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Rep. Beyer pushes for more AI transparency
Alexandria Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) is doubling down on a push for new transparency standards after a controversy surrounding OpenAI and actress Scarlett Johansson. OpenAI claimed its new ChatGPT assistant, which sounded eerily similar to Johansson, wasn’t based on Johansson despite the actress saying the company previously tried to hire her for the chatbot. Further adding to evidence that it was, in fact, based on Johannsson’s voice was OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posting a one-word reference to the 2013 movie Her, which notably features Johansson playing an AI. Beyer said legislation he’s been advocating for would create transparency standards showing how the AI models are trained.
Kiggans says the ads are a lie. Democrats say her voting record tells a different story
Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-VA02, is defending herself against attacks accusing her of voting for legislation that could potentially cut funding for veterans’ services. A former Navy pilot and nurse practitioner, Kiggans represents the Hampton Roads region in Congress, where a large portion of the population is active-duty military personnel. Vote Vets, a group that says they elevate the voices of veterans and military families through progressive legislative policies and electoral endorsements that impact the lives of active service members and veterans, is calling out Kiggans for her comments defending herself in a recent video.
Local Virginia Breeze bus service sees 16% growth
The Virginia Breeze bus route, which serves Bristol and Southwest Virginia, reported the second highest ridership of four such routes in Virginia during the past year. The Highlands Rhythm route, which operates daily along Interstate 81 to I-66 and Washington, D.C., reported 15,583 riders between March 2023 and February 2024, according a new director’s report from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
$14.4 million rehabilitation work completed at Fredericksburg train station
A year and a half after rehabilitation work on the downtown Fredericksburg train station started the project’s completion was celebrated on Tuesday. The $14.4 million rehabilitation work on the train station, built in the early 1900s, started in October 2022. The project was set for completion in December, but it was pushed into 2024. The project included rehabilitation of 125 feet of unused, deteriorated platforms.
Metro used faulty cars and ignored worker safety measures, audit finds
Metro has deployed rail cars that failed operations tests and neglected to follow occupational safety guidelines, according to an audit the transit agency’s regulator released Tuesday. The audit, performed by the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, an independent agency that oversees Metrorail operations, provides a damning portrait of Metro operations, though it doesn’t suggest the system poses a significant danger to riders.
Virginia Breeze plans Tidewater bus route in 2025
Virginia Breeze bus lines will expand with a fifth route, the Tidewater Current, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation announced. It will mark the bus service’s first East-West service, according to a written statement. Connecting Harrisonburg and Virginia Beach, the Tidewater Current will offer convenient travel options for residents and visitors alike that will provide bi-directional service 365 days a year.
Bill to protect family-planning measures in Virginia falls to Youngkin veto
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its decision in 1973’s Roe v Wade two years ago, the justices sent women, advocates and lawmakers scrambling to defend access to reproductive health care and family planning resources, such as contraception, against those determined to restrict the availability of both. By vetoing a measure establishing a right to contraceptive access in Virginia, Gov. Glenn Younkin has only deepened uncertainty in the commonwealth. While not surprising given his hard-line proclivities on abortion, the governor’s action is deeply disappointing and a further indication of how perilous this moment is for Virginia women.
Chesapeake NAACP branch calls for change to city’s at-large voting system
There are growing calls to change the way elections are done in Chesapeake. The Chesapeake NAACP branch wants elected leaders to abandon the current at-large voting system for the city council and school board. “With an at-large system you do not have a specific councilman or school board member that you are to go to and ask for help,” said the group’s president Dr. Shirley Auguste.
Some Chesapeake leaders pushing to ask residents to weigh in on district voting system
Some leaders in Chesapeake are pushing the possibility of transitioning to a district-based election system by posing the question to voters in the upcoming election. A potential change to the city’s local election system could be up for discussion in the coming weeks following a request made by council member Don Carey at a meeting earlier this month. Carey asked for background information to be placed on the May 28 meeting agenda so that council members could consider beginning the process of putting a referendum on the ballot that would ask voters to weigh in on a single-member district voting system versus the current at-large system.
Business owners remove, scale back street dining as Norfolk enacts new rules
The city is changing the rules for on-street dining four years after Norfolk embraced outdoor setups during the coronavirus pandemic — and downtown business owners are not happy. In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic began to escalate in the United States, Norfolk allowed flexibility in outdoor dining on patios, sidewalks and even in city parking spaces. ... Now, Norfolk has asked businesses to follow new, long-term rules for street dining. While some downtown business owners are working to comply with the new regulations, others are removing their setups entirely.