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Youngkin dedicates Culpeper Battlefields State Park
A decades-long effort was commemorated on Saturday with an official ribbon cutting by Gov. Glenn Youngkin at Virginia’s newest state park, Culpeper Battlefields State Park, which will eventually grow to span 2,200 acres. “These preserved battlefields and lands not only connect us to our past, but they inspire us as we walk forward into our future,” Youngkin told the roughly 100 guests during the dedication ceremony. “And of course, this place must be grounded in preservation and education.”
New judge to hear challenge of Virginia’s withdrawal from clean-air initiative
A new judge appointed to hear a challenge of Virginia’s withdrawal from a multi-state clean air program is being asked to vacate a prior judge’s ruling. In February, Floyd County Circuit Judge Mike Fleenor denied a motion filed by Virginia’s attorney general to dismiss the lawsuit, which contests the state’s decision to leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Fleenor recused himself three weeks later, citing a conflict of interest. Now that retired Judge Randall Lowe has been designated to hear the case, the state is asking him to vacate Fleenor’s Feb. 7 order that allowed the lawsuit to proceed.
Two Democrats vying to run against Wittman in 1st District
Businessman Herb Jones and attorney Leslie Mehta are vying for the Democratic nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The winner of the June 18 primary will face Republican incumbent Rob Wittman in the general election. Wittman has held the U.S. House of Representatives seat since 2007. The district includes portions of suburban Richmond down through York and James City counties, Williamsburg and Poquoson. Jones previously served three terms as treasurer of New Kent County. Mehta has not held elected office.
Appeals court denies new trial to National Guardsman pepper-sprayed by Windsor police
When Windsor Police Officer Daniel Crocker attempted to open the driver’s-side door of Virginia National Guard 1st Lt. Caron Nazario’s Chevrolet Tahoe three years ago after pulling him over, Nazario used his elbow to keep the door shut. That act, combined with Nazario’s prior statements to Crocker and ex-officer Joe Gutierrez about refusing to exit the car, was key to a panel of three federal appellate court judges upholding a Richmond jury’s 2023 verdict awarding Nazario well below the $1 million-plus in damages he’d sought.
For years, an esteemed GMU law professor seduced students. Was he too important to fire?
Anhvinh Wright called Lindsey Edwards to ask if she was having an affair with her husband, setting off a string of damning conversations that threatened one of Big Tech’s greatest allies. Lindsey says you have a lot of things to tell me. Like about other women, she told her husband, Joshua Wright, in February 2020. Wright had hidden a yearslong sexual relationship with Edwards that started when she was a law student and he was a professor at her school. Wright helped Edwards join him at the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Washington, where the affair continued.
Yancey: 5 more questions about the 5th District Republican primary
We are now just eight days away from the increasingly nasty Republican primary in the 5th Congressional District where Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, faces a challenge from state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland County. Someday we may look back on this as an epic election. Of course, some of that depends on how it turns out. It’s unusual in Virginia for an incumbent member of Congress to be denied renomination. Good knows this well: He was the one who ousted Denver Riggleman in 2020 after Riggleman had presided over a same-sex wedding. That came in a convention, where party activists hold more sway than in the larger electorate of a state-run primary.
Judge dismisses legal challenge to Diamond District financing in Richmond
A lawsuit challenging Richmond’s new approach to financing the Diamond District project was dismissed in court Friday, seemingly clearing the way for the city to move forward with issuing bonds for the ballpark-anchored development. After hearing arguments for about an hour Friday, Circuit Judge W. Reilly Marchant tossed out the complaint from local activist Paul Goldman, who alleged that his rights to petition for a referendum of city voters to weigh in on the change were unfairly burdened due to an unclear process in the city’s charter.
Virginia Exits the California EV Way
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spread his anti-fossil fuel gospel far beyond California, but last week he lost a follower. Virginia canceled its plan to adopt West Coast vehicle standards, offering drivers freedom instead of climate dogma. Gov. Glenn Youngkin said his state won’t phase out sales of gas-powered vehicles, despite a 2021 law that might have set Virginia on course to ban them by 2035, as California will. “The idea that government should tell people what kind of car they can or can’t purchase is fundamentally wrong,” he said.
Ferrum College president remains hopeful Virginia will consider lab school application
Ferrum College’s hopes for creating a specialized laboratory school have ended after months of discussions with state leaders, but the college’s president is still holding out for a different outcome. According to documents from the Virginia Department of Education, the private institution in Southwest Virginia joins more than a dozen institutions that are not being considered, some of which have withdrawn their applications including Eastern Shore Community College, Southside Virginia Community College, Hampton University and the University of Lynchburg.
Va. legislature sees no short-term fix for congestion on I-81
Western Virginia’s rolling terrain and high level of truck traffic make it a tough nut for Virginia’s traffic gurus to crack. The I-81 corridor improvement program, passed by legislators following a study in 2018, is on track to address some of the issues, but not before inflation and other hold ups add a billion and a half dollars and two years to the project’s timeline. One proposal to address the issue was a public private partnership that would implement tolls. But at a recent meeting of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, or JLARC, analyst Kate Hopkins said conditions along the highway make tolls unfeasible.