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Critics clash with Gov. Youngkin over Medicaid, SNAP impacts of 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is throwing his support behind the Republican-led “Big Beautiful Bill,” a sweeping federal budget package that’s stirred controversy over its potential impact on low-income Americans. Youngkin, in an interview with WUSA9 Wednesday, called the need to pass the bill “very important” and emphasized its promises of tax relief, border security funding and fiscal responsibility. . . . “I don't believe there will be people who need services who will have to go without,” the governor said.
Virginia increases funding for agricultural conservation projects aimed at Chesapeake Bay cleanup
Despite funding cuts across the board for programs and agencies on the federal level, Virginia farmers are seeing a win for conservation projects. The state is showing a dedication to sustainable farming measures by allocating $223 million for agricultural practices that stop pollutants and sediment disturbances that lead to runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. It is a $16 million increase over the last fiscal year, leading to the fourth year of increasing funding from the state.
The first Democrat to declare for a House seat from Virginia's fifth congressional district
A small crowd gathered in the shade of a picnic shelter at Crozet Park near Charlottesville to hear from a man who’d like to represent them in Congress – but from the moment he spoke it seemed people were not quite ready for that election. “Morning everybody!” the candidate called out. The crowd continued to chatter until someone finally insisted they quiet down. 58-year-old Paul Riley ran for a seat in the U.S. House two years ago but lost in the Democratic primary to Gloria Witt. Now he’s back, having learned an important political lesson.
Dempsey-Henofer: Charlottesville’s nervous system is telling us something
As a mental health therapist and small business owner in Charlottesville, I sit with people every day who are trying to make sense of the world — of their pasts, their relationships and the systems that shape how safe they feel in their own bodies. Many of my clients are LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent or navigating trauma rooted in institutions that demand they be quiet, compliant or “neutral.” And here’s something I’ve learned again and again: When neutrality is demanded in the face of harm, the body knows it is not safe. Charlottesville is feeling that now.
Glenn Youngkin wrote a GOP playbook for winning Virginia. Republicans hope Winsome Earle-Sears can follow it.
On a Tuesday evening in northern Virginia, Republicans on edge across the state finally got their wish: a campaign event featuring gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears, backed by incumbent Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who beat a Democrat four years ago. A racially diverse crowd was packed into a firehouse waving signs that read “Axe the Tax,” a nod to an Earle-Sears campaign pledge to eliminate the state’s car tax. Youngkin lauded Earle-Sears’ biography and work as the state’s lieutenant governor. At the end, he appeared on stage with the entire GOP ticket, clapping along to the tune of the classic disco song “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.”
GMU's Innovation District in Prince William receives $2.6M from state
The Innovation District in Manassas is receiving a $2.6 million Growth and Opportunity for Virginia state grant in part to bolster George Mason University’s programming at its Science and Technology Campus. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the grant along with seven others June 27. . . . Specifically in Prince William, George Mason University is launching the Innovation District at its Science and Technology campus in Manassas to drive growth in life sciences, emerging technologies, aerospace and defense, cybersecurity and data infrastructure.
‘They should be arrested’: Youngkin holds firm on support for ICE raids at Virginia courthouses
Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday doubled down on the controversial use of courthouse arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, brushing off criticism that some of the individuals detained were simply in court to pay fines for traffic infractions and had no criminal record. “Let’s just be clear, the vast majority of the people that have been arrested at courthouses around the country are committing violent crimes,” Youngkin said at a press conference at the Virginia State Police headquarters in Richmond. “If someone breaks the law and is here illegally, they should be arrested.”
Dumfries data center proposal draws fervor at town hall
Residents of a Dumfries-area retirement community turned out in droves for a Tuesday town hall to discuss proposed data center development near their property, a relative novelty for eastern Prince William County compared with such projects on the county’s western end. Supervisor Andrea Bailey, a Democrat representing the Potomac District, hosted the town hall at her district office in Dumfries for residents of the Four Seasons at Historic Virginia 55-and-over community off Dumfries Road and west of Interstate 95. The project, dubbed “Lexora Park,” could include as many as five data centers, according to an April 9 concept plan.
Yancey: Attorney general opens criminal investigation into baby giraffes missing from the Natural Bridge Zoo
Attorney General Jason Miyares has opened a criminal investigation into the whereabouts of the two baby giraffes missing from the Natural Bridge Zoo, it was revealed in court Wednesday. That announcement came amid an all-day hearing on contempt of court charges against three people involved with the zoo: two members of the family that has run the Rockbridge County attraction and an animal property rights activist. They were charged with impeding court orders to cooperate with moving the four adult giraffes that had been awarded to the state after an animal cruelty trial.
Trump’s tax bill would send an iconic Smithsonian spacecraft to Texas
The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum could lose the iconic Discovery space shuttle to Houston if a pair of Texas senators get their way. President Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration bill passed the Senate on Tuesday with language effectively ordering the shuttle’s move to Texas. It would set aside $85 million to transport Discovery and construct a home for it at Space Center Houston, the official visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center — which itself oversaw more than 100 shuttle launches over two decades. But the Smithsonian, which has housed the shuttle at its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Northern Virginia since 2012, estimated that the true cost would be north of $300 million.