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VCU plans to demolish Grace Street buildings and downtown student center
Virginia Commonwealth University plans to demolish a pair of buildings on its Monroe Park Campus and a student center on its MCV Campus for health sciences to make way for two new projects. On the Monroe Park Campus, VCU intends to tear down an office building and the BookHolders.com building on West Grace Street, which will become the site of a 1,000-bed residential building. On the downtown health sciences campus, the university expects to remove the Larrick Student Center, where VCU will build a new school of dentistry building.
Bon Secours Harbour View Medical Center opens after 10 years in the making
Bon Secours Harbour View Medical Center held its ribbon-cutting ceremony on [Monday], May 5, where they welcomed members of the Bon Secours family as well as local and state officials to view the completed building. The first patient is expected on [Tuesday], May 6. Market President for Bon Secours Hampton Roads Pat Davis-Hagens said the vision for this building started 10 years ago.
Army suspends helicopter flights to Pentagon after airliners abort landings
The Army said Monday that a Virginia-based helicopter unit was suspending flights to the Pentagon after an incident last week that led to two airliners being directed to abort landings at Reagan National Airport. Army spokeswoman Heather Chairez said the service’s 12th Aviation Battalion was pausing the operations until an internal inquiry is completed. The battalion operates a fleet of Black Hawk helicopters and was the unit involved in the Jan. 29 midair crash with an American Airlines flight that killed 67 people.
Army pausing helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls
The Army is pausing helicopter flights near a Washington airport after two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon. The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause helicopter flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday’s close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday. One official said the flights have been paused since Friday.
EPA cancels $20 million grant for Southwest Va. projects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has notified the University of Virginia that it is terminating a $19.9 million grant that would have funded eight Southwest Virginia projects. The grant would have helped pay for, among other things, energy-efficient workforce housing in Buchanan County, a community center in Dickenson County, energy-efficiency improvements for child-care centers in eight localities and research to identify locations for telehealth hubs that could double as safe places during natural disasters.
United Way of Central Virginia loses AmeriCorps grant, putting child care workforce plans in jeopardy
A well-planned and time-consuming initiative to ease the child care crisis in Central Virginia has hit an unexpected roadblock. The United Way of Central Virginia (UWCV) has lost a $283,000 AmeriCorps operational grant that was intended to support staffing for a new child care center and expand services across multiple early learning sites. The decision threatens to delay a project that could have impacted more than 500 children and their families.
Census figures show Virginia lags behind the rest of the country on public education spending
Spending on public education in Virginia is falling behind the rest of the country. $16,000. That's what Virginia spends per pupil, according to the Census Bureau. Relative to the rest of the South, that's pretty good. But it’s below average for the Midwest, and it's below average for the western states and it's way below average for the Northeast. Chad Stewart at the Virginia Education Association says the numbers show the Commonwealth is falling behind.
Virginia Tech preparing for ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ Metallica concert—and its economic impact
The lush grass of Worsham Field was stripped away. The sprinkler heads were removed. The field that is home to the Virginia Tech football team was barren and level. Part of the crew that sets up the stage for Metallica’s concerts spent the early parts of Friday afternoon beginning the process of laying down the flooring that signaled the transformation of a football stadium into a temporary concert venue. The group began the multi-day process that will culminate Wednesday with a long-awaited concert that features Metallica performing “Enter Sandman,” the song that has welcomed the Hokies onto the field for nearly a quarter of a century, in front of a sold-out crowd inside Lane Stadium.
Most Virginia teachers are women, but most superintendents are men
Early in her administrative career, before she became the first female superintendent of Henrico County Public Schools in 2018, Amy Cashwell recalled being the only woman in a boardroom full of men. As they discussed a major project, one of the men asked if she would be hindered from giving a project her all. She looked at him with a puzzled expression. He said: “Well, you have kids.” She responded: “So do you.” It’s a moment many women in education leadership recognize — a quiet but persistent skepticism about whether they can lead and mother at the same time.
Virginia sees spike in superintendent turnover
More than 40% of Virginia's K-12 public school districts had at least one new superintendent between 2019 and 2024, according to national data collected by Superintendent Lab and reviewed by Axios. The Trump administration wants to empower local schools by dismantling the U.S. Department of Education. Turnover among systems' leaders is evidence of school districts' instability, as they struggle with teacher shortages and falling test scores.