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Army pausing helicopter flights near Washington airport after close calls
The Army is pausing helicopter flights near a Washington airport after two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon. The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause helicopter flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday’s close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday. One official said the flights have been paused since Friday.
Army suspends helicopter flights to Pentagon after airliners abort landings
The Army said Monday that a Virginia-based helicopter unit was suspending flights to the Pentagon after an incident last week that led to two airliners being directed to abort landings at Reagan National Airport. Army spokeswoman Heather Chairez said the service’s 12th Aviation Battalion was pausing the operations until an internal inquiry is completed. The battalion operates a fleet of Black Hawk helicopters and was the unit involved in the Jan. 29 midair crash with an American Airlines flight that killed 67 people.
VCU plans to demolish Grace Street buildings and downtown student center
Virginia Commonwealth University plans to demolish a pair of buildings on its Monroe Park Campus and a student center on its MCV Campus for health sciences to make way for two new projects. On the Monroe Park Campus, VCU intends to tear down an office building and the BookHolders.com building on West Grace Street, which will become the site of a 1,000-bed residential building. On the downtown health sciences campus, the university expects to remove the Larrick Student Center, where VCU will build a new school of dentistry building.
Manassas Officials Caught Off Guard as Bank Tenant Sidesteps Millions in Data Center Taxes
A bank tenant inside a newly completed data center in Manassas has triggered a sweeping local tax exemption, upending financial expectations and leaving city officials blindsided. At the April 30, 2025, Manassas City Council meeting, Commissioner of the Revenue Tim Demeria revealed that a tenant inside the new Brickyard data center, operated by Digital Realty Trust, had filed paperwork identifying itself as a bank. Under Virginia Code §58.1-1202, banks are exempt from local Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) taxes and the business personal property taxes that typically bring cities millions in revenue from data centers. The loss is significant.
Hopewell commonwealth’s attorney finds legal fault with council’s firing of city manager
As dust continues to stir on last week’s firing of Hopewell’s city manager and city clerk, the city’s top prosecutor warned in a letter to City Council that the motion to terminate Dr. Concetta Manker may have been made improperly, and because it was, Manker should still be in office. Citing Rule 36 of Robert’s Rule of Order, Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Newman said the motion made at the May 1 meeting did not follow the direction about either the time frame for making the order or the authenticity of the motion made by Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis.
City of Bristol, experts to review efforts to end odors from former landfill
City leaders plan to review its efforts to eliminate odors from the quarry landfill, according to a statement issued Friday. Contractors have installed a $10 million sidewall odor mitigation system and expanded the gas collection efforts in the now shuttered landfill and workers continue refining those operations, a city official previously said. Despite that, the city received about 400 odor complaints during the first four months of this year.
Virginia should move to purchase, preserve Monroe estate
What a shame it will be if Virginia squanders an opportunity to turn Oak Hill, the Loudoun County home of President James Monroe, into a state park. The Delashmutt family, which bought the historic house on 1,200 acres in Northern Virginia more than 70 years ago, wants to sell the estate for $20 million, well below market value, to the Conservation Fund, a nonprofit preservation group hoping to make Oak Hill a state park and museum.
Rozell: Youngkin’s blunder clouds his political future
Glenn Youngkin cultivated a very successful brand as a thoughtful and likeable leader. During his successful campaign for governor four years ago, in the immediate aftermath of the first Trump presidency, it was exactly what Republicans and even many moderates were looking for. His fumbling responses and failure to think through last week’s salacious allegations against John Reid, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, is a miscalculation that haunts the lame-duck governor as he surveys what are quite likely diminished prospects for future elective office.
Kish: Dominion’s gas addiction is proving costly for Virginians
If we’ve learned anything from recent weather events, it’s that extreme weather is here to stay. Cold snaps, heat waves and tropical storms are all part of what has become Virginia’s “new normal.” So when Dominion Energy cited high gas prices incurred during the January freeze in its recent proposal to raise rates, it was a sign — a bad sign for customers — of things to come. It was a sign that Dominion will make fuel-related rate hikes part of the “new normal,” too.
Nelson: John Reid? Hypocrisy is what’s killing American democracy
I am a Christian and a political independent — socially moderate, fiscally conservative, grounded in traditional values. For over two decades, I was a loyal Republican. But when Donald Trump hijacked the party I once believed in, I walked away — and never looked back. My principles, though, haven’t changed. I don’t always agree with every Republican candidate, and I don’t share every conviction of John Reid, the openly gay Republican running for lieutenant governor of Virginia. But fairness is fairness, and right is right. What’s happening to Reid isn’t just wrong — it’s revealing.