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Richmond vending machines to dispense Narcan

By LUCA POWELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Richmond has been awarded $148,000 for three vending machines that will be stocked with the opioid antidote Narcan and test strips. The funding is part of four grants aimed at curbing the ongoing opioid epidemic, according to the state agency that is stewarding much of the money for Virginia. “These vending machines will help people who are not connected to harm reduction services or who are likely to witness or experience an opioid overdose and to reduce stigma by integrating harm reduction into public spaces,” reads a proposal submitted by city grant specialist Dominic Barrett.

VaNews May 30, 2024


School-Based Money Largely Unspent in Loudoun Amid Teachers Asking for Help with Costs

By ALEXIS GUSTIN, Loudoun Now

About 88.3% of money given to individual schools for instructional and administrative uses—including for teacher classroom supplies—goes unspent, according to division administrators. The report surprised School Board members as many teachers still ask parents to help offset classroom costs. The School Board’s Finance & Operations Committee on May 21 was briefed on the funding by members of the Department of Business and Financial Services.

VaNews May 29, 2024


Report shows perils of air pollution persist nationwide

Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The American Lung Association’s latest State of the Air report concludes that even though Americans have changed their ways significantly over the last 50-plus years, the struggle to provide cleaner air is far from being won. In fact, the challenge is greater than ever. We have made most of the easy fixes, the experts tell us. And even as we continue those efforts, it’s time to work harder on the growing threat climate change poses to the air we breathe. ... Comparatively speaking, the Hampton Roads area gets fairly high marks for air quality. The Virginia Beach-Norfolk area is tied for No. 1 cleanest metropolitan area in the nation for 24-hour particle pollution.

VaNews May 29, 2024


Virginia board considers ousting GOP election official accused of sharing voting machine information

By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

Two members of the Charles City County Electoral Board have asked Virginia officials to begin the process of removing the third member of the board, who is accused of sharing sensitive election machine information with a local GOP leader. In a May 14 letter to the Virginia State Board of Elections, election officials in Charles City … formally requested the ouster of local Electoral Board Member Maria A. Kinney, a Republican who just joined the board in January. The cause listed in the request was “severe dereliction of duties,” including a claim Kinney allowed a former Charles City County GOP chair, Irene Churins, to view election equipment passwords during an accuracy test.

VaNews May 29, 2024


Yancey: Wages in Southwest Va. still lag behind but are growing faster than state and national averages

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

I want you to close your eyes and try to guess the place I’m about to describe. Wait — never mind. That’s probably not a good idea. I always try to envision I’m in a conversation with readers, so I sometimes forget you’re reading this and not looking back at me through the screen. Let’s try this, then. I’m going to describe a place, and you try to guess what part of Virginia it is (unless the headline has already given it away). There’s a part of the state where wage growth has typically lagged behind the state and national averages, but where since the pandemic wages have been growing faster than either of those — and at last report, are growing three times faster than the national rate.

VaNews May 29, 2024


Federal judge rejects request to halt Dominion’s Virginia Beach offshore wind farm

By KATHERINE HAFNER, WHRO

A federal judge has denied a request from a coalition of conservative interest groups that sought to halt construction of Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm in Virginia Beach. The groups sued the Biden administration earlier this year, arguing federal agencies ignored threats to endangered whales when approving the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. The suit will still move forward this fall, but the decision issued last week denied plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction to stop construction while the lawsuit is decided. U.S. District Court Judge Loren AliKhan said there wasn’t enough proof that plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm from construction on the project moving forward.

VaNews May 29, 2024


After DeSantis endorsement, Trump backs Rep. Bob Good challenger

By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Former President Donald Trump has delivered a punishing blow to the reelection campaign of Rep. Bob Good, R-5th, by endorsing state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, his opponent in a Republican primary race that has focused from the beginning on loyalty to the former president. A day after endorsing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao, Trump didn’t just endorse McGuire. On Truth Social he issued a scathing denunciation of Good, who initially had supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP presidential primary and then endorsed the former president after DeSantis ended his candidacy.

VaNews May 29, 2024


Celebrate the win, but don’t confuse AAA with real progress

Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The last six months haven’t exactly been kind to Mayor Levar Stoney. In November, he lost a second casino referendum, this time by 24 percentage points; the now-infamous meals tax fiasco, a borderline fraudulent tax-collection scheme bilking restaurant owners of hundreds of thousands, dominated headlines in January; in early March, the Stoney administration was hit with a whistleblower lawsuit from, of all people, the city attorney charged with overseeing transparency efforts; a few weeks later came a fight with Virginia Commonwealth University and state lawmakers, who called on the university to cancel a $56 million financial agreement with the city over a failed real estate project.

VaNews May 29, 2024


Advocates see missed opportunities as Virginia lags its neighbors in clean energy manufacturing

By ELIZABETH MCGOWAN, Energy News Network

When the nonprofit Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) began tracking where financial incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act were spurring clean energy manufacturing growth and jobs nationwide, Zach Amittay figured Virginia would snag the top slot in the Southeast. So he was startled that the state has consistently lagged behind South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia since E2 began its research after the IRA became law in August 2022. “Overall, Virginia pales in comparison to its neighbors, especially those farther South,” said Amittay, Southeast advocate for E2. “And that’s kind of an irony considering how Virginia’s framework for clean energy policies is driving demand for solar, electric vehicles, battery storage and offshore wind.”

VaNews May 29, 2024


Citizens for Fauquier County group challenges rejection of Amazon data center appeal

By GRACE SCHUMACHER, Fauquier Now

Citizens for Fauquier County, an environmental nonprofit that has become a prominent voice in opposing the Amazon data center project slated for Blackwell Road in Warrenton, announced Tuesday that it intends to take legal action to enforce its right to appeal the approval of the data center’s site development plan with the town Board of Zoning Appeals. The group filed an appeal on May 16, according to a news release, challenging the zoning administrator’s April 18 decision to approve the Amazon site development plan. The group cited alleged non-compliance with the town’s zoning ordinance and conditions outlined in the special use permit established by the town as a term of its February 2022 approval.

VaNews May 29, 2024