixth most popular governor in the nation. Lauren, do you have thoughts on this?

Lauren Burke  

I was really surprised to see this. But then again, it kind of makes sense. He had the surplus, that billion-dollar surplus. That sort of came out of nowhere. Maybe it's attached to that, but I would assume the poll was conducted before the news of the surplus happened. But this is an interesting poll. Even though Governor Youngkin certainly branded himself as a moderate in 2021. But it's been revealed that he's certainly more right-leaning than how he ran. So I was surprised to see this. I don't know what to make of it. We'll see what it means and what it means for his future. Obviously, it was expected that he might get involved in the 2024 presidential race, and he didn't. Obviously, he wasn't picked for Vice President. But we'll see how things go as he's headed out of office in less than two years.

Cameron Thompson  

Looking back at the numbers there compared to past governors here in Virginia around the same time in their term. Governor Ralph Northam was at 56%. Governor McAuliffe at 53%. Governor McDonald was at 58%. Kaine was at 66%. It was also the largest percentage change of his tenure, a seven-point increase from May. It was a six-point decrease from what he saw in February to May of last year. This also saw him get his best rating in the favorability category, which is 54%. As you might expect, in something like this, answers by affiliation paint a different picture. The job approval and favorability are at 36% and 27%, respectively, for Democrats. While it's 84% and 83% from Republicans and 66 % and 59% from independents. You kind of touched on what's driving this. I know the poll number, or rather, the polling, was done in mid-August from the 12th to the 16th. So, that was before the polling. I know we also had the best in business ranking from a little while ago. Those are some of the other things that could have been weighing on the pollster's minds or the respondent's minds as they were answering these questions. You touched on it earlier, but term limits in Virginia; the last two to successfully get elected office after being governor were Warner and Kaine. There's the Vice Presidential speculation here. What do you think he does after he leaves office? Is he more likely to make a run for the Senate in 2026 against Senator Warner? Or be a presidential hopeful in 2028, or is he trying to do both?

Lauren Burke  

Who knows? I doubt he would try to take on Warner. Because those two match up a little bit too well. Because Warner and Kaine can come off as moderate a lot of times on business-related issues. I don't know. I mean, it's hard to tell because so much of it's contingent on who wins the White House and the presidency. Obviously, if former President Trump were to win, that would change things. Because then he could end up with some job in the Trump administration. But I suspect he'll end up back in the business community. Because I think that right now, vice-president Harris has a lot of energy behind her. And the turnout game, I think, leans in her favor. So, I don't know what Youngkin will do, but he definitely is not the type of Republican that is what the MAGA world wants. And that's part of the reason why I think he's on the sidelines right now. But losing elections will teach a party a lesson real fast. One of the things I think that Bob McDonald, who you mentioned, had a very high approval as well. I think you said it was 58%. Bob McDonnell and Glenn Youngkin taught the Republicans how to win in Virginia. Which is to at least appear to be moderate when you're running and at least appear to be a reasonable person when you're running for office. Republicans, for some reason, insist on putting people up like the Ken Cuccinelli's and Corey Stewart's, E.W. Jackson's. But when those people lose, you want to learn how not to do that again. So a lot of a lot of what happens with Governor Youngkin after November will be answered by whether or not Trump wins. So we'll see. 

Cameron Thompson  

Four years is an eternity when you're talking political lifespans. So we'll have to see. All right, let's get on to our final news item of the day; cell phone-free schools. Back in early July, Governor Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Order 33, which directed the Virginia Department of Education to draft guidance for public school divisions to adopt local policies and procedures establishing cell phone-free education with schools starting last week. What might the future hold for students and cell phone usage? We now have a better idea, as in the middle of this month VDOE released the draft guidance. Lauren, before getting into the draft policies, do you have initial thoughts on just this topic alone.

Lauren Burke  

Yeah, I think that people growing up with cell phones in their hands have been impacted by that technology. There hasn't been a whole big comprehensive set of studies, at least not by the government, on that. And we're learning. I think that there needs to be some change in that. Because it's an instrument of distraction. When something is distracting, and you're trying to learn something, it's not a good thing, even with the fact, of course, that this technology is very powerful. We do learn a lot from our cell phone devices, and in real time we learn information. There are so many things you can do. But in a learning environment, I do think it's been a challenge. It was interesting that this executive order happened. This is a type of thing that's not particularly partisan, and I think everybody is still trying to figure out what the impact of cell phones is.

