Search
Bristol first responders deploy to Texas to assist with flood rescue operations
A local team of swift water rescue specialists departed early Monday morning to help in Texas, where catastrophic flooding over the July Fourth weekend has left more than 80 people dead and many others missing. Six members of the Bristol Virginia Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue Team, which is designated as Virginia Task Force 4, left around 4:30 a.m. after receiving deployment orders overnight, according to Bristol Fire Chief Mike Armstrong. The team includes five firefighters and one police officer, each trained in advanced water rescue techniques.
Fairfax County parents spoke up about antisemitic bullying. They say it got their kids expelled.
Three kids who attended a Fairfax County private school were expelled after their parents complained about antisemitic bullying, according to a new complaint filed with the Virginia Attorney General’s office. In the 22-page filing, Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy said their 11-year-old daughter faced antisemitic harassment at The Nysmith School for the Gifted. They learned about it when one of her classmates told his parents. Their complaint alleges they urged the head of the school to intervene, but that nothing was done to address the bullying. Kenneth Nysmith, head of the school, said the allegations are false.
Annual ‘Best Places to Bike’ report ranks Va. cities low, rankles officials and advocates
Doug Allen knows good biking infrastructure when he sees it. The Richmond resident has been to Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin — places widely considered some of the most bicycle friendly cities in the world. “Every time I travel somewhere, I try to check out the transit and the biking if I can,” he said. When PeopleForBikes’ national report highlighting the best places to bike debuted in late June, Virginia cities ranked low on the list. The news comes after the state has beefed up bike infrastructure to improve access and safety for cyclists.
Audit raises red flags for Arlington transit program serving people with disabilities
County leaders are promising action after an audit found major deficiencies in the operation and oversight of a transit program serving Arlington residents with disabilities. Identified issues with the Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents (STAR) program ranged from billing discrepancies to a lack of review of driver manifests by WeDriveU, which operates the paratransit program under contract to the county. The report indicated that faulty efforts on the part of the contractor and Arlington County’s Transit Bureau are shortchanging taxpayers.
Charlottesville police change course on data-sharing tech amid US immigration crackdown
Amid the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown, Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis has pulled the plug on a controversial crime-analysis software and placed the 10 license-plate reading cameras being piloted in the city into a data silo. Depending on the source, anywhere from 57,000 to 140,000 people have been deported since Donald Trump retook the White House in January. Among that number are naturalized and natural-born citizens, and many have been apprehended using data shared between local law enforcement offices and federal agencies, prompting concern about how that data is shared.
New Va. law protecting reproductive health data prompts Walmart’s online data collection pop-ups
Disclosure pop-ups about the “cookies,” or other aggregate bits of data websites collect and store aren’t an uncommon experience while shopping online. What’s less common: when a pop-up indicates that your potential purchase of condoms, birth control medication or menstrual hygiene products is being noted digitally, a message Virginians have started seeing when they shop virtually for such products. Since July 1, a new state law outlines that people’s personally identifiable reproductive or sexual health information cannot be obtained, disclosed, disseminated or sold without consumer consent. As new laws took effect in Virginia on July 1, Walmart has begun alerting customers about certain product or service searches and purchases.
Ryan’s resignation marks a ‘turning point’ for the Jefferson Council
The news of University President Jim Ryan’s resignation stunned the community — students were “devastated,” faculty were concerned, politicians planned for a fight and many alumni were critical of the Justice Department’s actions. But for the Jefferson Council, a conservative alumni group that has advocated for Ryan’s removal for years, the resignation symbolized a victory over what they viewed as Ryan’s attempt to push far-left ideologies onto the University. Now, Jefferson Council President Joel Gardner hopes that this “turning point” brings a new style of leadership to the University.
In Virginia, the fight continues against invasive water chestnut
A day at the arcade would have been good practice for the work aquatic specialists had before them at a Virginia lake one morning in June. Spraying a jet stream of herbicide from an idling airboat is no easy task, especially when the invasive plant they’re trying to target is barely visible beneath native American lotus leaves. “These plants, they get lost among the emerging vegetation, and this one rosette can make 20 fruits in a year,” said Lynde Dodd, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
White: Ranked choice voting improves democracy. Will Va. embrace it?
This year, Virginia voters have been going to the polls for critical elections across the commonwealth, and in many cases, they've seen a lot of names on their ballots. From the recent Democratic lieutenant governor primary to the 11th Congressional District special election primaries, Virginia has two real-time examples of how ranked choice voting (RCV) could benefit voters in crowded races. Both demonstrate why it's time for Virginia's political parties to further embrace RCV.
Still standing? Virginia Supreme Court to hear HFFI’s lawsuit against Fredericksburg City Council
Back in 2018, when Brian McDermott and his wife, Lori, moved into their new (old) home on Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, they were eager to restore the 268-year-old property, also known as the Charles Dick House. . . . A few years later, however, the McDermotts applied for and received a certificate of appropriateness from the city’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) to demolish a small, 1910s-era building nestled in the back corner of their lot at 204 Lewis St. Today, that structure is still standing, and the question of legal standing will go before the Virginia Supreme Court later this year as the final stop in a lawsuit filed by the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) against the Fredericksburg City Council.