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The Minimum Wage Fight in Virginia

Wall Street Journal Editorial (Subscription Required)

With their slim new legislative majority, Virginia Democrats want to remake the economy in the image of deep-blue states. One example is a planned minimum-wage hike, which would depress job growth in the rural areas that need it most. The General Assembly recently passed a bill to raise the state minimum wage to $15 by 2026, from $12 today. It was approved by a two-vote party-line vote in both chambers. Democratic leaders said the increase is their priority for this year.

VaNews March 19, 2024


Czaplicki: General Assembly shows how (not) to support the National Guard

By ANDREW CZAPLICKI, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The excitement is over. After 60 days of grueling debate and the hourly grind of bicameral committee hearings, the 2024 General Assembly concluded its work for the year on March 9. Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to begin signing (or vetoing) hundreds of bills covering a wide range of topics from gun reform to raising the minimum wage, and other high-profile legislation. What’s missing? The National Guard.

Czaplicki is director of communications for the Virginia National Guard Association and has served on the board of directors since 2012.

VaNews March 19, 2024


Cooper: Governor, support veterans by signing gun safety bills

By SCOTT COOPER, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Death is part of the job when you own livestock, as many of my neighbors in Culpeper County know. When one of my horses passes on, I grieve because I’ve lost a friend. Occasionally, if the task to put down a lame horse falls to me, my tool of choice is a Beretta M9 pistol because it’s the tool that best gets the job done. That’s also how I was taught to use and respect weapons in the Marine Corps.

Cooper is a retired Marine and combat veteran. He lives on a horse farm near Rixeyville.

VaNews March 19, 2024


Federal lawsuit seeks to halt construction of Virginia Beach offshore wind farm

By KATHERINE HAFNER, WHRO

A coalition of conservative groups is suing to halt Dominion Energy from constructing its planned wind farm off Virginia Beach, arguing federal officials have failed to adequately consider its potential impacts to endangered whales. The groups, which include the Heartland Institute and Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, filed suit in federal court Monday against agencies including the National Marine Fisheries Service and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The plaintiffs say the government “illegally approved Dominion Energy’s offshore wind project by ignoring glaring and obvious procedural errors that subjects the endangered North Atlantic right whale to further grave harm.”

VaNews March 19, 2024


Lawsuit against Youngkin administration over voting rights to proceed

By CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

A lawsuit filed against Gov. Glenn Youngkin last summer over his administration’s changes to voting rights restorations has been found to have merit by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. This means that the case will proceed. The suit, filed last June, includes Virginia’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, voting rights group Protect Democracy, and law firm WilmerHale. They joined forces to take Youngkin to court along with a handful of state elections officials and local registrars.

VaNews March 19, 2024


Governor Youngkin criticizes budget in Chesapeake speech

By MILES HOOD, WVEC-TV

Governor Glenn Youngkin criticized the proposed budget while giving a speech to a group of supporters in Chesapeake on Monday. He emphasized the improvements in employment in the state, as well as a decrease in crime. The governor also focused the majority of his speech on the tax increases in the proposed budget. “This budget is not just backward but literally undermines the tenants to the success that we’ve had over the last two years,” Youngkin said.

VaNews March 19, 2024


Virginia Officials Scrutinize Two Universities’ DEI Course Syllabi

By RYAN QUINN, Inside Higher Ed

Republican politicians have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion in state after state. They’ve passed laws to limit, defund or outright ban related programs. They’ve demanded information on universities’ DEI expenses and their numbers of DEI positions. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who won office in 2021 after campaigning against the alleged teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools, is diving into the details. His education secretary’s office has requested to review syllabi from upcoming diversity-themed courses at two public universities: George Mason, which has been planning a broad “Just Societies” mandate, and Virginia Commonwealth University, which has been planning a new “Racial Literacy” requirement. The universities say they have complied with the unusual requests.

VaNews March 19, 2024


Virginia’s help with energy bills falls short of need

By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The several programs to help low-income Virginians stay warm in winter and avoid overheating in summer fall far short of needs, according to a report from the state Department of Social Services. All in all, federal block grant funds and help from the state’s electric utilities provided some $134 million in subsidies to 231,642 households, out of nearly 923,000 that were eligible for help. Those eligible households included more than 362,000 where at least one elderly person was living, more than 335,000 with at least one disabled individual and nearly 163,000 with at least one young child.

VaNews March 19, 2024


Conservative groups sue to stop Dominion wind farm

By KATE ANDREWS, Virginia Business

A nonprofit conservative watchdog group based in Falls Church filed a lawsuit Monday against Dominion Energy, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Department of the Interior and other government bodies, aiming to stop construction of Dominion’s offshore wind farm expected to begin this spring 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast.

VaNews March 19, 2024


Yancey: Ten little-noticed things the General Assembly did

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

The big things that the General Assembly recently did — or didn’t do — you already know about. Cannabis (did). Electronic “skill” games (also did). The arena (didn’t do). The legislature, though, deals with thousands of bills — this year, 2,390 were introduced, of which 1,098 were passed. Some are more important than others but all were important to somebody. Here are some of the lesser-known things the legislature did that are worth noting — and keep in mind there may be lots of others; I don’t claim in any way that this is a comprehensive list.

VaNews March 19, 2024