Cameron Thompson  

To that point, in the draft guidance that they put out, they say the response to their online survey, 77% strongly support cell phone-free instructional time. I think people on both sides of the aisle are supportive of this. The draft calls for a bell-to-bell band. Meaning even between classes or at lunchtime phones should be turned off and stored away. But it doesn't say how that should be accomplished. There are slight differences between the different school levels. Allowing high schoolers to use it on school grounds before and after the bells. But in middle schools they might have to develop other policies. There are possible exemptions, including children with individualized education plans. The school districts will have to develop emergency communication plans because I've seen the argument from people who have children; they want to be in contact in case something, unfortunately, if something is wrong at the school. I've seen other arguments, and we've had cases, unfortunately, of teachers not behaving properly, and cell phones could be used as evidence of that here. So we have until September 15, that's when they're taking feedback on these guidelines. Then, they'll finalize and consider the input on that front. I know myself as a dad of a six-year-old. It's not really something we're really having to worry about. And promises made right now might not be held. But we've been talking with the parents of my daughter's classmates, and we're all on the same point. Not even talking about the distraction in the classroom, but the anxiety that is brought on by social media and what that does to kids' mental state. We've made the promise that we're not going to do cell phones with our kids until, you know, 16 or beyond. But then you get into the whole stuff of if our friend has a cell phone, we're going to feel left out. It's definitely a 21st-century problem. I know when I went to high school, cell phones were just sort of coming into the mix here. It wasn't a smartphone. It wasn't something that we really had to grapple with.

Lauren Burke  

Exactly, I think the first cell phone. I'm trying to think, Ah god, I think I was at ABC News, and the Motorola Razor had come out. They had issued it to all of us. And I think before that, it was pagers. I don't think I had a cell phone when 9/11 happened. Now, that would be completely unthinkable. Jonathan Haidt, who's an academic, he went to Yale. He's been studying this and writing books on it. Again, I think that we're at the beginning point of realizing what the impact is. Probably on Gen Y and Gen Z, although it would also impact, I would think, younger millennials. But I like bringing up Jonathan Haidt because he, once upon a time, was an assistant professor at the University of Virginia. He's analyzed this whole cell phone thing. And I just think we don't know the full impact of it. We won't know for another few years, probably like 10 years or so. But there's no way anybody could convince me that it's not something that breaks concentration. We all know that every time you get a text or every time you get an alert, you tend to pick up your phone and look at your phone. That is a breaker of concentration. So, on kids and on younger folks, that's a real problem. So we'll see it's, I think, frankly, it's a good idea by the governor. We'll see what happens when the analysis is over.

Cameron Thompson  

To that point, we always talk about, and, I forget what the expression is, but kids see a lot more than they listen. The whole lead-by-example thing, you know, do what I say, not as I do. It actually says, in the draft, that adults should lead by example and limit their own cell phone use during the day. As you know, with being a reporter, you're on that thing constantly. I can only imagine what teachers are. It's a new horizon to see how this is going to play out over the next 5 to 10 to 15 years, just as technology continues to develop. All right, before we wrap up, let's head over and do some trivia. 

Cameron Thompson  

Last week, we asked you how much blood was removed from George Washington's body the day he died.

Lauren Burke's  

The answer is nine pints, which is about 40% of his blood. 

Cameron Thompson  

Wow, that's about nine times more blood than would have been taken during a blood drive. It's also, as I told Michael, the same way that Robin Hood allegedly died. So, a little fiction and fantasy for you mixed in with the fact.

Lauren Burke  

Wow. Listeners would have known that if they had a copy of his book, Wicked Northern Virginia.

Cameron Thompson  

Hold on. Was this a trivia question? Just a cheap commercial for Michael Pope's book Wicked Northern Virginia?

Lauren Burke  

Yes, apparently it was. But he did get a lot of people responding. 

Cameron Thompson  

Zach Lincoln said it was quite enough to kill him.

Lauren Burke  

True, but not the answer we were looking for.

Cameron Thompson  

Albert Pollard said, quote, three leeches worth.

Lauren Burke,  

Good guess, but the doctors use razor blades, not leeches. 

Cameron Thompson  

I don't know which one's worse. 

Lauren Burke  

Adam at @LikeIGive-Adam said more than 80 ounces.

