Brandon Celentano 1200 W Marshall Apt 329 Richmond, VA, 23220

Brandon Celentano 1200 W Marshall Apt 329 Richmond, VA, 23220 571‐279‐1258 | [email protected] https://www.clippings.me/brandoncelentano https://twitter.com/b_celentano https://www.diigo.com/profile/bcelentano https://www.facebook.com/brandon.celentano.1 https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcelentano97/ EDUCATION Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA Graduation date: May 2019 Bachelor of Science, Mass Communications Concentration: Digital Journalism Minor: Sociology Deans List: Fall Semester 2017 JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE Reporter for Capital News Service January 2018 ‐ Present  Covered the General Assembly and other news for more than 90 news outlets across Virginia, with select stories distributed by The Associated Press.  Wrote articles on such topics as offshore drilling, criminal justice reform, and women’s rights.  Published by The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times and other newspapers across the U.S.  Set the pace for other students in using Facebook Live to deliver real‐time video reports Contributing Writer for the Commonwealth Times October 2015 – May 2016  Wrote for VCU’s independent student newspaper, including a story about the legalization of cannabis oil for treating epilepsy in Virginia  Shot video of a march in which students demanded that VCU divest itself of fossil fuels stocks News Editor for the South County Courier September 2013 ‐ June 2015 South County High School, Lorton, VA  Utilized Adobe InDesign to design the first and second pages of the school newspaper. Volunteer Production Assistant September 2015 National Mall, Washington DC  Worked for the wellness event at the national mall that was cosponsored by the National Park Service and Pan‐American World Health Organization  Videotaped attendees and interviewed them regarding their experience at the event  Developed questions for interviews with health professionals and attendees Journalism skills:  Adobe Software  Interviewing  Experience with professional video and DSLR cameras  writing news articles OTHER WORK EXPERIENCE Food Lion Cashier, Woodbridge, VA July ‐ August 2016 and December 2016 – January 2017 Jimmy John’s Team Member, Richmond, VA October 2015 – December 2015 Pizza Hut Cook and Delivery Driver, Fairfax Station, VA May ‐ August 2015 PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Society of Professional Journalists Member September 2015 – Present

The Washington Post

Local Young Lawmakers Form Group to Address Millennials’ Concerns

By Brandon Celentano | AP February 14 at 6:39 PM

RICHMOND, Va. — A bipartisan, nationwide organization seeking to involve young people in politics has established a chapter in Virginia, focusing on such issues as student debt relief and government transparency, officials said Wednesday.

The Millennial Action Project has created the Virginia Future Caucus, consisting of young lawmakers who vowed to work across party lines.

“When we are able to bond together, we are able to see past the tribalism that has divided us for so long,” said Democratic Del. Sam Rasoul, 36, of Roanoke.

Republican Del. Emily Brewer, 33, of Suffolk, said the caucus reflects a generational change in Virginia.

“Going forward, we’ve got to focus on key issues,” such as technology, she said. “We need to make sure we’re looking at providing opportunities for our generation and the next generation to stay here.”

Brewer and Rasoul were among a dozen state legislators who attended a news conference Wednesday to announce the formation of the Virginia Future Caucus.

Steven Olikara, president and co-founder of the Millennial Action Project, said this is the organization’s 22nd state chapter.

“We want to empower the next generation of leaders to make our democracy function better,” Olikara said. “Today the status quo is insufficient. Trust is declining. Partisanship is rampant. We think the next generation can be part of the solution.”

At the news conference, speakers noted that young Americans are more likely to be unaffiliated with a political party. They said these voters are concerned about issues such as:

.Clean energy .The “staggering” cost of college and student loans

.The “gig economy,” in which temporary employment is common as organizations hire independent contractors for short-term work, such as with Uber drivers

Olikara said 30 members of Congress have joined the project. He said the effort has especially focused on state legislatures, “which is really where a lot of young leaders are taking their first steps in politics including here in Virginia.”

The average age in the Virginia House of Delegates is 52. But several young people were elected to the House last fall, including Jay Jones, 28, of Norfolk; Lee Carter, 30, of Manassas; Chris Hurst, 30, of Montgomery County; and Danica Roem, 33, of Prince William County.

Rasoul and Del. Christopher Peace, R-Hanover, will co-chair the new caucus.

Peace said he was the youngest delegate when he was elected 13 years ago. Now 41, Peace said there can be an “issue of translation” between young legislators and their older colleagues who may be unfamiliar with terms such as Airbnb and Bitcoin.

Peace said the new caucus can “provide some real leadership on policies that would benefit people in the millennial generation.”

