In a report released last week, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs identified problems at the medical center related to surgical services and how leadership there addressed quality management concerns.

“We take allegations of oversight and misconduct seriously and have strengthened our policies and procedures to ensure consistent, high-quality care from licensed professionals,” said Terrence Hayes, the VA’s press secretary, in a Tuesday statement. “We plan to fully implement all recommendations by December.”

The Hampton facility recently confirmed it was replacing several top officials, including its director, chief of staff and chief of surgery.

The OIG launched its review following multiple complaints it received about the center in 2022.

“We got some concerns about surgical quality so we engaged with the facility trying to get some response,” said Julie Kroviak, the department’s principal deputy assistant inspector general for health care inspections. “We then sent further questions to the regional office — and after that we just became more concerned about the quality review processes.”

Kroviak said the report can get a “little bit technical” but shouldn’t be dismissed.

“I think it can be written off as ‘Oh just some detailed processes weren’t followed by clinical leaders.’ But those processes are so critical to the foundation of a patient’s safety program,” she said. “If the highest levels of leadership are not aware of them, truly not aware of them, there are so many places for things to go seriously wrong.”

For example, the report found that after concerns were raised about patient safety, facility leaders issued a summary suspension of the assistant chief of surgery’s clinical privileges in January 2023. But it says the surgeon’s clinical privileges were restored after facility leaders failed to follow required protocol. The surgeon transferred to another VA health facility in June 2023, which “precluded facility leaders from correcting the process, including initiating additional actions,” the report states.

The Hampton center serves southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. From Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022, the center served more than 66,000 patients.

The report states OIG received a complaint, which included five patient case examples, in December 2022 that the assistant chief of surgery provided poor surgical care and that the chief of staff was aware of the concerns but did not address them.

After OIG requested additional information, the Veterans Integrated Service Network responded and said the facility conducted a focused clinical care review of 15 cases performed by the assistant chief of surgery. It found six cases did not meet the standard of care and four of those had intraoperative complications, including one patient who experienced a laceration of the liver and another who underwent surgery in concerningly close proximity to having received chemoradiation therapy.

The report states OIG opened its hotline inspection in May 2023. During this review, widespread failures and deficiencies were identified related to facility leaders’ responses to care concerns and subsequent privileging actions involving the assistant chief of surgery, professional practice evaluations of surgeons, surgical service quality management and institutional disclosures.

“The findings identified through this inspection highlight not only failures of facility leaders to ensure that the required processes were appropriately implemented, but also a lack of leaders’ basic understanding of the processes that support delivery of safe health care,” the report states.

The report provided a dozen recommendations, including that summary suspensions, clinical care reviews and proposed revocation of privileges are conducted in accordance with the requirements and policies of the Veterans Health Administration. It further advised the center to ensure that ongoing professional practice evaluations include documentation of all conclusionary outcomes.

In his statement, Hayes said the VA fully supported OIG’s findings.

Hayes said a new team is meeting bi-weekly to address OIG’s recommendations with a target year-end completion goal. He said the facility has introduced a new reporting tool to track clinical care metrics, suspensions, privilege changes, state board reports and ongoing evaluations. Additionally, the facility has initiated monthly patient risk meetings in surgery services.

Hayes noted Michael Harper is taking on the role of acting medical center director until Aug. 5. Harper will then be replaced by Walt Dannenberg, who currently serves as the medical center director of the Long Beach VA Medical Center in California. Hayes said the leadership changes were done to “align with the VA’s commitment to high-reliability principles” but were not directly related to the report.

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Veterans’ Affairs also recently completed an investigation into the Hampton VA Medical Center after lawmakers said they received credible complaints about patient safety concerns and medical incompetence. As a result of the investigation, the committee announced last week that the center was making a series of personnel changes.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

Officers responded shortly before noon to an armed robbery at Navy Federal Credit Union in the 12000 block of Jefferson Avenue. An employee said a man entered the bank, displayed a firearm and demanded money. Police said the man fled in a vehicle with an undisclosed amount of money.

