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Articles by Brian Root
Body found floating on lake behind Regional Medical Center Original
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... NEWPORT NEWS — A body was found floating in the lake behind Riverside Regional Medical Center on Monday afternoon. A landscaping crew working at the hospital noticed someone who appeared to be unconscious on Mariners’ Lake, just off of Warwick Boulevard. They called 911 at 2:24 p.m., Newport News police spokesman Matt Michalec said.
“You Have Arrived in Hell”
The nightmare began the moment they took me off the plane. —Gonzalo Y., a 26-year-old from Zulia State, Venezuela, July 31, 2025 The United States removed Gonzalo and 251 other Venezuelans to El Salvador in March and April 2025. When the plane landed, officers forced him and others to kneel with their heads down, he said. He told one of them that he had a spine problem and could not keep his head low, but one officer struck him with a baton in the back of the neck.
Study finds relatively few runway near-misses at two local airports
Brian Root, The Virginian-Pilot Mon, September 15, 2025 at 11:34 PM UTC 2 min read An analysis of Federal Aviation Administration data on airport runway “near miss” incidents shows a dramatic rise from 2017 to 2023 but a significant drop in 2024.
At Norfolk State University, Veterans Affairs workers decry effects of budget cuts Original
Democratic congressional leaders, including Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Newport News), on Tuesday morning heard accounts from local leaders and experts on the effects to veterans from Trump administration’s policies. The testimony at the event at Norfolk State University centered on the staffing levels at the recently opened North Battlefield VA Outpatient Clinic, cuts to Veterans Affairs, and uncertainty in veterans’ health care and benefits.
Contact The Virginian-Pilot newsroom Original
The Virginian-Pilot combines a legacy of commitment to community, ethics and strong journalism with the strengths of new technologies and experienced thinkers. Our mission is to inform, inspire and improve the communities we serve. We serve consumers and businesses from eastern North Carolina, through Hampton Roads, Virginia, and west to just outside Richmond. We value innovation and collaboration across a diverse workforce. Contact the newsroom at tips@pilotonline.com.
Pat Robertson’s Virginia Beach legacy includes Regent University’s growth, CBN’s reach Original
More than 40 years later, David Clark remembers the phone call clearly. He was a professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and the son of a U.S. senator in Virginia Beach had plans for him. “‘Pat Robertson would like to talk to you about starting a new university,’” Clark said, relating the conversation Thursday to The Pilot. Clark said he was reluctant to move — he had tenure and a job he enjoyed — but agreed to take a year off to work on setting up the university.
Why More Police Funding Is No Route to Public Safety
In the past six years, police killed roughly 1,100 people annually — or three people a day — in the United States. The consistency of this rate is remarkable. Variations in policy, shifts in the number of police at the department level, and societal trends, including fluctuating crime rates or pandemics, have not significantly changed the aggregate tally of deaths.
Human rights evaluation-who is it really for?
The human rights community should embrace evaluation not for our donors, but for our beneficiaries. Although evaluations are often undertaken at the request of donors or as part of donor driven proposals, is that the only reason to conduct evaluations? As Emma Naughton and Kevin Kelpin point out, though quantifiable results may matter for donors, it is the assessment of the journey that matters equally if not more to those doing the work.
Cross-border collaboration is key to protecting migrant rights
As hostile governments push nativist rhetoric and enact abusive policies, supporting the innovative work of grassroots activists is the best way for the human rights community to fight back. Photo: UNICEF Ethopia/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) The world is struggling to respond to the reality of rising migration. Many governments have claimed a state of crisis at their borders, but it is in fact a crisis of leadership in a time of change.
Family separation: a flashpoint in the global migrant crisis
Situations of inhumane treatment and abuses of power are where we need human rights the most, and the family separation issue in the United States is symptomatic of a much broader global problem. EFE/EPA/CRISTOBAL HERRERA Immigrant & Community Leaders participate in the rally outside the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Florida, USA on 23 June 2018.
