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Israel, Palestinian Tensions Overflow in Loudoun Board Room, Prompting Warning from Chairwoman
Tensions between Loudoun community members supporting Israel and those supporting Palestine have been increasing since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by the terrorist group, Hamas. [Last] week, those tensions boiled over during a Board of Supervisors’ meeting, drawing a warning from County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large). Since the attack and in response to the war in Gaza that has displaced millions of residents, some community members have called on supervisors to divest any business interests in companies that support Israel and called for them to condemn the continuing attacks by Israel in Gaza.
Local judge indicted on charge of bribery of a Spotsylvania County public official
Toward the end of the Aug. 13, 2024, Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors meeting and following a closed session, the board voted on a vague motion, and county officials didn’t provide clarity afterward. Courtland District Supervisor Drew Mullins made a motion to authorize County Attorney Karl Holsten to cooperate with the Virginia State Police in an ongoing investigation regarding the actions of a person subject to the oversight of a public body in the county. The board unanimously supported the motion, and the meeting was adjourned. There is now a bit more clarity, however, regarding the circumstances surrounding the vote. Richard T. McGrath, the Chief Judge of the 15th Judicial District of Virginia, which includes the Fredericksburg region, was indicted Monday on a Class 4 felony charge of bribery of a public official.
Yancey: Two Natural Bridge Zoo giraffes are missing, and the AG’s office contends they belong to the state
In late September 2023, one of the giraffes at the Natural Bridge Zoo gave birth. In the wild, baby giraffes stay with their mothers for more than a year. The males typically leave at 15 months, but the females usually stay and become part of a matriarchal herd, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. However, the Natural Bridge Zoo shipped that infant giraffe to a roadside zoo in North Carolina when it was 2 weeks old, according to records from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. By November, the mother giraffe was pregnant again, according to court records.
Appeals court upholds dismissal of councilman’s lawsuit against Lynchburg
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought by At-large Lynchburg Councilman Martin Misjuns, who argued his termination from the city’s fire department violated his rights to free speech and religion. The opinion, written by Judge Roger Gregory, affirmed the rulings by Judges Norman Moon and Robert Ballou, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, to dismiss the councilman’s lawsuit.
Spanberger: Va. can make housing affordable. Here’s how
Virginians deserve a governor who is focused on responding to the most pressing issues that impact our communities and our commonwealth’s growth. And across Virginia, high costs at the pharmacy counter, in our energy bills and in the housing market are impacting families, business owners and Virginia’s long-term strength. As a candidate for governor, I’ve been laying out my plans to make Virginia more affordable. Last month, I announced my priorities to lower health care and prescription drug costs. And last week, I announced a straightforward agenda to increase the supply of housing Virginians can actually afford. This plan is a blueprint for how my administration will get to work on day one to put Virginians first.
Rozell: For Va. GOP, Richmond’s woes are low-hanging fruit
Being unable to open your faucet and get water that’s fit for drinking — or for bathing or doing the laundry or the dishes — sticks with a voter. In Virginia’s capital city of Richmond, it has happened twice in the first half of 2025. That doesn’t count chronic malfunctions that have dogged the city for years that include real estate and restaurant meals tax billing snafus, keeping its sewer system from spewing human waste into the James River and homicide rates perennially among Virginia’s highest. If those problems are big enough — or, from media reports, appear big enough — they can exert gravity on statewide elections.
Truitt: How Va. Democrats can reclaim the education issue
In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin was able to flip the K-12 education issue to pull off a victory by focusing on parents. This year, Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger should learn from 2021 by embracing higher educational standards to reclaim the education issue. As has been shown nationally, typical Democratic proposals for higher teacher pay and increased funding alone are not sufficient. In fact, those were major planks of Terry McAuliffe’s 2021 education platform.
With funding cut, what is the future of key Virginia refugee resettlement program?
For years, Commonwealth Catholic Charities has led much of Virginia’s work to help newly arrived refugees build lives in the United States. The nonprofit has operated its refugee resettlement program in the greater Richmond region, Roanoke and Newport News since 2010. ... But in January, the Trump administration abruptly suspended the Biden-era U.S. Refugee Admissions Program by executive order, halting all new refugee arrivals into the country and freezing government funding ... Luckily, the nonprofit was met with an “outpouring of support from the community,” Dillon said, which helped CCC secure housing and services for every refugee that had already been referred to CCC ...
Fifteen years after shuttering its tax-prep app, Va. may be ready to compete with TurboTax again
The Virginia Department of Taxation’s website parts company with the web presences of other agencies in the commonwealth: It doesn’t offer its own tools to help you complete your primary task there — taxes. While you can renew a car registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles site and register an LLC at the State Corporation Commission’s site, Virginia Tax doesn’t let you file your state income taxes online and instead points you to commercial tax-prep services. That’s not because Virginia Tax hasn’t developed its own filing app. It’s because 15 years ago, the department shelved the iFile app that had already drawn more than 278,000 users in 2009.
Naval Weapons Station Yorktown and Dominion look at nuclear plant on base
The agreement signed Friday would allow the Navy and Dominion Energy Virginia to explore building a Small Modular Reactor and other alternative energy options, such as a solar farm on base. “To be crystal clear, we believe the new nuclear (power) has to be part of the energy mix if we're able, if we're going to be able to meet the demand going forward, said Ed Baine, president of Dominion. SMRs are a smaller version of commercial nuclear reactors. They produce 300 megawatts or less. To save costs, the plants are manufactured off-site. Several companies are developing designs, but so far, no commercial SMR plant has opened in the United States.