Officers found the vehicle and conducted a high-risk traffic stop, asking those inside the vehicle to exit.

Police say a man and a woman — the driver and the front seat passenger — exited and were detained. But a third occupant — a man in the back seat — got out and pointed a firearm at officers. Officers then fired, hitting the suspect.

The man was taken to a local hospital but died just after 1 p.m., according to police. He been identified as Stephan Allan Williams.

Police say the officers involved are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

This is the third killing by Newport News police this year.  In January, an officer shot and killed a man who police say pointed a gun at them while they attempted to perform a welfare check.  In June, an armed woman died after being shot during a standoff with police.

Josh Janney, joshua.janney@virginiamedia.com

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

At 11:52 p.m., Newport News police responded to a Shotspotter activation in the 500 block of Settlement Lane. They found a man outside with at least one gunshot wound, according to a news release. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

An investigation is ongoing. There is no suspect at this time.

Those with information can call 911 or the non-emergency number at 757- 247- 2500. Information can be provided anonymously by calling the Crime Line at 1 - 888-LOCK-U-UP or online at p3tips.com.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

“(Currituck County officials) will continue doing shoreline searches with their lifeguards,” said Ryan Noel, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard. “They have actually shifted to recovery mode and are no longer requesting assistance from the Coast Guard.”

Noel said the Coast Guard responded to a call at about 12:57 p.m. The missing boy was reportedly swimming in close proximity to other people, but was pulled under the water due to strong rip currents.

The Coast Guard’s search was called off at about 4 p.m.

Correction: This story has been changed from a previous version to correct a source error on the age of the swimmer who went missing and was pronounced dead. The boy was 12, not 13. Read our story about the search for the boy.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

Norfolk police received a call at about 8:40 p.m. and responded to the scene at the 1300 block of W. 26th Street. The girl was taken to the hospital to receive treatment for non-life threatening injuries, according to a police spokesperson.

An investigation is ongoing. No further information was available at this time.

Those with tips should call the Norfolk Crime Line.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

“Everybody ought to be concerned (with data security),” Del. Cliff Hayes, a Chesapeake Democrat, said Thursday. “We are in the age of artificial intelligence and security breaches, and many people don’t even realize that data is being collected about them online.”

The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act was signed into law in 2021 and took effect last year. Hayes carried the legislation in the House of Delegates. It allows residents to request to review the data that companies have collected about them, and to opt out of having their data collected or sold.

In a May 7 letter addressed to Johnny Ayers, the chief executive officer of Socure, an identity verification company based in Nevada, Hayes asserted that the company is not abiding by these rules, which the company denies.

When a consumer submits a request about their data, Hayes said they receive an SMS text that links to a landing page where they are asked to verify their identity. The page requires consumers to agree to Socure’s Terms of Use before moving forward.

“Within the Terms of Use are provisions requiring the consumer to waive his or her rights to future class action lawsuits against Socure, as well as an agreement to binding arbitration,” Hayes wrote. “If the consumer chooses to not agree to Terms of Use, the identity verification process is canceled, thus ending one’s inquiry.”

Hayes said those provisions should be deemed contrary to public policy. But he asserted even those who agree to the terms are unable to receive a full disclosure as required under the law.

“My office has observed firsthand that once an individual exercises his or her ‘right to know’ to Socure, they receive an encrypted email with a zip file,” he wrote. “My first concern here is that this practice discourages access to the information, especially with individuals that are not technologically proficient. This practice could discriminate against people of lower incomes and appears to be inequitable.”

Hayes, who works as a chief information officer for the city of Portsmouth, added that his own team was unable to access the contents of the zip file.

Hayes asked Ayers to provide a written response to the “apparent noncompliance” with the data protection act and to explain how the company intended to comply with the law moving forward. He further requested a detailed list of the types of information that Socure collects and all the sources the company utilizes to obtain that information.

