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Clark: Fight for competitive teacher pay continues in Virginia
Every student in Virginia deserves a fully qualified and trained teacher. Why? Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because research consistently shows that teacher quality has the largest impact on student outcomes. Yet, as another school year ends, thousands more students in the Tidewater region spent this year with a permanent substitute or provisionally licensed teacher, at a time when teacher vacancy rates are at historic highs in Virginia and competitive pay for these positions at unprecedented lows. Help was on the way.
’Not one life lost in vain’: Families of Bedford Boys who fought at D-Day remember soldiers’ sacrifices
When John Boggess was growing up in Bedford County, his uncles Bedford and Raymond Hoback were pictures on the mantle. “We knew they died on D-Day and that was kind of it, because no one talked about it,” said Boggess, whose mother Lucille was the Hoback brothers’ younger sister. “The survivors didn’t talk about it, the family members of those who died didn’t talk about it.” The knowledge of the town of Bedford suffering massive casualties during the D-Day invasion was commonly known in the county, but it didn’t draw conversation, Boggess said.
Understand the scope of region’s gun violence to pursue effective action
Ten-year-old Keontre “Tre” Thornhill loved action movies and was preparing to spend the summer doing lawn care services with his stepfather. James R. Carter, 84, owned the Triple C Convenience store and was called the “grandfather of Norfolk.” Ty’jonte Terry was a 14-year-old who loved basketball and was well liked among the other kids who frequented the Aqueduct Boys and Girls Club in Newport News. These are a few of the lives, along with so many others, taken from Hampton Roads by gun violence in recent months.
Records show Virginia mail carriers caught dumping mail
It’s the U.S. Postal Service’s informal motto that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night“ will interfere with the work of its mail carriers. Turns out that sometimes the problem can be the postal workers themselves. Internal investigations from the watchdog agency that oversees the agency shows that three carriers in the Richmond area ditched the mail rather than deliver it last year, adding to examples of unreliable service that residents reported to the Richmond Times-Dispatch in the past several months. The dumping incidents appear to be unrelated to the overhaul that Richmond’s postal system underwent in July 2023 ...
Two Virginia colleges face backlash after backtracking on plans to require diversity courses
When the police killings of Black people, including George Floyd set off racial unrest across the country in 2020, Marie Vergamini decided she wanted to do her part to help address systemic racism. So, Vergamini, a doctoral student and adjunct instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University, joined a committee of faculty and students who were creating a racial literacy curriculum. Vergamini said they created lessons that covered the history of slavery in the United States, the Jim Crow era, racism against Asian Americans, and the nationwide movement to remove Confederate statues, including those in the state’s capital, Richmond, which was once the seat of the Confederacy.
Orange County claims Virginia School Boards Association has leftist leanings as it severs ties with group
During a divisive meeting on May 20, the Orange County School Board voted 3-2 to not recertify its membership with the Virginia School Boards Association, claiming the nonpartisan statewide organization was a drain on resources and leaned too far to the political left. “I’ve seen recordings where they mock our governor and anyone with a conservative viewpoint,” said Board Member Darlene Dawson, who referred to the organization as a “monopoly.” “They lobby for many things that I, on principle, stand against, and I’m not interested in supporting them. If you try to disagree with them, they will shut you down. I’ve seen it happen.”
Shots Fired: Nearly 3,000 killed in homicides and suicides in Hampton Roads in past 10 years
On a Friday evening in late April, 10-year-old Keontre Thornhill was in his bedroom in Portsmouth, relaxing with his favorite video game, Fortnite. Teenage girls were arguing outside. Drawn to the commotion, Keontre looked out his window of the home on Farragut Street in Cradock. And then the shooting began. A bullet sailed through Keontre’s open window, striking him in the torso. He died in the ambulance.
Dems weigh local ties, anti-Trump fame in primary for Spanberger seat
Craig Barrett was a little star-struck, he confessed, when he answered the door at his Northern Virginia townhouse to find a Trump whistleblower standing outside. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” he said as former Army colonel Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman handed him a campaign brochure. “Hold on, hold on — I’ve got to get a picture, if you don’t mind.” Vindman, who made his pitch for Congress while they posed for a photo, is no stranger to this kind of fame ...
Nelson: How unchecked illiberalism is infecting our college campuses
As we end the 2023-2024 academic year, many Americans are wondering what has happened on our nation’s college campuses. It is one word: illiberalism. To be illiberal is to limit freedom of expression, free thought, free exercise of religious ideology and civil libertarian practices. With the coup de grace being the suppression of “free and fair” elections, which is the pillar that sustains all liberty.
Richmond raises Progress flag for Pride month, faces backlash from protesters
Mayor Levar Stoney, City Council members and queer community leaders met at City Hall on Friday morning to officially recognize June as Pride month and raise the Progress flag alongside the Richmond city and American flags. The flag-raising event began under the Stoney administration five years ago as an effort to highlight the importance of LGBTQ history. It also serves as a symbol for current and future queer residents that the city is a welcoming place to reside, Stoney said. ... Dozens of supporters attended the event, as well as some protesters. They raised concerns not with the city’s position on LGBTQ issues, but with the ongoing conflict in Gaza.