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Mountain Valley Pipeline largely completed, company says

By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is largely completed, the company said Monday in requesting federal approval for it to be placed in service. Although some work remains, the company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue an order by May 23 that would allow it to begin operations. “Mountain Valley has completed all waterbody and wetland crossings project-wide,” Matthew Eggerding, deputy general counsel for the joint venture building the natural gas pipeline, wrote in a letter filed late Monday to the FERC docket.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Petrilli: Va. has a chance to up its education game. It shouldn’t swing and miss

By MICHAEL J. PETRILLI, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

If Virginia’s school system were a person, we’d say it was born on third base and thought it hit a triple. Indeed, the commonwealth’s education officials have spent so many years patting themselves on the back that their arms must hurt. It’s true that some national magazines have ranked Virginia’s schools highly in the past. But that’s not surprising, given that it’s also one of the wealthiest states in the nation.

Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution.

VaNews April 23, 2024


England: Thankfully, Virginia rejects measures that would unleash chaos upon voters

By TRENT ENGLAND, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Virginia voters can have confidence in November that the election process will be simple and their votes will count. That’s because of the defeat of two radical election proposals pushed by well-financed lobbying groups. Each would have made voting less transparent and more confusing. Voters were spared the latest mess only by gubernatorial veto on April 8. That bill, Senate Bill 428, would have required the commonwealth to assist local implementation of an election system known as ranked choice voting, or RCV.

England is founder and executive director of Save Our States and co-chairman of the Stop Ranked-Choice Voting Coalition.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Powhatan County School Board adopts state’s model policy on transgender students

By ROSLYN RYAN, Powhatan Today

After previously voting it down, the Powhatan County School Board voted 4-1 on April 16 in favor of adopting a controversial policy related to the division’s treatment of students who identify as transgender or nonbinary. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools,” had been opposed 3-2 by the Powhatan School Board last December, during the last meeting of the previously-elected board.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Richmond Mayor Stoney tells Democrats he’ll drop bid for Va. governor

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

Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney is telling fellow Democrats that he intends to drop out of next year’s race for Virginia governor and is weighing a run for lieutenant governor instead, according to four people familiar with his plans. Stoney, who has faced a tough contest against Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) for their party’s gubernatorial nomination, has been calling donors, supporters and others in recent days to say that he will bow out of that race, according to the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private conversations.

VaNews April 23, 2024


America’s first Black ambassador will be honored in his hometown: Roanoke

By MICHAEL HEMPHILL, Cardinal News

Outside his hometown of Roanoke, Edward R. Dudley lived a life of a civil rights hero. Special assistant counsel to Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. First African American to run for statewide office in New York on the ticket of a major party. First African American to serve as an administrative judge in New York State. And most prominent: first African American U.S. ambassador. But within Roanoke? “He’s such a brilliant guy, my dad,” lamented his 81-year-old son, Edward Dudley Jr. “But nobody knows about him.” Until now.

VaNews April 23, 2024


CoStar Group to acquire Calif. technology company Matterport for $1.6 billion

By STAFF REPORT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The CoStar Group, which announced in February plans to move its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Rosslyn, announced that it will acquire California 3D technology company Matterport for $1.6 billion. Matterport offers 3-D capture technology which delivers “dimensionally accurate, photorealistic virtual tours” for any type of property and is widely used in real estate. ... CoStar said last year it expected to hire 2,000 more people in Richmond, putting its workforce here at about 3,500.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Biden announces solar investments at Earth Day visit to Prince William Forest Park

By BEN PETERS, Inside NOVA

President Joe Biden on Monday during an Earth Day stop at Prince William Forest Park made a series of announcements aimed at fighting climate change, including $7 billion to expand access to residential solar installations through the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Solar for All” program. The president, speaking alongside Democratic members of Congress in the Prince William wilderness, also announced that people can now apply to join the American Climate Corps. The initiative is modeled after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps and aims to put more than 20,000 young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change while gaining skills to join the clean energy workforce.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Biden, in Prince William, touts solar investments in Virginia on Earth Day

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

President Joe Biden on Monday celebrated the 54th anniversary of Earth Day with a return trip to Prince William County, announcing a $7 billion investment to help low- and middle-income families buy solar panels for their homes. The investment includes more than $156 million in grants for Virginia. A trio of progressive Democratic leaders — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. — joined Biden in a ringing commitment for the U.S. to lead the fight against climate change.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Two UVa. fraternities suspended, one terminated after hazing allegations

By FORD MCCRACKEN, Cavalier Daily

The Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities had their Fraternal Organization Agreements suspended by the University, while the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity had its FOA terminated after allegations of hazing, according to Ben Ueltschey, Inter-Fraternity Council president and third-year College student. While the Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities face temporary suspensions, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity will have its FOA terminated for a minimum of four years. It is unclear when the violations in all three chapters took place or when the University moved to suspend and terminate their FOAs.

VaNews April 23, 2024