“Virginians have a right to know under the law what information you gather and hold on them, and so far it appears you are actively attempting to make that information extremely difficult to obtain,” Hayes wrote.

Jennifer Kerber, senior director of government relations for Socure, wrote back to the delegate on July 1.

“We take seriously the rights granted by all privacy laws, including Virginia’s VCDPA, and have developed a careful process to respond to all requests in a timely and compliant manner,” the letter states. “Upon review, we are confident there is no disruption to Virginians’ ability to exercise any rights granted by the VCDPA, as a result of the processes we employ.”

Kerber said the only requests for access in Virginia have come from the delegate or individuals hired by the company’s competitors. She said those who experience technical difficulties could contact the company for assistance.

Socure implements “robust identity-proofing measures” before sharing any data because fraudsters can impersonate individuals, Kerber added.

The Consumer Data Protection Act provides gives the state Attorney General’s office exclusive authority to enforce violations of the law.

Hayes said Thursday that he was not satisfied with the response and has contacted Attorney General Jason Miyares.

“I can only imagine what a (private) individual would be going through with this company,” he said. “It is our hope that there will be a response from the attorney general.”

A spokesperson for Miyares confirmed Friday that the office had received Hayes’ letter and said the office is looking into the matter. The office could not comment further.

When the Consumer Data Protection Act was adopted, Virginia was only the second state to adopt a data privacy law. But data privacy experts and public interest groups have critiqued the commonwealth’s law as not going far enough and for not being user friendly.

“Virginia’s privacy law puts a lot of work on you if you want to stop companies from collecting and selling your data,” the U.S. PIRG Education Fund wrote in a consumer alert this year. “It’d be better if instead companies were limited to what data they can collect on you and what they can do with it in the first place.”

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

“I will do everything in my power to deliver Virginia for Vice President Harris,” state House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said in a statement. “Just as we did last year, when we flipped the House of Delegates, we will also reject the MAGA extremist Project 2025 agenda. We will win Virginia again, and elect the first woman President in the history of the United States.”

Biden ended his bid for reelection Sunday after his debate performance last month fueled divisions within the Democratic Party about whether it was time for the 81-year-old to pass the torch to a younger candidate. Biden quickly endorsed his vice president to take on former President Donald Trump, but Harris still has to formally secure the nomination from the around 4,700 Democratic convention delegates and superdelegates.

“The Party will undertake a transparent and orderly process to move forward,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said Sunday. “Our delegates are prepared to take seriously their responsibility in swiftly delivering a candidate to the American people.”

More than 30 Democrats in Congress, and some major party donors, publicly called on Biden to step back as polls showed his numbers slipping against Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

In a Monday statement, the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus credited Biden for rescuing the nation and economy from the “darkness” of the pandemic and facilitating historic investments in American infrastructure. The caucus praised his decision to step aside.

“President Biden took the selfless action of choosing to put the future of the country and the good of the American people before any personal desire,” the statement reads. “We extend our deepest thanks to President Biden for his lifetime of service and extraordinary leadership.”

All 21 members of the caucus endorsed Harris for the presidency, including Majority Leader Scott Surovell and President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas of Portsmouth.

“Please know that I and other leaders are already hard at work ensuring that Virginia’s votes at the convention will strongly back Kamala for President,” Lucas said.

The Democratic National Convention will kick off Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Harris has also received the seal of approval from Virginia U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats.

“While there has to be an orderly process and the decision ultimately rests in the hands of the DNC delegates, I believe Vice President Harris has the experience, energy, and resolve to lead our nation,” Warner said in a statement.

Warner had sought to assemble a group of Democratic senators to push Biden to exit the race, as previously reported by The Washington Post. 

Harris is a former prosecutor and U.S. Senator from California. She is the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.

Editorial: Virginia voters will need to hear from VP Harris on the issues

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus announced Monday that all of its members serving as a delegate at the upcoming convention have pledged to support Harris. Several of those members are from Hampton Roads, including Scott, Lucas, Sen. Mamie Locke and Dels. Alex Askew, Jeion Ward and Michael Feggans.

