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McDonald sentenced to 14 years in prison for EDA scandal
A federal judge sentenced Jennifer McDonald, a former executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority, to 14 years in prison on Wednesday for committing financial crimes against the agency. McDonald appeared Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg for the second part of her sentencing hearing.
Youngkin says 24-hour notice of overdoses will be required by state
A bill directing the Virginia Board of Education to develop a parental notification policy for school-connected suspected overdoses has become a law without a provision calling for those notifications to be sent within 24 hours of an incident. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed the bill on May 17 but said the House of Delegates diluted the legislation by removing the 24-hour notification provision included in the state Senate version of the bill. “While the current language does not go far enough to ensure parental notification of school-connected overdoses, it allows the (Virginia) Board of Education to establish guidelines,” he said in a news release. “The Board of Education will begin this work immediately.”
Henry County plant remains open in wake of Teal-Jones bankruptcy filing
Teal-Jones Group filed for bankruptcy and was granted creditor protection on April 25. The company, with headquarters in Canada and operations in Henry County, obtained a Provisional Recognition Order from the U.S. Court for the District of Delaware under Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, according to a news release issued May 24. ... "County staff was informed by the company of the filing in Canada," said Henry County Administrator Dale Wagoner. "I understand that the local facility has been profitable, and after a brief furlough, the company has ramped back up to full production locally."
Schapiro: Does Trump’s endorsement trump all?
In the parallel universe that is a Republican primary in Virginia, the outcome these days is supposed to be decided by the company a candidate keeps. That being blessed by Donald Trump ensures victory, reducing the primary to a mere formality. U.S. Rep Bob Good, an uber-conservative Republican in the sprawling, largely rural 5th District, is seeking renomination in less than three weeks to a third two-year term, running this time — as he did the first time in 2020 — without the endorsement of the former president.
Charges downgraded for 3 Otieno defendants
The three remaining defendants in the death of Irvo Otieno have had charges downgraded from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter. Court records on Wednesday show the charges were downgraded in the cases of Wavie Jones, Brandon Rodgers and Kaiyell Sanders. Sanders and Rodgers are Henrico County sheriff’s deputies. Jones was an employee at Central State Hospital, the maximum security psychiatric facility in Dinwiddie County where Otieno, 28, died while handcuffed and pinned to the floor.
Tysons-based Capital One pursues historic $35 billion merger with Discover Bank
One of the largest bank mergers in U.S. history may be happening in Fairfax County’s backyard. Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — the federal agency that regulates national banks — announced plans to hold a virtual public meeting on July 19 at 9 a.m. on Capital One Financial Corporation’s proposal to acquire Discover Bank. Capital One, headquartered in Tysons, would purchase the Riverwoods, Illinois-based bank for $35.3 billion. If approved, the merger would be the fifth-largest bank deal ever in U.S. history.
Federal judge denies request seeking to stop Virginia Beach wind farm construction
A federal judge has denied a preliminary injunction seeking to halt construction of a 2.6-gigawatt wind farm about 29 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. In a 10-page opinion issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ruled against the temporary injunction, which sough to stop construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project while the case moved forward. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. by several conservative anti-offshore wind groups, argues the wind farm construction negatively impacts the endangered North Atlantic right whale species.
Virginia board considers ousting GOP election official accused of sharing voting machine information
Two members of the Charles City County Electoral Board have asked Virginia officials to begin the process of removing the third member of the board, who is accused of sharing sensitive election machine information with a local GOP leader. In a May 14 letter to the Virginia State Board of Elections, election officials in Charles City … formally requested the ouster of local Electoral Board Member Maria A. Kinney, a Republican who just joined the board in January. The cause listed in the request was “severe dereliction of duties,” including a claim Kinney allowed a former Charles City County GOP chair, Irene Churins, to view election equipment passwords during an accuracy test.
Celebrate the win, but don’t confuse AAA with real progress
The last six months haven’t exactly been kind to Mayor Levar Stoney. In November, he lost a second casino referendum, this time by 24 percentage points; the now-infamous meals tax fiasco, a borderline fraudulent tax-collection scheme bilking restaurant owners of hundreds of thousands, dominated headlines in January; in early March, the Stoney administration was hit with a whistleblower lawsuit from, of all people, the city attorney charged with overseeing transparency efforts; a few weeks later came a fight with Virginia Commonwealth University and state lawmakers, who called on the university to cancel a $56 million financial agreement with the city over a failed real estate project.
Yancey: Wages in Southwest Va. still lag behind but are growing faster than state and national averages
I want you to close your eyes and try to guess the place I’m about to describe. Wait — never mind. That’s probably not a good idea. I always try to envision I’m in a conversation with readers, so I sometimes forget you’re reading this and not looking back at me through the screen. Let’s try this, then. I’m going to describe a place, and you try to guess what part of Virginia it is (unless the headline has already given it away). There’s a part of the state where wage growth has typically lagged behind the state and national averages, but where since the pandemic wages have been growing faster than either of those — and at last report, are growing three times faster than the national rate.