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Gobar: Without reform, Virginia remains the Wild West for campaign finance
Last month, billionaires and wealthy special interests poured over $100 million into Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race — a staggering sum for a supposedly nonpartisan state election. Elon Musk’s vote-buying schemes exposed a key vulnerability in our democracy, which is increasingly being auctioned off to the highest bidder. In Virginia, we don’t need to imagine what that future looks like — we’re already living it. If Musk and his billionaire buddies set their sights on Virginia’s upcoming elections — as they’ve hinted they might — they’ll find a playground built for them. With some of the weakest campaign finance laws in the country, Virginia offers a uniquely permissive environment for the ultra-wealthy to flood our elections and drown out the voices of everyday voters.
Henrico delays vote on data centers' expansion
The Henrico Board of Supervisors has extended the deadline for its vote to restrict data centers in the county. In the interim, the board has asked for county staff to redraw the plan, making it more restrictive than initially planned. Henrico has been a hot spot for data centers over the past few years. The county has been courting these massive tax-generating properties since 2017. Most large-scale data centers have gone into Varina’s White Oak Technology Park.
Former governors pay tribute to Brown v. Board but disagree on how to continue its legacy
It was more than 70 years ago when 16-year-old Barbara Rose Johns and other students went on a strike to protest the poor conditions of their school – Robert Russa Moton High School – a segregated, tar paper shack high school located in Farmville. The walkout initiated a civil rights case – Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County – which later became one of the five cases consolidated into Brown v. Board of Education, where Supreme Court justices unanimously decided that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Saturday, seven Virginia governors gathered at Virginia Commonwealth University to commemorate the landmark ruling, discuss racial and educational progress and emphasize the need to do more work to address disparities in the state.
Jenkins: Academic freedom means rejecting book bans
While grading narrative essays in the school library when I was teaching, a parent tour entered. The parents focused on a bookcase full of books on display in the front of the library, with yellow caution tape draped across it — the same type you would see at a police crime scene. “Why is there caution tape across these books?” asked a parent.
It’s past time to prohibit personal enrichment by office holders
So many Americans seem to reflexively believe their elected officials are corrupt — at least two-thirds of adults, according to a recent poll by YouGov — it sometimes seems as if such suspicions are a requirement of citizenship. It certainly doesn’t help, though, when the president and lawmakers do less and less to avoid the appearance of wrongdoing or commit acts that, by any reasonable standard, defy the responsibilities of holding elected office. One of the most egregious examples of potential corruption lately is President Donald Trump’s direct involvement in peddling a meme coin called $Trump.
Virginia revenues still strong, with warning signs ahead
Virginia remains more than $200 million ahead of its forecast for tax revenues to meet its budget obligations with two months left in the fiscal year, but state policymakers remain concerned over the potential economic fallout from shifting federal government policies on spending and tariffs. State tax collections through April were $1.5 billion ahead of the same 10-month period a year ago, but the margin shrank to $211.1 million when compared to the revenue projections that Gov. Glenn Youngkin used to assemble a revised two-year budget that he introduced in December and signed earlier this month.
State Sen. Favola receiving treatment for uterine cancer
State Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, announced Monday that she has been diagnosed with uterine cancer and underwent a hysterectomy on Friday. "The operation was successful and my care team at Virginia Hospital Center was wonderful," Favola said. Favola said a series of chemotherapy treatments is likely to follow, but she expects to continue her Senate duties between these sessions.
Decline to opine: Virginia attorney general will not weigh in on Hopewell firings issue
Virginia’s attorney general will not intervene in the question of whether a Hopewell city councilor’s vote to fire the city manager earlier this month represented a conflict-of-interest because he is a city employee. Hopewell Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Newman confirmed last week that Attorney General Jason Miyares would not offer an opinion on the vote by Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis. Newman had asked council to delay any action on the future of Dr. Concetta Manker until Miyares could opine on Ellis’ ability to vote.
Local food banks have lost 1.4M meals to Trump’s cuts
Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains area is largely rural and conservative, with Donald Trump carrying all but two counties that checker the central and western part of the state in the 2024 election. It is also a place where it has become increasingly difficult for people to find enough to eat. Every free meal counts there, said Michael McKee, the CEO of Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which is the main provider of food assistance to 25 counties in the region. But after the U.S. Department of Agriculture paused $500 million in funding for programs related to food in March, Blue Ridge and other food banks have been struggling to meet the growing needs of their communities.
Jennifer McDonald attorneys say judge’s errors at trial are grounds for appeal
Attorneys for Jennifer McDonald, the former executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority, are asking that an appellate judge vacate the judgment against her and remand her case back to the lower court. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon sentenced McDonald on May 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia to 14 years in prison for committing financial crimes while she was head of the EDA. ... Dillon also ordered McDonald as part of the sentence to pay $2,744,268.60 in restitution to the EDA and to forfeit $5,201,329 to the government.