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Tuesday primary to narrow field for 49th District race
Voters in Danville and some parts of Pittsylvania County will get to select the party candidates for 49th District of Virginia’s House of Delegates seat in Tuesday’s primary. ... The 49th District covers all of Danville and the southeastern portion of Pittsylvania County. It also extends east into Halifax County. The seat was held by Del. Danny Marshall, a longtime Southern Virginia lawmaker, who announced his retirement. Madison Whittle and Vanessa Scearce are vying for the Republican Party’s nomination. Gary Miller and Jasmine Lipscomb are on the ballot seeking the Democratic nod.
National parks lose superintendents in Richmond, Petersburg amid 'tough time'
Valentine’s Day was the worst day that Scott Teodorski said he spent in 36 years working for the National Park Service. Teodorski, then-superintendent of the Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker Historic Site, had to tell three park service employees at the two sites that they were out of a job in a purge of probationary employees as part of President Donald p’s attempt to slash the size of the federal workforce and government spending.
Virginia professors’ association calls for end to “politicization” of university leadership
A group of Virginia professors and academics is speaking out against Governor Glenn Youngkin’s appointments to university Boards of Visitors across the state and calling for an end to what they say is the “politicization” of university leadership. This comes after the Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted 8-4 to reject Youngkin’s appointees, including former state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. On June 11, the American Association of University Professors Virginia Chapter sent a letter to the General Assembly, expressing support for the Committee’s decision to block the appointees and calling on the legislature to “[w]ithhold confirmation of all future BOV appointments by Governor Youngkin until he demonstrates a sustained commitment to appointing individuals who uphold academic freedom, respect shared governance, and prioritize institutional integrity over politics.”
Tobacco at risk in GOP’s big tax bill, industry reps say
The Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors took aim Monday at an obscure provision of President Donald Trump’s signature tax cut and spending bill that will hurt domestic tobacco growers, according to tobacco industry representatives. The provision, the elimination of the “tobacco duty drawback,” is wrapped up in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May. Industry advocates say changes contained in Section 112032 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will discourage domestic production of tobacco products and push cigarette companies into using cheaper foreign tobacco
$2.5M in unclaimed money heading to Virginians this week thanks to new law
The state is mailing roughly $2.5 million in unclaimed money to Virginians this week. Some of that money could be yours. The Virginia Department of Treasury's Unclaimed Property Division is doling out checks for everything from funds in lost or misplaced bank accounts and unpaid wages to uncashed checks, utility deposits, refunds or insurance policy proceeds. The department has always collected and held this money for residents, but previously, one had to file a claim with the state to get it back. Under a new law, Virginia is automatically returning the money to its "rightful owners."
Yancey: 25 places in Southwest Virginia that statewide candidates should see for policy lessons
In Tuesday’s column, I listed how few of the statewide candidates have been to Virginia’s westernmost county — Lee County, a tiny piece of which is closer to nine other state capitals than it is to its own in Richmond. ... There’s a political reason for a candidate to visit Lee County, even a Democrat who won’t find many votes there: The candidate can then claim he or she is prepared to represent all of Virginia. However, there are many places in Southwest Virginia that a candidate should visit to learn things that will come up in policy decisions later on. Since this is 2025, here are 25 of them.
Supervisors mull regional water strategies in joint Hanover-Henrico board meeting
If solutions to this year’s water service problems are going to come through regional collaboration, two of the localities that rely on Richmond’s aging water treatment plant say they need their neighbors to join them at the table. That was one of the messages that came out of a joint meeting of the Hanover and Henrico boards of supervisors, which spent two hours Wednesday discussing potential paths to work with Richmond and Chesterfield on regional solutions to their shared water challenges.
Virginia Vulnerable to Trump’s Proposed Cuts in Emergency Management and Disaster Relief
Virginia was one of several states in the Appalachian region slammed by Hurricane Helene’s rainfall last September. The storm caused the New River to crest at 31 feet a day after it battered the region. In one area of Damascus, homes were lifted up and washed away. A separate storm besieged southwest Virginia in February, knocking out power to 203,000 homes and closing 270 roads. Last month, a 1.5-mile stretch of U.S. Route 58, a major thoroughfare in the road-constrained mountainous region, reopened after getting washed out.
Reports of imminent ICE raids in Northern Virginia amid military parade, nationwide protests
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to deploy "special response teams" to five Democratic-led cities and regions across the country, including Northern Virginia, MSNBC reported Wednesday. Sources told the cable news channel that teams have also been ordered to Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York.
ICE agents detain people outside Va. immigration court, strong-arm activists filming
Agents with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained as many as 11 men outside an immigration court in Sterling, Virginia, Wednesday. News4 witnessed eight of the men being taken out of the court in handcuffs and shackles, then loaded into a van. Activists with New Virginia Majority say three others were already detained before News4 arrived. ICE agents on the scene did not say why the men were being detained or where they were taking the men.