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Holbrook and Williams: Sentara should invest more to improve regional health
A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money,” said the late Sen.Everett Dirksen. Now comes the shocking news that Sentara Health System lost $1.5 billion on health insurance ventures according to its 2024 publicly available audited financials. One of these was Sentara Holdings Florida, an HMO bought for $225 million in December 2022 which lost $290 million over the next two years. All that “real money” would have made a profound impact if it had been invested back into Hampton Roads where it came from. Yes, we are thankful for Sentara’s pledge to give $35 million annually for 10 years to the Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, but it should have been much more and should have been given much earlier.
Lund: ‘Go see’ Virginia exhibit about the Vietnam War
A Vietnam veteran and I met in a small-town, fast-food restaurant in Southside Virginia some years ago to talk about his military experience. He wanted someone to listen; I wanted someone to write. I direct Home and Abroad, a free writing program for the veteran community that offers writing seminars, individual coaching and professional printing of participants’ work. We both felt what he had to say was important enough to be shared.
Williams: George Mason must take a stand against federal overreach
You didn’t think they’d stop at UVa, did you? The U.S. Department of Education is coming after George Mason University, alleging the use of race in the hiring and promotion of faculty members, part of its latest, legally dubious attack on diversity, equity and inclusion. And a second civil rights investigation, also launched this month, alleges that the Fairfax-based school “discriminated on the basis of national origin (shared Jewish ancestry) by failing to respond effectively to a pervasive hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty.”
Atkinson: Halt menhaden harvest until studies determine its effects
With summer in full swing, Chesapeake Bay fishermen, birders and environmentalists are once again faced with the harsh reality that menhaden, the most important fish in the sea, are scarce. Even Omega Protein, the Canadian-owned menhaden reduction fishery (i.e. reduces the fish to animal feed), and its partner Ocean Harvesters, with its spotter planes and huge purse seine nets, is having trouble finding them.
A historic Black school in Powhatan was her 'home away from home.' It’s set to be demolished Monday.
A historic school building that once served Black students in Powhatan County during segregation is scheduled for demolition on Monday, despite objections from former students and some local officials. The building, now called the Pocahontas Landmark Center, holds special memories for Sandra Morris Kemp, who attended the school for 10 years. She said she had lots of friends, the teachers were friendly, and she learned a lot. . . . . "I do not want to see that school demolished," Kemp said. In June, the school board voted 4-1 to approve about $830,000 to demolish the buildings. School board spokesperson Laura McFarland told CBS 6 that the parts being torn down are currently vacant and deteriorated.
Fleet of laser-equipped robots begins survey of Arlington sidewalks
A fleet of robots has begun wandering the sidewalks between Ballston and Rosslyn, searching for any defects to report back to the county’s Department of Environmental Services. The bots, which went live at the start of this month, use a combination of laser scanners, mobile mapping, AI and machine learning to look for defects like cracks, weeds or gaps of at least half an inch. Owned by the company Kiwibot, the robots are surveying around 45 miles of linear sidewalk, primarily focused around Wilson Blvd, Clarendon Blvd and Fairfax Drive.
Who was arrested in Virginia’s immigration crackdown? State, federal officials won’t say.
The Virginia Homeland Security Taskforce has been busy this year, arresting more than 2,500 people in the United States illegally. That’s according to Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who boasted the arrest data during a July 2 news conference at the Virginia State Police headquarters in Richmond. But while the governor’s office has described the 2,512 people arrested as “violent criminals who are illegally in the United States,” neither Youngkin’s office nor state or federal agencies involved in the operation have provided any documentation about those arrested to be able to verify who they are, what they were charged with or whether they’ve been deported.
Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears visits Newport News Shipbuilding
When Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears arrived at the Victory Arch near Newport News Shipbuilding Friday, she couldn’t help but feel like she was back home again. It was in 2001 when she emerged on the political landscape, taking down longtime Democratic Del. Billy Robinson. “I feel like in my old stomping ground — this is where my children grew up,” Earle-Sears said. “People really need to see you, so that is why I am in our great Hampton Roads.”
As U-Va. president leaves, faculty say board failed to protect university
University of Virginia faculty passed a vote of no confidence Friday in the school’s governing body, saying it failed to protect against “outside interference” by the Trump administration that led to the eventual resignation of President James E. Ryan. The vote by the U-Va. faculty senate — which came on Ryan’s last day in office — called on the board to provide faculty with an “immediate and complete accounting” of its response to inquiries by the Justice Department in recent months.
Earle-Sears reaches out to Black churchgoers in GOP bid for governor
It wasn’t the stereotypical political event: no buses, no signs, no impassioned speeches. Instead, there was Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears at the door of Antioch Baptist Church, greeting congregants as they came for the 10 a.m. service at the Fairfax County church. . . . On the campaign trail bidding to be Virginia’s next governor, Earle-Sears, a devout evangelical Christian who on Monday held an online prayer call for the flood victims in Texas, pauses regularly to worship with fellow believers.