The caucus praised Harris as a champion of civil rights, environmental protections and reproductive health care.

While Locke is among those endorsing Harris, the Hampton senator has also repeatedly taken to social media to scold Democrats at the national level who showed a “sheer disregard” for Biden during discussions about his bid for reelection.

“The leadership of this party has been so disrespectful to an individual who has done so much for them and this country,” she wrote this week.

Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said it doesn’t matter which Democrat is on the ballot.

“Make no mistake,” he wrote Sunday on social media. “Whether its border czar Kamala Harris or someone else, it’s the Biden/Harris Administration’s weak leadership and resulting chaos around the world and here at home that is on the ballot this November.”

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

Regulations from the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority stipulate that a minimum 45% of the total gross sales must be from food and nonalcoholic beverages, while liquor sales should comprise no more than 55%, for eateries with a mixed beverage license.

“This is an antiquated rule that does not work in today’s society,” said Bill Stanley, a state senator and attorney involved in the litigation. “We can’t use an antiquated philosophy or policy and apply it to a modern day business. It’s not right.”

The plaintiff is Fish and Slips, a bar and grill within Tidewater Yacht Marina. The lawsuit, filed in the Portsmouth Circuit Court, names Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Dale Farino, the chief executive officer of beverage control authority, as defendants, as well as the Virginia Alcohol Control Board.

The governor did not respond to a request for comment. A Virginia ABC spokesperson explained Thursday the agency was aware of the litigation but had not yet been served, and subsequently declined to comment further.

The lawsuit states the historical framework of the food-to-alcohol ratio requirements harken to the days of Prohibition.

“Today, the (Mixed Beverage Annual Review) law does not achieve the rationale of prohibiting saloons but rather it is effectively adversely impacting the ability and freedom of restaurant entrepreneurs to freely price the food and meals that they serve to their customers,” the lawsuit reads. “… For any restaurant that is maintaining the 45/55 ratio, if the ABC raises prices (for liquor), the restaurant, to maintain the required ratio and to keep its license to sell mixed beverages, has no choice but to raise its food prices.”

The Mixed Beverage Annual Review (MBAR) is the name of a report that documents the food and beverage sales of mixed-beverage licensees.

The lawsuit further asserts that it creates an unlevel playing field because exemptions have been granted to other types of businesses, such as amphitheaters and gaming facilities.

“A law passed by the General Assembly in 2022 allowed Virginia to exempt casino and gaming parlors from MBAR, enabling them to operate (24 hours a day) without the same food-to-beverage ratio requirements imposed upon Virginia restaurants, thereby giving those establishments that have a bar and restaurant facility within them a competitive advantage over restaurants that operate in the same region as the gaming establishment,” it states.

Fish and Slips is about 4 miles from Rivers Casino Portsmouth, which opened in January 2023.

The lawsuit argues the regulations are subsequently in violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to due process and equal protection under the law, and the state constitution, which says that no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or separate privileges from the community.

Fish and Slips is asking the court to declare MBAR statues, ABC regulations and exemptions granted by the General Assembly as unconstitutional, and to grant temporary and permanent injunctive relief, and any other relief the court finds just.

Stanley said he believes the current rules go against “everything we believe in Virginia.”

“This comes from the belief that the MBAR structure that we have in Virginia is unconstitutional and adversely effects small businesses and small restaurant owners who are competing in a world where we are giving special advantages to things like the casinos,” he said.

Legislation that would have eased the rules around how much food Virginia bars and restaurants serving liquor must sell died in the House of Delegates this year.

Several Hampton Roads restaurant operators voiced support for the bill. But the measure faced opposition from a Richmond-based lobbying group called the Virginia Restaurant Association, made up of owners of restaurants such as The Tobacco Company Restaurant in Richmond and Northern Virginia’s Great American Restaurants group.

Similar legislation was put forth in 2019. Former state Sen. Dick Saslaw, who was among those that opposed that attempt, argued that “if you can’t meet (the current) ratio, you ain’t running a restaurant; you are flat running a bar.”

