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By ERIC KOLENICH,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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The demolition of Richmond’s Public Safety Building, a valuable piece of city-owned downtown real estate, is scheduled to begin in one to two weeks, according to a spokesperson for Virginia Commonwealth University Health.
The removal of the building, long considered an eyesore, is the first step toward its redevelopment. VCU Health agreed to pay for demolition as part of its failed redevelopment plan. It hired Henrico County-based DPR Construction for $5 million, according to city records.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By DAVE RESS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin still has concerns about legislation to legalize skill games — the slot machine-like devices that hundreds of convenience stores say keep them in business — but says he thinks an answer could come when the General Assembly meets next month to consider a new state budget.
His big concern is to make sure skill games are not set up too close to schools or churches, and he thinks the bill aligns with the state’s casino gaming law, which bars additional historical horse racing gambling devices within 35 miles of a casino host city.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By BETH JOJACK,
Virginia Business
Florida-based aerospace and defense contractor L3Harris Technologies announced on Thursday a $41.2 million expansion and modernization of its Aerojet Rocketdyne facility in Orange County, with plans to add 80 employees.
Over the next three years, L3Harris also plans to construct new facilities and buy new equipment for the facility, according to a statement from the company and another by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By NEAL AUGENSTEIN,
WTOP
A Loudoun County, Virginia, judge set a new trial date for fired school superintendent Scott Ziegler and made no reference to Ziegler’s attorneys claim that the judge erred in ordering a new trial after setting aside a previous misdemeanor conviction.
Thursday morning, Circuit Court Judge Douglas Fleming set Feb. 3, 2025, as the first of a possible five-day jury trial, six weeks after throwing out Ziegler’s conviction for the retaliatory firing of a teacher who reported that an elementary school student inappropriately touched her.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By MICKEY POWELL,
Winchester Star
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Acquiring safety improvements for the stretch of Va. 7 (Harry Byrd Highway) on Blue Ridge Mountain ultimately could be an issue of who has more political clout in Richmond. Is it Clarke County, a small agricultural community of roughly 15,000 residents? Or, is it Loudoun County, an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., with a population of about 420,000? Clarke failed in its attempt, so county officials are letting Loudoun try.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By ELIZABETH BEYER,
News Leader
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Four reproductive health care bills were sent back to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk for his signature or veto following the Wednesday General Assembly reconvene session, when lawmakers met to consider the governor’s action on legislation passed during the regular 2024 session.
The legislative body sent four bills that the governor had amended back to his desk in their original form after rejecting the amendments, for his veto or signature. He has 30 days to act on the bills.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By NATHANIEL CLINE,
Virginia Mercury
Two Virginia school divisions are slated to launch a pilot program intended to help reduce youth involvement in gangs and violent behaviors with guns but it’s unclear if the initiative will be fully funded, as lawmakers go back to the drawing board to work up a new state spending plan.
On April 2, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed legislation to create the Community Builders Pilot Program that will start with Roanoke and Petersburg City Public Schools students entering the eighth grade. Pupils in both districts face high rates of gun violence and cases of students bringing firearms to school.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By ANDIE VIGLIOTTI,
WDVM-TV
U.S. Senators for Virginia, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, introduced federal gun legislation Tuesday on the 17th anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting.
The bill’s provisions are modeled from Virginia’s statewide gun legislation passed in 2020 that a release from Kaine’s office called “commonsense gun violence prevention measures.”
VaNews April 19, 2024
By TYLER LAYNE,
WTVR-TV
The future of Monument Avenue in Richmond remains unclear four years after multiple Confederate statues were removed and Mayor Levar Stoney said he would embark on a planning process to develop a long-term vision for the historic district.
The Robert E. Lee statue, was once the largest Confederate statue in the United States, was removed from Monument Avenue in 2021. Mayor Stoney ordered the emergency removal of the street’s other Confederate monuments amid protests against racial injustice in 2020.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By ASHLYN CAMPBELL,
Daily News Record
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A little more than $1 million in federal funding that Congress approved this March will go toward creating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math hubs across Virginia — but the effort that got the Commonwealth there came from an educator in the Shenandoah Valley’s backyard. Amy Sabarre, the Harrisonburg City Public Schools STEM director and the president of the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board, helped secure that $1,028,000 for STEM education, an accomplishment that took the teacher 10 years of persistence.
VaNews April 19, 2024
