Legislation to protect children’s online privacy back in Youngkin’s hands

By SIERRA KRUG, WRIC-TV

... Proposed legislation in Virginia would protect kids’ online privacy, but politics could get in the way. As initially written, Senate Bill 361 focuses on protecting kids younger than 13. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin wanted to up the ante, protecting all minors, but ultimately, Senate members rejected his recommended changes. … SB361 made it through the Virginia General Assembly with bipartisan legislators voting to bar websites from accessing and selling data from online users under the age of 13.

Va. AG listens to families seeking justice for gun deaths

By CONOR HOLLINGSWORTH, WTKR-TV

If you took a look around the room at the New Hope Christian Community Center on Tuesday night, you’d see a room of people still grieving from losing a loved one. “It’s a nightmare,” said Radia Capehart, who lost her 15-year-old son, Shayne, to gun violence in 2022. “It’s an absolute nightmare you cannot wake up from. It’s just constant 24/7.”

Violent crime survivors, loved ones share stories with Virginia AG at forum

By MARTA BERGLUND, WVEC-TV

Shana Turner is the founder of Hampton Roads Mothers Against Senseless Killings (M.A.S.K.). She started the organization after her son, Shaquille, was killed in 2017. … Turner co-hosted a crime victims’ rights forum Tuesday night, alongside Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Pastor Calvin Durham of New Hope Church of God in Christ and local law enforcement leaders.

Petersburg nonprofit helps girls advocate school issues to General Assembly

By ALLIE PITCHON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)

Lauren McCray and Khloe Atwood are just 11 years old. That didn’t stop them from traveling to the General Assembly in February alongside two other young girls with the help of Petersburg non-profit Pretty Purposed, where they spoke to lawmakers about underfunding issues affecting their schools. “Most of our milks and stuff are either expired or are going to be expired the next day, and our water fountains weren't turning on for like two years," said Atwood, who attends the fifth grade at Sunnyside Elementary School in Dinwiddie County.

Richmond Mayor Stoney drops Va. governor bid, seeks lieutenant governor post

By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney announced Tuesday that he is dropping out of next year’s race for Virginia governor and running for lieutenant governor instead. Stoney, who has faced a tough contest against U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (Va.) for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, had been calling donors, supporters and others in recent days to say he would bow out of that race. He made it official with an early-morning news release Tuesday.

Stoney enters growing lieutenant governor field

By ANDREW CAIN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

In dropping out of the contest for governor, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney entered another contest that is anything but a sure thing, according to Virginia political analysts. State Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, a former NFL football player and Virginia Beach City Council member, announced Tuesday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 2025.

Virginia State Sen. Aaron Rouse announces run for lieutenant governor

By STACY PARKER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Virginia State Sen. Aaron Rouse, a Virginia Beach Democrat, announced Tuesday he will run for lieutenant governor in 2025. Two other Democrats are also in the running for the seat, which is currently held by Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney also announced Tuesday that he’s dropping his campaign for governor to run for the lieutenant governor role instead. Babur Lateef, a Northern Virginia eye surgeon and chair of the Prince William County School Board, is a third candidate in the race.

Stoney drops out of Virginia governor race, will run for lieutenant governor instead

By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced Tuesday that he’s no longer seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2025 and will instead run for lieutenant governor next year. Stoney’s downshift appears to put Democratic congresswoman Abigail Spanberger on a clear path to become her party’s next pick for governor, making her the lone Democrat officially running for the seat.

Stoney ends gubernatorial bid, announces run for lieutenant governor

By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Cardinal News

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney on Tuesday ended his gubernatorial bid, saying that he would run for lieutenant governor instead. Stoney’s decision puts Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Henrico County, who was the first candidate to jump into the 2025 race in November of last year, on a clear path to win the Democratic nomination to become the 75th governor of Virginia. … Less than two hours later, Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, who’s not even halfway through his first term in the state Senate, announced his own bid for lieutenant governor.

Kaine talks Israel-Hamas war during stop in Lynchburg

By EMMA MARTIN, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) made a stop in Lynchburg on Monday to talk with voters at La Vida Coffee and Market, between visits to Roanoke and Farmville. A former Virginia governor and mayor of Richmond, Kaine was first elected to the Senate in 2012 and is seeking a third term this November. “...[I]t’s just good to gather, tell people why I’m running again and how excited I am to keep representing Virginia but also take their questions and take their advice,” Kaine told reporters after the event.

GOP congressional hopefuls in 7th District make case at candidate forum

By JOEY LOMONACO, Fredericksburg Free Press

Two of the five candidates who took the stage at the Fredericksburg Convention Center on Tuesday night are military veterans who spent time in the special forces. Two others immigrated to the United States, while yet another is an ordained minister who claimed his bishop told him 10 years ago that “the Lord was sending me to Washington.” However, seeing as voters and not providence will determine the Republican candidate for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, Derrick Anderson, Cameron Hamilton, Maria Martin, John Prabhudoss, and Terris Todd gathered for a wide-ranging candidate forum that covered issues from immigration to inflation, while also serving as a platform for the candidates to tout their credentials.

Who in Virginia is running for Congress? Here are the 2024 candidates.

