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Williams: On civil rights, policies must outweigh political platitudes
As Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke at the historic site of a student walkout on the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, his earnest persona belied a public policy hostile to what those equity-seeking students stood for. “And what a day it is. It started right here in Farmville — an extraordinary demonstration of courage and bravery by Barbara Johns and her classmates,” he said in a social media post from the Moton Museum, a former all-Black school that lacked a cafeteria or gym and relieved its overcrowding by placing students in tar-paper shacks.
Protesters urge Newport News school board to reverse policies for transgender students
Back in late 2023, Newport News superintendent Dr. Michele Mitchell, changed procedures of transgender students to align with Governor Youngkin’s model policy. She did this without a vote from the school board. On Tuesday, a large group rallied outside the school board meeting to ask the board to reverse the procedures that were put in place. They are also fighting for a policy to be passed that allows the school board to vote on procedures, instead of the superintendent putting the procedure in place by themselves.
Local Virginia Breeze bus service sees 16% growth
The Virginia Breeze bus route, which serves Bristol and Southwest Virginia, reported the second highest ridership of four such routes in Virginia during the past year. The Highlands Rhythm route, which operates daily along Interstate 81 to I-66 and Washington, D.C., reported 15,583 riders between March 2023 and February 2024, according a new director’s report from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
$14.4 million rehabilitation work completed at Fredericksburg train station
A year and a half after rehabilitation work on the downtown Fredericksburg train station started the project’s completion was celebrated on Tuesday. The $14.4 million rehabilitation work on the train station, built in the early 1900s, started in October 2022. The project was set for completion in December, but it was pushed into 2024. The project included rehabilitation of 125 feet of unused, deteriorated platforms.
Metro used faulty cars and ignored worker safety measures, audit finds
Metro has deployed rail cars that failed operations tests and neglected to follow occupational safety guidelines, according to an audit the transit agency’s regulator released Tuesday. The audit, performed by the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, an independent agency that oversees Metrorail operations, provides a damning portrait of Metro operations, though it doesn’t suggest the system poses a significant danger to riders.
VPAP Visual Key Race: 7th District Democratic Primary
Seven candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination to fill a seat left open by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor in 2025. The top three fundraisers through March were Eugene Vindman, a retired Army colonel, and two members of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors: Margaret Angela Franklin and Andrea Bailey. The 7th Congressional District is centered on the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania and Prince William, but it extends as far west as Greene County and southeast to Caroline County.
VPAP Visual Key Race: 7th District Republican Primary
Six Republicans are competing for the nomination in this contested district that was carried by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2021 but won by Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in 2022. As of March, the three largest fundraisers were former Green Beret Derrick Anderson, former Navy SEAL Cameron Hamilton and businessman John Prabhudoss.
Virginia Breeze plans Tidewater bus route in 2025
Virginia Breeze bus lines will expand with a fifth route, the Tidewater Current, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation announced. It will mark the bus service’s first East-West service, according to a written statement. Connecting Harrisonburg and Virginia Beach, the Tidewater Current will offer convenient travel options for residents and visitors alike that will provide bi-directional service 365 days a year.
Bill to protect family-planning measures in Virginia falls to Youngkin veto
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its decision in 1973’s Roe v Wade two years ago, the justices sent women, advocates and lawmakers scrambling to defend access to reproductive health care and family planning resources, such as contraception, against those determined to restrict the availability of both. By vetoing a measure establishing a right to contraceptive access in Virginia, Gov. Glenn Younkin has only deepened uncertainty in the commonwealth. While not surprising given his hard-line proclivities on abortion, the governor’s action is deeply disappointing and a further indication of how perilous this moment is for Virginia women.
Chesapeake NAACP branch calls for change to city’s at-large voting system
There are growing calls to change the way elections are done in Chesapeake. The Chesapeake NAACP branch wants elected leaders to abandon the current at-large voting system for the city council and school board. “With an at-large system you do not have a specific councilman or school board member that you are to go to and ask for help,” said the group’s president Dr. Shirley Auguste.