The death penalty is a Commonwealth problem
The Commonwealth lags behind global trends on abolition, but taking an official stance against the death penalty would put it back on the international stage. Last year, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared: “The death penalty has no place in the 21st century.” But it appears that many leaders of the 53 Commonwealth countries—who will gather in Malta for their biennial meeting in November—didn’t get that memo.
هل تستطيع منظمات حقوق الإنسان إجراء عمليات التقييم داخلها بمجهود بسيط؟
تتجنب منظمة هيومن رايتس ووتش عموماً إجراء التقييمات الصعبة؛ وبدلاً من ذلك، نحن نبحث عن الإجراءات "البسيطة والسريعة" في عملنا. مؤخراً على الرابط openGlobalRights، كتب كلا من إيما نوتون وكيفن كلبين أن العمل في مجال حقوق الإنسان لا يؤدي تلقائياً وببساطة إلى تقييمات قياسية ذات نتائج إرشادية. وتتفق آراءهما مع آراء خبير آخر قام بدراسة التقييم في منظمة العفو الدولية ومنظمات غيرها في عام 2014، وقد وجد أيضاً أن التقييمات الخطية غير ملائمة لعملهما. ربما تكون التعقيدات على جميع المستويات هي التحدي الأكبر.
Can rights organizations use low-burden self-reflection for evaluation?
Human Rights Watch generally avoids burdensome evaluations; instead, we’re looking for “light and agile” reflections on our work. Recently in openGlobalRights, Emma Naughton and Kevin Kelpin wrote that human rights work does not easily lend itself to quantifiable, results-oriented evaluations. Their comments echo those of another expert who examined evaluation at Amnesty International and others in 2014, and also found that linear evaluations are ill-suited to their work.
Can celebrities and fashion magazines in Mexico really influence social change?
Partnering with celebrities and seeking visibility is key to mobilizing resources for the women’s movement in Mexico. Many women’s rights organizations in Mexico largely depend on foreign donors to fund their work. However, as shifting donor priorities and other factors lead organizations to diversify their funding sources to include more local donors, the development of individual donors’ programs has emerged as an appealing strategy for mobilizing local support.
Policing, Poverty, and Racial Inequality in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Modern day policing in Tulsa exists within Tulsa’s unique history of racial oppression, just as policing in many other US jurisdictions exists within the context of their own, often oppressive, racial and class relations. The confluence of race, poverty and crime documented in the analysis calls for inquiry into larger questions of structural racism: why are black people in Tulsa, and in the US as a whole, relegated to poverty at such a high rate?
Policing, Poverty, and Racial Inequality in Tulsa, Oklahoma
HRW: Policing, Poverty, and Racial Inequality in Tulsa, Oklahoma By Brian Root Tulsa, Oklahoma is a case study in abusive, overly aggressive policing in the US. Being poor or Black makes you much more likely to be a target of aggressive policing in Tulsa, Human Rights Watch research shows.
Commentary: A brutal US refugee policy
It should be no surprise that the first year of the Trump presidency has been brutal for refugees.
Commentary: A brutal US refugee policy
It should be no surprise that the first year of the Trump presidency has been brutal for refugees.
New FBI Report on US Crime Notable for What’s Missing
In the first annual FBI compilation under the Trump Administration of known offenses and arrests from police departments around the country, the FBI has eliminated nearly 70 percent of the data tables it usually provides. This shift toward greater opacity in policing is especially worrying considering the Trump Administration’s efforts to roll back police accountability.
Trump Immigrant Crackdown Spurs Surge in Arrests
In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities have followed the president’s executive order and have stepped up interior immigration enforcement, arresting thousands of immigrants with no criminal history.
A Return to the Failed ‘War on Drugs’ in the US?
While all eyes were on the US administration’s latest attempt to block people from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, many may have missed Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ alarming remarks on the US “war on drugs.” In a speech before law enforcement leaders Wednesday, Sessions clearly articulated his prohibitionist views on personal drug use, stating that marijuana is only “slightly less awful” than heroin and that “using drugs will destroy your life.” While...
