ALEXANDRA ZERNIK

23 N Lombardy St. Richmond, VA 23220

(571)499- 0445

Alzernik27@gmail.com

Work Experience Capital News Service, Richmond, VA – Reporter January 2019 - present

• Wrote and developed packages with thorough coverage • Mastered meeting deadlines and communication skills • Published by The Washington Post, NBC12, WTVR, Virginia Business, etc.

Commonwealth Times, Richmond, VA – Audience Editor January 2019 - present

• Social media marketing • Coordinated online budget and website

Capital Camps, Waynesboro, PA - Marketing Specialist and Full Time Photographer June - August 2018

• Social media marketing • Created other marketing content • Photographed a variety of subject matter 12 hours a day • Learned to develop and work with an efficient schedule and coordinate with a team

Commonwealth Times, Richmond, VA – Contributing Writer and Photographer January – May 2018

Thai Top Ten, Richmond, VA – Server September 2018 – present

Capital Camps, Waynesboro, PA - Camp Counselor June - August 2017

Papa John's Pizza, Springfield, VA - Team Member January 2015 - March 2016

Jazzie Pools, Springfield, VA – Lifeguard June - August 2012 and June - August 2013

Education

Virginia Commonwealth University: Richmond, VA - Bachelor of Science in Print Journalism and Creative

Advertising, Minor in Business August 2016 – present

Leadership

SEPTEMBER 2012- JUNE 2016

The A-Blast Newspaper, Annandale High School- Managing Editor, Photo Editor, People Editor and In-Depth Editor

MAY 2017 – PRESENT

JewishVCU, Virginia Commonwealth University - Engagement Intern and Student Leader

MAY 2018 - August 2018

Foundation for Jewish Camp, Waynesboro, PA - Cornerstone Fellow

Skills/ Interests

• Experience in film, digital photography and video • Proficient with Adobe Creative Suite software- Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign - and Microsoft Office • Great at troubleshooting technology problems

3/27/19, 2)15 PMOpinion paves way to rename ‘racistʼ Jefferson Davis Highway | WTVR.com

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Source: Google Street View

RICHMOND, Va. — The portion of

Jefferson Davis Highway that runs

through Arlington County could be

renamed as early as this summer

thanks to the discovery of a

loophole in state law and a legal

opinion from the Virginia attorney

general.

Attorney General Mark Herring said the name change does not need

approval from the General Assembly. Instead, the Commonwealth

Transportation Board has authority to rename the section of Jefferson

Davis Highway if Arlington County makes such a request, the opinion said.

Herring’s opinion was requested by Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria. Levine

opposes having a road named after Davis, the president of the

Confederate States of America.

“In Arlington County, one of the most diverse and progressive localities in

the nation, we are saddled with a primary highway that honors a racist

traitor and slave owner who led the fight to take up arms against our

nation in order to preserve the brutal system of slavery,” Levine said in a

newsletter to constituents.

Opinion paves way to rename ‘racist’Jefferson Davis HighwayPOSTED 2:42 PM, MARCH 26, 2019, BY CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE

3/27/19, 2)15 PMOpinion paves way to rename ‘racistʼ Jefferson Davis Highway | WTVR.com

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“In that brutal Civil War, more Americans died than in all of our other wars

combined. We still live with the terrible legacy of that ruthless and once-

legal system of terror that represents America’s greatest shame.”

Before Herring issued his opinion, the general understanding was that

local governments lacked authority to change names that the General

Assembly had placed on certain roads.

Several years ago, the attorney general’s office issued an advisory

opinion saying city governments had the power to rename state highways

but county governments didn’t. Last year, legislators killed a bill to

authorize local governments to rename highways in their jurisdictions.

On Jan. 1, the section of Jefferson Davis Highway through the city of

Alexandria was renamed Richmond Highway to match the name the road

has always carried in Fairfax County.

To change the highway’s name in Arlington County, Levine took things into

his own hands. He found a loophole in a footnote to transportation

legislation that the General Assembly passed in 2012.

That legislation deleted a line in state law prohibiting the Commonwealth

Transportation Board from changing the names of “highways, bridges or

interchanges as have been or hereafter be named by the General

Assembly.”

According to the opinion Herring released Thursday, lawmakers’ actions in

2012 showed “clear legislative intent to empower the CTB to rename

transportation facilities that were originally named by the General

Assembly.”

“Accordingly, it is my opinion that the Commonwealth Transportation

Board may change the name of those portions of Jefferson Davis Highway

located in Arlington County, provided that its Board of Supervisors adopts

a resolution requesting the renaming,” the opinion said.

3/27/19, 2)15 PMOpinion paves way to rename ‘racistʼ Jefferson Davis Highway | WTVR.com

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The designation of Jefferson Davis Highway began almost a century ago. In

1922, the United Daughters of the Confederacy asked that a Southern

transcontinental highway be named to honor Davis, who was a senator

from the state of Mississippi before becoming the first and only president

of the Confederacy.

