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Va. Sen. Mark Warner meets with students, university staffs over FAFSA glitches
Monday afternoon U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia met with Northern Virginia students and both high school and college administrators to hear concerns over the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly shortened to FAFSA. Months behind schedule, the U.S. Department of Education rolled out what was supposed to be a new, shorter, easier process for filling out FAFSA around New Year’s. But in addition to being late, the rollout of the new application has been plagued by glitches and other difficulties that are blamed for a large drop in students both filling out and completing the form.
Lawmakers, advocates react to Youngkin’s veto of Right to Contraception Act
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) is facing some backlash after vetoing two bills to establish a person’s right to contraception in Virginia. On Friday, Youngkin vetoed Senate Bill 237 and House Bill 609, which would have protected Virginians’ access to contraception like IUDs, condoms and birth control. Advocates say the bills were necessary after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called previous rulings on contraception access into question.
Patriot Front members admit to vandalizing Richmond’s Arthur Ashe mural in 2021
Two Patriot Front members admitted in federal court filings that they vandalized the Arthur Ashe mural in Richmond’s Battery Park in 2021. In the filings, Nathan Noyce and Thomas Dail admit and deny allegations made against them, others and Patriot Front — which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls “a white nationalist hate group” — in a civil lawsuit from two anonymous Battery Park neighborhood residents. Neither has been arrested in connection to the Battery Park vandalism.
Backed by rival GOP factions, veterans in Virginia’s 7th District primary look similar on paper
Save for the facial hair, it would have been hard to tell Derrick Anderson and Cameron Hamilton apart. Sitting side by side at a candidate forum here earlier this month, the front-runners in one of Virginia’s most competitive GOP primaries both highlighted their time serving in elite military units and then in the federal government. Both pledged to go hard on China and campus protesters while pitching themselves as Republicans’ best chance to flip this battleground seat.
Amazon data center arm buys Manassas site
Amazon.com Inc. has acquired another Manassas-area site approved for data center development, this one for $218 million. The e-commerce giant’s data center arm, Amazon Data Services Inc., bought the 91-acre assemblage at 14237 and 14209 Dumfries Road from Parsons Business Park LLC on April 25, according to Prince William County property records. The sale price works out to about $2.4 million per acre.
Westbrook and Allen: Our boys were found innocent. So why are they still in prison?
Another year has come and gone and we’re approaching another presidential election season without our sons. They were found not guilty by a federal jury of their peers, but still sentenced to life in prison. It has been nearly 23 years since we’ve last had our boys, Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne, at our dinner table. We’ve since had four presidential administrations, countless promises of criminal justice reform, and still no end in sight for the injustice they are experiencing. We are calling on the Biden Administration to grant them clemency — and asking that you do, too.
VIPC launches $100M fund partnership for Va. startups
The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. is partnering with seven venture capital fund managers to invest $100 million in 100 Virginia-based startups. Through the partnership, announced Monday by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and named Virginia Invests, VIPC will commit $40 million to the seven funds using previously awarded funding from the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative.
Measure expanding Virginia localities’ speed-limiting authority takes effect July 1
Gov. Glenn Youngkin took his final actions on bills from Virginia’s 2024 legislative session on Friday, signing seven more measures into law. One of those was legislation that will expand all localities’ speed-reducing authority to include roadways within a business or residential district and state-owned highways. Lawmakers passed a measure a few years ago allowing localities to decrease roadway speed limits in their jurisdictions to as low as 15 mph. However, lawmakers found that the Virginia Department of Transportation denied seven of eight speed limit decrease requests because, by state law, only the Commissioner of Highways could authorize changes on state-maintained roads.
Virginia legislators seek reforms at Riverside Regional Jail
Virginia legislators are sounding the alarm over the health and safety conditions at Riverside Regional Jail in Prince George County. On Monday, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers held a press conference at the General Assembly Building in Richmond to address their commitment toward holding those in charge of the jail accountable. In a recent op-ed, state officials urged the board of city managers, county administrators and law enforcement officials who govern the facility, to install new, permanent leadership to address the jail’s failures to provide a safe and healthy environment for imprisoned people.
DOD contract fuels $41.2M expansion of Orange County rocket factory
Defense contractor L3Harris Technologies has entered into an agreement with Orange County to fund a $41.2 million expansion and modernization of the company’s Aerojet Rocketdyne facility there. The effort is intended to increase solid rocket motor production while growing the company’s presence in the commonwealth, according to a joint statement from Orange County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and L3Harris.