Javascript is required to run this page
VaNews
April 16, 2024
Top of the News

Convenience stores shut down Virginia Lottery sales in protest for skill games

By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

At Krunal Patel’s convenience store outside Richmond, a row of Queen of Virginia skill games has been powered off and turned around against a wall. On Monday, in response to what he sees as unfair treatment in a state that’s embraced legalized gambling, Patel also turned off the Virginia Lottery machines in his store. He posted signs on his front doors and above the checkout counter explaining the one-day shutdown of lottery sales was a protest against Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed changes to a pending Virginia bill that would legalize, tax and regulate skill games instead of leaving them banned as a type of illegal gambling.

Virginia NAACP sues Youngkin over alleged FOIA violation, concerns about equity in state government

By RYAN NADEAU, WRIC-TV

The Virginia NAACP has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) for allegedly failing to produce records in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2023. According to a press release from the organization, the lawsuit alleges that Youngkin’s administration failed to produce records regarding its Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The records sought reportedly relate to the administration’s “active subversion” of its responsibilities under the 2020 law relating to that office.

The Full Report
5 articles, 5 publications

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

Hundreds of Virginia convenience stores protest Gov. Youngkin’s skill games amendments

By SARAH HAMMOND, WVEC-TV

If you’re looking for a lottery ticket in Virginia today (Monday), you might be out of luck. That’s because hundreds of convenience stores are protesting a move by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to regulate skill games in the state. Nik Patel said skill games are a big part of their business at Border Station in Chesapeake. “We have big expenses like anybody else. Wages are going up. So those skill game machines would provide extra income to offset those costs,” he said.

Republican senator, local business owners speak out against governor’s skill games changes

By NICK BROADWAY AND MICHELLE WOLF, WAVY-TV

A Virginia senator and local business owners are speaking out against amendments to a skill games bill which would affect businesses in Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Richmond and Roanoke. Republican state Sen. Bill DeSteph held a community discussion Monday afternoon at Scandal’s Bar and Lounge in Virginia Beach.

Virginia NAACP plans to take Youngkin to court over DEI office records

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

Virginia’s chapter of the NAACP plans to take Gov. Glenn Youngkin to court over an alleged failure to respond to public records requests. The chapter’s president, the Rev. Cozy Bailey, said at a news conference outside the state Capitol on Monday that Youngkin was being served legal action that day. The pending legal back-and-forth stems from an initial August public records request by the NAACP to determine if the administration has been complying with state law regarding DEI work.

Youngkin would slash extra Metro funds, shift burden to Northern Virginia localities

By DAN BRENDEL, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)

The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission has sounded an alarm to state legislators about a budget amendment from Gov. Glenn Youngkin that would slash extra funding for Metro — funds the transit authority has said it badly needs to help cover a budget shortfall and avoid service cuts, staving off potentially dire economic consequences for Greater Washington.

Youngkin adds more ratepayer protection to small modular reactor bills

By PATRICK LARSEN, VPM

The General Assembly will take another look at legislation that would allow the state’s two biggest electric utility companies to request ratepayer funds to cover costs of early development for small modular nuclear reactors. SMRs are well-described by their name. They’re smaller than a traditional reactor — those are often rated at about 1,000 MW. An SMR would produce about one-third of that. They’re modular — meaning they can be built off-site and used in an array of one or more reactors. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office made some changes to the bills that supporters say would protect electric ratepayers against major bill impacts — opponents of the measures maintain the bills have ratepayers fronting the risk of an unproven technology.