By CHER MUZYK,
Prince William Times
The Prince William County School Board recently appointed three leaders of the local Moms for Liberty chapter to key school division advisory committees at the request of school board member Erica Tredinnick. … Moms for Liberty is a national organization comprised of local chapters of typically conservative parents. The organization was first formed in Florida in 2021 to challenge mask rules and other pandemic-related restrictions. It has since spread to dozens of states with the stated goal of supporting “parental rights” in public education ...
By ALEX BRIDGES,
Northern Virginia Daily
Warren County supervisors said Tuesday they want to block the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority from allowing the EDA’s former executive director to buy back her home. The EDA took ownership of property at 158 Faith Way, the home of Jennifer McDonald and her husband, Samuel North, on Feb. 5. The EDA took the property as part of a court-ordered civil settlement after McDonald was accused of funneling millions in EDA money through banks and other agencies ... The EDA board of directors voted at its March 22 meeting to authorize the transfer of the property back to McDonald and North in exchange for $350,000.
By JACK JACOBS,
Richmond BizSense
The Hanover Board of Supervisors has given the nod to a massive planned industrial project outside Ashland.
Development company Tract on Wednesday secured the zoning approval needed to create a 1,200-acre data center park along Hickory Hill Road east of Interstate 95 in Hanover County.
Tract Chief Investment Officer Graham Williams previously told BizSense that the company anticipated the project area would be able to support up to 9 million square feet of data center space spread across 30 buildings on multiple campuses.
By LUCA POWELL,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Residents of the Battery Park neighborhood of Richmond are suing 27 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front for defacing a mural of Arthur Ashe, the Black civil rights icon and tennis legend.
Arthur Ago, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the group’s actions were “evidence of white supremacy.”
Ago said the vandalism led to the partial closure of the park and deprived residents of its use. The vandalism was never criminally prosecuted.
By TYLER LAYNE,
WTVR-TV
Over the past few months, Richmond business owners have come forward to share concerns about dramatic meals tax late fees, inaccurate advice they received from finance employees, incorrect tax accounts, and a lack of transparency from City Hall.
The issues have left business owners and some city leaders wondering how the finance department got into this position in the first place, where the problems stem from, and when officials knew about them.
By CONOR HOLLINGSWORTH,
WTKR-TV
... Last week, the Chesapeake Public Schools Security Task Force outlined security changes they are making. One of them is a weapon detector pilot program. “It uses propriety sensors in an AI system to look at anything that carries the level of alloy, shape, that would construe a weapon so then we’re not having the whole historical metal detectors where you’re dumping everything in a basket to go through,” said [Penny Schultz, Assistant Director of School Safety and Security at Chesapeake Public Schools].
By IAN MUNRO,
Virginian-Pilot
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The South Hampton Roads regional landfill is filling up faster than previous planning scheduled, leaving questions about how residents will dispose of their waste in the future and what it will cost. The challenge is twofold. The landfill is facing an uphill regulatory challenge to expand its capacity, according to Dennis Bagley, executive director of the Southeastern Public Service Authority. Meanwhile, a facility that burns up to 70% of waste destined for the landfill and converts it into energy is closing in June and has already dialed back how much waste it’s burning.
By KATHERINE HAFNER,
WHRO
Hampton Roads officials are discussing how to address energy demand that’s expected to surge in the coming decades — because they say doing nothing is not an option.
“We will not keep a status quo if we get no new energy in our region,” Hampton City Manager Mary Bunting said at a recent meeting of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
“We will actually fall even further behind. … ”
The ongoing discussions have grown out of a regional analysis completed a couple years ago called the Hampton Roads Long-Term Energy Roadmap.
By TAFT COGHILL JR.,
Fredericksburg Free Press
Most of the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors made it clear during a meeting Tuesday night they have no interest in joining a Regional Transportation Authority with Fredericksburg as well as Stafford, King George and Caroline counties.
While Battlefield District representative Chris Yakabouski and Deborah Frazier of the Salem District left open the possibility if more information demonstrates that it will be beneficial to the county, others stated explicitly they do not support the idea.