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New Virginia law will guarantee restroom access for some

By CAMERON THOMPSON, WTVR-TV

Virginia will join more than 20 other states and Washington, D.C. on July 1 when a law goes into effect that will give some people legal access to restrooms in cases of emergency. When many people leave the house, all they have to consider is if they have their wallet, keys and cellphone. But when Carol Driskill heads out, something else is top of mind. “I have to know that there’s a bathroom close by,” Driskill explained.

VaNews June 14, 2024


No shortage of opinions on Youngkin’s EV decision

By BILLY SHIELDS, VPM

In the week following Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s decision to scrap electric vehicle regulations designed by a California environmental board, there were no shortage of opinions on the topic. “It’s literally dangerous, we are going backward by doing that,” said Arif Sikder, an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. “If other states decided to do the same thing, it’s going to cause more danger for public health [and] global warming.” Youngkin unveiled the decision on June 6 at a Chester car dealership, just one day after the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board met. With it, he is reversing guidelines that the General Assembly adopted in 2021.

VaNews June 14, 2024


Trump, Youngkin meet for first time as GOP eyes winning Virginia in November

By EMMA COLTON, PAUL STEINHAUSER AND MATTHEW REIDY, Fox News

Former President Donald Trump and Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin met this week. They discussed efforts to flip Virginia red in the 2024 presidential election, Fox News Digital has learned. Two sources with knowledge of the meeting told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Trump and Youngkin had discussed recent polling showing Trump neck-and-neck with President Biden in the Old Dominion State, after Biden won the state by 10 points in 2020. The meeting included discussions on how Trump can pull ahead of Biden as the election cycle further intensifies.

VaNews June 14, 2024


Dollar Tree, A Virginia Corporate Success, Faces New Pressures Over Its History Of Violations

By CAROLYN SHAPIRO, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism

A state inspector showed up at a Dollar Tree store in Manassas in July 2022 and found shipping boxes stacked more than 8 feet high, perilously dangling over workers’ heads in the back room. Mountains of other boxes, thrown into jumbled piles, blocked the rear exits, leaving no pathway out in case of a fire. The inspector for the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Program reported roaches crawling on the floor and dead in traps in multiple spots in the store, according to his write-up from that July 28 visit. Behind a cash register, rodents had chewed Hershey’s chocolate bars and left trails of droppings.

VaNews June 14, 2024


DuVal: Leaving California EV mandate is best for Virginia’s business climate

By BARRY DUVAL, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Last week, following Attorney General Jason Miyares’ opinion, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that Virginia would no longer be subject to California’s onerous electric vehicle mandates when its current regulation expires at the end of 2024. If the second iteration of these costly and burdensome mandates passed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) were to have taken effect in Virginia, all new vehicle purchases by 2035 would have been required to be EVs and 35% of model year 2026 vehicle purchases would as well.

DuVal is president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

VaNews June 14, 2024


Friday Read Potomac River catfish are no match for Ernie the Hog Snatcher

By MAURA JUDKIS, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

In a secret spot on the banks of the Potomac River, just past Georgetown, a fishing rod has begun to twitch. Then it arcs with the weight of what has become Ernest Robinson’s catchphrase: “Big takedown!” “Oh. Oh my God,” says Robinson, an urban fisherman, as the catch puts up a fight. “This joker is not ready to come.” Everything about Robinson, 34, is big. There’s his social media following: Around half a million people watch him fish on both Instagram and TikTok. … Then there are his big takedowns: big blue catfish, which he pursues year-round in these waters because “catfish is the biggest fish that we’ve got in the Potomac,” he says.

VaNews June 14, 2024


Virginia Hasn’t Backed a Republican for President in Two Decades. Is It About to Flip?

By VIVIAN SALAMA, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)

Whether Virginia backs Donald Trump or Joe Biden shouldn’t even be a discussion. The state hasn’t backed a Republican for president since George W. Bush in 2004. But early polls showing Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, cutting into the Democratic president’s lead have served as a wake-up call for Virginia Democrats, who acknowledge headwinds with voters dissatisfied with Biden’s leadership. Republicans say that if Virginia is even remotely on the table for Trump, Biden is in serious trouble in traditional battleground states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

VaNews June 14, 2024


Chesterfield County backs secrecy in police records case

By LUCA POWELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

“Undercover.” The meaning of the word strikes at the heart of a public records fight regarding public access to basic police payroll information: the names and salaries of law enforcement employees. To Freedom of Information Act lawyer Andrew Bodoh, the word pertains to the type of police work seen on prime-time TV: disguised officers with assumed identities, names and cover stories. To Chesterfield County Attorney Jeffrey Mincks, the word includes every lay officer on the Chesterfield Police Department’s payroll: from the most grizzled detectives down to newly sworn-in cadets.

VaNews June 14, 2024


$12 million agricultural campus set to rise between Bristol and Abingdon

By SUSAN CAMERON, Cardinal News

Rolling green pastures between Bristol and Abingdon are set to evolve over the next few years into an expansive $12 million agriculture campus for Appalachian Sustainable Development. On Thursday afternoon, officials with the nonprofit unveiled their plans for the more than 17 acres of land, which they plan to use as a regional hub that will champion agriculture by teaching people how to grow in more innovative, efficient and profitable ways. The goal is to create new agriculture and food businesses, more efficient and successful farms, a stronger regional workforce, and better access to nutritious food and positive health outcomes, according to ASD officials.

VaNews June 14, 2024


Virginia Senate to convene Tuesday to discuss military tuition program

By NOUR HABIB, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The Virginia Senate will reconvene Tuesday to address recent changes to a state program that covers higher education costs for some military families, Senate Democrats announced in a release. In the recently approved budget, lawmakers scaled back the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program to lighten the cost burden on state colleges and universities after program participation increased exponentially over the last four years.

VaNews June 14, 2024