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Chesterfield’s Sen. Hashmi joins crowded Democratic contest for lieutenant governor
Virginia’s growing field of Democratic hopefuls for lieutenant governor just got a new entrant. Two-term state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, filed paperwork Monday to formally enter the race. She joins a 2025 Democratic nomination contest that already includes Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney; Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach; and Dr. Babur Lateef, an eye surgeon who chairs Prince William County’s School Board.
More flights could be coming to DCA despite recent near-collision and pushback from Va. senators
A bill to add more flights to Reagan National Airport is moving forward despite opposition from Virginia’s senators. Senate and House negotiators have reached an agreement to add five more daily round-trip flights to the airport. The 1,069-page reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration will now head to the Senate floor, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation announced today (Monday). The proposed change comes despite an analysis by the FAA itself, which reportedly found that five more round trips would result in an extra 12 hours of delays each day.
Police in riot gear, protesters clash at VCU; school says gathering violated policies
Police and pro-Palestine protesters clashed Monday night after officers tried to clear a makeshift encampment on the lawn outside the James Branch Cabell Library on VCU’s Monroe Park campus, pitching tents in what they called a “liberation zone" and demanding an immediate end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The chaotic scene, which began at around 8:30 p.m., saw protesters build a barricade with shipping pallets and hurl water bottles and other objects at the police. Officers, some in riot gear, charged the line of demonstrators and deployed chemical agents in an effort to disperse the crowd. Police made numerous arrests and began disassembling the tents, blankets and tarps at the scene.
Youngkin says no to encampments on Virginia campuses, supports ‘peaceful’ protests
Amid the unrest over actions in the Gaza War, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Sunday that the commonwealth will permit “peaceful” protests, but will not tolerate intimidation and encampments on college campuses. Since Saturday, protestors have been arrested at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg and in Blacksburg at Virginia Tech. During CNN’s “State of the Union” television show on Sunday, Youngkin said that the First Amendment encompasses freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration. Still, he added it does not allow for intimidating Jewish students, preventing them from attending class and using annihilation speech to express deeply antisemitic views.
Shadow of Trump looms large in viciously fought GOP primary battle in Virginia’s 5th District
Less than two months before the June 18 primary elections, Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, the incumbent, continues to enjoy the backing of local party leadership, despite ongoing attempts by state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland County, to make the Republican nomination contest in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District a referendum on which candidate is the most loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump. McGuire alleges that Good is “working against Trump … and against our party” any chance he gets. … But Rick Buchanan, the chairman of the district’s GOP committee, said that he doesn’t believe that even a formal endorsement of McGuire by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee — should he offer one — would move the needle much in favor of the ambitious McGuire.
As internet data centers multiply, efforts to control them are growing
A backlash against internet data centers has triggered a wave of laws around the country to restrain the rapidly growing industry that uses massive amounts of energy to make cloud computing and smart technology possible. In Northern Virginia, home to the world’s largest concentration of data center buildings, Prince William County last week increased its tax rate on the equipment inside data centers by 72 percent, a response in part to complaints about too many of the football-field-sized facilities being built there. Neighboring Loudoun County — which is home to most of the data centers in Northern Virginia — is moving to keep the buildings away from homes and some commercial corridors, in part by making all data center projects subject to the county board’s review instead of allowing them as a “by right” development in certain areas.
FROM VPAP
VPAP Visual Presidential Donations by Precinct
See how much money each presidential candidate has raised in each of Virginia’s 2,544 voting precincts, along with the number of donors, from Jan. 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Petersburg senator denies claim she interfered in city’s casino process
Sen. Laschrece Aird, D-Petersburg, says it’s “revisionist history” for city officials to accuse her of inappropriately meddling in the city-run process of picking a casino developer, but she hasn’t offered her own explanation for a casino letter Petersburg council members say the city manager was coerced into signing. Petersburg had been seeking General Assembly permission to pursue a casino project that would only move forward if city voters approve it in a ballot referendum. As the state legislature was about to take an April 17 vote on whether Petersburg should get that permission immediately, city officials claim they received a “demand” from Aird to sign a letter saying Petersburg intended to award the project to Bally’s Corporation, a national gambling company based in Rhode Island.
STATE ELECTIONS
Sen. Ghazala Hashmi files paperwork for Virginia lieutenant governor run
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield) has filed paperwork for a run for Virginia lieutenant governor. Sen. Hashmi, a two-term state senator, has not formally announced a campaign for lieutenant governor. But the filing with the state she submitted is a needed step to take political donations and begin campaign work. “Senator Hashmi isn’t offering any comments today, but big news is coming soon,” the senator’s office said in a statement Monday.