Cameron Thompson,  

That's more than five pints. So Adam is our winner. 

Lauren Burke  

That was quite a question. Okay, so what's our trivia question for next week?

Cameron Thompson  

First, Lauren, going back to our story from the top of the podcast for inspiration and tweaking the show's name to Pop Virginia, the roll call vote, if you remember, was ceremonial. So the DNC put a little Pomp and Circumstance on it, and with each state or Commonwealth, they got a walk-up song with connections to it. So the trivia question for this week is; what was Virginia's song and what is the connection to the Commonwealth?

Lauren Burke  

If you think you know the answer, hit us up on social media. You might even win a prize. All

Cameron Thompson  

Lauren, what's the latest you've heard around the water cooler? 

Lauren Burke  

I'll talk about the DNC convention a little bit more here. A fun and historic time, an amazing time. It's incredible to think about what just happened that led to a historic nominee and the giving up of power; someone mentioned it on the stage. I think it was President Obama, that it is rare in our politics that anybody ever gives up power. It's actually so true, and that is exactly what President Biden did. And in doing that, he created a historic and unprecedented situation, a condensed run for the presidency involving his vice president, Kamala Harris. And to watch that play out and to know that probably half of what I saw last week was probably planned for President Biden and then had to be converted to something that had to focus on the Vice President is pretty incredible. As everybody knows, it can't be said enough; the thing about the roll call is I've never seen anything like that before. Nobody's ever seen anything like that before. What Georgia did with Lil' Jon was unbelievable. You can see that the party is sort of changing demographically. Our politics and this country are changing demographically and stylistically. It's interesting to see the old and the new on stage. And we're seeing still seeing, I think it's now been four or five conventions in a row. It's like four conventions in a row where we see President Bill Clinton on stage. Then, on that same stage, you see Maxwell Frost from Florida or Jasmine Crockett from Texas. The party is starting to turn the corner when it comes to the next generation of elected officials. It's a slow burn, but from a stylistic standpoint, you really could see it at this particular convention. I want to talk about that. And yeah, there were things that went on that were quite different and good for the folks that put it on, Minyon Moore and her crew. I'm sure Jamie Harrison had a part in that as well. 

Cameron Thompson  

My wife did event planning in her previous role, and I know that is no joke. Pulling stuff together, especially when you have curveballs thrown at you like an entirely different nominee at the top of the ticket.

Lauren Burke  

Yeah, that's why I kind of keep my negative comments limited. Because it's never happened before this way. Even though you can see so many things happening that, in my view, there are mistakes. But when you consider the fact that this was put together in less than 30 days, it's crazy. It's a very top-down approach to organizational metrics if you will. Where people are told from the top that they'll be doing certain things at the last minute. And it throws everybody off. I've seen it in real-time. I've been a part of it on some campaigns, and those four days were pretty amazing, given the amount of time that people had to put it together very limited amount of time. It was crazy. I will say that I was surprised at how well it went. It was a logistical nightmare. I spent two hours on a bus to McCormick Place, which is, I think, the largest conference center in the country. For those of you in Hampton or Richmond, those two conference centers are big. Still, this conference center is like no other on the planet. I think the Javits Center in New York could easily fit into the McCormick Center in Chicago. Probably by two or three times. They had a logistical nightmare on day one of the convention where you're supposed to take a bus over. The bus is supposed to go through security before you get into the center. But once you get into the center, you have another good walk from that point forward. Now, I really think about our older folks. So many of these delegates are older folks who are retired. I will say that the Democrats did have a plan for wheelchairs and this and that. But it wasn't enough. I bring that up to say that my two hours on the bus were spent in good company. I was near part of the North Carolina delegation, the South Carolina delegation, and the Georgia delegation. I was sitting next to Congressman Scott. So it couldn't get any better than that. Had it not been for the company, it would have felt like two hours. But it didn't feel like two hours because it was a pretty jovial crowd. But at any rate, there were some logistics snafus, big time. But as the days went on, it did get better. I've got to say, it's amazing to think about the 29-day period that they had where they knew they had a new nominee to put this convention together. It's incredible when you think about it. I can't wait to see the books that come out. But there it is; an amazing situation.

Cameron Thompson  

I was going to say, one of the big things from this is the pieces of memorabilia or mementos from it. Was there anything you brought back from there?

