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Virginia Beach DEI resolution in flux after federal judges block executive order
Some Virginia Beach school board members want to reinstate diversity, equity and inclusion programs after federal judges on Thursday blocked an executive order targeting them. The board had recently voted to suspend the programs to avoid losing federal funding. “The point of the resolution was we need to be in compliance,” said School Board Member Matt Cummings, who opposed the resolution. “Now there’s not a rationale for us to be doing this because there’s an injunction against the executive order.” Cummings and two others who voted against the resolution are calling for an emergency school board meeting to discuss the policy.
Soon-to-open behavioral health center will expand its services on Peninsula
Community leaders cut the ribbon Friday for a soon-to-open behavioral health center named after Hampton’s longtime sheriff. BJ Roberts Behavioral Health Center is a 20,000-square-foot facility with 16 residential beds, community rooms and emergency medical services and mobile crisis intervention units located on site. ... The site, which broke ground last year, is an upgrade from the 11-bed facility it replaces and is part of a larger collaboration between state and local officials, and health care providers to improve access to mental health resources across the Peninsula.
Locke: Proposed SNAP cuts would leave Hampton Roads families hungry
Last month I spoke at a press conference at which Tamika Spears of Richmond shared how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps her feed her children. Her family would be devastated if their food benefits were taken away, but a Republican-led budget blueprint making its way through Congress could do just that. Republicans are advancing a budget resolution that calls for massive cuts — up to $230 billion in cuts to SNAP over the next 10 years — to pay for massive tax handouts for the nation’s wealthiest individuals.
Yancey: Youngkin wants Reid out over disputed nude photos; Reid blames GOP ‘radicals.’ Here’s what to know.
One of the seven candidates for lieutenant governor took to social media Friday to criticize “radicals” in the Republican Party and say that he “deeply resent[s]” something that Gov. Glenn Youngkin has done. It wasn’t one of the six Democrats. Instead, it was John Reid, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who now suddenly finds himself at odds with Youngkin, who wants Reid off the ticket, and, perhaps some members of the party’s Christian conservative base.
Williams: As Trump erases history, University of Richmond lays bare its own
To consecrate is to make something sacred — a bold act in a nation where lies are the currency of the moment and nothing, not even the Constitution, is inviolable. But consecration was the order of the day Wednesday at the dedication of a Burying Ground memorial in remembrance of those enslaved and laid to rest on the land that would become the University of Richmond campus.
Schapiro: Virginia GOP betting on a DEI ticket?
The GOP is OK with DEI after all. How else does one explain a 2025 Virginia Republican ticket led by a Black, Jamaica-born woman and rounded out with a gay man from a former white-flight Richmond suburb and the son of a Cuban refugee? Win or lose, it would be a history-making slate. But that it’s multi-hued, multi-cultural, multi-gender, multi-sexually oriented — even in a blue-trending, suburban-dominated state increasingly accepting of such distinctions — may mean little this year. That’s because of President Donald Trump.
Flouting Virginia’s open government law breaks public trust
There are two ways in which the Virginia Freedom of Information Act helps shape government in the commonwealth. The first is the letter of the law, which entails the specifics and procedures required of public bodies when they hold meetings and determine what records should be available for citizen review. The second is the spirit of the law, which is set forth clearly in the act’s preamble: “The affairs of government are not intended to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy since at all times the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government.”
Traveling soon? You’ll need a REAL ID going forward.
After years of delays, the federal government is finally going to begin enforcing the REAL ID requirement May 7. That means you’ll need a REAL ID if you use your driver’s license or state ID to board domestic flights or enter federal buildings.
Former Gov. Allen opposes Trump tariffs: ‘No taxes by proclamation’
Former Virginia Gov. George Allen hates tariffs — he calls them "import taxes" — and loves the United States Constitution. Those convictions have put the conservative Republican on a collision course with President Donald Trump over tariffs that the populist president imposed unilaterally on all U.S. trading partners. Trump based his action on a national emergency that Allen — like Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., another former Virginia governor — says doesn't exist.
Lieutenant governor pick whom Youngkin wants off ticket welcomed in red Virginia
John Reid, Virginia’s embattled Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, received support from a sitting GOP congressman and a warm welcome from party activists in one of the reddest corners of the state on Saturday, one day after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) asked him to quit the race over risqué social media posts that Reid says are not his. Vowing to stay in the contest, Reid pressed ahead with two campaign events in Southwest Virginia, where Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Virginia) told the party’s grass roots that he was standing with the nominee. He did not identify Reid, who stood a few feet away, by name.