FEDERAL ELECTIONS
House Districts 7 and 10 aren’t the only Va. congressional races with contested primaries
With the filing deadline passed and campaigns ramping up on their spending, the June primary race is well underway for federal office in Virginia. All of Virginia's 11 U.S. House of Representatives seats, along with Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine - who occupies one of two U.S. Senate seats in the commonwealth - will be up for election in November. Six U.S. House districts will have contested primary elections on June 18. Kaine does not have a Democratic primary challenger and will not appear on the June ballot.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Virginia water company just approved a 33% rate increase
A privately held water company that serves 107,000 people across Virginia and State Corporation Commission staff have agreed to rate increases averaging 32.88% for water service and 8.3% for sewer service. The agreement, which is subject to review by an SCC hearing examiner and the three SCC commissioners, is less than Aqua Virginia had asked for last year. ... Aqua operates 191 water systems and nine sewer systems across the state, including small facilities in Caroline, Charles City, Dinwiddie, Fluvanna, Goochland, Hanover, King William, New Kent, Powhatan and Sussex counties.
CONGRESS
Maryland, Virginia senators blast move to add long-distance flights at Reagan airport
A quartet of senators from the greater Washington area tore into a potential provision that would add a number of long-distance flight slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as part of the upcoming reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) panned the plan released by congressional negotiators early Monday that would add 10 slots at National Airport, or five round-trip flights, arguing the airport is already bursting at the seams.
Congress to add flights at Washington National
Key members of Congress announced an agreement Monday on a $105 billion bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for five years ahead of a May 10 deadline. The 1,000-page bill would raise hiring targets for air traffic control and would codify in law a rule the Biden administration introduced this month requiring airlines to offer refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights, among other consumer-focused provisions. The legislation also would add flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, despite opposition from U.S. senators from Virginia and Maryland who said in a letter Monday the move would hurt safety efforts.
Virginia congressman warns Metro over its treatment of inspectors general
Monday afternoon, Northern Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly (D – 11th District) warned Metro not to treat its newly named inspector general the same way it has treated previous inspectors general. “The key here is independence,” Connolly said in an interview with 7News on Capitol Hill. “Public safety and reliability of the system absolutely depend on an independent auditor.” The job of Metro’s inspector general is to hold the transit agency accountable on finances and safety-related matters. Last week Metro’s board of directors named Michelle Zamarin to be its fourth inspector general in fewer than eight years. Connolly said he wants to see her treated differently than previous inspectors general ...
ECONOMY/BUSINESS
How Big Data Centers Are Slowing the Shift to Clean Energy
The cutting edge of technology is driving the power grid back to the 19th century. An explosion of so-called hyperscale data centers in places such as Northern Virginia has upended plans by electric utilities to cut the use of fossil fuels. In some areas, that means burning coal for longer than planned. These giant data centers will provide computing power needed for artificial intelligence. They are setting off a four-way battle among electric utilities trying to keep the lights on, tech companies that like to tout their climate credentials, consumers angry at rising electricity prices and regulators overseeing investments in the grid and trying to turn it green. Ground zero for the fight is Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley.”
Virginia casinos attract promised out-of-state visitors
In 2019, a state study forecast that if the General Assembly allowed five casinos to operate in five economically disadvantaged Virginia cities — Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond — that one-third of the revenue generated would stem from out-of-state visitors. In other words, if you build it, casino backers sang out to the commonwealth’s legislators, they will come.
Amazon’s footprint in Hampton Roads grows
In the past year, Amazon.com continued its march across the commonwealth, announcing plans to build a 650,000-square-foot fulfillment center and a 219,000-square-foot delivery station in Virginia Beach, which are collectively expected to produce more than 1,000 jobs. About 60% the size of the Pentagon, Virginia’s second largest building belongs to Amazon — a 3.8 million-square-foot robotics fulfillment center in Suffolk ...
Inland port improvements close to finish
With recent expansions nearly complete, and a new Southwest Virginia port under consideration, it’s been a busy year for the commonwealth’s inland ports. The industrial market from Hampton Roads to Richmond has expanded in terms of industrial space available, says Devon Anders, president of the Harrisonburg-based InterChange Group and chair of the Virginia Maritime Association’s Valley Logistics Chapter. Millions of feet of warehouse space being built near the Virginia Inland Port will allow the Port of Virginia to better compete against other East Coast ports, he says.
More Americans are working past 65 than ever before. Is it the new normal?
