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Medicaid manager lays off 268 in Henrico after losing contract
Molina Healthcare Inc. will lay off 268 employees from its office on Gaskins Road in Henrico County after the company failed to win a new Medicaid contract with the state. Molina notified its employees in May and will close June 30, according to a notice filed with the state’s workforce department. The state’s Department of Medical Assistance Services opted not to award the California-based company a new contract starting July 1.
Wood: Public must act now to prevent drilling off Virginia’s coast
Monday is the deadline for the public to make their comments known in an effort to prevent offshore drilling in Virginia and elsewhere. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is required to propose a five-year schedule of oil and gas lease sales. Coastal communities are again vulnerable to offshore drilling. Thousands of square miles of ocean — out to 200 miles offshore of Virginia as well as beyond our coastline in either direction — remain at risk because a recent executive order from President Donald Trump attempts to undo previous protections of our federal waters.
Trump reverses Army base names, including three in Virginia, in latest DEI purge
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he plans to restore the names of seven Army bases that once honored Confederate leaders, relabeling them after soldiers who share the same last names. “We are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort A.P. Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee,” Trump said. “We won a lot of battles out of those forts, it’s no time to change.” Trump’s announcement, during a speech to soldiers at Fort Bragg, follows a move during the Biden era to change the names of 10 installations to honor new, non-Confederate individuals. Those included changing Fort Hood to Fort Cavazos, for the Army’s first four-star Hispanic general.
Study shows historically redlined Virginia neighborhoods are hotter in the summer
As hot and humid summer weather settles across Virginia, a recent study finds that certain neighborhoods across the state, often with higher populations of people of color, can be up to 15 degrees hotter than other areas. The research cites extreme heat as the cause of “more fatalities in the United States than any other weather phenomenon.” “There are differences in all of those municipalities in who is experiencing this heat, and usually it’s the neighborhoods that are least prepared to deal with it, have the poorest kind of infrastructure setup, such as air conditioning units and cooling centers,” said Dr. Todd Lookingbill, a professor of geology, environment and sustainability at the University of Richmond.
Gov. Youngkin reacts to Trump’s actions amid ICE protests: ‘I fully support what he’s done’
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he "fully supports" President Donald Trump's actions amid protests in Los Angeles against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. President Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles on Sunday, later deploying 700 Marines. The Los Angeles Police Department says protesters have thrown objects at officers near the federal courthouse, prompting the use of gas canisters and other munitions. "We can't have cars being burned overnight and people rioting in the streets, tearing down not just business infrastructure and people's personal property, but threatening federal facilities as well," Youngkin said at an event in Richmond on Tuesday.
VMI will soon have a new superintendent. What lies ahead for the military college?
A few days before graduation at Virginia Military Institute, Superintendent (Ret.) Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins spoke with the class of 2025 for the last time. “We’ve come in together and we will leave out together,” he told them. The class of 2025 was the first to matriculate at VMI under Wins’ leadership. In May, it was the last to graduate before his tenure ends this month. The state-run senior military college in Lexington has undergone many changes since Wins, its first black superintendent, first took on the role nearly five years ago.
Virginia Breeze bus routes experienced 25% growth during March
The Virginia Breeze bus service established an all-time record for monthly ridership during March. The service reported a systemwide 25% increase in ridership compared to March 2024, with a total of 8,049 passengers, according to a written statement. March 2025 also marked the highest reported ridership ever for the Valley Flyer route with 4,385 passengers for the month, compared to 3,177 in March 2024, a 40.6% increase. The route is historically the busiest of four routes, linking Blacksburg and Washington, D.C.
Virginia Senate Dems refuse to confirm Cuccinelli, other Youngkin board nominees
In a Monday evening vote, Democrats on a Virginia State Senate committee declined to confirm eight of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees for three university boards, including former Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli and former state commerce and trade secretary Caren Merrick. Rejected in an 8-4 vote of the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections were eight Youngkin appointees to the boards of George Mason University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Military Institute.
Hashmi leads fundraising in Va. lieutenant governor race
Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, led all lieutenant governor candidates in fundraising during the final reporting period before Virginia’s June 17 primary, as six Democrats compete for the lieutenant governor nomination to face Republican John Reid. Hashmi raised $742,841 from April 1 to June 5, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Campaign finance reports published Tuesday show that former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney came in next at $702,234 followed by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, who raised $660,180.
Analytics company to add nearly 250 jobs in Crystal City
Amid concerning local economic trends, there’s some good news. Arlington-based Technomics is investing more than $5 million to add nearly 25,000 square feet of space and 250 employees to its Crystal City office. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, County Board Chair Takis Karantonis, state Sen. Adam Ebbin and Del. Adele McClure touted the new jobs in an announcement ... Tuesday morning.