RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Here’s a look at our top headlines to get you out the door.
Expect a Friday soaker, with temperatures tumbling through the 50s today.
Today will be cloudy, rainy and chilly.
Best chance of heavy rain will be during the morning through midday with lighter rain lingering during the afternoon and early evening.
A blind woman is dead and a man is hurt after a fire overnight at a home in Richmond’s southside.
Firefighters say the woman was on the phone with dispatchers as she tried to escape the burning home, but was not able to.
Officials say a man was able to escape the fire but suffered from smoke inhalation.
Crews are still investigating what caused this fire.
Chesterfield police are searching for a 19-year-old suspect accused of stabbing two people in Midlothian.
Both victims were taken to the hospital and are expected to recover.
Now police are looking for 19-year-old Aasim Dickerson.
Dickerson is wanted on charges of malicious wounding and strangulation, police say.
President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden squared off, in a way, Thursday night in dueling televised town halls that showcased striking differences in temperament, views on racial justice and approaches to a pandemic that has reshaped the nation.
Coming just two and half weeks before Election Day, the night offered crystalizing contrasts and a national, if divided, audience.
Trump and Biden were supposed to spend Thursday night on the same debate stage in Miami. But that faceoff was scuttled after Trump’s coronavirus infection, which jolted the race and threatened the health of the American president.
When Facebook and Twitter moved quickly this week to limit the spread of an unverified political story published by the conservative-leaning New York Post, it led to predictable cries of censorship from the right.
For the first time in recent memory, the two social media platforms enforced rules against misinformation on a story from a mainstream media publication.
The story in question, which has not been confirmed by other publications, cited unverified emails from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son that were reportedly discovered by President Donald Trump’s allies.
A spokeswoman for the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) says the additional $300 weekly benefits through the “Lost Wages Assistance” (LWA) program could hit Virginians' bank accounts as early as Friday morning.
On Thursday, VEC Spokesperson Joyce Fogg said there was a delay in sending those benefits out this week due to the federal holiday on Monday and then a system outage due to the fiber line that was cut overnight Monday leaving severe impacts the following day.
If a claimant has not received their LWA funds in the next few days, you are urged to contact the VEC.
Snap Benefits
Emergency SNAP benefits will be available today for those who are not already receiving the maximum allotment as part of regular monthly benefits.
The emergency funds are in place to help during the pandemic.
The funds will be automatically loaded onto SNAP EBT cards on Oct. 16.
The Virginia Employment Commission and Virginia Career Works are partnering for several virtual, regional job fairs.
The VEC says there are currently about 400,000 job openings across the state.
The Greater Richmond & Crater Area event will be on Oct. 20 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Today state lawmakers are set to vote on a budget.
Earlier this week, negotiators reached an agreement on the two-year spending plan.
The deal continues the hold on most new spending, but it does provide funding for criminal justice reforms and a one-time bonus for state-supported law enforcement officers.
The proposal would also extend moratoriums on evictions and utility disconnections.
The New York Times has named the Robert E. Lee monument - in its current state - as the most influential form of American protest art since World War II.
The list was compiled from artists and other professionals in the field who nominated various visual pieces they felt were the most powerful American protest art.
The Lee monument sits on land owned by the state and a case regarding the potential removal is in the court system.
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment - Jim Rohn
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