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Trump administration changes funding rules for broadband expansion
Virginia officials and broadband providers have had the “rug pulled out from under them” by a U.S. Commerce Department policy shift on internet expansion, the state’s Broadband Advisory Council chairwoman said Monday. Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax County, said she was frustrated that the Trump administration has restructured the Biden-era Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, also known as “Internet for All.” The $42.5 billion program, part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, had prioritized fiber broadband over satellite and other wireless internet delivery systems to serve more rural regions.
13 Virginia localities sign agreements to help ICE
A handful of Virginia’s 133 localities, including two near Roanoke, have agreed to work with federal immigration enforcement. Several more, including the Portsmouth Sheriff’s Office, are in the process of signing similar agreements, according to documents from the Department of Homeland Security. Richmond’s own police department does not have such an agreement, which Police Chief Rick Edwards has suggested would undermine detectives’ ability to solve crime in immigrant communities. Immigrant advocacy organizations also vehemently oppose the partnerships.
Healthcare company Molina laying off hundreds of employees in Henrico
As it prepares to wind down a contract with the state of Virginia, a California-based healthcare plan management firm is shutting down its local operations. Molina Healthcare plans to permanently close its office at 3829 Gaskins Road and lay off 268 workers at the end of June, according to a notice that the company recently submitted to the state government. Molina is a Fortune 500 company that manages government-sponsored healthcare programs in multiple states, including Virginia. But the company’s work with the Old Dominion is coming to an end.
Ejecting international students will diminish Va. schools
In its haste to drive out international students it deems hostile to the United States, the Trump administration is needlessly disrupting the lives of more than 21,000 students enrolled at Virginia colleges and universities and undermining academic freedom in a way that could do lasting damage to medical research, technology development, job growth, tuition costs and more.
Virginia Beach cleared 100 homeless encampments in the past year
Since spring of last year, a team of city departments have cleared 100 encampments where homeless people had set up makeshift shelters. Twenty individuals living in the encampments were connected to shelter and as many as 10 were placed in housing. Not all of the cleared camps were occupied, Ruth Hill, director of Virginia Beach Housing & Neighborhood Preservation, told the City Council last week.
Environmental groups slam federal plan to ship wetlands mitigation out of Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads environmental groups are alarmed over a proposed federal decision that they say could undermine decades of local tidal wetlands restoration and protection. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality are moving toward approval of a new wetland mitigation bank in Prince George County — 50 miles upstream from Hampton Roads — that would allow developers to purchase mitigation credits from outside the region. Wetland mitigation banks are designed to compensate for environmental damage caused by permitted development projects. Developers buy credits from these banks to offset the impacts, typically by funding the creation or restoration of similar wetlands nearby.
Virginia Democrats beat early primary voting record
Virginia Democrats beat their previous record for early primary voting over the weekend. According to the Virginia Department of Elections, nearly 134,000 Virginians voted early in statewide Democratic Party primaries for Attorney General and Lt. Governor since early voting opened in early May. The previous record, set in the summer of 2023, saw 129,000 early Democratic primary votes cast, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Democratic attorney general candidates vow to fight Trump administration
The Virginia primary election is just more than a week away, and the Republican ticket for statewide races is set. However, Democrats must choose a candidate in two races, including attorney general. Shannon Taylor and Jay Jones are vying to take on Republican incumbent Jason Miyares in November. Taylor has served as the Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney for more than a decade and hopes to leverage her experience as a prosecutor statewide. ... Jones, a Norfolk resident, previously served in the House of Delegates and was an assistant attorney general in Washington, D.C.
Fifteen years after shuttering its tax-prep app, Va. may be ready to compete with TurboTax again
The Virginia Department of Taxation’s website parts company with the web presences of other agencies in the commonwealth: It doesn’t offer its own tools to help you complete your primary task there — taxes. While you can renew a car registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles site and register an LLC at the State Corporation Commission’s site, Virginia Tax doesn’t let you file your state income taxes online and instead points you to commercial tax-prep services. That’s not because Virginia Tax hasn’t developed its own filing app. It’s because 15 years ago, the department shelved the iFile app that had already drawn more than 278,000 users in 2009.
Truitt: How Va. Democrats can reclaim the education issue
In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin was able to flip the K-12 education issue to pull off a victory by focusing on parents. This year, Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger should learn from 2021 by embracing higher educational standards to reclaim the education issue. As has been shown nationally, typical Democratic proposals for higher teacher pay and increased funding alone are not sufficient. In fact, those were major planks of Terry McAuliffe’s 2021 education platform.