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Martinsville deputy misses response window in ongoing civil rights suit
The window for Martinsville Sheriff’s Deputy Reva Keen to respond to a federal civil rights suit filed by city council member Aaron Rawls has closed, according to recently filed court documents. A clerk’s entry of default, a document signifying that the defendant has failed to defend or otherwise respond to the suit, was filed July 1 in federal court in Danville. The suit stems from Rawls’ removal from a March city council meeting. In the complaint, he says that his constitutional rights and his privileges as a locally elected official were violated.
Fisher: Trump wins the ritual sacrifice of U-Va.’s president. So now what?
When University of Virginia students return to campus this fall, everything will be different. Their school president will be gone, sacrificed on the altar of the MAGA movement’s campaign against the bogeyman of diversity, equity and inclusion. The school’s DEI programs will be history. The selection process for the next president will be underway, as Trumpian forces transform one of America’s premier universities into a place where students are no longer inculcated with identity politics, no longer infected with anti-Americanism, no longer submersed in leftist values. It will be a MAGA super-paradise come to life on, of all places, a college campus. Or maybe not.
Trump’s megabill slashes wind energy incentives, but Dominion’s Virginia Beach project spared
A late addition to President Donald Trump’s signature policy bill means Dominion Energy’s Virginia Beach wind farm will not be at risk of losing federal tax credits. The bill, which Trump signed into law Friday, slashes many of the solar and wind energy incentives enacted through the Inflation Reduction Act by former President Joe Biden and others. The bill quickly phases out clean energy tax credits for wind and solar projects. Now, projects that are not operational by 2027 will lose out on the tax credits.
Still standing? Virginia Supreme Court to hear HFFI’s lawsuit against Fredericksburg City Council
Back in 2018, when Brian McDermott and his wife, Lori, moved into their new (old) home on Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, they were eager to restore the 268-year-old property, also known as the Charles Dick House. . . . A few years later, however, the McDermotts applied for and received a certificate of appropriateness from the city’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) to demolish a small, 1910s-era building nestled in the back corner of their lot at 204 Lewis St. Today, that structure is still standing, and the question of legal standing will go before the Virginia Supreme Court later this year as the final stop in a lawsuit filed by the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) against the Fredericksburg City Council.
White: Ranked choice voting improves democracy. Will Va. embrace it?
This year, Virginia voters have been going to the polls for critical elections across the commonwealth, and in many cases, they've seen a lot of names on their ballots. From the recent Democratic lieutenant governor primary to the 11th Congressional District special election primaries, Virginia has two real-time examples of how ranked choice voting (RCV) could benefit voters in crowded races. Both demonstrate why it's time for Virginia's political parties to further embrace RCV.
In Virginia, the fight continues against invasive water chestnut
A day at the arcade would have been good practice for the work aquatic specialists had before them at a Virginia lake one morning in June. Spraying a jet stream of herbicide from an idling airboat is no easy task, especially when the invasive plant they’re trying to target is barely visible beneath native American lotus leaves. “These plants, they get lost among the emerging vegetation, and this one rosette can make 20 fruits in a year,” said Lynde Dodd, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Ryan’s resignation marks a ‘turning point’ for the Jefferson Council
The news of University President Jim Ryan’s resignation stunned the community — students were “devastated,” faculty were concerned, politicians planned for a fight and many alumni were critical of the Justice Department’s actions. But for the Jefferson Council, a conservative alumni group that has advocated for Ryan’s removal for years, the resignation symbolized a victory over what they viewed as Ryan’s attempt to push far-left ideologies onto the University. Now, Jefferson Council President Joel Gardner hopes that this “turning point” brings a new style of leadership to the University.
New Va. law protecting reproductive health data prompts Walmart’s online data collection pop-ups
Disclosure pop-ups about the “cookies,” or other aggregate bits of data websites collect and store aren’t an uncommon experience while shopping online. What’s less common: when a pop-up indicates that your potential purchase of condoms, birth control medication or menstrual hygiene products is being noted digitally, a message Virginians have started seeing when they shop virtually for such products. Since July 1, a new state law outlines that people’s personally identifiable reproductive or sexual health information cannot be obtained, disclosed, disseminated or sold without consumer consent. As new laws took effect in Virginia on July 1, Walmart has begun alerting customers about certain product or service searches and purchases.
Charlottesville police change course on data-sharing tech amid US immigration crackdown
Amid the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown, Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis has pulled the plug on a controversial crime-analysis software and placed the 10 license-plate reading cameras being piloted in the city into a data silo. Depending on the source, anywhere from 57,000 to 140,000 people have been deported since Donald Trump retook the White House in January. Among that number are naturalized and natural-born citizens, and many have been apprehended using data shared between local law enforcement offices and federal agencies, prompting concern about how that data is shared.
Audit raises red flags for Arlington transit program serving people with disabilities
County leaders are promising action after an audit found major deficiencies in the operation and oversight of a transit program serving Arlington residents with disabilities. Identified issues with the Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents (STAR) program ranged from billing discrepancies to a lack of review of driver manifests by WeDriveU, which operates the paratransit program under contract to the county. The report indicated that faulty efforts on the part of the contractor and Arlington County’s Transit Bureau are shortchanging taxpayers.