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Friday Read How One Woman Saved the Outer Banks From Impending Development 50 Years Ago
In August 1973, three children who regularly played atop the East Coast’s tallest active sand dune system spied a bulldozer that hadn’t been there before. The children ran to tell their babysitter, who took them to the family’s nearby store in Nags Head, North Carolina, where their mother, Carolista Baum, made and sold jewelry. Condominiums had been constructed near where the bulldozer was working, and Baum knew more development would irreparably harm these beloved dunes known as Jockey’s Ridge, an Outer Banks fixture for 3,000 to 4,000 years. Immediately, Baum closed shop and rushed to confront the driver. Developers had already flattened most of the dunes north to the Virginia border. “I’m not moving,” Baum said, positioning herself in front of the bulldozer’s blade.
Youngkin’s signature sets stage for Virginia health insurance to cover IVF treatment in the future
A bill that can help people start and grow their families through fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization will become law, after Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed it along with several other measures he initially tried to amend. House Bill 1609 by Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, will require the Health Insurance Reform Commission (HIRC) to consider coverage for diagnosis and treatment of infertility and procedures like IVF in its 2025 review of essential health benefits covered by health insurance.
Albemarle ICE detentions raise questions about due process for immigrants
It’s been two weeks since Teodoro Dominguez-Rodriguez and Pablo Aparicio-Marcelino were detained by plainclothes US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials inside the Albemarle County Courthouse. Honduran national Dominguez-Rodriguez and Aparicio-Marcelino, a Mexican national, were taken into custody in separate interactions on April 22. As of May 7, both men are being held at Farmville Detention Center, although it’s not immediately clear where they were detained between their arrests and their arrival in Farmville April 24.
Inside the 50-year battle between Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Kings Dominion sold funnel cakes with blue and white icing, resembling a birthday cake. When Busch Gardens Williamsburg hosts its 50th birthday bash Friday, it will offer 75-cent beer and free admission to anyone celebrating a 50th birthday during May. Virginia's two theme parks are turning 50 years old this month, and they've never stopped competing for guests. Dennis Speigel, Kings Dominion's first general manager, regards them as two of the best parks in the country. "It's always been a prize fight," Speigel said. "They're going after the same guy going down 95 and up 64."
Port CEO: Trade war will lead to less cargo, but effects are far from certain
There was an “elephant in the room” Thursday during Port of Virginia CEO Stephen Edwards’ annual State of the Port speech: Uncertainty. Speaking to hundreds of leaders from various levels of the shipping industry at the Marriott Virginia Beach hotel at the Oceanfront, Edwards made the case that the Port of Virginia has the infrastructure and position within global trade to weather the upheaval caused by the Trump administration’s tariff policies.
Port of Virginia CEO says port should endure Chinese tariffs better than most
Port of Virginia CEO Stephen Edwards said the port is a “blueprint” for the future of the supply chain and will be able to weather the ongoing trade war with China better than others in the nation. New tariffs will certainly affect Virginia’s port, but Edwards doesn’t expect major changes as a result. “We’re in the somewhat fortunate position of being the least-exposed major U.S. port on trade with China,” Edwards told government and industry leaders at the Virginia Beach Marriott Thursday. About 19% of the port’s business comes from China. It’s the port’s second-largest trading partner after the European Union.
D.C.-area economy starts to show deep impacts of federal spending cuts
The D.C. region’s economy is teetering on the edge of a painful slump, experts warn, as the Trump administration’s spending cuts, including the elimination of thousands of federal jobs, take their toll on an area that was already struggling to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. ... In Fairfax County, Virginia, unemployment jumped from 2.2 percent in December to 3.2 percent in March. “And we haven’t seen the worst of it yet,” said Jeff McKay, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, noting the lagging data. McKay said this economic crisis is probably the worst he has seen in 18 years on the board. “It’s neck and neck with covid,” he said. “I think it’s worse than covid because we’re not going to get any help.”
Sewage Sludge Fertilizer From Maryland? Virginians Say No Thanks.
In 2023, sewage plants in Maryland started to make a troubling discovery. Harmful “forever chemicals” were contaminating the state’s sewage, much of which is turned into fertilizer and spread on farmland. To protect its food and drinking water, Maryland has started restricting the use of fertilizer made from sewage sludge. At the same time, a major sludge-fertilizer maker, Synagro, has been applying for permits to use more of it across the state border, on farms in Virginia. A coalition of environmentalists, fishing groups and some farmers are fighting that effort. They say the contamination threatens to poison farmland and vulnerable waterways that feed the Potomac River.
Vick: To protect workers, protect freedom of choice
One of the most cherished rights of all Americans is the freedom of association — the freedom to participate in those activities which align with our personal goals and values, and the freedom to not be forced into groups which oppose them. That concept originated with our founding fathers who saw coercion — whether in religion, party or any other affiliation — as an anathema to the natural rights of a free people in a free society. . . . Considerable attention has been paid to Virginia’s right-to-work law in recent weeks. Virginians deserve a clear understanding of what right-to-work is, and what it is not.
State approves Carilion’s kidney transplant program in Roanoke
Carilion Clinic’s request to establish a kidney transplant center in Roanoke has been approved. The transplant center will be the region’s only organ transplant program. Currently, patients in Southwest Virginia in need of a kidney transplant have to travel to the University of Virginia Medical Center or Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Data provided by Carilion shows that around 79% of kidney transplant patients in the region have to drive two to four hours to access the services they need.