Olikara said Virginia has a history of young political leaders making their mark: Thomas Jefferson was just 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

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

 0 Comments 4/11/2018 Construction on monument honoring Virginia women starts soon - Chicago Tribune

Construction on monument honoring Virginia women starts soon

By BRANDON CELENTANO Associated Press

MARCH 1, 2018, 5:30 PM | RICHMOND, VA.

onstruction likely will begin this summer on the state Capitol grounds for a monument honoring Virginia C women.

The executive committee of the Women of Virginia Commemorative Commission was briefed Wednesday on the timetable for the project, which will feature bronze statues of a dozen historically significant women of various races and backgrounds.

Holly Eve, an administrator in the Virginia Department of General Services, and her assistant, Charles Bennett, told the panel that the construction phase is drawing near.

"I am pleased to report that we have received the permits. The general contractor can now start procuring materials and start the shop drawing phase," Bennett said. "We should start seeing materials arrive on-site early in the summer."

The Virginia Women's Monument, titled "Voices from the Garden," will be built on the western side of Capitol Square at the top of the western sloping dell.

The commission broke ground on the first phase of the project - the memorial plaza - on Dec. 4. The monument is expected to be completed by October 2019.

State officials said the monument will cost about $3.5 million and will be paid for with private funds. So far, the Virginia Capitol Foundation has raised more than $2.1 million in contributions and pledges, according to figures circulated at Wednesday's meeting.

According to the commission's website, the monument "will acknowledge the genius and creativity of Virginia women and their presence and contributions to the Commonwealth. The monument is a metaphor for the often unrecognized voices that have been responsible for shaping our culture, country, and state for over 400 years."

The commission says the monument would be the first of its kind in the nation recognizing the full range of women's achievements. The project will feature an oval-shaped garden with statues of:

.Ann Burras Laydon, who arrived in Jamestown in 1608 - one of the first female settlers in the colony.

.Cockacoeske, a Pamunkey chief who signed a treaty in 1677 establishing the tribe's reservation.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-bc-va--cns-womens-monument-20180301-story.html 1/2 4/11/2018 Construction on monument honoring Virginia women starts soon - Chicago Tribune .Mary Draper Ingles, who was taken captive by Shawnee Indians during the French and Indian War in 1755, escaped and traveled 600 miles back to her home in Southwest Virginia.

.Martha Washington, George Washington's wife. In the monument, she will represent the wives of all eight Virginia-born presidents.

.Clementina Bird Rind, editor of the Virginia Gazette, an influential newspaper and the official printer for the Colony of Virginia, in the 1770s.

.Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, a slave who bought her freedom, became Mary Todd Lincoln's confidant and established the Contraband Relief Association, which provided support for freed slaves and soldiers wounded in the Civil War.

.Sally Louisa Tompkins, who, as a captain in the Confederate army, established a hospital to treat injured soldiers.

.Maggie Walker, an African-American teacher and businesswoman who became the nation's first female bank president.

.Sarah Garland Boyd Jones, the first woman to pass the exam to practice medicine in Virginia. She and her husband, also a physician, established a medical association for African-American doctors and opened a hospital and nursing school in 1903.

.Laura Lu Copenhaver, who, as director of information for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, expanded southwestern Virginia's agricultural economy.

.Virginia Estelle Randolph, an African-American teacher who developed a national and international reputation as a leader in education.

.Adele Goodman Clark, a suffragist who became president of the League of Women Voters in 1921. She is considered to be one of the founders of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

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

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-bc-va--cns-womens-monument-20180301-story.html 2/2 2/2/2018 Dem delegates promote criminal justice reform initiatives | Miami Herald

NATIONAL POLITICS

Dem delegates promote criminal justice reform initiatives

BY BRANDON CELENTANO Capital News Service

February 01, 2018 09:15 PM Updated February 01, 2018 09:16 PM

RICHMOND, VA. — Democratic members of the Virginia House called on their colleagues Thursday to raise the threshold for grand larceny and allow more professionals to administer medication to someone who has overdosed on drugs.

The legislators discussed proposals to reform the criminal justice system and address the opioid crisis at a news conference Thursday.

Del. Joseph Lindsey of Norfolk urged support for HB 1313, which would increase the threshold for grand larceny, a felony crime, to $500. Currently, the dividing line between misdemeanor and felony theft in Virginia is $200 -- one of the lowest in the nation. It hasn't changed since 1980.

"Two hundred dollars might have been OK in 1980 when the price of a gallon of gas was 86 cents and a quart of milk was 67 cents, or when the average price of a house was $35,000," Lindsey said. "But we believe that in 2018, there needs to be an adjustment. That time is now."

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Because the threshold for grand larceny is low, someone convicted of stealing a cellphone or bicycle in Virginia may end up with a felony on their record.

"Time and time again, these wind up being felony offenses, where in so many of our neighboring jurisdictions, they would have just been petty misdemeanors," Lindsey said.