By PRESTON STEGER, WVEC-TV

Virginia is once again gearing up for primary elections, as voters across the Commonwealth will pick who they want to represent them in the U.S. Congress later this year. One of Virginia’s two seats in the Senate, and all 11 House of Representatives seats are on the ballot on Nov. 5, 2024. Primary elections for those seats will be held on June 18. Several races already have party nominees in place, since those candidates didn’t have anyone else running against them. The deadline to become a candidate in the Democratic or Republican primaries was April 4.

Judge nixes lawsuit challenging Virginia law on broadband crossings of railroads

By TAD DICKENS, Cardinal News

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that disputed a Virginia law governing internet service providers’ ability to string fiber across railroad lines. The lawsuit, which the Association of American Railroads filed last year on behalf of Norfolk Southern and CSX, was a response to a new state law that reduced the approval process time and costs to ISPs, particularly the state’s electric cooperatives, that were trying to reach rural customers across railway tracks.

Kaine, Warner urge coverage of IVF treatment for federal workers

By CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Virginia Democrats, joined lawmakers from the House and Senate to urge the Office of Personnel Management to require all health insurance carriers in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program to cover in-vitro fertilization treatments and medications. If the agency were to take up the request, this would affect federal employees, many of whom live in Northern Virginia.

Environmental groups challenge Mountain Valley Pipeline extension in federal court

By MATT BUSSE, Cardinal News

Eight environmental groups have filed a petition in federal court challenging regulators’ approval of a planned extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, arguing that the project’s scope has changed so much that an earlier approval is no longer relevant. The pipeline developers’ latest plans for the MVP Southgate extension from Pittsylvania County into North Carolina call for a shorter route and a wider pipe to transport nearly twice as much gas as previously planned. Developers have also abandoned plans for a new compressor station in Pittsylvania.

CoStar to receive a grant from Richmond worth millions

By ERIC KOLENICH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The city of Richmond will give CoStar Group Inc. a grant worth several million dollars, a recognition of the company’s plan to build an office tower expected to generate more than $30 million in new tax revenue. Richmond City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that will refund some of CoStar’s real estate and business property taxes after the 26-story building is complete. “This project is an incredible success story for the city,” said Leonard Sledge, Richmond’s head of economic development.

Former Ginter Park elementary in Richmond renamed to honor school’s first Black teacher, principal

By MEGAN PAULY, VPM

Relatives, friends and neighbors gathered along Chamberlayne Avenue on Tuesday to honor Frances W. McClenney — who the former Ginter Park Elementary School has been renamed after. The school, like Richmond’s botanical garden, was previously named for Confederate Maj. Lewis Ginter. A new school marquee with McClenney’s name was also unveiled. McClenney was the school’s first Black teacher, as well as its first Black principal. Her daughter, Jacqueline McClenney, said the positions came with death threats.

Bedford County School Board sues parent for $600,000, claiming he harassed school staff with calls

By LISA ROWAN, Cardinal News

The Bedford County School Board is suing a local parent for $600,000 for what it calls harassment of school division employees. The suit follows a complaint the parent made to the state Department of Education in January, in which he claimed that the school had failed to provide services for his son’s learning disability. David Rife, the parent, also has a long history of trying to advocate for his son in the school division, as outlined in documents filed by both parties in the suit.

Yancey: 20 questions for the next governor

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

Just like that — snaps fingers — Abigail Spanberger is the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor next year. To be fair, she’s had that position for a while now, which is no doubt what led Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to drop his gubernatorial bid Tuesday and announce instead for lieutenant governor. That instantly led state Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, to announce what had been widely known anyway: that he’s also a candidate for lieutenant governor. So is Babur Lateef, the chair of the Prince William County School Board. Will a three-way race induce others to enter on the theory that the vote will be chopped up and a majority may not be necessary to win?

Williams: Reimagining Monument Avenue is a lost cause. Stoney planted and punted.

By MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

After protesters toppled Confederate statues on Monument Avenue and then-Gov. Ralph Northam announced his intent to remove the Robert E. Lee monument, an NPR reporter asked me for a vision of what could take their place. “They could be monuments to reconciliation. They could be monuments to the African American struggle, which until recent years was not told in statuary,” I replied. ... With the Lee statue’s removal in September 2021, Richmond had a blank canvas to reinvent a historic street long defined by a mythology that recast subjugation and defeat as virtue and triumph. Mayor Levar Stoney had most if not all of his second term to launch a conversation about what that might look like.

Graves and Hernandez: Governor should sign bill to protect health workers

By ANGELIA WILLIAMS GRAVES AND PHIL HERNANDEZ, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Right now on the governor’s desk sits landmark legislation that is essential for the safety of doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers. House Bill 861, which we passed through the General Assembly earlier this year, is known as the “Protecting Frontline Healthcare Workers Act.” We call on the governor to sign it into law. This bipartisan bill would finally make it illegal to knowingly bring a firearm, large-blade knife, explosive or other dangerous weapon into a hospital or emergency department. Believe it or not, there is no current state law that directly prohibits this conduct.

Del. Hernandez represents Norfolk’s 94th House District and sponsored HB861. Sen. Graves represents Norfolk’s 21st Senate District and sponsored SB515.