College football on TV: Saturday's best bets
1 – No. 3 Michigan at No. 2 Ohio StateThis is the game of the year, and Ohio State’s best chance to solidify its hold on the playoffs. The hype truly has been a thing to behold. These are two historic programs that haven’t been this good at the same time in years. There’s just one problem: Michigan starting QB Wilton Speight may not play.
This weekend's best college football games
1) No. 1 Alabama at No. 15 LSUSo, here we are again. This will be the sixth(!) game of the year the Tide (8-0, 5-0 SEC) have played against a ranked foe. The previous five opponents didn’t do so well. Last week’s 19-point win over Texas A&M was, unbelievably, the closest game of the bunch. So what could make LSU different? Well, the Tigers (5-2, 3-1) will have the best player on the field in RB Leonard Fournette.
Drug Possession Decriminalization by the Numbers (with images, tweets) · brian_root
17. Over the course of a year, many more spend time, maybe 24-36 hrs or maybe much longer, behind bars after an arrest.
This weekend's best college football games
1) No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Texas A&MThe pundits are coming around on Tennessee (5-0) as a threat to win the SEC, but color us skeptical. Last week’s win over a hobbled Georgia was the textbook definition of luck, and the Vols have trailed in four of their five wins. But hey, it’s better to be lucky than good – and the Vols might get lucky again today because all-everything Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett is still injured.
Head injuries on rise at playgrounds
Playground concussions are on the rise, according to a new government study, and monkey bars and swings are most often involved.Most injuries studied were mild, but all concussions are potentially serious, and the researchers say the trend raises public health and safety concerns.The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study examined national 2001-2013 data on playground injuries to kids aged 14 and younger who received emergency-room treatment.
Les organisations de défense des droits peuvent-elles se livrer à un exercice d’introspection peu contraignant en matière d’évaluation ?
Récemment dans openGlobalRights, Emma Naughton et Kevin Kelpin ont écrit que le travail dans le domaine des droits de l’homme ne se prête pas facilement aux évaluations quantifiables axées sur les résultats. Leurs commentaires font écho à ceux d’un autre expert qui a étudié l’évaluation au sein d’Amnesty International ainsi que chez d’autres organisations en 2014, et qui a également conclu que les évaluations linéaires sont mal adaptées à leur travail.
¿Pueden las organizaciones de derechos humanos usar una introspección poco onerosa como forma de evaluación?
Recientemente en openGlobalRights, Emma Naughton y Kevin Kelpin escribieron que el trabajo de derechos humanos no se presta fácilmente a las evaluaciones cuantificables y orientadas a los resultados. Sus comentarios coinciden con los de otro experto que examinó las evaluaciones en Amnistía Internacional y otras organizaciones en 2014 y también concluyó que las evaluaciones lineares no se adecuan bien a su trabajo. La complejidad en todos los niveles es tal vez el desafío más importante.
Dispatches: US Needs Better Data on Police Killings
How many people do police in the United States kill each year, and under which circumstances? These are among the many basic questions raised by the fatal police shooting of African-American teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, last year. The short – and startling – answer is that nobody knows. A new report from the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) goes a long way in explaining why.
Winning the battle at Oceana
They played a two-man best-ball tournament over the weekend at the Hornet Course at Aeropines -- par-72, 6,650 yards. Wanna know who won? Of course you do. Billy Williard and Chip Cutrone won what appears to have been a playoff with Mark Swinger (who, I suppose, was born to play golf with that last name -- in much the same way I was born to be a botanist but apparently ignored it) and Bryan Stoniecki. Both teams shot 7-under 137 for the two days.
Carol Robertson's big summer
Virginia Tech athletics are nothing if not consistent. When the school announced in May that it would create a women's golf program, it seemed likely to do what it usually does when hiring a coach -- find someone with ties to the university or the state. Well, they did, and now ODU must find a new women's golf coach -- because that's how things roll in the college-sports food chain.
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