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Richmond Council’s limits on public comment likely violate First Amendment, lawyers say
Speaking during City Council’s April 14 public comment period, Egon Shroud invoked J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. “When he who shall not be named walked through (Westover Hills Elementary School) earlier this year, he learned … our staff work hard to get kids reading,” said Shroud, a Richmond Public Schools teacher arguing for higher pay for herself and her colleagues. “What he doesn’t know is that we have teachers getting hit, kicked, spit on and cursed out daily.” By “he who must not be named” — the alias for Rowling’s infamous villain, Voldemort — Shroud meant Mayor Danny Avula. But she couldn’t say that due to City Council’s rules of procedure ...
Virginia GOP candidate for lieutenant governor says he won’t exit race despite governor’s push
Republican John Reid said Friday he will continue his campaign to be Virginia’s lieutenant governor and denied he had anything to do with a social media account containing sexually explicit photos that had prompted GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin to call for him to quit the race. Reid, the first openly gay man to run statewide in Virginia and a supporter of Youngkin, posted a video response to the governor’s attempt to stymie his candidacy after the governor learned of the photos on a Tumblr account with a username matching the candidate’s Instagram handle. Reid said the account was a fabrication that comes as he grapples with increasing pressure to exit the race by members of his party.
Youngkin asks Richmond radio host John Reid to withdraw from lieutenant governor race
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has asked Richmond-area radio host John Reid to withdraw as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor after GOP researchers found sexually explicit posts online that they believe are connected to Reid, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Youngkin called Reid, the former host of a conservative talk show on WRVA, on Friday morning to ask him to drop out, the sources said. In a statement to The Richmonder, Reid denied that the images are connected to him. He confirmed that the governor called him Friday and said “there were salacious pictures on the internet reposted by an account that uses my Instagram handle.”
In first campaign appearance after Youngkin’s attempted ouster, Reid wins applause from Republicans in Abingdon
On John Reid’s first campaign stop since Gov. Glenn Youngkin called for him to step out of the lieutenant governor’s race over nude photos on a disputed social media site, the Republican candidate said he is “doubling down” on running and won applause from a crowd in Abingdon. “I figure if I can’t fight for myself publicly, loudly and boldly how are you ever going to believe that I will fight for you? So that’s my plan going forward,” he said.
Richmond school system requests to be removed from state performance agreement
Richmond Public Schools will send a letter to the Virginia Board of Education requesting to be removed from an academic performance agreement both parties entered into back in 2017. The Richmond School Board voted to send the letter, with three of the nine members opposing. The agreement, known as the memorandum of understanding (MOU), requires that the division follows a corrective action plan to ensure that it meets the state’s education requirements set by the Board of Education. In order to be removed from the MOU, the city school system must have 100% of its schools accredited. About half of the schools in the division are fully accredited.
Wittman constituents host town hall in his absence to address immigration, federal funding concerns
Roughly 150 people jammed a meeting room at the Twin Hickory Public Library in Henrico County Saturday, demanding U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, oppose sweeping federal spending cuts and immigration measures stemming from President Donald Trump’s administration. The event highlighted the scrutiny Wittman and other Virginia congressional representatives have faced for how they engage with people in their districts. Wittman, who declined an invitation to the event, was represented by an empty chair at the front of the room. Many who spoke about their concerns addressed their comments to the chair.
Amazon slows forecast on HQ2 job growth
When Amazon executives and Virginia state officials inked a deal to bring the company’s second headquarters to Arlington, they laid out a timeline for the tech giant to gradually add 25,000 new jobs at that site by the end of this decade — or at least by 2038. More than six years and 7,000 new positions later, though, the company is not so sure it will hit that target in time — just as the Washington region needs additional private-sector positions more than ever.
120 new jobs expected with energy company’s Va. expansion
Hitachi Energy, which provides electrical grid infrastructure to customers in the utility, industry, transportation, data center and infrastructure sectors, is expanding transformer production capacity in Virginia to meet increased demand, according to the company and Governor Glenn Youngkin. The company is investing $22.5 million to expand its current facility in Bland County, and to add a warehouse facility in Atkins, Virginia, that will handle core cutting and warehousing work. The company and Governor’s Office say the expansion will create 120 jobs.
Virginia finds systemic problems at Henrico Doctors’ NICU
Henrico Doctors’ Hospital has not done enough to contain infections in its troubled neonatal intensive-care unit and had not paid sufficient attention to reports and video that indicated vulnerable newborns were handled too roughly, state inspectors found. Their 97-page report came from investigations that followed a mid-December finding that newborns in the NICU were in immediate jeopardy. The report detailed failures to follow the hospital’s internal procedures to prevent harm to babies, including paying insufficient attention to the video monitoring the hospital started in 2023 when it reported four cases of unexplained bone fractures that prompted an investigation by Henrico County Child Protective Services.
From VPAP New Episode: The Virginia Press Room Podcast
In the latest episode of the podcast from VaNews and VPM, Michael Pope is joined by Hanna Pampaloni of Loudoun Now, Luke Weir of the Roanoke Times, and Sean McGoey of VPM News. They discuss the week's top headlines: Purcellville Vice Mayor faces investigation, Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor speak in Roanoke, and how federal funding cuts to education are affecting fresh food in school cafeterias. Tune in for insights and analysis on Virginia politics. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.