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Yancey: Is Fairfax County gaining population or losing population? Here’s why two estimates differ.
In the famous quantum mechanics thought experiment known as Schrödinger’s Cat, the question concerns the status of a feline in a box with a flask of poison and something radioactive: Under some quantum theories, the cat is both alive and dead at the same time. Fairfax County is Virginia’s Schrödinger’s Cat. In the annual population estimates from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, the state’s largest locality is losing population. In the latest population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, it’s gaining population. So which is it?
Yancey: Former Del. Barnie Day, known as ‘Virginia’s Mark Twain,’ dies
Sometimes on winter mornings, Barnie Day would wake up and find a freshly killed deer hanging in his barn in Patrick County. He often had no idea who had left it, but that’s not what mattered. What mattered is that the hunters who hauled their kill to Day’s barn knew that he’d know what to do with it. “They knew Barnie would know who didn’t have meat in his refrigerator, so Barnie would call around and see who needed venison,” says Jack Betts, Day’s friend and former neighbor. Day died Monday at age 72. Those who follow Virginia politics might remember Day from his brief stint in the House of Delegates more than a quarter-century ago, during which he made such a name for himself as an orator that he was mentioned as a possible candidate for lieutenant governor.
Innocence petition for Terence Richardson of ‘Waverly Two’ denied by Court of Appeals of Virginia
Terence Richardson — one of the two men known as “the Waverly Two,” who were acquitted of a Waverly police officer’s 1998 murder but still sentenced to life in prison — was denied a writ of actual innocence in the Court of Appeals of Virginia on Tuesday. Richardson had spent decades there for Allen Gibson’s murder, despite a federal jury finding both him and Ferrone Claiborne, the second of the Waverly Two, not guilty. A rare legal maneuver by the federal judge allowed him to sentence them to life in prison for their federal drug convictions because of their previous state pleas and his personal certainty of their guilt.
Richmond’s inspector general is out at City Hall, and leaders aren’t explaining why
The Richmond official in charge of investigating waste, fraud and abuse at City Hall has been quietly dismissed from his job, according to a member of the City Council who opposed the move. Councilor Reva Trammell (8th District) said she was absent from Monday’s council meeting to see her grandson graduate from college. While she was gone, the City Council held a closed meeting that Trammell says resulted in the dismissal of Inspector General Jim Osuna, who had been in that role since 2019.
Chesapeake’s first proposed data center already faces opposition
A Chesapeake developer has filed plans to build the first large-scale data center in Hampton Roads. Longtime developer Doug Fuller said the project is designed to handle computing for artificial intelligence applications and is made possible by tens of millions of dollars of new ultrafast internet infrastructure built by the city and region to lure tech businesses. But before Fuller’s plans were submitted to the city, opposition to the data center was already fomenting online.
USDA Staffing and Funding Cuts Would Threaten Virginia’s Ability to Reach Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Goals
Lee Good grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and raises cows, calfs, crops and hay on about 200 acres in the foothills of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Good, 55, previously farmed as a hobby but now makes his living in Rockingham County, the top contributor to the state’s top private industry—agriculture. He cares about clean water and air while still being profitable, and he wants to protect the environment in both his local community and the Chesapeake Bay at the other end of the state, which recreators, crabbers and fishermen all rely on.
Poll: Amid rising costs, Republican and Democratic voters value Va.’s colleges and universities
An overwhelming majority of voters are proud of Virginia’s colleges and universities and feel they are equipping young people to succeed, even as, across the country, frustrations mount due to rapidly shifting federal education systems and rising tuition costs. According to poll results released by Virginia Business Higher Education Council (VBHEC), 90% of respondents both Democrats and Republicans in Virginia are proud of the colleges and universities in the commonwealth because they see a “strong connection” between the work on Virginia’s campuses, the prospects for the state’s economy to grow and for young people to succeed in the job market.
Norfolk City Council unanimously adopts shoplifting ordinance
Norfolk City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to adopt a new ordinance that will give the city the power to prosecute shoplifters themselves. The ordinance adds a new section to the city code giving city attorneys that power in the wake of higher larcenies in the city, though prosecution is a duty the Commonwealth's Attorney — a separately-elected entity — currently oversees.
Lawsuit that seeks to overturn Roanoke's gun law delayed by judge
A Roanoke judge on Monday paused through the end of this year a lawsuit filed by Second Amendment advocates who are seeking to strike down a city ordinance that bars guns from public buildings and parks. Circuit Judge David Carson granted a motion filed by the city to stay the proceedings while a federal appeals court considers a similar case in Fairfax County. Awaiting the outcome of that case would conserve judicial resources, the city argued. . . . In 2021, the Roanoke City Council passed an ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor to have a gun — whether concealed pursuant to an individual permit or carried openly — in city-owned buildings and parks. Offenses are punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
What the six Democratic candidates for Virginia lieutenant governor say on the issues
It’s a big election year in Virginia, with the statewide office of governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general on the ballot, plus all 100 seats in the House of Delegates. With just one candidate declared for each party, neither Democrats nor Republicans in Virginia are holding a primary contest in the commonwealth’s closely-watched governor’s race. And Republicans already have presumptive nominees for lieutenant governor (plus a write-in candidate) and attorney general. That leaves the Democratic primary to pick nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney general as the only competitive statewide races on this year’s June primary ballot — and of those, the lieutenant governor race has by far the largest field, with six candidates running for the party nod.