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Planning Commission recommends denial of 700-acre data center project in Chesterfield
A proposed data center campus in southeast Chesterfield failed to get an endorsement from the county Planning Commission this week. Denver-based developer Tract is seeking zoning approval of a data center project on more than 700 acres just outside Colonial Heights. The assemblage includes 16100 Branders Bridge Road and multiple other parcels. Planning commissioners voted unanimously to recommend that the project be denied by the Board of Supervisors, which is anticipated to provide a final verdict on the zoning request at a future meeting.
Virginia professors warn against governance boards politicizing tenure processes
The Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the largest organization representing university professors in the commonwealth, is raising fresh concerns, after learning the George Mason University’s Board of Visitors inquired in February 2024 about their roles in reviewing promotion and tenure cases. The educators say they fear the pipeline of college professors could contract if more college governing boards seek to influence the process of hiring and promoting professors. The debate has bubbled up as the politicization of governing boards at public colleges and universities nationwide, including those in Virginia, has increased.
Proposed Chester data center gets thumbs down from planners
The Chesterfield Planning Commission unanimously recommended against a rezoning case that proposed a data center in Chester. The development from Denver-based data center planning company Tract would be located on 744 acres at 16100 Branders Bridge Road. “Where I have a real challenge is where it’s located,” said Gib Sloan, who represents the Bermuda District on the planning commission, during Tuesday’s meeting. “We need to look at a case through the health, safety and welfare of its citizens.”
Va. panel approves Barbara Johns statue for U.S. Capitol
A state commission has given final approval to Virginia’s bronze statue of teenage civil rights heroine Barbara Johns that will become part of the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol by the end of the year. The Johns statue will replace a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that the state removed from the U.S. Capitol in December 2020. Each state gets two statues in the collection. Virginia’s other statue depicts George Washington.
Democratic candidates for Connolly’s congressional seat debate fairness over Walkinshaw’s frontrunner status
A crowded field of Democrats is vying for the party’s nomination in the special election for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District. James Walkinshaw, [the late U.S. Rep. Gerry] Connolly’s chosen successor, appears to be the clear frontrunner, sparking concerns among rivals that the nomination process favors establishment candidates and also limits voter access. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the special election date for Sept. 9 after Connolly, 75, died in May due to esophageal cancer. It came weeks after Connolly announced he would not seek reelection and would step down as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. The 11th District Democratic committee announced a firehouse primary scheduled for June 28, giving candidates less than a month to make their case to voters.
How Black Lung Came Roaring Back to Coal Country
Denver Brock and his son Aundra used to spend early mornings hunting rabbits in the wooded highlands of Harlan County, Ky. But they don’t get out there much these days. They both get too breathless trying to follow the baying hounds. Instead, they tend a large garden alongside Denver Brock’s home. Even that can prove difficult, requiring them to work slowly and take frequent breaks. “You get so dizzy,” Denver Brock said, “you can’t hardly stand up.” The Brocks followed a long family tradition when they became Appalachian coal miners. For it, they both now have coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, a debilitating disease characterized by masses and scarred tissue in the chest, and better known by its colloquial name: black lung.
State agencies begin moving out of James Monroe Building
The state government has begun moving out of the James Monroe Building. The Office of the State Inspector General recently relocated to a small office complex on Governor Street called Reid’s Row. By the spring of 2026, the state expects the 29-story Monroe building to be empty, Banci Tewolde, director of the Department of General Services, told the state’s Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. General Services handles real estate for the state government.
Senate draft of ‘big, beautiful bill’ could cut funds for Virginia hospitals, also affect Medicaid
Virginia’s hospitals are monitoring congressional budget proposals with concern. While the recently-passed U.S. House of Representatives’ version of the President Donald Trump-backed “big beautiful bill” retained federal mapping that preserves Medicaid access in Virginia, a new draft in the U.S. Senate could alter two critical funding mechanisms that support Virginia’s hospitals and their ability to bolster the state’s expanded Medicaid program. The Senate proposal could change provider assessment rates and state-directed payment programs. The two funding mechanisms are critical to hospital operation in Virginia and how they chip into the expansion of Virginia’s Medicaid program.
Trump’s tax bill has become a battlefield for tobacco giants
Two of the largest tobacco firms in the United States are waging a lobbying battle over a key provision in the GOP’s massive tax and spending bill. The version of the legislation that the House passed last month included language to claw back a $12 billion tax break that tobacco producers — most of them in North Carolina — use to make their products cheaper to export. The version of the legislation the Senate is considering would leave the tax break untouched. Now cigarette manufacturers and their allies in Congress are wrestling over the final fate of the provision — with Sen. Thom Tillis (North Carolina), a Republican whom Democrats hope to unseat in midterm elections, stuck in the middle.
Virginia group plans nuclear test reactor to boost research efforts
A recently formed partnership in Virginia will look at the potential for creating a research facility that would include a micro-scale nuclear reactor for businesses and universities to use as they develop the next generation of nuclear power plants. The partnership — organized by a nonprofit called the Virginia Innovative Nuclear Hub, or VIN Hub — also aims to bring together Virginia’s nuclear companies and universities to research materials for advanced nuclear reactors.