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By MICHAEL E. RUANE,
Washington Post
(Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Archaeologist Nick Beard was gently pushing aside the hardened dirt in the basement of George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Va., last fall when he spotted the mouth of a glass bottle.
Beard worked his trowel a little more and the neck of the bottle emerged. Not that unusual, he thought. Archaeologists find lots of bottle fragments.
But as he dug, more of the object appeared. “It kept [getting] larger and larger,” he said.
VaNews April 26, 2024
By BILL ATKINSON,
Progress Index
(Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)
With Wednesday’s approval of The Cordish Companies and Bruce Smith Enterprises as Petersburg’s casino vendor of choice, city officials say the next step in the process is getting the Virginia Lottery Board and a Circuit Court judge on its side in approving the November referendum that ultimately decides the future of legalized gambling here. In an email Thursday afternoon, city spokesperson Joanne Williams said Petersburg and Cordish/BSE will draw up the paperwork to submit to the lottery board, the state agency that governs Virginia’s casino operations.
VaNews April 26, 2024
By NATALIE ANDERSON,
Virginian-Pilot
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City leaders are submitting plans to the state to acquire the Hampton Roads Regional Jail for use as the new Portsmouth city jail and aim to make the transition no later than the start of 2025.
The Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority, which comprises city managers and other representatives from the five participating jurisdictions, voted unanimously last week to allow Portsmouth to purchase the facility. The move means the facility could serve as Portsmouth’s new city jail, allowing the city to convert the current aging waterfront jail facility into a tax-generating property — a goal the city has been working toward for years. It could also provide a safe place to accommodate juvenile detention services.
VaNews April 26, 2024
By ANNA BRYSON,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The Virginia Board of Education approved $25.4 million for six new lab schools Thursday as state officials find ways to accelerate the approval process to use the existing lab school funding before the current budget cycle ends. Some education officials worry that the expedited approval process might affect the quality of lab school plans, but proponents say officials thoroughly vet the applications.
VaNews April 26, 2024
By JAMES T. AREDDY,
Wall Street Journal
(Subscription Required)
States have a new adversary: China.
From Florida to Indiana and Montana, an expanding array of local proposals, bills, laws and regulations aim to block Chinese individuals and companies from acquiring land, winning contracts, working on research, setting up factories and otherwise participating in the U.S. economy.
State officials, overriding traditional local interests such as drawing investment and creating jobs, say they are acting where Congress hasn’t to address grassroots American distrust of the Chinese Communist Party. … “There is a real responsibility on behalf of governors and state legislatures to look out for the safety and protection of our citizens,” said Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ...
VaNews April 26, 2024
By DWAYNE YANCEY,
Cardinal News
Roanoke, a seven-time winner of the All-America City designation, recently won another title.
The Star City was named a “Certified Welcoming” city by Welcoming America, a nonprofit dedicated to welcoming immigrants.
Roanoke is the first locality in Virginia to earn this distinction and one of just 24 across the country. It’s also the fifth smallest community on that list, which is otherwise dominated by major metros.
Given the tenor of the national conversation about immigration, you would not expect to find a small city on the edge of Appalachia to be an officially “welcoming” city for immigrants, yet there Roanoke is. This is just one of many data points about Roanoke that show how it’s different.
VaNews April 26, 2024
By GRAHAM MOOMAW,
Virginia Mercury
A week before the Petersburg City Council voted unanimously to pick Cordish Companies to potentially build a casino, City Manager John Altman Jr. signed a letter saying the city council intended to pick a competing company, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Virginia Mercury.
The April 17 letter of intent addressed to Bally’s, a national casino company that was one of five finalists for the Petersburg project, said the pending deal would still depend on outside factors. However, the letter clearly indicated Bally’s was the city’s initial choice … The city claims the letter was signed under duress as the General Assembly pressured local officials to pick a certain casino company or risk losing the project entirely.
VaNews April 26, 2024
By JAHD KHALIL,
VPM News
Two bills passed by the General Assembly this year will affect the commonwealth’s relationship with Native American tribes, after yearslong policy delays.
As a result of the legislation, Virginia will consult with federally-recognized tribes on projects with environmental, cultural or historical impact, after the General Assembly accepted amendments from Gov. Glenn Youngkin on legislation. State lawmakers will also have more time to explore how to update Virginia law in light of federal recognition.
VaNews April 26, 2024
By MARK J. ROZELL,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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A drumbeat among many Democrats is to galvanize persuadable voters in a righteous movement to “save democracy” from a Republican Party now wholly ruled by former president Donald Trump. It’s an appeal to the founding tenet of our nation and one that has resonance for many voters, especially in light of the violent assault by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Rozell is the dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University where he holds the Ruth D. and John T. Hazel Chair in Public Policy.
VaNews April 26, 2024
By ALEXANDER ZACCARDELLI,
published in
Virginian-Pilot
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Virginia is facing a worsening teacher shortage. However, the focus on pure numbers has directed attention away from another problem: a shortage of diverse teachers. Troops-to-Teachers (TTT), a program that helps veterans obtain teaching licenses, offers solutions to both crises, bringing demographic and life experience diversity into our classrooms.
Zaccardelli is an elementary education undergraduate at William & Mary and an ALL-IN tutor at J. Blaine Blayton Elementary in Williamsburg.
VaNews April 26, 2024
