Author: The News Feed

State of women’s safety in the New River Valley

by Hannah Williams, Anthony Cusat –

In the United States, 81% of women report experiencing some sort of sexual harassment or assault in their lives. This can create the need to be extra cautious, making some areas without safety precautions inaccessible.

As such, areas in the New River Valley have seen the implementation of factors that create a more accessible environment for women while some still are lacking.

Legislation emerges for U.S. fashion industry

by Nicole Tutino –

Photo: Ekaterina Bolovtsova via Pexels.com

Laws can help enforce ethical and sustainable actions by fashion brands in their supply chain and distribution processes.

Garment factory conditions often conflict with workers’ safety, due to long working hours, health effects and unstable building structures. 

In 2022, the Garment Worker Protection Act was enacted in California. The state law prohibits the piece rate payment system which refers to wages distributed based on the number of apparel pieces a worker creates. Piece rate compensation often fails to provide garment workers with sufficient income.

Recently, The Business of Fashion reported that California-based manufacturers of apparel brands failed to meet the garment worker compensation requirements of the state’s laws. 

New York may join California with the state’s own fashion-related legislation.

Originally proposed in 2021, The Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act requires sustainability and ethical workplace practices for brands operating or selling products in New York.

According to The New York State Senate, the bill features “due diligence” requirements that detail solutions to combat unethical practices within the fashion industry impacting workers’ rights and the environment.

The section’s facets include supply chain transparency, which refers to the identification of suppliers used in apparel production to understand working conditions and the origins of materials used. Although the bill does not require all levels of suppliers to be completely reported, the increased legal supervision intends to restrict unethical actions.

Environmental requirements relate to fashion companies’ developing plans to restrict their involvement in climate change through limited greenhouse gas emissions and the disclosure of the brands’ emissions.

Fashion brands that receive an income of at least 100 million dollars each year will be required to adhere to the act’s guidelines. With about 900 apparel brands housed in New York City, the bill’s reach can be widespread. According to the New York Fashion Act, brands failing to comply with the bill can “be fined up to 2% of annual revenues.”

Patagonia, Eileen Fisher and Reformation, which are apparel brands known for valuing sustainable efforts, are among the supporters of the bill. 

Currently, the bill remains under review by the New York State Senate and General Assembly committees and will require the committees’, houses’ and governor’s approval prior to becoming a law.

While legislation for fashion sustainability shows growth, the laws’ effects are limited to a specific state. 

With more proposed environmental and worker protection legislation emerging in states, lawmakers begin creating a consistent methodology to identify unethical brands and create pathways to federal and global regulations.

Uncertain future of menstrual-tracking apps in Virginia

by Cyna Mirzai-

Photo credit: Burst

Almost one-third of women in the United States use a mobile app to track their periods. However, a bill to protect menstrual app data from search warrants failed the Virginia General Assembly in February, alarming abortion rights supporters for a future of post-Roe abortion restrictions. 

The state’s Democrat-controlled Senate passed a bill to prohibit the issuance of a warrant for the search and seizure of menstrual health data stored on electronic devices, allowing people to protect personal information about their menstrual health. According to AP News, the legislation passed with a 31-9 vote, with nine Republicans joining Democrats to send it to the House. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who introduced a 15-week abortion ban early this year, tabled the bill through a procedural move in a Republican-controlled subcommittee.

Inspired by the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, introduced the legislation since current laws allow search warrants to be issued for access to all data stored on computers, computer networks and other electronic devices as long as there is a probable cause for a crime. 

Before the repeal of Roe v. Wade, an abortion could be performed up until the third trimester of a patient’s pregnancy in Virginia. Therefore, if a person stopped tracking their cycle on an app due to a terminated pregnancy, there would be no probable cause for a crime. However, as stricter abortion laws continue to pass in various states, these tracking apps can become the scene of a crime.  

Sen. Favola said her bill is straightforward and one of the shortest bills of the Senate’s season, per WUSA 9. She will wait until the election of a new General Assembly in 2023 to try for the bill again.

While this can remain an alarming time for many, there are still ways to protect one’s personal information. The Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance last year encouraging people to turn off location sharing and tracking activity across apps. Some tracking apps also state they do not share or sell data, but if weary, creating a personalized menstrual data tracker by using spreadsheets, digital planners or even paper planners will aid in concealing personal information.

Blacksburg town attorney speaks on The Sandman, Weirdoughs’ gridlock

by Ben Walls –

Larry Spencer, who serves as Blacksburg’s town attorney, says that Delaware business developer Joseph Boss has failed to properly provide necessary information for opening a bar and pizza restaurant named The Sandman and Weirdoughs, respectively.

According to Spencer, the spaces located at 202 North Main Street and 204 North Main Street in Blacksburg which used to house a Subway and Starbucks need an industrial facelift to meet the demand of the community members.

“(Boss) was planning on doing things that were more intense, like restaurant activities, because Subway and Starbucks don’t have big stoves or pizza ovens,” Spencer said. “There was going to have to be some changes and upgrades to the facility which building permits require.”

In his previous building permit applications submitted between summer 2021 and September 2022, Blacksburg denied Boss for reasons including not showing where lighting receptacles will be displayed in the business, not providing the total occupancy, not having the state health department approve his applications and not specifying whether he would install outdoor speakers.

Ultimately, Spencer says Boss failed to answer every question on his permit application until his second submission in September 2022.

“The issues that were coming out were pretty objective like, ‘you need to have this on your plan,” Spencer said. “Getting building permits–it’s not uncommon for someone to submit a set of plans and for them to be sent back.”

Meanwhile, Blacksburg has local and zoning critiques of Boss’s permit application including whether a grease trap and heavy-duty sinks in his restaurants were necessary.

Because permit applications are sent back frequently, Spencer says he can understand why Boss would be upset, but says he does not know why Boss has begun accusing the town manager–Chris Lawrence–as racist and announcing to file suit against the town.

Blacksburg, Va. – Main Street, a busy thoroughfare near Virginia Tech campus.


Boss submitted his latest permit application on March 16, but Blacksburg has not made any approvals for him to move forward. The process for the building officials to approve or deny applications is two or three weeks, but Spencer says the town is waiting for one more submission that he did not specify.

In an investigation that Spencer provided, town building officials visited the spaces on September 15 where they found moving companies and contractors working with power tools inside. The town eventually sent a “stop work order” to the developers and Boss’s landlord.

Spencer says he is not aware of any lawsuit, and the prosecuting attorneys have not contacted him.

Mental illness trends in the U.S.

by Anthony Cusat-

In the United States, mental health and mental illness are topics that have slowly become more accepted with 87% of American adults agreeing that mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of during a 2019 poll.

As more and more people recognize the validity of mental illness, the number of people receiving treatment and diagnoses is also escalating. However, some mental illnesses are becoming increasingly common while others are seeing a dip in prevalence.