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The UVa shooter asked his mentor to tell his story. But that mentor isn’t talking.
"They not getting off this bus," the killer informed his mentor 100 minutes before unleashing the fusillade that claimed the lives of three fellow University of Virginia students and Cavalier football players, seriously injured two others and left a community searching for answers. ... Today, going on three years after those texts and that life-shattering blast of leaden horror inside a chartered bus returning to Charlottesville from a field trip to Washington, D.C., the full story remains untold. That's because the mentor, who sits on UVa's School of Education and Human Development Foundation, isn't speaking about what he did in those 100 minutes ...
Return of measles virus to Va. brings new risks for children
The first case of measles hit Virginia in April, raising risks for a troubling comeback 25 years after U.S. health officials declared the eradication of the virus. But the spread of the highly contagious virus and a growing anti-vaccine sentiment could leave one population increasingly at risk — kindergartners. Just half of Virginia’s public and private kindergarten classes reported a 95% vaccination rate — the key threshold for herd immunity — at the start of the 2024-25 school year, according to an analysis of state health data by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO. The average measles vaccination rates for kindergartners include a 92% rate in Hampton Roads, 94% in Richmond, and 96% in Northern Virginia.
Virginia Democrats seek more hard data on federal cuts while Republicans see more optimism
Democrats on a special committee charged with exploring the effects of federal shake-ups on Virginia expressed concern with a lack of solid information from presenters from Southwest Virginia. Meanwhile, Republicans struck a more cautious tone during a meeting in Wytheville on Monday. Republicans noted that a lot of the presentations focused on estimations and speculations of potential impacts of the federal cuts. “The main thing that struck me today was a little room for optimism,” Del. Ellen Campbell, R-Waynesboro, said during the meeting.
Trump-China tariff reductions welcomed by Va. businesses
Virginia business welcomed President Donald Trump’s reduction on tariffs with China announced Monday morning. They hope it could lead to more industry changes. Don Bright with the lumber company Meherrin River Forest Products in Lacrosse said he had containers of logs on the water, headed for China, when the tariffs kicked in a few weeks ago. He had to work with shipping companies to find new ports, sometimes diverting to further-out stops and transporting product over land to meet the tariff deadline. Other shipments weren’t as lucky.
New push from Kaine aims to close retirement gap for Virginia’s youngest workers
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is backing bipartisan legislation aimed at helping workers as young as 18 — particularly those who enter the workforce straight out of high school — gain access to employer-sponsored retirement plans, a benefit many currently don’t receive until age 21. On Monday, Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, teamed up with HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., to reintroduce the Helping Young Americans Save for Retirement Act.
John Curran relaunches lieutenant governor bid as write-in, alleging signature sabotage
John Curran, the former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who said internal sabotage cost him a spot on the primary ballot, announced Monday he is re-entering the race — this time as a GOP-aligned write-in. “Today, I am announcing my WRITE-IN campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia as a Republican,” Curran said in a statement. “My decision is not to split the ticket but to save it.” Curran’s announcement reignites tensions in an already turbulent race following his exit in April, when he failed to qualify for the ballot despite claiming to have far surpassed the 10,000-signature requirement.
Richmond airport backs away from services takeover plan
Richmond’s airport has shelved its plans to take over fueling and other services for airliners from two firms that now do that work. Instead of going ahead with the takeover, the Capital Region Airport Commission decided to extend Richmond Jet Center’s lease for five years until 2031 and is looking forward to signing a similar lease with the second firm, Million Air. The two fixed-base operators employ 120 people. . . . Last year’s proposal that the airport take over the business with the two firms’ leases scheduled to expire in January 2026 sparked strong opposition from airlines and other aviation businesses. They argued that the airport’s financial projections for the takeover were badly inflated.
Prince William School Board ratifies ‘historic’ collective bargaining wage agreement
The Prince William County School Board on May 7 approved the school division’s collective bargaining agreement with the local teachers' union, bringing the addition of a wage agreement. The School Board ratified the school division’s inaugural collective bargaining agreement in March 2024, but wages — a sticking point between the two sides — were not included in those negotiations or the agreement. The union — the Prince William Education Association — and the division ultimately went back to the negotiating table to nail down a wage agreement.
In sales, fast-food and some medical fields, 33% of Virginia workers struggle financially
One of every three workers in the Fredericksburg region and beyond — who hold down 20 of the most common occupations in the state — doesn’t earn enough money to make ends meet. That’s according to new research from United Ways across Virginia and their research partner, United for ALICE. . . . “The crux of the struggle,” as the United Way puts it, is the gap between wages and expenses. The report looked at costs in 2023 and noted that a family of four in Virginia needed, on average, more than $99,000 a year, just to cover the essentials.
Augusta County Sheriff’s Office gets body, dash cameras
The Augusta County Sheriff's Office has become the third local law enforcement agency to utilize body-worn cameras, nearly a year after the devices were approved. The sheriff's office began using the Axon cameras at the beginning of April and continue to roll out dash cameras for its vehicles. . . . The sheriff's office was a little late to the party as both the Staunton and Waynesboro police departments have had body cam devices in use for about a decade. Calls for the recording devices in the county became amplified in 2021 following two shootings in May of that year.