As a registered nurse unit coordinator and charge nurse at Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton, Andrea Samuel spends her days communicating with doctors and nurses in addition to administering direct bedside care. A Miami native, Samuel entered nursing school at age 19 and has worked for Sentara since 1991. She celebrated her 78th birthday in March and has no plans to slow down.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Police clash with protesters at VCU pro-Palestine event
Richmond and Virginia State Troopers arrested multiple Virginia Commonwealth University students Monday night, firing tear gas and pepper spray to break up a pro-Palestine encampment in a chaotic clash on its Monroe Park campus The protest, similar to those at colleges across the country, was organized by VCU’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. Chapter leaders posted a statement on the organization’s Instagram demanding that the university disclose its expenditure and divest from any companies and partnerships that profit from or support the “colonization and genocide of the Palestinian people.”
Antiwar protest at VCU ends in multiple arrests
Police at Virginia Commonwealth University used force to make an unknown number of arrests roughly 10 minutes after arriving at a protest on Monday night. Students and community members who had gathered were demanding the school disclose and sever financial ties with Israel — and call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. … Students at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond began implementing a “liberation zone” early Monday, writing chalk messages of support for Palestinians and antiwar sentiments on the public campus.
Police clear protest at Virginia Tech Graduate Life Center lawn; 82 arrested
Police late Sunday night and early Monday cleared from the lawn of the Virginia Tech Graduate Life Center and 82 people were arrested after a three-day protest of Israel’s war against Hamas. Police approached protesters in the so-called Gaza Liberation Encampment at 10:15 p.m. and told them they would be subject to arrest if they did not disperse within five minutes. The university had said since Friday that the encampment “was not a registered event consistent with university policy.”
University: 82 people arrested at Virginia Tech encampment
Police arrested 82 people, including 53 current students, late Sunday night and early Monday at a pro-Palestine encampment on the lawn of the Graduate Life Center at Virginia Tech. All were charged with trespassing, a university statement said Monday afternoon. This appears to mark the largest arrest of students on campus since May 12, 1970, when 107 students were taken in after occupying Williams Hall as part of a protest of the Vietnam War and the fatal shooting of four students just days earlier at Kent State University, according to university records and the Collegiate Times, the student newspaper.
School: More than 80 protesters arrested at Virginia Tech
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at colleges across the D.C. region intensified over the weekend and into Monday, including the arrest of dozens of students on Virginia campuses. Virginia Tech in Blacksburg reported that campus police arrested more than 80 people late Sunday and into the morning. Of those, 53 were current students. The university said in a statement that the demonstration was not compliant with policy on the use of campus facilities.
VIRGINIA OTHER
Locals hold weekly vigils for hostages in Gaza
Until last week, former Richmond resident Hersh Goldberg-Polin had not been seen or heard from since Oct. 7 — the day he was taken hostage by Hamas militants at a music festival in the Israeli village of Re’im. But on Wednesday, Hamas released a video that appears to show Goldberg-Polin alive: a glimmer of hope after talks between Israel and Hamas previously had stalled. Prior footage of his kidnapping shows the badly wounded Goldberg-Polin, then 23, being loaded into the back of a truck alongside other abductees.
‘Frisky little songbird’ needs protection from sea level rise, environmental group tells feds
An environmental organization is asking the federal government to list the saltmarsh sparrow, a bird living on wetlands on the east coast, including Virginia, for protection under the Endangered Species Act due to expected losses from sea level rise and human development. The Center for Biological Diversity’s petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the saltmarsh sparrow population dwindled from 212,000 in 1998 to 60,000 in 2012. That number was expected to be 28,215 in 2020, according to projections from the 2012 survey.
LOCAL
Fairfax board eyes lower-than-proposed real estate tax hike amid budget constraints
Real estate taxes will likely go up for Fairfax County homeowners in the coming year, but perhaps not by as much as they could. The Board of Supervisors plans to approve a 3-cent tax rate increase, down from the four cents that was advertised. That will reduce the average tax bill hike from about $524 to just over $450. While additional funding is proposed for affordable housing, public libraries and parks, the county’s fiscal year 2025 budget won’t satisfy Fairfax County Public Schools’ full funding requests or include the pay levels sought by county employees.
Loudoun County firefighters ratify collective bargaining agreement
Loudoun County firefighters voted to approve their first collective bargaining agreement after 16 months of negotiations with the county, the firefighters’ union announced this week. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the contract on May 7 to decide whether it can take effect. Represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3756, also known as the Loudoun Career Fire Fighters Association, the firefighters’ contract represents Loudoun County’s first ever collective bargaining agreement with public employees.
