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Virginia Lottery continues to embrace its gaming oversight role
In just the past decade, Virginia has become one of the nation’s top states for gaming and most of the state’s oversight is handled through the Virginia Lottery — an agency that has grown 20% larger to accommodate those responsibilities. Today the lottery oversees its traditional lottery ticket sales and drawings, online iLottery play, the state’s three casinos — with another in Norfolk now under construction — and a robust sports betting program with 14 licensed operators.
Loudoun Panel Supports Replacing Flex-Warehouses with Data Centers
A proposal that would replace flex-warehouse buildings near Sterling with data centers and a utility substation received a recommendation of approval from the county Planning Commission this week. The application would rezone 17 acres from Planned Development – General Industrial to Industrial Park and permit the redevelopment of 268,700 square feet of existing flex-warehouse space into nearly 600,000 square feet of data center uses and a five-acre substation. ... Project Manager Erin Fisher said this is the first application of an influx of proposals to convert warehouse space to data center and industrial uses along the Rt. 28 corridor.
'Old name, new legacy': Fort Lee's renaming celebrated in ceremony on post
Fort Lee has ceremoniously rechristened itself after two years under the name “Gregg-Adams,” but speakers at the July 11 event that unveiled new signs say that while the page might be turned on the post’s name, the book will never close on the legacies of its former namesakes. “Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams represented the very best of our Army,” post commander Maj. Gen. Michelle Donahue said.
Inside the Conservative Campaign That Took Down the U.Va. President
The Jefferson Council, a band of conservative-leaning University of Virginia alumni, was impatient and fed up. For years, the group had railed against the university’s president, James E. Ryan, for his robust promotion of campus diversity initiatives. They had counted on Glenn Youngkin, the state’s Republican governor who vocally opposed D.E.I., to force a new direction at one of the country’s most prestigious public universities. But as 2025, the final year of Mr. Youngkin’s term, began, the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion apparatus was still in place. And time was running out, with polls showing that the governor’s race would be an uphill battle for a Republican candidate.
Federal funding pause threatens Virginia after-school programs
The Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Virginia is facing a financial crisis after a $6 billion pause in Department of Education funds, initially set for release on July 1. This funding, which includes $108 million earmarked for Virginia schools, is crucial for the club, which relies on federal support for 60% of its budget. Rebekah Meadows, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Virginia, said, "It's complicated, we have 8 sites that use this funding, and so we are working through scenarios for each of those."
Henrico’s housing trust fund wraps first year with homes sold, more on the way
One year in, Henrico’s multimillion-dollar investment to help improve housing affordability in the county is beginning to pay off. Henrico’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund program, launched last July with a $60 million cash contribution from the county, has finished out its initial year with its first homes sold and dozens more in the pipeline or under construction. . . . Henrico’s goal is to produce 750 new homes that are affordable to first-time buyers at as low as 60% AMI over the program’s first five years, using the $60 million in unbudgeted tax revenues that were generated specifically from data centers in the county.
Certain Aetna health insurance plans leaving the Affordable Care Act marketplace next year
Starting next year, Aetna clients in Virginia and other states will no longer be able to purchase individual or family health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. The ACA is a 15-year-old federal law that allows people who don’t have employer-provided insurance to purchase their own through the ACA marketplace. Congress also created associated tax credits that have helped some offset those costs even further. Over 261,000 people in Virginia have Aetna healthcare, according to the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services.
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.
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.
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.