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McClellan, Virginia Democrats warn of dire impact to state if proposed Medicaid cuts materialize
U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, said she had been awake over 36 hours by the time she joined a call with members of the media on Thursday to discuss GOP lawmakers’ plan to slash $625 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the next decade. The lack of sleep didn’t disturb her, she said, but her Republican colleagues’ advancement of Medicaid overhaul proposals that could leave over 630,000 Virginians and millions of Americans without health insurance, however, did.
After Virginia clerk says Youngkin vetoes aren’t valid, a defiant governor digs in
Gov. Glenn Youngkin insisted Thursday that he properly stripped three items from the state budget despite a finding by the clerk of the House of Delegates that his “purported vetoes” violate the state constitution. The Republican governor, up against a General Assembly fully but narrowly under Democratic control since the midpoint of his four-year term, has racked up more than 400 vetoes — more than any of his predecessors. Democrats have never mustered the supermajority needed to override any of them.
Virginia education department violated procurement rules in extending $83M contract
The former leadership at the Virginia Department of Education failed to follow state procurement rules when it extended a major student assessment contract worth nearly $83 million, according to a finding by the Office of the State Inspector General. The state’s contract with the education company Pearson is one of the biggest and most politically sensitive in state government. It includes work to develop, administer, score and report statewide students’ assessments, including the Standards of Learning tests.
Youngkin signs bipartisan child welfare reforms and sets new goals for foster care
Katie Jones was 11 the last time she saw her childhood home, where her father, an alcoholic, stayed between jail stints and her mother struggled with heroin addiction. One day after school, just moments after she had settled in with a bag of chips and her homework, police and social services workers pulled up outside. Within minutes, Jones and her five siblings were loaded into vehicles, separated from each other, and plunged into the foster care system — an experience that would shuffle her through five homes, three schools, and years of uncertainty before she aged out at 18, never adopted.
Former Richmond employee spent $840,000 at company registered to his house, records show
A former Richmond Fire Department employee spent at least $839,357.15 at a company registered to his own home between 2017 and 2024, according to records obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Reginald Thomas, a former management analyst for RFD, used his city credit card, purchase orders and invoices to spend the funds at RPM Supply Co., LLC, which is registered to a house on Stevens Street in Henrico County, State Corporation Commission documents show. Henrico property records show Thomas and his wife are the owners of that home.
Professor, civil rights icon Owen Cardwell, who desegregated E.C. Glass, dies
Owen Cardwell Jr., who joined Lynda Woodruff as the first two Black students to attend previously all-white E.C. Glass High School in 1962, died Monday at the age of 78. The son of a top official with the local chapter of the NAACP, Cardwell, at the age of 14, was one of the students picked when a call went out for Dunbar High School students interested in participating in a desegregation lawsuit in Lynchburg.
Trump administration’s cancellation of internet access grants will cost SW and Southside Virginia, officials say
An Abingdon nonprofit organization, looking to expand broadband access and literacy, put its blueprints in place. People Inc. of Virginia used $55,000 in federal money and worked with multiple Southwest Virginia nonprofits to create a plan that would help a variety of Southwest Virginia residents with digital literacy, coding and consumer protection, and would provide devices for doing schoolwork to children living below the poverty line, among other actions. People Inc. set up similar plans in Northern and Central Virginia locations with another $70,000.
Fairfax leaders angered at being left out of funding for future Va. transportation projects
Fairfax County leaders believe they and other Northern Virginia leaders are getting an unfair deal when it comes to state transportation funding. The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday (May 13) to send a letter to Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sheppard Miller III, expressing concern about being passed over in the latest round of “Smart Scale” funding for transportation improvements. The state program allows localities to submit proposals, which are then scored to see how they meet designated criteria. Final approval is given by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB).
Kroger building $40 million store on Mechanicsville Turnpike
Grocery store chain Kroger broke ground Thursday on a long-planned, $40 million store on Mechanicsville Turnpike. The 123,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace will sell clothing and feature a Starbucks, pharmacy, 18-pump gas station and more than 500 parking spots. It will also feature almost 10,000 square feet for retail shops adjacent to the grocery store. The new location, at Mechanicsville Turnpike and Compass Point Lane, will replace a smaller store just up the road in the Creighton Crossing shopping center. . . . The new location will have 300 employees, about twice as many as the closing store.
Hard Rock gaming revenues again exceed $21M in April
For the second consecutive month, adjusted gaming revenues from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol exceeded $21 million. The casino reported $21.04 million in AGR during April, the second highest month since the facility opened in mid-November, according to a new report from the Virginia Lottery. Gaming revenues for March were a single-month record $21.4 million.