Del. Michael Mullen of Newport News, a former prosecutor, discussed HB 202. Under this legislation, courts would have to tell criminal defendants that they don't have to pay their court costs and fees out of pocket. Instead, they could do community service at an hourly rate of $7.25 to offset the costs.

"That's been on the books for years, but so often people don't know it," Mullen said. "There might be hundreds of people who come through on a daily basis, and they get moved through very quickly. The things they can utilize, they are not being told about."

Also at the news conference, the lawmakers urged support for

.HB 322, which would add probation, parole and correctional ofﬁcers to the list of professionals who may administer naloxone -- a narcotic overdose reversal drug. The bill has passed the House and is before the Senate.

. HB 131, which would make it easier for providers to prescribe non-opioid painkillers. For instance, if someone has a broken leg and is in recovery from opioid addiction, the person can obtain a non-opioid painkiller to avoid relapse.

"For me the opioid crisis is personal," said Del. John Bell of Loudoun County. "Last year, with his permission to share his story, my son, Josh, who is 32 years old and is a veteran in the United States Air Force, injured his neck in a car accident. He became addicted to opioids. He walked out of the emergency room with a 90-day prescription for opioids. His addiction lasted seven years.

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

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article197976039.html 1/3 Meet the Democratic Socialist who ousted a top Republican from the House

potomaclocal.com/2018/01/25/meet-the-democratic-socialist-who-ousted-a-top-republican-from-the-house/

January 26, 2018 by By Brandon Celentano, Capital News Service on January 25, 2018 at 9:14 pm RICHMOND – In 2015, Lee J. Carter, an information technology specialist from Manassas, was shocked by 245 volts during a work assignment in Peoria, Illinois, when an electrician had incorrectly wired a panel.

He wound up injuring his back; for the next three months, he could not walk more than 50 feet at a time. Yet Virginia rejected Carter’s claim for workers’ compensation, and his employer cut his hours after he got better. That ordeal inspired Carter to run for the Virginia House of Delegates.

Few people thought he stood a chance of carrying the 50th House District, which includes Manassas and part of Prince William County. He was a little-known outsider challenging a powerful incumbent – Republican Del. Jackson Miller, the House majority whip. Though running as a Democrat, Carter said he did not get a lot of formal support from the state Democratic Party.

But on Nov. 7, Carter shocked the naysayers: Like David against Goliath, he won the House race by nine points, unseating Jackson, who had represented the district since 2006.

How did he pull off the upset? For almost two years, Lee said, he went into the community and talked to residents all day, every day. In the end, they decided they wanted him to come to Richmond and represent them.

Carter is a member of the Democratic Party, but he describes himself as a democratic socialist. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America; the group endorsed him in his 2017 election.

“One of the things I came to understand very early in the campaign is, if you’re to the left of Barry Goldwater, they’re going to call you a socialist anyway,” Carter said. “So I figured there is no point in hiding it. I am who I am. I believe worker-owned businesses are better for the community than investor-owned businesses.”

1/3 Still, the word “socialist” can raise eyebrows in Virginia politics. Scott Lingamfelter, another Republican who lost his House seat last fall, used the label in his final newsletter to constituents on Jan. 5.

“Last November, the state took a sharp turn to the left, electing people who truly do support a socialist agenda. Republicans were routed, including me,” wrote Lingamfelter, who was beaten by progressive Democrat Elizabeth Guzman in the neighboring 31st House District, which includes parts of Prince William and Fauquier counties.

“I believe that in the months and years to come, Virginians will conclude that this election of far-left candidates was not helpful to families, small businesses, and constitutional governance, the things I stood for when I served in the House.”

Carter, who served in the Marine Corps, said he will look out for workers – and that is why he won by such a large margin.

“I just went out there with the help of hundreds of volunteers with a message of ‘I’m a working- class guy,’ and I’m going to go there [Richmond] and represent working-class issues. We knocked on tens of thousands of doors and brought that message directly to people at their homes,” he said.

Since the election, Carter has been deluged with phone calls from constituents and supporters with requests and ideas. He said the constant flood has continued to this day.

One of Carter’s supporters, and the top individual donor to his campaign, is Karl Becker, who works in the defense industry in the Washington area. Becker worked with Carter on Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.

“Lee is very passionate about the inability of the government to serve folks,” said Becker, who contributed $6,750 to Carter’s House campaign.

“He experienced a workplace injury and discovered that workers’ compensation was not working for people. That got him involved in looking into other aspects of politics, and he is very much of the opinion that he can make a difference.”

Becker said he admires both Carter and Sanders for supporting universal health care, also known as “Medicare for all.” Carter is sponsoring a resolution to have state officials study the cost of implementing such a system. The resolution has been referred to the House Rules Committee.

