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Residents worry Medicaid cuts by Congress could lead to homelessness, death
Three smokestacks towering over the recently-opened Caesars Virginia Casino in Danville serve as a reminder of the city’s industrial roots. Danville’s economy was built on the textile and tobacco industries until many of its manufacturing plants closed during the 2000s, leaving behind thousands of struggling residents. The casino’s grand opening last December was a major step in city leaders’ multi-decade revitalization plan. But despite the new growth, many residents are still living on the edge — one medical emergency away from homelessness. And discussions about federal Medicaid cuts are causing concerns for patients and care providers alike.
After Feds Warn UVa. It Is Moving Too Slowly, Board Quickly Rescinds Diversity Goal
Four years ago, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors endorsed a call to double the number of underrepresented faculty by 2030 and to develop a plan for building a student population that better reflected the state’s racial and socioeconomic diversity. The university’s president, James E. Ryan, said the move signaled that “becoming a more diverse, equitable place is both the right and the smart thing to do.” On Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to rescind any such numerical goals as part of a sweeping effort to wipe out evidence of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The Trump administration had warned university officials, only the day before, that it had received complaints that the university wasn’t acting fast enough to carry through on its promise to “dismantle DEI apparatuses.”
In the World’s Data Center Hotbed, How Close Is Too Close, and Who Should Pay?
Tyler Ray and his husband were drawn to their community, Bren Pointe, by the amenities that make Fairfax County such a desirable place to live in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Northern Virginia. It’s close to shopping, dining and entertainment in Old Town and not far from Reagan National Airport. Soon, though, the neighborhood could be home to a warehouse-like data center at 500 Centre Plaza, a five-acre substation 60 feet from Bren Pointe’s boundary on the other side of Turkeycock Run. The State Corporation Commission, which regulates Virginia’s utilities, is reviewing the transmission project in Ray’s Alexandria neighborhood. The state’s legislative research arm, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, or JLARC, says the line is “too close” to residents.
More than 400 attend defense manufacturing summit in Danville
There is a shortage of workers and manufacturers in the naval shipbuilding industry, so providing support for it is paramount, according to organizers of a three-day summit held at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville this week. “This summit brings together industry, government, academia to acknowledge the challenge that we have ahead of us in terms of supporting shipbuilding in this country,” Telly Tucker, president of the Institute, said during an interview at the summit Tuesday morning.
Recent immigration arrests at courthouses around the country have advocates worried
Inside a Virginia courthouse, three immigration agents in plainclothes — one masked — detained a man who had just had misdemeanor assault charges dismissed. They declined to show identification or a warrant to the man, and one threatened to prosecute horrified witnesses who tried to intervene, cellphone video shows. . . . The flurry of immigration enforcement at courthouses around the country in the past month — already heavily criticized by judicial officials and lawyers — has renewed a legal battle from President Donald Trump’s first term as advocates fear people might avoid coming to court.
Loudoun Community Effort Launches to Mitigate Dulles Noise Concerns
Efforts to mitigate the impact of airplane noise on homes near Dulles International Airport are making headway after years of work to get the project started. A community-led process is beginning to find ways to disperse some of the concentrated noise coming from planes departing from Runway 30, the airport’s western most runway. The initiative follows the 2023 adoption by the Board of Supervisors of an updated Airport Impact Overlay District, which lays out noise contours based on plane flight paths.
Alexandria City Council approves changes to Policing Review Board, auditor
Alexandria City Council voted 5-2 to give the Independent Policing Auditor limited subpoena power and grant Council authority in case of an impasse between the auditor and the Independent Community Policing Review Board at Saturday’s public hearing. Councilors Jacinta Greene and Abdel Elnoubi, who favored granting full subpoena authority, voted in opposition. . . . The Policing Review Board has been unable to fully operate without the final changes made by Council.
Patrick Co. Board of Supervisors votes to censure member
In a majority vote on Monday, the Patrick County Board of Supervisors voted to censure Steve Marshall, Blue Ridge District representative. . . . Overby read the resolution, which stated in part that the board “expresses their displeasure with the consistent display of unprofessional behavior of Board of Supervisors member Steve Marshall by his repeated attempts to silence, harass, intimidate, bully, threaten and defame other members of the Board of Supervisors as well as appointed members of the board’s committees, commissions, and authorities and citizens of Patrick County.
Watchdog report finds Hampton VA staff overworked, stretched thin
It’s reasonable for anyone who relies on the Veterans Administration for health services to be concerned about the effects of slashing tens of thousands of jobs when facilities, including those in Hampton Roads, are already severely strained. The greater Hampton Roads region is home to more than 300,000 men and women who have served in our country’s military — men and women who rightly expect that the nation will make good on its promise to take care of them after they have fulfilled their obligations.
Toscano: Trump’s tariffs could devastate Virginia’s soybean farmers — and the GOP
Virginia’s Republican leaders are stuck. Their continued support of President Donald Trump’s mass firings of federal employees and “freezes” in federal funding do not play well in a state where federal jobs and contracting equal 16.1% of all full-time and part-time jobs. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s insistence that these cuts are necessary and gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears’ assertion that job loss “happens ... all the time” have won them few supporters, especially in vote-rich Northern Virginia, where unemployment claims ticked up 7.1% in February.