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Virginia prepares to finalize transgender athlete restrictions
A heated fight over transgender athlete participation in Virginia schools is coming to a head this week, as state high school sports leaders prepare to finalize controversial new restrictions — despite mounting pressure from advocates urging them to reconsider. On Wednesday, the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Executive Committee will meet for the first time since voting nearly two months ago to limit competition in girls’ sports to students assigned female at birth, following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
Mark Warner warns of negative consequences to slashing intel workforce
Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Sunday warned of long-term fallout for the Trump administration’s looming mass layoffs to the federal intelligence workforce. The Trump administration plans to downsize the government’s most sensitive national security agencies with cuts to 1,200 positions at the CIA and thousands more at other intelligence agencies, the Washington Post reported over the weekend.
Proposed Medicaid cuts condemned at Leesburg town hall
Proposed Medicaid cuts would be ruinous to Loudoun County's most vulnerable individuals, including poor people and adults and children with disabilities. That was the message from panelists and speakers at a May 3 "Medicaid Summit" hosted by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-10th. Some 120 people attended the town hall event at Leesburg Elementary School, including people with disabilities and their caregivers, parents and grandparents.
Georgia-Pacific closes Emporia plywood plant; ‘very sad day’ sees 550 workers lose jobs
Hundreds of employees at the Georgia-Pacific plywood plant in Emporia, Virginia, are losing their jobs after the facility ceased operations immediately on Friday. The company delivered the news to the plant's just over 550 employees during a series of meetings Friday morning and through a letter distributed to workers, according to Rick Kimble, Georgia-Pacific's director of public affairs. ... Officials blamed a combination of factors, including high home prices and a 30-year low in existing home sales, for the closure.
Jam-packed GMU board meeting becomes battleground in national school diversity fight
George Mason University Board of Visitors meetings aren’t typically jam-packed, but a battle over diversity programs among the school’s leadership has stirred up the university’s student body. At a meeting yesterday (Thursday), board members questioned university staff on whether the school is complying with the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in education.
Virginia Beach charter change referendum may have enough council votes to advance
Mayor Bobby Dyer and other members of City Council who want to place a charter change referendum question on the November ballot likely have enough support for it to move forward. The referendum question would ask voters whether they want to keep the current single-member district system or if they support a voting system with some at-large seats on council.
ACPS ‘censorship’ of Alexandria City High School’s student newspaper Theogony ignites firestorm of criticism
After a firestorm of criticism from city leaders and student journalists over proposed oversight changes to Alexandria City High School’s student newspaper, Theogony, this morning (May 2), the Alexandria School Board’s Governance Committee returned to the drawing board. ... With City Council members warning of potential “censorship” and “authoritarian” behavior from the school system, student journalists are alleging a concerted effort from the administration of Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt to suppress touchy or controversial stories from appearing in the monthly publication.
Racial tensions, community outrage rises over firing of Hopewell city manager and clerk
There was an uproar in Hopewell’s city council chambers Thursday night. Some city leaders sat sobbing at the bench, and some stormed out. Mayor Johnny Partin lost control of the meeting. “Step down, Johnny Partin, step down!” Shouted community members from the crowd, after the decision to terminate City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker and City Clerk Brittani Williams without cause. The community now wants to know if the vote was legal because it concerns a conflict of interest.
Yancey: Spanberger wants state to take stronger role in helping local governments with solar decisions
Abigail Spanberger says the state shouldn’t force localities to accept solar projects or data centers that they don’t want, but that the state could do a better job of offering localities technical information so they can make better-informed decisions. She supports nuclear energy and says that the small modular reactor proposed for Dominion Energy’s North Anna power station in Louisa County is a good way to test the commercial viability of that technology. She also says that Virginia is headed toward an energy crisis and the next governor needs to address it, but that any solution must be done in coordination with neighboring states that are on the same electric grid.
5 Virginia prison guards are injured by inmates accused of being MS-13 members
An attack by inmates at a Virginia prison injured five guards, according to state corrections officials who said most of the assailants were MS-13 gang members who entered the U.S. illegally. Three guards were stabbed and were transported for medical treatment along with two others hurt Friday at Wallens Ridge State Prison in western Virginia, the state Department of Corrections said.