Search
UVa. students have federal internship offers rescinded due to hiring freeze
Several University students have had federal internship offers rescinded, leaving them scrambling last-minute to determine summer plans. This is a result of the hiring freeze of federal civilian employees which President Donald Trump ordered in a presidential memorandum Jan. 20. Another memorandum April 17 extended the freeze through July 15. Until July 15, no presently vacant federal civilian positions may be filled, and no new positions may be created. Because summer federal government interns are not currently employed, and some had received offers during the previous administration, some internship positions were affected.
Jay Jones is going on TV with the first ad of the attorney general race
Former Del. Jay Jones is launching the first television ad of the Democratic primary for attorney general on Tuesday. “As a lawmaker, I protected abortion rights, and as an Assistant Attorney General, I took on big corporations, and I sued Glenn Youngkin to defend voting rights,” Jones says in the ad. The spot highlights Jones’ work from 2023, when he represented the Virginia NAACP in a lawsuit seeking access to a database used by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to decide whether to restore voting rights to individuals with felony convictions.
Right-to-contraception bills highlight key reproductive health care debate in this year’s elections
Contraception access is an issue resonating loudly within Virginia’s public and political spheres this year and last week, it manifested through state lawmakers contrasting Virginia’s twice-failed attempt to protect access to birth control medications against a similar measure that recently sailed through neighboring Tennessee’s legislature. For the second year in a row, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a right-to-contraception bill carried by Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, who took to social media over the weekend to highlight how, unlike in the commonwealth, Tennessee lawmakers were able to come together and pass a bipartisan bill on the issue.
VMI’s Board of Visitors selects new leadership, as Wins’ tenure closes
After several days of meetings that began Friday, the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors selected new leadership. It also voted in an acting superintendent to replace Major General Cedric Wins whose contract was not renewed earlier this year after criticism of DEI initiatives he supported. The meetings were Wins’ last. Brigadier General Dallas Clark was selected to replace him on an interim basis as the board continues its search for a permanent superintendent. James Inman, a Younkin appointee, was also voted in as the new Board of Visitor's president.
Rivers Casino Portsmouth to add $65M hotel
Rivers Casino Portsmouth and Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming are planning to break ground on a $65 million hotel in Portsmouth this summer, more than two years after the casino first opened. Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover revealed the plans for The Landing Hotel Portsmouth during his annual State of the City address Friday. The eight-story hotel will be located directly adjacent to the casino, overlooking the property’s water feature. It will have 106 guest rooms, including 32 suites ranging from roughly 400 to 800-plus square feet.
State investigating potential cancer cluster in Scott County amid cases of pediatric cancer
After 14 rounds of chemotherapy, six weeks of radiation and two major surgeries — including a jaw reconstruction — Oliver Hensley is finally in remission from an aggressive type of cancer. He was just 5 years old and in kindergarten when he was diagnosed. His treatments spanned the course of a year. “You would never think that you have to worry that your child is going to have cancer,” Kayla Hensley, Oliver’s mom, said during a phone interview.
Youngkin keeps bar high for weight loss drugs under Medicaid
A year ago, after Gov. Glenn Youngkin persuaded the General Assembly to limit access to weight loss drugs for people in Virginia’s Medicaid program, Dr. Susan Wolver saw immediate consequences for her patients struggling with obesity. People who had lost 100 pounds with help from medication suddenly lost access to the drug because they had shed so much weight they fell beneath the state’s new threshold for body mass index. They regained weight and other medical conditions returned, such as high blood pressure and pre-diabetes. . . . The General Assembly tried to intervene this year, adopting a lower body mass index threshold to quality for the drugs under Medicaid, but Youngkin had the last word by vetoing the new provision of the revised budget that he signed on Friday.
Yancey: Jobless workers in Emporia are paying the price for nation’s inability to deal with high housing costs
Emporia took a hard blow last week when the Georgia-Pacific plywood mill announced it’s closing, leaving 550 people out of work. That follows another hard blow last year, when the Boar’s Head Provision Co. meat plant in nearby Jarratt in Greensville County closed. No community wants to lose a major employer; between them, Emporia and Greensville County have now lost two in less than a year’s time. These two plant closings are unrelated — Boar’s Head was linked to a listeria outbreak that led to 10 deaths across the country. That’s a tragedy, but it may not directly stem from a public policy choice. However, Georgia-Pacific cited national declines in homebuilding and homebuying, and those are very much connected to public policy.
Yancey: Republican House primary in Danville draws more opening day voters than any other GOP races in the state
Republican voters in Danville are showing more interest in the House of Delegates primary in their area than voters in any of the other eight Republican primaries in the state. That’s based on the numbers from the first day totals on Friday. While just one day, those first-day totals are often a good indicator of overall interest in a race. There are 17 primaries — eight Republican, nine Democratic — to settle House of Delegates nominations this year.
Advocates celebrate Youngkin’s signature on ‘junk fees’ legislation
Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin and Democrats who run the General Assembly are working together to go after junk fees. Anyone who has ever ordered a meal online knows the initial price is not what you end up paying – not after the transaction fee and the convenience fee and all the other charges. That's why Jay Speer at the Virginia Poverty Law Center says it was so important for the General Assembly to take action.