New Virginia House clerk set to be first woman in 400 years

By The Associated Press
November 27, 2019 | 5:05 AM

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The next clerk of Virginia’s House of Delegates is set to be the first woman to have the job in 400 years.

Democratic Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, who is set to be the next House speaker and the first woman to hold that role, announced this week that she’s picked Suzette Denslow to be House clerk when next year’s session starts.

The clerk serves as the official “keeper of the rolls” of the House and is a key administrative position. The House of Delegates and its earlier versions have had clerks dating back to 1619.

Past clerks include Edmund Randolph, the first U.S. attorney general and George Wythe, who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Denslow served as deputy chief of staff to Govs. Ralph Northam and Terry McAuliffe.

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

By Virginia Mercury
August 22, 2026 | 8:37 PM

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies. With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track. As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates. The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH.

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