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Two UVa. fraternities suspended, one terminated after hazing allegations

By FORD MCCRACKEN, Cavalier Daily

The Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities had their Fraternal Organization Agreements suspended by the University, while the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity had its FOA terminated after allegations of hazing, according to Ben Ueltschey, Inter-Fraternity Council president and third-year College student. While the Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities face temporary suspensions, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity will have its FOA terminated for a minimum of four years. It is unclear when the violations in all three chapters took place or when the University moved to suspend and terminate their FOAs.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Health plan costs to rise for some state workers

By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Some Virginia state employees will pay more for health insurance beginning July 1, following the state’s latest review and projection of claims. Overall, the state Department of Human Resource Management proposed a 6.3% increase in total premiums for the next fiscal year. But full-time employee contributions — the sums taken out of paychecks — will rise by less than that. For some plans, there will be no increase at all.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Petrilli: Va. has a chance to up its education game. It shouldn’t swing and miss

By MICHAEL J. PETRILLI, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

If Virginia’s school system were a person, we’d say it was born on third base and thought it hit a triple. Indeed, the commonwealth’s education officials have spent so many years patting themselves on the back that their arms must hurt. It’s true that some national magazines have ranked Virginia’s schools highly in the past. But that’s not surprising, given that it’s also one of the wealthiest states in the nation.

Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Stoney drops out of governor’s race to run for lieutenant governor

By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is getting out of the race for governor and jumping into the Democratic nominating contest for lieutenant governor. Stoney, 42, in the final year of his second term as mayor, will formally bow out of the race on Tuesday morning at the same time as his announcement that he will run for lieutenant governor. That is the path then-state Sen. Doug Wilder took almost 40 years ago before becoming the nation’s first elected Black governor four years later.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Beyer votes for Ukraine funding, against Israel military aid

ArlNow

Arlington’s Congressman split his votes on security funding bills for U.S. allies over the weekend. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) voted for bills to aid the defense of Ukraine, which is under Russian invasion, and Taiwan, which is under the threat of Chinese military action. He voted against defense aid for Israel, which is battling Hamas in a bloody conflict that has killed scores of civilians on both sides.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Cline votes against Ukraine aid, supports aid for Israel, Taiwan

By CORMAC DODD, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Citing the national debt, U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-6th) voted against legislation that could send Ukraine $60 billion in foreign aid that passed the House over the weekend with bipartisan support. But Cline backed three other measures contained in the $95 billion package the House approved on Saturday, which included $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region to deter China; about $26 billion for supporting Israel and providing humanitarian relief for people in Gaza, and a measure that could force TikTok to sever ties with its parent company, Bytedance, or face a nationwide ban.

VaNews April 23, 2024


England: Thankfully, Virginia rejects measures that would unleash chaos upon voters

By TRENT ENGLAND, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Virginia voters can have confidence in November that the election process will be simple and their votes will count. That’s because of the defeat of two radical election proposals pushed by well-financed lobbying groups. Each would have made voting less transparent and more confusing. Voters were spared the latest mess only by gubernatorial veto on April 8. That bill, Senate Bill 428, would have required the commonwealth to assist local implementation of an election system known as ranked choice voting, or RCV.

England is founder and executive director of Save Our States and co-chairman of the Stop Ranked-Choice Voting Coalition.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Powhatan County School Board adopts state’s model policy on transgender students

By ROSLYN RYAN, Powhatan Today

After previously voting it down, the Powhatan County School Board voted 4-1 on April 16 in favor of adopting a controversial policy related to the division’s treatment of students who identify as transgender or nonbinary. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools,” had been opposed 3-2 by the Powhatan School Board last December, during the last meeting of the previously-elected board.

VaNews April 23, 2024


CoStar Group to acquire Calif. technology company Matterport for $1.6 billion

By STAFF REPORT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The CoStar Group, which announced in February plans to move its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Rosslyn, announced that it will acquire California 3D technology company Matterport for $1.6 billion. Matterport offers 3-D capture technology which delivers “dimensionally accurate, photorealistic virtual tours” for any type of property and is widely used in real estate. ... CoStar said last year it expected to hire 2,000 more people in Richmond, putting its workforce here at about 3,500.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Biden announces solar investments at Earth Day visit to Prince William Forest Park

By BEN PETERS, Inside NOVA

President Joe Biden on Monday during an Earth Day stop at Prince William Forest Park made a series of announcements aimed at fighting climate change, including $7 billion to expand access to residential solar installations through the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Solar for All” program. The president, speaking alongside Democratic members of Congress in the Prince William wilderness, also announced that people can now apply to join the American Climate Corps. The initiative is modeled after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps and aims to put more than 20,000 young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change while gaining skills to join the clean energy workforce.

VaNews April 23, 2024