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Appalachian Power cancels Southwest Virginia battery energy storage system
Appalachian Power has canceled its plans to build a battery energy storage system in Southwest Virginia, citing factors including storm damage brought by Hurricane Helene last year. State regulators last year approved Appalachian’s plan to build the system on two sites in Grayson and Smyth counties to serve around 2,790 customers on the utility’s Glade-Whitetop circuit. It would have stored electricity drawn from the grid and deployed it during high-demand periods and outages.
Former campaign treasurer for Kaine and Warner admits to embezzlement
A former campaign treasurer for Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner of Virginia and other Democrats pleaded guilty this week to embezzling more than $840,000 in political contributions to finance a trip to Italy, a private suite for an Elton John concert, a chartered yacht tour and other luxury expenses. Katherine M. Buchanan, 59, was the campaign treasurer for the two senators and former U.S. representative Stephanie Murphy of Florida and held the same job at several political-action committees supporting the three Democrats’ electoral efforts. She pleaded guilty Monday to embezzling funds from those entities and evading taxes.
NIL settlement should lend greater clarity, stability to college athletics
A recent court ruling moved America’s college athletes closer to fair compensation for their talent and hard work, not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars they generate for their universities and colleges each year. But appropriate oversight at that compensation remains uncertain and may require congressional intervention — perhaps using a year-old Virginia law as a template.
Hospital associations in Va., 13 states warn against proposed cuts to Medicaid and hospital funding
As Congress debates funding changes to Medicaid that could negatively impact rural hospitals and patients’ access to care, hospital associations in Virginia and 13 other states sent a joint letter to U.S. Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, warning of the potential risks to health care access for people who need it the most. Provider assessment rates and state-directed payment programs are at risk — two funding mechanisms that are critical to hospital operation in Virginia and that determine how hospitals chip into the state’s expanded Medicaid coverage. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association estimated each program could take a $2 billion hit, if the proposal is fully implemented.
Democrats’ pick to replace Rep. Connolly wants to carry forward his legacy
In the crowded primary to replace Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) in Congress, there was only one Democrat who could claim much of a link to the late longtime congressman: Fairfax County Supervisor James R. Walkinshaw. As the popular lawmaker’s chief of staff for a decade, Walkinshaw, 42, had long been seen as a likely successor in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District — even well before Connolly’s death opened up this seat in the D.C. suburbs. With support from Connolly and the broad political coalition he had built across Fairfax, Walkinshaw managed to win almost 60 percent of the vote in Saturday’s election against nine other candidates. . . . The Sept. 9 special election will pit Walkinshaw against Stewart Whitson, a lawyer at a conservative think tank whom Republicans picked as their nominee Saturday.
Heaphy: What the University of Virginia Should Have Done
On Friday, Jim Ryan stood on the lawn of Carr’s Hill, the residence of the president of the University of Virginia, alone in the center of a crowd of supporters. He offered brief remarks about his inability to fight the forces arrayed against him, including the Trump administration. No one stood alongside him — it was just the university president, Mr. Ryan, explaining why he had made the difficult decision to quit. The moment perfectly illustrated how Mr. Ryan was abandoned by the same people who were supposed to protect the university.
$500K grant in jeopardy if Averett doesn't get default waiver
Citing “time is of the essence,” Averett University is asking its bondholders for a default waiver to finalize its 2024 financial audit report, otherwise jeopardizing $500,000 in grant funds used in the summer months. Since Averett has stayed current on the payments, there is no monetary default on the $14.67 million in bonds it took out in 2017 for construction projects. However, Averett was informed earlier this year that it was technically in default for other reasons.
From VPAP New Episode: The Virginia Press Room Podcast
In the latest episode of the podcast from VaNews and VPM, Michael Pope is joined by Anna Bryson of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Brandon Jarvis of Virginia Scope, and Brad Kutner of Radio IQ. They discuss the week's top headlines: the Virginia GOP ticket's first joint appearance, Sears and Spanberger on immigration, and ICE arrests at Chesterfield County courthouse. Tune in for insights and analysis on Virginia politics. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Will protecting abortion access get Democratic voters to the polls? Spanberger thinks so.
Once again, maintaining abortion access has become the hallmark of Democratic campaigns in Virginia this election cycle. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Virginia is now the only state in the South with abortion access beyond 12 weeks. The Democrats running for statewide office want to keep it that way. It dominated the conversation when the candidates visited Charlottesville Tuesday on their eight-day, 40-plus-stop bus tour across the commonwealth.
With a big British backer, a Southside Virginia mine reopens
A $3.6 billion London-based investment firm has brought a Southside Virginia mine back to life — and with it, a processing plant that will secure a U.S.-based supply chain of critical minerals. The Atlantic Strategic Minerals mine straddling the Dinwiddie-Sussex county line has resumed producing ilmenite and zircon, from what the company believes is the richest deposit of zircon around. Both minerals are mainly imported now, but a new focus on ensuring that supplies of such critical minerals aren’t interrupted by political conflict makes what Dominic Raab, the former deputy prime minister of Great Britain and head of global affairs at Appian Capital Advisory LLP, calls “a strong business case.”