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Del. Hope debates challenger over historic preservation law’s impact on housing

By SCOTT MCCAFFREY, ArlNow

Del. Patrick Hope and one of his challengers in the Democratic primary are at odds over how new legislation on historic preservation will impact housing. Arjoon Srikanth, who is facing Hope (D-1) in the June 17 primary, argued that legislation enacted last year will hold up development plans designed to meet housing goals. As a case in point, he held up a Crystal City-area project that may face delays over a disputed interpretation of the law.

VaNews May 28, 2025


Families, advocates protest alleged prison abuses

By DAVE CANTOR, WVTF-FM

A few dozen people gathered at the state capitol in Richmond on Saturday to protest alleged abuses at Wallens Ridge and Red Onion state prisons. Activists and family members of people incarcerated at Red Onion say multiple men are participating in a hunger strike because of their treatment. April Wright came to the capitol from near Winchester. She says her son, Austin Arocho, has been mistreated while in state custody. He has two years left on his sentence, but Wright wants the facilities shut down for the sake of future generations.

VaNews May 28, 2025


‘Local elected official at heart’: Family, friends remember late Congressman Gerry Connolly at funeral

By MATTHEW TORRES, WUSA-TV

Nearly one week after he died of cancer, family, friends and community members gathered to honor 75-year-old Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) at his funeral service. Dozens of elected officials from local, state, and federal government helped fill Heritage Fellowship Church in Reston, where Connolly was known to attend and sit six rows back. The longtime public servant died May 21 with loved ones by his side in his Fairfax County home after his esophageal cancer returned weeks ago, which prompted him to step down as the ranking member of the House Oversight committee.

VaNews May 28, 2025


Dominion Prepares Next Transmission Line Project: Morrisville to Wishing Star

By HANNA PAMPALONI, Loudoun Now

Community members last week had the chance to provide feedback on Dominion Energy’s next transmission line project – a 36.5-mile-long route across three counties. The Morrisville to Wishing Star line will feature 500 and 230 kilovolt lines running north through Fauquier, Prince William and Loudoun counties. Less than five of the miles will be built in Loudoun. The project is designed to improve reliability for the region, according to Dominion Energy. While some of the exact routes are still being determined, according to Dominion Representative Porlan Cunningham, the majority of the line and new infrastructure will be built in Fauquier and Prince William counties ...

VaNews May 28, 2025


Trump’s pardons highlight Justice Department’s pullback from public corruption cases

By RYAN J. REILLY, NBCNews

The government's evidence against Scott Jenkins was compelling, including undercover video and other corroboration showing Jenkins, then the sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, accepting over $75,000 in exchange for giving law enforcement authority to local businessmen, as well as two undercover FBI special agents. Jenkins’ co-defendants all pleaded guilty, and jurors didn't take long to convict Jenkins last year, deliberating for around two hours before they found him guilty on all counts. When Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia said he "violated his oath of office and the faith the citizens of Culpeper County placed in him when he engaged in a cash-for-badges scheme."

VaNews May 28, 2025


Far-right speaker banned from USS Liberty reunion at Norfolk Sheraton

By ERIKA CRAVEN, WTKR-TV

A far-right public figure named Stew Peters, known for making social media posts promoting antisemitism and white nationalism, has been banned from the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel where he was slated to speak at the USS Liberty Veterans Association (LVA) reunion next month, an LVA boardmember confirmed to WTKR News 3 Tuesday. John Dixon with LVA shared the following with News 3: “The hotel owner Marriott-Bonvoy has banned Stew Peters from entering their property and has advised us he is not to speak.” Shortly after, the hotel also confirmed to WTKR News 3 that they have banned Peters.

VaNews May 28, 2025


Marine heat waves in Chesapeake Bay doubled over past two decades, according to new research

By KATHERINE HAFNER, WHRO

The temperature of water in the Chesapeake Bay naturally fluctuates each year, tied to weather patterns and ecosystem changes across the bay’s massive, 64,000-square-mile watershed. But a new study led by the University of Maryland is yet another confirmation of what scientists have reported for years: The bay is steadily warming and seeing a growing number of extreme heat incidents known as marine heat waves. The frequency of underwater heat waves in the bay doubled over the past 20 years, researchers say in the paper published this week in a scientific journal called Estuaries and Coasts.

VaNews May 28, 2025


Hope is the thing on the overpass: Protesters in Woodstock keep returning to be seen and heard

By RYAN FITZMAURICE, Northern Virginia Daily

In 1984, Kurt Weitz took an oath to defend the Constitution as a U.S. Army officer. In 2025, he stands on an overpass above Interstate 81, gripping a Canadian flag. Below him, cars rush past in a current he knows won’t shift easily. He’s one of dozens, sometimes hundreds, who have gathered each Saturday on this bridge in Woodstock for the past 10 weeks — signs in hand, flags in the wind — protesting what they see as a growing threat to American democracy.

VaNews May 28, 2025


Richmond’s second water crisis in 5 months

By SAMUEL B. PARKER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

Across Richmond, the collective sentiment Tuesday afternoon seemed to be the same: “Here we go again.” What early Tuesday morning had started as an ostensibly minor issue with the city’s water treatment plant rapidly devolved into Richmond’s second full-blown water crisis in fewer than five months.

VaNews May 28, 2025


New boil water advisory issued in Richmond, months after January water crisis

By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Virginia Mercury

Richmond officials issued a new boil water advisory Tuesday for large swaths of the city, less than six months after a catastrophic water crisis left much of the region without safe drinking water for days. “People can use the water,” Avula said. “They just need to boil it before they drink it,” Mayor Danny Avula said in a virtual press conference Tuesday afternoon, adding that the city doesn’t currently have plans to distribute bottled water.

VaNews May 28, 2025