Stanley said the failed attempts at legislative reform signaled it was time to try a different route.

“When the legislature fails to act to protect its citizens,” Stanley said,” then that’s what our courts are for.”

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

The poll was conducted between June 24 and July 3, meaning it captured some sentiment following the June 28 presidential debate but occurred before a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump on Saturday at a campaign rally.

When respondents were asked whom they would vote for if the election were held today, 39% said Trump compared with 36% who selected Biden. The difference is less than the margin of error for the poll. But the results reflect a shift toward Trump since the school’s previous survey released in January, which showed Biden leading Trump 42% to 39%.

There was a notable dip in support for Biden among Black Virginians.

“I think the results show that Virginia is truly a ‘battleground state’ for the presidency,” former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder said in a news release. “The drop by 20 points (to 46%) of Black Virginians since December, where 67% supported Biden, should be concerning relative to turnout affecting congressional races, in particular in competitive districts 7 and 2.”

The poll surveyed a representative sample of 809 adults. Over half of respondents (53%) said they were less likely to vote for Trump due to his recent conviction of 34 felony counts of falsification of business records, while others (31%) were more likely to support him following the conviction.

For the remaining candidates, 9% of those surveyed said they would vote for Robert Kennedy Jr., 2% for Jill Stein and 1% for Cornel West.

The poll found little change in Biden’s overall approval rating since the January survey, with 36% approving his job performance and 58% disapproving. Approval was extremely polarized, with 69% of Democrats supporting Biden’s performance and 25% disapproving, as opposed to 8% of Republicans approving and 90% disapproving.

The poll further found Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, holds a strong lead over Republican challenger Hung Cao. Nearly half of Virginians (49%) indicated they would vote for Kaine, with 38% supporting Cao.

Those surveyed identified the most important issues as the rising cost of living (31%), women’s reproductive rights (23%) and immigration (12%). Women were more likely to view reproductive rights as the most important issue (34%) compared with men (12%).

Half of Virginians (50%) approve of Gov. Glenn Youngkin job performance, with 34% disapproving. This is a 4-point drop in approval and a 3-point increase in disapproval from the poll released in January.

The poll’s news release states telephone interviews were used to survey Virginians. Design weights are often employed in telephone survey research to reduce bias and correct differences in the probability of selection due to non-response and non-coverage. This sample was weighted to match Virginia’s adult population, which was the primary sampling unit.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

“America, the land of opportunity, just doesn’t feel like that anymore,” said Youngkin, explaining many struggle with the cost of living. “But eight years ago there was an outsider, a businessman, who stepped outside of his career to rebuild a great nation — that outsider businessman was Donald J. Trump and he will do it again.”

During his primetime speech Monday night, Youngkin highlighted his own role as a political newcomer. The Virginia governor is a former private equity executive who first ran for office in 2021. He explained his wife Suzanne was caught off guard when he decided to pursue politics.

“I told her I planned to quit my job and run for governor and she looked at me with tears in her eyes and a quivering lip and asked ‘governor of what?'” he said. “We prayed together and we asked God for guidance and wisdom and said if elected we would serve.”

Youngkin said his gubernatorial victory in Virginia three years ago showed that Trump could win the state in November.

“In November 2021, Virginians elected a Republican outside businessman,” he said. “I believe this year Virginia will elect another Republican outside businessman as president of the United States.”

Trump lost Virginia in 2016 and 2020, but recent polling has shown a much tighter race between him and President Joe Biden.

The governor said he envisioned a future with unleashed energy sources, less taxes and red tape, and where businesses could proudly say “made in America.”

Youngkin also thanked God for protecting Trump during Saturday’s assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“We ask for God’s grace to be on innocent victims and we ask him to be with their families and thank him for this moment of unity,” he said.

Other speakers Monday included U.S. Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Katie Britt of Alabama and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Earlier in the day, Trump chose Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate for the Republican ticket.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com