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Arlington Electoral Board members debate when to make early-voting dropboxes available
Arlington's two Republican members of the Electoral Board appear at loggerheads over how long early-voting dropboxes should be available before Election Day. Richard Samp, the senior Republican on the three-member panel and its vice chair, used the July 8 board meeting to press for a reduction from more than 40 days of use to just 10. Not everyone was in favor. Samp said the elections office was running its “own private mail service,” since it is required that each of the nine dropboxes scattered across Arlington be emptied every day.
Drinking OK, swimming not: Advisories issued after raw sewage spill at Hopewell water plant
The Virginia Department of Health says water in Hopewell appears safe to drink but not to swim or play in after a power failure at the city wastewater plant July 11 forced a spillage of 1.38 million gallons of sewage into the James River and a few of the city’s waterways. On July 12, VDH and the Crater Health District issued a recreational swimming advisory for Gravely Run Creek and the James River from City Point to Berkeley Plantation.
No-fish story: Milde afraid that lack of menhaden is dooming osprey
Del. Paul Milde is concerned that a lack of a small, oily fish could be causing the collapse of the osprey population in the Chesapeake Bay, and he says the Democratic majority in the House of Delegates isn’t helping matters. Milde (R-Stafford) continues to push legislative efforts to have a study of menhaden fishing done as new research suggests that declining numbers of the species, which osprey eat, could be leading to a drop in the population of the birds. The lawmaker issued a statement late last month saying inaction on scrutiny of the menhaden is a result of partisan politics.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears visits Newport News
For the first time since Virginia's June primaries, Republican gubernatorial candidate and current lieutenant governor Winsome Earle-Sears answered questions from local media in Hampton Roads following a campaign stop at Newport News Shipbuilding. The visit comes weeks after the first appearance of the entire GOP statewide ticket, in which Sears, lieutenant governor candidate John Reid and Attorney General Jason Miyares appeared together for the first time.
Virginia Democrat on possible shutdown: ‘It’s time to stand up for the American people’
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said he supports Democrats’ threats to shut down the government if Republicans proceed with a planned rescissions package, saying his party should use all the leverage they can to prevent cuts to previously approved funding. “I say it’s time to stand up for the American people,” Subramanyam said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” when asked what he thinks about a potential shutdown. . . . Republicans are ramping up efforts to pass a rescissions package that President Trump requested last month, which includes more than $9 billion in funding cuts for foreign aid and public broadcasting programs.
UVa faculty deliver overwhelming vote of no confidence in board
After more than an hour of debate at an emergency meeting Friday, the University of Virginia Faculty Senate held a vote of no confidence in the school's governing Board of Visitors for “not protecting the University and its president from outside interference, and for not consulting with the Faculty Senate in a time of crisis." That crisis, referred to in the resolution the vote approved, refers to President Jim Ryan's resignation under pressure from the Trump administration Department of Justice.
University Of Virginia Faculty Vote No Confidence In Governing Board
The University of Virginia Faculty Senate has voted that it has no confidence in the school’s Board of Visitors. The resolution of no-confidence in the Board passed 46 to 6, with eight senators abstaining. The vote occurred on Friday, July 11, the same day that UVA President Jim Ryan officially stepped down from his post and released a video of farewell and gratitude to the campus community.
U.Va. Faculty Senate overwhelmingly adopts a no confidence vote in Board of Visitors
The Faculty Senate held an emergency meeting Friday as part of ongoing discussions surrounding the University’s next steps towards choosing a new president. In the meeting, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution for a vote of no-confidence in the Board. The resolution passed 46 to 6, with eight senators abstaining.
Faculty Senate Executives hear from Rector Sheridan and Vice Rector Wilkinson
The Faculty Senate Executive Council held an emergency meeting with members of the Board of Visitors Wednesday to continue discussions of the tumultuous fallout of President Jim Ryan’s resignation. A majority of the two-hour meeting was spent engaging in conversation with Rector Rachel Sheridan and Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson both of whom began their terms July 1. The meeting was the first time that representatives of the Board openly engaged with faculty members in a formal setting following Ryan’s resignation. Many of the questions posed by faculty were met with no comment.
George Mason’s president appears to be the Trump administration’s next target
Another Virginia university president appears to be in the crosshairs of Donald Trump’s administration — just weeks after pressure from Trump’s Department of Justice pressured University of Virginia President Jim Ryan until he resigned. The federal Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights notified George Mason on July 1 that they are opening an investigation into the university after receiving a complaint about antisemitism on campus.