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Va. panel approves Barbara Johns statue for U.S. Capitol
A state commission has given final approval to Virginia’s bronze statue of teenage civil rights heroine Barbara Johns that will become part of the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol by the end of the year. The Johns statue will replace a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that the state removed from the U.S. Capitol in December 2020. Each state gets two statues in the collection. Virginia’s other statue depicts George Washington.
Proposed Chester data center gets thumbs down from planners
The Chesterfield Planning Commission unanimously recommended against a rezoning case that proposed a data center in Chester. The development from Denver-based data center planning company Tract would be located on 744 acres at 16100 Branders Bridge Road. “Where I have a real challenge is where it’s located,” said Gib Sloan, who represents the Bermuda District on the planning commission, during Tuesday’s meeting. “We need to look at a case through the health, safety and welfare of its citizens.”
Planning Commission recommends denial of 700-acre data center project in Chesterfield
A proposed data center campus in southeast Chesterfield failed to get an endorsement from the county Planning Commission this week. Denver-based developer Tract is seeking zoning approval of a data center project on more than 700 acres just outside Colonial Heights. The assemblage includes 16100 Branders Bridge Road and multiple other parcels. Planning commissioners voted unanimously to recommend that the project be denied by the Board of Supervisors, which is anticipated to provide a final verdict on the zoning request at a future meeting.
Defense in Prince William Digital Gateway lawsuit asks judge to strike case
Following an eventful first two days, a scheduled four-day trial on the PW Digital Gateway data center project reached its penultimate stage Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by the Oak Valley Homeowners’ Association and 11 individual plaintiffs, all Gainesville-area residents.
Unreleased report cites millions in Richmond tax overpayments that weren’t refunded, ‘confusion’ in process
Three years after the Richmond Inspector General's Office began investigating a complaint regarding the finance department's handling of tax credits and refunds, no formal report on the matter has been published. However, CBS 6 obtained a draft report that outlined what investigators characterized as a confusing process for returning money to overpaying business owners and millions in excess taxes that were never credited back to taxpayers.
Virginia doesn’t have statewide data center regulations. Localities are making their own rules.
Virginia is home to over a third of the data centers worldwide. These energy hungry facilities have brought business to the commonwealth, but communities are seeing the impact of the electricity and water usage hit their utility bills. Now, many localities are debating how to balance the opportunities and challenges data centers present, and grappling with how to regulate them.
UVA professors ask university board to halt DEI dismantling
A group of University of Virginia professors is asking the school’s Board of Visitors to suspend any further actions to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programming until the legality of those programs is settled in federal or state court. As VPM News has previously reported, there’s nothing currently in federal law that explicitly prohibits DEI offices and initiatives. Regardless, Virginia’s public universities have been swift to do away with these initiatives in the wake of anti-DEI executive orders from President Donald Trump. The UVA chapter of the American Association of University Professors, an organization primarily dedicated to protecting academic freedom and shared governance in higher education, sent the request to the UVA board in a June 5 letter.
Democrats in Virginia have a hefty fundraising advantage heading into November general election
Democrats in Virginia have built up a hefty fundraising advantage for their effort to reclaim the governor’s mansion in a November election that is seen as a bellwether for the party in power in Washington ahead of the 2026 midterms. Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA spy turned congresswoman, has a more than 2-to-1 fundraising advantage over her GOP opponent for governor, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who has struggled to draw support from her fellow Republicans.
VPAP Visual Jones vs. Jones for Attorney General
Jay Jones secured the Democratic nomination for Attorney General in last Tuesday's primary election, after losing the primary in 2021 to incumbent Mark Herring. Jones won a larger share of the vote in 113 of Virginia's 133 localities compared to four years ago. See where Jones performed better, or worse, this year in Virginia's counties and cities.
Prince William Digital Gateway, county lawyers move to dismiss residents’ lawsuit
A lawsuit that could undo Prince William County’s approval of one of the largest data center developments in the world might end Friday if a judge dismisses the case as requested by lawyers representing the county and the two data center companies behind the Prince William Digital Gateway. During three days of trial, several of the plaintiffs, who include 11 residents who live near the Digital Gateway and the Oak Valley Homeowners’ Association, testified about how the projects’ 37 data centers will disrupt their lives if the development moves forward.