The Virginia General Assembly’s response was to name Highway 1 as the

Jefferson Davis Highway, stretching from Washington, D.C., to the North

Carolina line. Today, Jefferson Davis Highway also can go by other names,

such as U.S. Route 1 and Route 18.

Some people want to keep the name as Jefferson Davis Highway. More

than 600 people signed an online petition saying renaming the road would

be “a slap in the face to U.S. soldiers as a whole and should not be

permitted to happen.” However, more than 4,300 signed a petition

supporting the name change.

Levine said Arlington County supervisors could ask for the name change

this month — and then the request would go to the Commonwealth

Transportation Board.

“If all goes well, Arlington street signs could be changed as early as this

summer,” he said.

Levine said times have changed since the United Daughters of the

Confederacy sought to honor Davis and preserve his legacy.

“It’s 2019. It is not 1865, nor 1922, nor even 1953,” Levine said. “We live in

a post-Charlottesville time. And the vast majority of Northern Virginia no

longer wants to honor the Confederacy or the racist legacy of Jefferson

Davis.”

By Alexandra Zernik/Capital News Service

Capital News Service is a flagship program of VCU’s Robertson School of

Media and Culture. Students participating in the program provide state

government coverage for Virginia’s community newspapers and other

media outlets, under the supervision of Associate Professor Jeff South.

2/21/19, 10(53 PMERA clears Senate committee, faces uncertainty in House Industries | Virginia Business

Page 1 of 4http://www.virginiabusiness.com/news/article/era-clears-senate-committee-faces-uncertainty-in-house

Industries › Government

ERA clears Senate committee, faces uncertainty in HouseBy Georgia Geen and Alexandra Zernik, Capital News Service

Supporters of the Equal RightsAmendment gather to greet legislators Wednesday afternoon. Photo byAlexandra Zernik, CNS

An 8-6 vote by a Senate committeeWednesday brought the federalEqual Rights Amendment one stepcloser to passing the GeneralAssembly — which could makeVirginia the 38th and final statenecessary to add the ERA to theU.S. Constitution.

The Senate Privileges andElections Committee voted toapprove a resolution that Virginiaratify the ERA, which wasproposed by Congress in 1972 and

would prevent federal and state governments from passing laws that discriminate on the basis of sex.

The six Democrats on the committee were joined by two Republicans — Sens. William DeSteph ofVirginia Beach and Jill Holtzman Vogel of Fauquier — in voting for the resolution. The other sixRepublicans on the panel voted against it.

The resolution — SJ 284 — was sponsored by a bipartisan group of 15 senators and three Housemembers.

The committee’s decision will send the resolution to the Senate floor for a vote. While supporters areoptimistic about bipartisan support in the Senate — which has passed similar proposals five timessince 2011 — the same isn’t true in the House.

A co-sponsor of the resolution, Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William, said it will face Republicanopposition. If it clears the full Senate, SJ 284 would go to the House Privileges and ElectionsCommittee, where such resolutions have traditionally died.

Every Democrat on the House panel has signaled support for ratifying the ERA, but no Republicanhas followed suit. The lack of GOP support in the House committee represents the biggest hurdle forthe resolution, said Candace Graham, co-founder of Women Matter, a group dedicated to ratifying theERA.

“We feel very confident that if we can get those couple of votes on the [House] committee that weneed for it to go to the floor, then it will pass on the floor,” Graham said.

2/21/19, 10(53 PMERA clears Senate committee, faces uncertainty in House Industries | Virginia Business

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When first introduced in 1923, the ERA did not pass in Congress. Renewed interest in 1972 pushedthe amendment through Congress, and it was ratified by 35 states within the 10-year period beforethe 1982 deadline.

An amendment needs approval from three-fourths of the states — or 38 — for ratification.

A conservative movement led by political activist Phyllis Schlafly — who said the amendment wouldmake all laws “sex-neutral” and subject women to the draft — played a role in leaving the ERA threestates short of the 38 it needed for federal ratification at the time.

In recent years, there has been a revived push toward ratification. In 2017, Nevada became the 36thstate to ratify the ERA, followed by Illinois the next year.

Because the deadline has expired, some say the ERA can’t be ratified. But other experts disagree.The 27th Amendment, which regulates congressional salaries, was ratified more than 200 years afterits 1789 introduction, though it was never given a time limit, unlike the ERA.

“There are very smart and reasonable people on both sides who disagree over whether Congresshas the constitutional authority in the first place to put a time limit on the ratification of a constitutionalamendment,” said Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Richmond, who also is a chief co-sponsor of theresolution.

Further complicating the matter is that five states have since rescinded their ERA ratifications. But theU.S. Constitution does not specifically allow states to do that, and previous rescissions have beendeemed invalid.

Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, also co-sponsored SJ 284. He said the recent ratification by Nevadaand Illinois has improved the outlook in Virginia and contributed to a new wave within the movement.

“Nevada and Illinois showed us that there are other legislatures in this country that are moving theball forward,” Surovell said. “I think the urgency and the historical importance of being the state thatputs us across the top really sort of changes the political and emotional dynamic of the issue.”

Unlike other recent efforts in Virginia, this year’s resolution is supported by several Republicans —including Sens. Sturtevant, DeSteph and Siobhan Dunnavant of Henrico.

“We haven’t [previously] had a Republican who’s been willing to step up and actually carry this bill,”Surovell said.

Advocates also see renewed momentum in the form of 20,000 signatures on a petition and a pollshowing that more than 80 percent of Virginians favor ratification.

“So we’re hopeful that all those things combined are going to make this year a different year,”Surovell said.

Opponents of the ERA fear it could result in integrated prisons and sports teams and fewer specificprotections for women and could threaten female-only universities and organizations.

Colleen Holcomb, a lawyer and lobbyist representing the Family Foundation — which opposes theERA — referred to it as a “fundraiser cause.”

2/21/19, 10(53 PMERA clears Senate committee, faces uncertainty in House Industries | Virginia Business

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“Regardless of what your position with regard to gender identity, we have biological men competingwith women, and that's impending their ability to get academic scholarships and to be able to succeedin their areas of choice,” Holcomb said.

But advocates for the amendment view specific constitutional protections based on sex as necessaryfor gender equality.

“When you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression. They say, ‘You want special privileges.’We don’t want special privileges. We just want what everyone else enjoys,” said Eileen Davis, co-founder of Women Matter. “Race, religion, national origin all have strict constitutional scrutiny — sexdoes not.”

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3/8/19, 6)34 PMGovernor signs law banning all tobacco products at school - The Washington Post

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The Washington Post

Local

Governor signs law banning all tobacco products at school

By Alexandra Zernik | AP

March 7 at 3:01 PM

RICHMOND, Va. — School boards must ban any tobacco or other forms of nicotine products from allschool property and school-sponsored events under legislation signed into law Wednesday by Gov.Ralph Northam.

Northam signed HB 2384 and SB 1295, which expands existing law to include:

-A wider variety of nicotine products, such as vapes and e-cigarettes in addition to tobacco

-A broader range of school property, such as school buses and school-sponsored events off campus.

The new law, which takes effect July 1, will require all local school boards to develop and implementcomprehensive tobacco-free policies.

“The recent and dramatic rise in youth smoking and vaping represents a serious public health crisisthat requires our attention and action,” Northam said. “We have a responsibility to prevent ourchildren from being exposed to all types of tobacco or nicotine-containing products.”

Northam noted that when he was a state senator, he led efforts to enact a statewide smoking ban inbars and restaurants. He sees HB 2384, sponsored by Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, and SB 1295,introduced by Sen. Lionel Spruill, D-Chesapeake, in the same way.

“As governor, I am proud to sign this legislation that will make Virginia schools and communitiessafer and healthier,” Northam said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that use of tobacco products by Americanyouth is on the rise — largely because of the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes.

Nationwide last year, more than 27 percent of all high school students used a tobacco product withinthe past 30 days, according to a survey by the CDC. About 21 percent of the students had used e-

3/8/19, 6)34 PMGovernor signs law banning all tobacco products at school - The Washington Post

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cigarettes, and 8 percent regular cigarettes. (Some survey respondents used both types of products.)

That represented a big increase in vaping: In the 2017 survey, fewer than 12 percent of high schoolstudents had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days.

Northam noted that as of fall 2017, about 12 percent of Virginia high school students were using e-cigarettes — almost twice the proportion of teenagers smoking traditional cigarettes.

The U.S. surgeon general and the federal Food and Drug Administration have declared the suddenincrease in e-cigarette use an epidemic. They fear a new generation of young people may becomeaddicted to nicotine if actions aren’t taken to prevent it.

Virginia’s secretary of health and human resources, Daniel Carey, praised the legislation signed byNortham.

“This law will not only protect Virginia’s children from exposure to second-hand smoke, it will alsohelp to establish a tobacco-free norm, allowing students to make better choices about their healthwhen it comes to saying no to tobacco products outside of school,” Carey said.

According to State Health Commissioner M. Norman Oliver, a statewide survey found that 84 percentof adults in Virginia — including 75 percent of smokers — agree that all nicotine products should bebanned from school grounds and activities.

“While 40 school districts in Virginia already have established this type of policy, the new law willexpand protection to children in all of our public schools,” Oliver said.

Northam previously signed into law legislation raising from 18 to 21 the age to buy tobacco andnicotine products.

___

This story was produced by the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Capital News Service.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.