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Virginia budget negotiators, Youngkin strike deal on spending plan
General Assembly negotiators and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) have reached a deal on the state budget, agreeing to use several hundred million dollars in excess state revenue to pay for spending priorities favored by the General Assembly without resorting to the tax expansion opposed by the governor. “We have a budget!” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Luke E. Torian (D-Prince William) said Thursday afternoon after meetings between lawmakers and Youngkin. The full document will be made public Saturday morning and still has to be approved by the legislature in a special session next week.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators say Israeli drones use Virginia Tech hardware; evidence doesn’t support claim
A specific accusation arose during the student-led demonstrations on the Virginia Tech campus late last month. Protesters accused the university, through its drone program, of complicity in Israel’s war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “Virginia Tech is the drone capital of the world,” one student said in a video posted to X, the site formerly called Twitter. “Every single drone that is in Gaza, targeting civilians right now and killing them, has Virginia Tech engineering ware in it.”
Youngkin and budget negotiators reach deal on state’s biennial spending plan
Just four days before lawmakers are set to return to Richmond for a special session to consider a new state budget, the General Assembly’s budget negotiators and Gov. Glenn Youngkin struck a deal Thursday afternoon for a two-year spending plan that, if approved by the legislature next week, would avert a government shutdown by July 1. Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt County and a budget conferee who was part of the negotiations, called the agreement a win for both sides.
Shenandoah County School Board votes to restore Confederate names to 2 schools
In front of a lively crowd and after a long meeting, the Shenandoah County School Board voted 5-1 early Friday morning to restore the names of two schools on the southern end of the county that had been named after Confederate generals. Voting “yes” to change Mountain View High School back to Stonewall Jackson High School and to change Honey Run Elementary School back to Ashby Lee Elementary School were Chairman Dennis Barlow, Brandi Rutz, Gloria Carlineo, Thomas Streett and Michael Rickard. Vice Chairman Kyle Gutshall was the lone "no" vote.
Workers extending Chesterfield County road encounter unmarked burial site
Workers extending Nash Road in the county’s court house area have unearthed what appears to be a potential centuries-old burial ground, officials said Thursday. At least one gravesite has been confirmed, and the county said the spot where it was found has been cordoned off to allow for further exploration. Experts used ground-penetrating radar to scan the area, “and have found underground anomalies that could be additional gravesites,” according to a county statement.
Senate passes air safety bill with more flights at Reagan National Airport
The Senate has passed a $105 billion bill designed to improve safety and customer service for air travelers, a day before the law governing the Federal Aviation Administration expires. The bipartisan bill, which comes after a series of close calls between planes at the nation’s airports, aims to boost the number of air traffic controllers amid a shortage, improve safety standards and make it easier for customers to get refunds after flights are delayed or canceled, among other measures.
Forced to Change: What’s Affecting Va. Seafood, Fishing?
Captain Matt Mason looked across Curtis Merritt Harbor and reflected: “Fishing is something I’ve done my whole life.” Mason, a charter fishing guide, has worked the sea for more than four decades, much of that guiding trips for summer flounder operating his business, Marshland Charters. Summer flounder is a species of fish native to the mid-Atlantic. Historically, their biomass was centered off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts. A study done by Virginia Tech researchers has found that biomass is shifting north because of warming ocean temperatures.
New regional group wants to push Hampton Roads forward without drag of bureaucracy
Bryan Stephens wants Hampton Roads to be the envy of its peers. But where other mid-sized Southern metros have succeeded, growing and drawing business, Hampton Roads often struggles. Stephens, who’s led the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce for the last decade, has seen the underpinnings that make the economies of those other regions hum. Hampton Roads leaders are now trying something new to push the region forward based on models that have worked elsewhere — a semi-formal group to turn conversations into action, without the bureaucracy, called the Regional Organizations Presidents’ Council.
Denver firm spends $32.7 million on Hanover tract for data center park
A Denver-based developer has purchased a 1,211-acre stretch of rural land east of Ashland for $32.7 million for a planned data center park. The development firm Tract bought the properties after winning the approval of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors for the project in March. ... The company plans a development of as many as 46 buildings and 862 employees.
A Week After Mountain Valley Pipeline Burst, Builder Says Testing Works
A week after a section of the Mountain Valley Pipeline ruptured during testing, its builder says the failure shows the testing is working as designed and intended. Part of the pipe burst on May 1 at Bent Mountain in Roanoke County, Virginia, releasing an unknown quantity of municipal water used to pressure test the line. Initially, the only way the public knew about the incident was because a landowner reported the sediment-laden water had inundated her property to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.