By CHRISTY MATINO,
WDVM-TV
The Alexandria City Council passed an ordinance expanding rights to city workers on Saturday.
It’s a historic ordinance, the first the Commonwealth has seen in over 40 years. The mandate was created to promote orderly relationships between the city and its employees.
By SCOTT MCCAFFREY,
Sun Gazette
They had known for weeks – probably months – of the likely outcome, but for preservation advocates, the Arlington County Board’s April 17 decision to deny historic-district status to the Rouse estate still had a sting to it. “The whole thing was really a needless waste,” sighed Historical Affairs & Landmark Review Board (HALRB) chairman Richard Woodruff, who blamed “a complete failure of leadership” during a five-month-long preservation fight that ended with century-old, if dilapidated, structures bulldozed into a pile of rubble.
By DANIEL BERTI,
Prince William Times
A newly formed Prince William County commission whose goal is to examine racial inequities in local schools and government services is off to a rocky start this year as partisan infighting among commissioners continues to escalate.
Conflict has sprung up between several Democratic-appointed commissioners and Republican-appointed Commissioner Charles “Mac” Haddow over actions and statements they say suggest Haddow wants to “derail” the commission’s work, a claim Haddow denies.
By KAREN GRAHAM,
Loudoun Times
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Round Hill residents are being instructed to restrict their water usage for at least the next three weeks following a system failure at one of the town's water treatment facilities forced the system to be shut down.
Officials said water should not be used for washing cars, watering lawns, filling swimming pools or other activities until the order is lifted.
By KENYA HUNTER,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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The Richmond School Board unanimously approved a plan Monday for Richmond Public Schools students to return to school for five days a week next school year, striking an alternative plan for hybrid instruction.
After feedback from families, Superintendent Jason Kamras’ administration ultimately said that it was possible to meet the CDC’s guidance for 3 feet of social distancing in classroom settings, and there was no need to provide a hybrid option.
By CHRIS SUAREZ,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Richmond has completed its purchase of a parcel of land it sold more than 60 years ago without regard for its history as a burial ground for freed African Americans 200 years ago. The city announced the acquisition Monday after closing on a $145,000 deal of the privately owned 1.2-acre property at 1305 N. 5th St. last week. . . . City officials said they plan to begin work with archaeologists and historians to decide how best to memorialize the site and incorporate it into Richmond Slave Trail programming.
By JIM MCCONNELL,
Chesterfield Observer
The local school system failed to properly redact personal information from a document requested through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, inadvertently releasing to a parent last week the names of all Chesterfield County Public Schools students and employees who have reported testing positive for COVID-19.
Chesterfield resident Grace Olsen, the mother of a CCPS student, had asked for the number of students who have been required to quarantine as a result of exposure to the coronavirus in Chesterfield schools.
By JESS NOCERA,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Nearly 1,000 names of Chesterfield County Public School students and employees were erroneously provided in a recent Virginia Freedom of Information Act request.
The school system became aware of the error last week after a citizen submitted an FOIA request for the district’s coronavirus contact-tracing list. The names on the list, approximately 575 students and 400 staff members who were potentially in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, were incorrectly not redacted.
By CATHY DYSON,
Free Lance-Star
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King George County’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year is up 10 percent from its current spending plan, but that doesn’t mean taxes are rising by the same degree. While the Board of Supervisors is recommending a 3-cent increase in real estate taxes—to 73 cents per $100 of assessed value—the county hopes to gain more revenue from a new funding source. Starting July 1, it plans to impose a 40-cent tax on every pack of cigarettes sold throughout the county, particularly in the outlets that dot U.S. 301 between Dahlgren and the Potomac River.
By KATHERINE KNOTT,
Daily Progress
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The Albemarle County school division is not planning to add more days of in-person instruction for the rest of this school year; however, all students will have access to five days per week of in-person classes next school year.
“What we’re saying is that’s the default unless something drastic changes between now and then,” schools Superintendent Matt Haas said of the five-day plan during a media briefing at Baker-Butler Elementary School on Monday.