Prince William planning commission rejects mid-county data center project
A move to expand data centers into the mid-county area has been dealt a blow by the Prince William County Planning Commission. Commission members recommended unanimously last week that the supervisors say no to an application to turn the Colchester Industrial Park on Dumfries Road into another data center complex. The area is few miles south of the former Parsons Farm, also on Dumfries Road, which was recently rezoned to allow for 85-foot data centers.
Richmond attempts to throw out $250K FOIA whistleblower lawsuit
The city of Richmond filed a motion in Circuit Court on Friday challenging a $250,000 whistleblower complaint that alleges the city withheld public information and unlawfully fired an employee to cover it up. Connie Clay, the city’s former Freedom of Information Act officer, filed the 17-page complaint on March 1. In it, Clay alleges she was unlawfully terminated by Petula Burks, the city’s strategic communications and civic engagement officer, on Jan. 19 for “refusing to engage in illegal and unethical activities in violation of FOIA.”
Richmond School Board violating state agreement on professional training
The Richmond School Board is out of compliance with part of its agreement with the state and could lose some state funding if board members do not come together to meet its contractual obligations to attend annual training. The agreement, called a memorandum of understanding, is in place because of the district’s troubled schools. State Superintendent Lisa Coons sent a letter to the Richmond School Board on Wednesday to notify its members of their requirement to fulfill annual professional development and training requirements.
Virginia Beach council to vote on collective bargaining for employees
Allowing city employees to negotiate over their wages and benefits will be up for a vote by the City Council Tuesday. The council will be presented with two options, at the request of the mayor: To allow collective bargaining or to allow a “meet and confer” process whereby employee committees will be able to regularly share concerns with the city manager. If the council approves collective bargaining, city staff will negotiate with city workers’ unions to draft a new law, which could take months, according to City Attorney Mark Stiles.
Refreshed lawsuit aims to derail Charlottesville apartment project
In a second attempt to prevent construction of a seven-story apartment complex on Jefferson Park Avenue in Charlottesville, nine homeowners in the surrounding neighborhood are hoping a judge will side with them in a lawsuit. They claim that City Council “acted in an unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious manner,” when it approved a special use permit allowing a developer to construct a 119-unit complex on the 2000 block of Jefferson Park Avenue. ... The group’s first attempt at using the court to derail the student housing project was shot down when the city of Charlottesville, the defendant in the case, filed a demurrer, a pretrial defense challenge to the suit’s legal grounds.
Initiative aims to address child care crisis, workforce shortages in Lynchburg
In Lynchburg, there is a pressing need for affordable child care, with a current shortage of licensed slots impacting the workforce. The United Way of Central Virginia (UWCV) is launching an initiative to tackle workforce and child care issues in the Greater Lynchburg area. Inspired by a successful project in Southwest Virginia, UWCV plans to establish the Childcare and Workforce Development Center.
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EDITORIALS
Faltering weather service infrastructure needs urgent upgrades
Even among natural disasters, only hurricanes can come close to inspiring the terror of a tornado. A powerful funnel cloud can form quickly, move unpredictably and often gives those in the path of destruction only minutes to take shelter. So much depends on the timeliness of warnings from the National Weather Service, whose alerts can be the difference between life and death. But recent outages have shown the fragility of NWS infrastructure, making its improvement a matter of national urgency.
COLUMNISTS
Yancey: Reader recommendations on what to see in Southwest Virginia
Texas likes to proclaim “Don’t mess with Texas.” Don’t mess with Southwest Virginia, either. I’m not sure what happens if you mess with Texas — I’ve never tried — but a writer for Axios Richmond tried to mess with Southwest Virginia by making a dismissive reference to “whatever the hell is west of Roanoke.” That led to me writing a column to defend the western part of the state, which in turn led to a reader in Arlington saying he’d never been to this part of the state, so I offered to give him some travel advice — yours.
OP-ED
Fitch and Jenner: Virginia must prioritize justice for survivors of childhood sex abuse
Last week, a prominent Northern Virginia church, The Falls Church Anglican, released the findings of its investigation into a former director of youth ministries who sexually abused children for more than a decade while serving as the church’s youth director and subsequently as director of adult discipleship. This horrific, years-long abuse by Jeff Taylor highlights the need for change in how Virginia enables survivors of childhood sexual abuse to seek justice against their abusers and the organizations that turn a blind eye. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse face immense challenges in coming forward and seeking justice.
Wallace and Bortell: In today’s labor market, employers need to rethink internships
As the summer months approach, thousands of high school and college students are preparing to join internship programs across the Richmond region. In light of the continued tight labor market, internship programs have become an increasingly important method of introducing students to hands-on learning opportunities.