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Democrats say Youngkin’s rejection of RGGI is costing millions despite budget boost
Gov. Glenn Youngkin‘s opposition to a multi-state effort to cut greenhouse gases costs Virginia about $150 million a year even after the General Assembly boosted funding for flood control efforts, House of Delegates Democrats say. In addition, they said Youngkin’s veto of a bill that would have let the state tap federal funds for loans with low interest rates to finance clean energy projects, investments in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and similar efforts will cost Virginia still more.
New affordable bus line coming to Hampton Roads
A new line called the Tidewater Current is headed to Hampton Roads. The line can potentially have stops in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Newport News, and could allow Hampton Roads residents to easily travel to Richmond, Harrisonburg and Charlottesville. The new bus route through Virginia Breeze Line would stretch east to west across Interstate 64 creating another method of travel with benefits beyond affordability.
Hung Cao, hopeful to represent GOP against Kaine, calls Staunton area ‘podunk’
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Hung Cao again failed to address critical questions about spending by the Unleash America super PAC when asked by a conservative talk show host on Tuesday, May 21. But he did continue his attacks on the story that prompted critiques from members of his own party. Instead of explaining why the money raised by the super PAC did not go to Virginia Republican candidates for state office in 2023, Cao again called the report that prompted the allegations a “hit job” and referred to the Staunton News Leader, which reported the story, as a “podunk local newspaper” on an episode of the Alec Lace show Tuesday.
Kiggans says the ads are a lie. Democrats say her voting record tells a different story
Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-VA02, is defending herself against attacks accusing her of voting for legislation that could potentially cut funding for veterans’ services. A former Navy pilot and nurse practitioner, Kiggans represents the Hampton Roads region in Congress, where a large portion of the population is active-duty military personnel. Vote Vets, a group that says they elevate the voices of veterans and military families through progressive legislative policies and electoral endorsements that impact the lives of active service members and veterans, is calling out Kiggans for her comments defending herself in a recent video.
The decision to close schools usually comes down to money. But the experience is far more emotional.
When people ask what will happen to the decades of yearbooks, trophies and other memorabilia inside Henry Elementary School when it closes this summer, Tiffany Herman doesn’t have answers. The PTO secretary and her fellow board members are first working on allocating the remaining money the organization raised for the school before it has to dissolve its nonprofit status. But her biggest concern right now is trying to get her younger daughter excited about going to fourth grade at a new school. … Henry Elementary is one of two schools completing their final academic years on Wednesday in Franklin County, one of several school divisions in Southwest and Central Virginia facing ongoing declining enrollment and the funding challenges that often accompany it.
Va. lawmakers provide money to keep child advocacy centers open amid declining federal funding
The state budget recently signed by Governor Glenn Youngkin includes funding for child advocacy centers. “I’m always worried that funding’s gonna get cut from those programs,” said Randy Bonds, captain of support services at the Christiansburg Police Department. He and his team investigate dozens of cases of suspected child abuse every year and rely on CAC’s to help interview children. “All of our training is basically geared toward interviewing a suspect,” Bonds explained. “And it’s a complete different mindset to interview a 5-year-old child, as you can imagine.”
Williams: On civil rights, policies must outweigh political platitudes
As Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke at the historic site of a student walkout on the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, his earnest persona belied a public policy hostile to what those equity-seeking students stood for. “And what a day it is. It started right here in Farmville — an extraordinary demonstration of courage and bravery by Barbara Johns and her classmates,” he said in a social media post from the Moton Museum, a former all-Black school that lacked a cafeteria or gym and relieved its overcrowding by placing students in tar-paper shacks.
Protesters urge Newport News school board to reverse policies for transgender students
Back in late 2023, Newport News superintendent Dr. Michele Mitchell, changed procedures of transgender students to align with Governor Youngkin’s model policy. She did this without a vote from the school board. On Tuesday, a large group rallied outside the school board meeting to ask the board to reverse the procedures that were put in place. They are also fighting for a policy to be passed that allows the school board to vote on procedures, instead of the superintendent putting the procedure in place by themselves.
How a Stafford mom helped pass a law that pays caregivers of disabled children
When Emily Sagle sat down to draft a Facebook message this past November, her zeal for helping families living with severe disabilities was tempered only by a deeply ingrained skepticism of bureaucracy. “I was like, ‘The government is long lines and red tape,’” recalled the Stafford County mother of two, “it will never go anywhere.” Sagle’s message did, however, find the inbox of its intended recipient, then-Delegate-elect Joshua Cole. Within weeks, she had secured a sit-down meeting with Cole — who’d been elected only weeks prior — and a staffer at a Fredericksburg-area Starbucks to discuss a potentially expiring Medicaid waiver program that allowed parents to be paid as caregivers for their disabled children.
VPAP Visual Record Vetoes in 2024
With the final vetoes complete as of last Friday, Governor Glenn Youngkin has set a new record for bills vetoed in a single year, axing a total of 201 bills. This year alone, Youngkin has killed more legislation than any recent governor of Virginia has in their full four-year term.