Also this session, Carter introduced legislation to more than double the sales tax on watercraft and to provide more protection for workers in the workers’ compensation system – an issue “near and dear to my heart.” One of his bills was aimed at covering Virginia workers who are injured out of state, as Carter was.

All of his workers’ compensation measures, as well as his sales tax proposal, were killed at the subcommittee level in the House.

2/3 For his House race, Carter put together a coalition of groups, including Let America Vote, which fights gerrymandering; the Sierra Club, an environmental organization; the Sister District Project, a Democratic effort focusing on swing districts; and Swing Left, a support group for progressive candidates.

Carter said the Democratic Party is in the midst of change.

“I think right now, it is a party that is torn between two visions of what it is supposed to be,” he said.

“I view it as a party that is supposed to be advocating for the issues of working people exclusively. There are a lot of people at the same time who view the party as one that should advocate for compromise between the interests of working people and the interests of their employers.”

Carter, who graduated from the Sorensen Institute of Political Leadership at the University of Virginia, said having a party of compromise would be fine in a political system with multiple parties.

“But in our current system, you have the Republican Party, which is unabashedly for the interests of the big corporations. So you need a party that is unabashedly for the workers to balance that out. Otherwise, things don’t function.”

Carter quoted former Lt. Gov. Henry Howell, an independent Democrat nicknamed “Howlin’ Henry” for his progressive populist views: “‘An eagle can’t fly with two right wings.’ We need a left wing.”

3/3 2/21/2018 Activists Oppose Drilling Off Virginia’s Coast | WRIC

Activists Oppose Drilling O Virginia’s Coast Brandon Celentano, Capital News Service Published: February 21, 2018, 8:30 pm | Updated: February 21, 2018, 9:26 pm

RICHMOND — About 75 people, including activists and lawmakers, rallied Wednesday against the Trump administration’s plan to allow drilling o Virginia’s coast, saying it would endanger the environment, the economy and military readiness.

The group held a press conference before the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s public hearing in Richmond on the issue. At the meeting, environmental and business leaders urged the agency to abandon the plan.

“We are here today to protect our waters, the Virginia coast and Atlantic Ocean from dangerous oil and gas development,” said Karen Forget, executive director of Lynnhaven River Now in Virginia Beach. “We’re here to make our voices loud and clear that we do not think oshore drilling is good for Virginia.”

U.S. Rep. Donald McEachin, a Democrat representing Virginia’s 4th Congressional District, said he was honored to speak alongside state ocials, environmentalists and retired military and business leaders to express opposition to oshore drilling.

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“The Trump administration’s decision to push for drilling in more than 90 percent of our nation’s coastal waters, including o the coast of our beautiful commonwealth, poses serious dangers to our economy and our environment,” McEachin said. “As we learned from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, accidents can be unimaginably destructive, devastating the marine environment and potentially aecting the health of local residents.”

McEachin said an oil spill would have disastrous consequences for communities along the coast and around the Chesapeake Bay. Coastal sheries, tourism and recreation support 91,000 jobs in Virginia and represent almost $5 billion of the state’s economy, he said.

Even without a spill, oil exploration alone would be damaging, according to Susan Barco, the research coordinator and senior scientist at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach.

“One of the tools they use is seismic testing, and that would occur regardless of if there is a spill or drilling for that matter,” Barco said. “Seismic testing produces very, very loud sounds in the ocean in order to understand what is below the strata or layers at the bottom of the ocean. Those sounds are very likely to negatively impact a lot of animals, particularly marine mammals.”

McEachin said the U.S. Defense Department has twice concluded that drilling o Virginia’s coast would compromise the Navy’s ability to eectively operate and train and that this would eectively reduce military readiness and compromise national security.

Gov. Ralph Northam and members of Congress from Virginia’s coastal areas, both Republicans and Democrats, oppose the U.S. Interior Department’s oshore drilling plan. Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms, a Republican, also opposes it (https://pilotonline.com/opinion/columnist/guest/article_6160eda6-36b0-5255-a934-8fb84ee9470e.html).

http://wric.com/2018/02/21/activists-oppose-drilling-off-virginias-coast/ 2/3 2/21/2018 Activists Oppose Drilling Off Virginia’s Coast | WRIC Wednesday’s meeting at a hotel near Richmond International Airport was the only public hearing that the federal government plans to hold in Virginia to discuss the oshore drilling plan. That irked Northam.

“If the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management doesn’t hold additional hearings in the Tidewater region, I will be one of the few people from a Virginia coastal community who has had the opportunity to share my opposition to the administration’s plan to put our economy, environment, national security, and the health and safety of our residents at risk,” Northam said.

The Democratic governor said he will use every tool he can use to make sure no drilling happens o Virginia’s coast.

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