Lauren Burke  

No, I did ship a bunch of stuff back. I typically don't like to carry a bunch of stuff onto an airplane. Particularly if I have to come into National or BWI. I saw that people had those really long banners. Those are really hard to carry on to anything. I actually contemplated driving to Chicago. If Chicago was less than than eight hours from Arlington or NoVA, I would probably driven it, but I did not. The answer to your question is no.

Cameron Thompson  

There we go.

Lauren Burke  

And what about you, Cam? What's the latest you've heard around the water cooler?

Cameron Thompson  

Lauren, I was going to talk about the move towards ranked choice voting in Charlottesville. It's been covered a few times on Pod Virginia. And it may be again since there's still another vote before it becomes official. I want to tie in another recent episode, and that's local news coverage. I'm a television reporter now, but I got my start in radio. I did my internship at WCBS 880 in New York City, a powerhouse station up there. I'm guessing you are probably familiar with it as you are from that area. I've gotta say it's truly responsible for starting my career in this business. Getting a chance to work down in the United States and being able to meet my wonderful wife and now child as a result of that internship. Unfortunately, by the time people are listening to this episode, it'll be no more as the call letters are being retired and the station is flipping formats to Sports Talk. Local news is taking hits back home in Canada and down here in the US, as they're laying off workers. News deserts are a thing, and it's tough to see. I'll say, thankfully, people, reporters, and journalists are adapting. New styles are starting to emerge. We have nonprofit newsrooms like the Virginia Mercury and Cardinal News, which are doing amazing work next month. We've got hyper-local, The Richmonder, which is launching. There are also subscription newsletters, of which I know you put one out, Lauren. So it's sad to see these old formats continue to take such hits, but glad that the industry seems to be adapting.

Lauren Burke  

Yeah, it's amazing how many news organizations have gone down this road. You see where the money is going and where it's not going. What the consumers are doing is driving all of that, of course. I did see all the tweets from the folks at that station, and I remember that station well. And I was really surprised, really surprised to see that. 

Cameron Thompson  

I will ask, were you a 1010 Wins person or 880, listener?

Lauren Burke  

I was a 1010 wins, and I still am a 1010 Wins person.

Cameron Thompson 

There you go.

Lauren Burke  

I mean, 1010 wins is unbelievable. They've been around forever, as you know, and they are off the chain.

Cameron Thompson  

All right. Well, thinking about Wayne Cabot and Rich Lamb, who really were the guys I followed around the most when I was up there. Of course, Rob Sanchez, who was the assistant news director at the time, and the one who gave me my shot. Hopefully, everyone there will land on their feet. Lauren, do you want to go ahead and open up that Pod Virginia mailbag? What are listeners talking about? 

Lauren Burke  

Tammy Purcell heard our discussion about substacks of note and posted this; excited and honored to get a shout-out on Pod Virginia from Lauren Burke, publisher of Black Virginia News; in a discussion about the need for more coverage of local news, she mentioned my substack, Engage. Louisa.

Cameron Thompson  

Well, perfectly; it's obviously what we're talking about here. 

Lauren Burke  

Tammy Purcell is doing a really good job at covering local government. It's amazing how these sub stackers are showing up all over the place. I'm hoping for more and more because when people are on the ground at a meeting, it doesn't get any better than that. So, shout out again to Tammy Purcell.

Cameron Thompson  

All right, make sure to subscribe to yours as well if you haven't already. Meanwhile, Sam Shirazi heard our discussion of Never Trump Republicans endorsing Kamala Harrison and posted this; I know the episode taped before her announcement, but Barbara Comstock is another Virginia Never Trump Republican. I believe you and Michael were talking about this. The golden silence. Are you expecting more as we get towards November? Or do you think anyone who would have come out has come out at this point?

Lauren Burke  

I don't know. I don't think so. Sam Shirazi makes a good point. As usual, Barbara Comstock is out there. I can't think of anybody else, but you know, people can surprise you, so we'll see.

Cameron Thompson  

All right, let's celebrate some birthdays this week. 

Lauren Burke  

Wednesday, August 28, is the birthday of Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr.

Cameron Thompson  

Thursday, August 29, is the birthday of Delegate Nicholas Freitas of Culpepper. 

Lauren Burke  

That's it for this episode of Pod Virginia. See everybody at the Bobby Scott cookout on Labor Day.