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6 Democratic candidates for Lt. Gov. attempt to distinguish themselves from their peers in debate
There’s not much daylight between the six Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor, that much was apparent as they faced off in a forum in Prince William County on Thursday night. Former union leader and attorney Alex Bastani, Prince William School Board Chairman Babur Lateef, Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, former federal prosecutor Victor Salgado and former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney took part in the hourlong forum hosted by 7News and the Northern Virginia Democratic Black Caucus. The moderator, 7News anchor Kellye Lynn, asked the candidates a myriad of questions, from how to protect Virginia from economic hardship brought on by cuts to federal funding and workforce to education issues and how to overcome COVID-19-related learning loss.
NOAA predicts above-average Atlantic hurricane season with as many as 19 named storms
Warm seawater will likely drive another above-average hurricane season this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. Forecasters expect between 13 and 19 named tropical storms to form in the Atlantic Ocean between June 1 and November 30. Six to 10 will become full-blown hurricanes, with three to five eventually becoming major storms. National Weather Service director Ken Graham said improved forecasting has dramatically cut fatalities from these storms, particularly storm surge projections. But he warned that things can change quickly and people need to heed warnings and be prepared.
Preservation Virginia lists historic battlefields among endangered sites thanks to data centers
Two Civil War battlefields in and around Northern Virginia have been named to Preservation Virginia’s 2025 list of the state’s most endangered historic places, with the nonprofit citing the growing threat posed by data center development. Manassas National Battlefield Park in Prince William County and Wilderness Battlefied in Orange County are among 11 sites identified in this year’s report. Both are located near large-scale data center projects that have already been approved ...
Section of U.S. 58 reopens 5 months ahead of schedule
U.S. Route 58 reopened to traffic Thursday afternoon, some seven months after floodwaters obliterated a 1.5-mile section between Damascus and Konnarock. Repairs were completed five months ahead of schedule and significantly under budget, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said during a midday ribbon-cutting ceremony. The event occurred at a spot where floodwaters from Hurricane Helene turned Whitetop Laurel Creek into a raging torrent last September,
For state police job, recruiters handed Youngkin a ‘superstar’ candidate. He hired an insider instead.
In the wake of a sudden retirement announcement by Virginia’s longtime state police superintendent, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that a nationwide search would take place to hire a replacement. But in the end, Youngkin chose an internal candidate while the recommendations from the nationwide search didn’t get a final-round interview, according to two sources familiar with Youngkin’s recruitment for the state police job. Both asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity of the deliberations.
Central Virginia food banks, pantries issue warning about effects of potential SNAP cuts
Central Virginia’s food banks and pantries are voicing their concerns about potential major cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP. Early Thursday morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Big Beautiful Bill Act, and, with sweeping tax breaks and significant cuts to funding, the vote marks a significant success for the Trump administration’s agenda. As Congress heads home for the Memorial Day break, the bill is on its way to the Senate, where some changes are expected. One of the federal programs that stands to be significantly diminished, however, is one that allows lower income, qualifying Americans to purchase food from grocery stores. In an effort to curb food aid spending, the bill would rip billions of dollars from SNAP over a 10-year period.
Yancey: Is Spanberger up by 4 percentage points or 17? Why two new polls have very different results.
Two new polls came out Thursday. Both show the same thing: Virginians don’t like President Donald Trump and want Democrat Abigail Spanberger to be their next governor. They do that in very different ways, though: A poll for the pro-business group Virginia FREE shows Spanberger leading Republican Winsome Earle-Sears by 4 percentage points. The Roanoke College poll, though, finds Spanberger leading by a staggering 17 percentage points. The polls also differ in one key way: The Virginia FREE poll finds that most Virginians approve of the job that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is doing. The Roanoke College poll finds, for the first time, that most Virginians now disapprove of Youngkin’s governorship.
Democratic leadership signals willingness to reexamine Virginia Clean Economy Act
Passed during a Democratic trifecta in 2020, the Virginia Clean Economy Act was viewed as a monumental step toward modernizing the state’s dirty power generation. But in the face of President Donald Trump’s alternative energy funding cuts and data center-fueled power demand, the most powerful Democrats in Virginia’s legislature appear open to reviewing the law. “We went a long while with more supply than we had demand, now it's flipped upside down. We have much more demand than we have supply,” the top Democrat in the House of Delegates, Speaker Don Scott, told Radio IQ after a meeting of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, or CEUR, held at the General Assembly building Thursday. “And so, we have to respond. And I think sometimes you have policies we have to examine and make sure we meet demand and keep costs low.”
Virginia leaders remember Rep. Gerry Connolly’s fighting spirit and commitment to Fairfax
If you were looking for evidence of Rep. Gerry Connolly’s influence in Virginia Democratic politics, his annual St. Patrick’s Day fundraiser — on what he joked was “the holiest day of the year” in a nod to his Irish roots — would be a pretty good place to start. At this year’s event in March, more than a thousand people packed a room festooned with green streamers and filled with the smell of corned beef and cabbage. And with statewide elections later this year, nearly all the Democratic candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general turned out. Connolly, fresh off of treatment for esophageal cancer, was upbeat as he greeted a long line of supporters.
Friday Read James River cruise takes passengers back in time on the boat that made Virginia rich
Will Smith and Will Cash have been friends since middle school, college roommates at Radford and now they’re business partners, offering the public a chance to celebrate one pivotal part of Virginia’s history. Four days a week, they welcome guests to their boats— 7.5 feet wide, 44 feet long— furnished with simple wood tables and benches. They are replicas of watercraft dating back 250 years. “April 29, 1775, Jefferson writes in his journal. He’s just witnessed the launch of the very first batteau," Smith tells passengers on a sunset cruise. To understand why the batteau was a big deal, Smith says, you have to go back to a time when English settlers were growing and getting rich from the sale of tobacco. Their crop was hard on the land, sucking nutrients from the soil, and every few years they’d have to move west — farther away from the market.