Search
Tempers, tensions, racism, lawsuits dot Hopewell City Council agenda
Tensions continue to boil over the firings of Hopewell’s city manager and city clerk, with the most recent City Council meeting erupting in chaos after demands for resignations, a description of some councilors as a “cancer” on Hopewell and the city’s mayor being called a “b***h” by a citizen while being escorted out. The May 13 council meeting was a potpourri of events that often turned up the temperature inside Hopewell’s council chambers.
Virginia’s new dashboards track pregnancy risks. But advocate says data alone won’t fix disparities.
Virginia is taking a closer look at what's putting new and expectant mothers at risk, and what it will take to keep them alive. On April 17, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced the Virginia Department of Health's updated Maternal and Child Health Dashboard and two new dashboards on maternal mortality and pregnancy-associated deaths. The public dashboards track maternal health and infant outcomes across the Commonwealth, monitoring data like preterm births and low birthweight.
Chesterfield School Board OKs weapons scanners at middle and high schools
The Chesterfield School Board approved installing weapons scanners at all middle and high schools prior to the 2025-26 school year. "It's extremely important that our children feel safe and our staff feel safe," Steven Paranto, the Matoaca District representative on the school board, said. "This is not an answer that will cure everything in regards to their safety, but it's definitely a tool that we can use." The board voted 5-0 in favor of the scanners during its monthly meeting Tuesday.
Richmond’s inspector general is out at City Hall, and leaders aren’t explaining why
The Richmond official in charge of investigating waste, fraud and abuse at City Hall has been quietly dismissed from his job, according to a member of the City Council who opposed the move. Councilor Reva Trammell (8th District) said she was absent from Monday’s council meeting to see her grandson graduate from college. While she was gone, the City Council held a closed meeting that Trammell says resulted in the dismissal of Inspector General Jim Osuna, who had been in that role since 2019.
USDA Staffing and Funding Cuts Would Threaten Virginia’s Ability to Reach Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Goals
Lee Good grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and raises cows, calfs, crops and hay on about 200 acres in the foothills of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Good, 55, previously farmed as a hobby but now makes his living in Rockingham County, the top contributor to the state’s top private industry—agriculture. He cares about clean water and air while still being profitable, and he wants to protect the environment in both his local community and the Chesapeake Bay at the other end of the state, which recreators, crabbers and fishermen all rely on.
Poll: Amid rising costs, Republican and Democratic voters value Va.’s colleges and universities
An overwhelming majority of voters are proud of Virginia’s colleges and universities and feel they are equipping young people to succeed, even as, across the country, frustrations mount due to rapidly shifting federal education systems and rising tuition costs. According to poll results released by Virginia Business Higher Education Council (VBHEC), 90% of respondents both Democrats and Republicans in Virginia are proud of the colleges and universities in the commonwealth because they see a “strong connection” between the work on Virginia’s campuses, the prospects for the state’s economy to grow and for young people to succeed in the job market.
Metro’s automated train expansion delayed over safety concerns, says oversight commission
The commission that has federally granted oversight of Metrorail on safety said Tuesday afternoon it is still not ready to allow Metro to expand its use of automated trains. Officials with the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC) said they still have too many safety concerns to allow Metro to increase its use of train autopilot features. But they added that they are working with Metro to get to a point where the transit agency will be allowed to use more automation.
Green Recycle in Pittsylvania to create 28 jobs; QualiChem in Salem to add 12
A plastics recycling startup will invest $4.3 million and create 28 jobs in Pittsylvania County, the governor’s office announced Tuesday. Green Recycle USA LLC will turn industrial plastic waste into raw material to be used in new products by manufacturers in a variety of industries, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a news release. ... A Salem-based producer of fluids used in fabricating metal components will invest $9 million to expand in the city, creating 12 jobs, the governor’s office announced Tuesday. QualiChem Inc.’s products include oils, coolants, rust preventatives and cleaners used in the aerospace, medical and automotive industries, among others.
Pulaski company’s $1.3 million poultry poop proposition
A Pulaski County company stands to earn $1.3 million in a state program to keep pollution out of the Chesapeake Bay. The target: chicken poop. MOVA Technologies is one of nine Virginia businesses chosen for the Department of Environmental Quality’s $19 million grant program, called Pay-For-Outcomes Nonpoint Source Pollution Reduction, according to a DEQ news release. MOVA will begin testing its poultry air purification system later this year in Rockingham County, at a poultry house near the Shenandoah River, company spokesman Luke Allison said. Commercial demonstrations will begin next year. Ultimately, the system will help both farmers and MOVA make a profit, he said.
New Virginia law requires all car passengers to wear seatbelts on highways
It's a major win for a grieving Virginia mother who says her son lost his life because he wasn't wearing a seat belt. After years of advocacy work and asking lawmakers to listen, the "Christopher King Seat Belt Law," also known as HB2475, will go into effect July 1. The law requires every adult riding in a car on a public highway to wear a seat belt, even in the back seat. Current law only requires adults in the front seat to wear a seat belt. . . . The Christopher King Seat Belt Law is still considered a secondary law, meaning police cannot stop a driver for not wearing a seat belt. Police can, however, issue a $25 fine for not wearing a seat belt if a driver is stopped for something else.