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Petersburg Catholic group sues Park Service over Memorial Day Mass
A Knights of Columbus council in Petersburg has gone to federal court, seeking the right to continue its tradition of holding a Memorial Day Mass within Poplar Grove National Cemetery. The Catholic fraternal organization says it held the Memorial Day Mass within the cemetery most years dating back to the 1960s. That changed in 2023, when the National Park Service denied the organization’s permit.
Petersburg school leader spent $22,000 on travel over 15 months on job, records show
Former Petersburg Schools Superintendent Dr. Tamara Sterling charged taxpayers more than $22,000 while traveling to conferences during her 15 months on the job, according to records obtained by CBS 6 through a public records request. The $22,000 bill was more than double what the Henrico County superintendent spent, 14 times what the Hopewell superintendent spent, and 43 times what the Chesterfield superintendent spent on travel during that same time frame.
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.
When will broadband arrive in Fauquier County? It’s anyone’s guess.
Fewer than 14 months remain on All Points Broadband’s contract to deliver high-speed broadband to rural communities in Virginia, but not a single mile of cable has been laid in Fauquier County. With 60% of the contract period elapsed, All Points has not completed any of its milestones or project phases, according to the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative dashboard. An official delay has not been announced for Fauquier County, but one appears likely, meaning about 10,000 homes and businesses will still have no access to high-speed fiber-optic internet and phone service.
The decision to close schools usually comes down to money. But the experience is far more emotional.
When people ask what will happen to the decades of yearbooks, trophies and other memorabilia inside Henry Elementary School when it closes this summer, Tiffany Herman doesn’t have answers. The PTO secretary and her fellow board members are first working on allocating the remaining money the organization raised for the school before it has to dissolve its nonprofit status. But her biggest concern right now is trying to get her younger daughter excited about going to fourth grade at a new school. … Henry Elementary is one of two schools completing their final academic years on Wednesday in Franklin County, one of several school divisions in Southwest and Central Virginia facing ongoing declining enrollment and the funding challenges that often accompany it.
Hung Cao, hopeful to represent GOP against Kaine, calls Staunton area ‘podunk’
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Hung Cao again failed to address critical questions about spending by the Unleash America super PAC when asked by a conservative talk show host on Tuesday, May 21. But he did continue his attacks on the story that prompted critiques from members of his own party. Instead of explaining why the money raised by the super PAC did not go to Virginia Republican candidates for state office in 2023, Cao again called the report that prompted the allegations a “hit job” and referred to the Staunton News Leader, which reported the story, as a “podunk local newspaper” on an episode of the Alec Lace show Tuesday.
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.
5 Virginia colleges awarded lab school funding must resubmit applications
Five Virginia colleges that have already been awarded millions in state funding for lab schools are scrambling to find new partners and resubmit their lab school applications within the next month. Budget language finalized this month emphasizes that state code does not allow lab school funding to go to private or two-year colleges — which Democrats who wrote the law have asserted for the past two years. The Virginia Department of Education has awarded lab school planning grants to five colleges that appear to be ineligible: Emory & Henry College, Roanoke College, Mountain Gateway Community College, Paul D. Camp Community College and Germanna Community College.
Va. teacher pay gets a boost in budget, but it’s still projected to fall short of national average
Legislation that would have aligned Virginia teachers’ pay with the national average or higher by the 2027-28 school year won bipartisan support but was blocked from the state budget by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto last week. The two-year budget, signed last week, includes $540 million to help pay for 3% salary increases for teachers and state employees in both years. The governor said he supported the goal of “ensuring that teachers and state-funded education support positions are funded competitively,” but didn’t approve the bill to boost educators’ salaries to the national average because it relied heavily on what he viewed as flawed data from the National Education Association, which represents educators across the country.
Yancey: Why we won’t write about the Danville Dairy Daddies
I will not write about the Dairy Daddies. I will not fall for the cheap marketing ploy by which a new Danville summer league collegiate baseball team has adopted what the team admits is a “sensual” name and mascot as a way to draw attention — and has embarked on a series of promotions such as “Teat-Tugging Thursdays” and on social media has taken up some blush-inducing hashtags such as #DaddiesAfterDark. To do that would be beneath my dignity as a serious journalist. Instead, I will write about serious things, such as how Danville, a city written off for dead two decades ago when the textile industry collapsed, has now made such a startling comeback that it can now support not just one but two summer league college teams.