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Manassas GOP Calls for Action on Jail’s Immigration Policy Ahead of Meeting
The Manassas City Republican Committee is calling on residents to fill the room at the next Prince William-Manassas Regional Jail Board meeting, pushing for the jail to renew its 287(g) immigration enforcement partnership with federal authorities. . . . The city’s Republican committee says the jail’s decision to end the 287(g) program in 2020 amounts to a “sanctuary” policy, a claim they say was confirmed by Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office. The group is calling for full cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to process all undocumented immigrants charged with crimes.
Hampton Roads leaders, businesses fear loss of clean energy tax credits
About a decade ago, retired Navy doctor Doug McNeill started getting online advertisements from residential solar companies and decided to do some research. After weighing the costs and benefits of installing a solar system, he chose to put up a 28-panel array on a detached garage at his home in Chesapeake. One big financial factor in McNeill’s calculation was the Solar Investment Tax Credit, which saved him almost $8,000 in upfront costs. “That brought it down by at least a quarter, which made it an easy decision,” he said.
Virginia and East coast fishery managers remain vigilant over status of Atlantic striped bass
Virginia fishery managers and others from Maine to North Carolina, as well as members of the public, convened on Tuesday to decide the next steps to protect the future of Atlantic striped bass, a valued and remarkable animal facing consecutive years of low spawning success and an overfished stock. Atlantic striped bass have been referred to as “everyman’s fish” because they are caught by such a wide population of anglers up and down the coast, said Alex McCrickard, the aquatic education coordinator for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
Alexandria police officer awarded full compensatory damages in racial discrimination lawsuit against city
An Alexandria Police Department officer has been awarded full compensatory damages in his racial discrimination lawsuit against the city. Delton Goodrum and his family erupted in tears of joy after the verdict was read. After a four-day-long trial before U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, the jury deliberated for less than three hours to find that then-Police Chief Don Hayes, who is Black, racially discriminated against Goodrum, who is also Black, in his years-long bid to be promoted to Captain.
Virginia overhauls SOL testing to boost student achievement
In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement on education policy, Virginia leaders have enacted sweeping changes to the state’s K-12 testing system, aiming to raise student performance and make the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments more meaningful. Despite ongoing political clashes over broader education policy, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and state lawmakers united earlier this month behind a plan they hope will strengthen student outcomes.
Audit: City officials paid $550K to deceased retirees
The Richmond Retirement System since 2015 has paid more than half a million dollars to deceased former City Hall employees, according to a report from the Office of the City Auditor. Nearly 75% of those funds have not been recovered, city auditors found. RRS, which is governed by a seven-member board, administers retirement and survivor benefits for more than 4,000 former city employees
Trump shut out refugees but is making exception for White South Africans; Va. will help with welcome, sources say
Months after the Trump administration ground U.S. refugee admissions to a halt, suspending a program that lets in thousands of people fleeing war or political persecution, it is preparing to restart that effort — but only for one group: White South Africans. Plans are underway to fly approximately 60 Afrikaners to Dulles International Airport on a State Department-chartered plane Monday, with federal and Virginia officials preparing to receive them in a ceremonial news conference, according to documents and emails obtained by The Washington Post, as well as three government officials familiar with the preparations.
ACLU seeks injunction to block book bans in military schools, including in Virginia
The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday asked a federal judge in Virginia to immediately halt what it calls a sweeping campaign of classroom censorship in military-run schools — including at Crossroads Elementary in Quantico — stemming from executive orders issued by former President Donald J. Trump earlier this year. The motion for preliminary injunction, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, follows a lawsuit brought last month on behalf of 12 students enrolled in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools. The students, from pre-K to 11th grade, are children of active-duty service members stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan.
VCU reassigns DEI staffers, rewrites policies to follow directive
Virginia Commonwealth University is scrutinizing its employees’ duties, student scholarship and hiring practices in an effort to follow a federal mandate that universities erase all forms of DEI and eliminate discrimination. The university has eliminated 13 positions, revised a small number of scholarship requirements and discontinued a practice requiring prospective employees to write a diversity statement before they are hired.
Drug overdoses continue to show marked decline
The latest numbers compiled by the Virginia Department of Health show fatal drug overdoses are down over 34% for 2024, compared to 2023. The main takeaways in the quarterly report for the fourth quarter of 2024 from the Virginia Department of Health show fatal drug overdoses have been the leading method of unnatural death in Virginia since 2013, the number of illicit opioid deaths surpassed prescription opioid deaths in 2015 and the trend is continuing, and although fatal drug overdoses peaked in 2021, they began to decline slightly in 2022 and 2023 with a substantial decrease last year.