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Southwest, Southside Virginians could bear the brunt of Medicaid cuts
More than one-third of Virginia’s rural hospitals are operating in the red, and federal threats to Medicaid funding could put many hospitals that mainly serve residents in Southwest and Southside Virginia at risk. Virginia has 28 health care facilities that fit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ definition of “rural hospitals.” They serve populations that are older, with higher rates of chronic illness and poverty. Many of their patients have a greater reliance on government-funded health insurance programs like Medicaid and Medicare, according to a Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association report.
Brandon, Capps and Sandel: Future of Virginia's community colleges is embracing collaboration
Around the country, colleges such as ours recently celebrated Community College Month, an annual recognition of the vital roles that community, junior and technical colleges play in American life. . . . While it’s incumbent on each college to adapt to the unique needs of the geographical area it serves, a growing trend here in Virginia is to reach across the traditional boundaries of established service regions and pool resources to accomplish more than would be possible for any one college alone.
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.
Yancey: Nationally, Republicans have lost faith in higher education. Virginia Republicans have not, new poll shows.
President Donald Trump wants to revoke the tax-exempt status for Harvard University. A few years ago, future Vice President JD Vance gave a speech entitled “The Universities Are the Enemy.” You’d think that Republicans don’t have a lot of faith in the nation’s system of higher education. Nationally speaking, you’d be right. The Gallup polling group has documented how American confidence in higher education has fallen over the past decade, with much of that decline coming from a sharp drop among Republicans. That’s why a recent survey about Virginians’ attitudes on higher education stands out: Not only do Virginians have more confidence in higher education than Americans as a whole, the main reason is because Virginia Republicans are much more supportive of higher ed — as in, more than twice as enthusiastic as their national counterparts.
Manassas leaders voice concerns over data center tenant not subject to business property taxes
City leaders in Manassas are expressing bewilderment after learning a tenant inside a new data center won’t have to pay business personal property taxes, drastically shrinking the revenue the city expected from the property. The tenant inside the Brickyard data center at 9905 Godwin Drive, operated by Digital Realty Trust, filed tax paperwork on April 14 identifying itself as a bank, Commissioner of the Revenue Tim Demeria told City Council April 30.
Fairfax County teachers’ union blames supervisors after budget crushes labor agreement
Fairfax County teachers’ elation at securing a collective bargaining agreement, the first of its kind in nearly 50 years for the district, has proven short-lived. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is set to adopt a budget for fiscal year 2026 that transfers $2.93 billion to Fairfax County Public Schools — up $119 million from the current fiscal year, but well short of the $248 million increase that Superintendent Michelle Reid requested primarily to cover employee pay raises promised by the union contract.
Pushback in Petersburg City Council after planning commission asks for pay
“This is a don't shoot the messenger item,” City Manager John "March" Altman cautioned city council Tuesday evening. He did so before Planning and Community Development Director Naomi Siodmok began her presentation on the Planning Commission’s request to be paid for the work they do for the city — a contentious item that caused some debate during the city council meeting’s public comment period.
Calls made for Northumberland School administrators to be put on leave
As Northumberland pushes for a Virginia State Police investigation of the school system, the Board of Supervisors and School Board agreed that the School Board needs to consider placing the superintendent, Dr. Holly Wargo, and the finance director, Tara Booth, on administrative leave.
Yancey: A myth busted: Our kids aren’t leaving for Charlotte and Atlanta. Not as many as we think, anyway.
For all the time I’ve lived in the Roanoke Valley, which is now more than four decades, I’ve heard a constant lament: We lose people to Charlotte and Atlanta. Our young adults leave for there. Our mid-career adults leave for there. From time to time, our major employers have left for there. The latter is certainly true: The railroad that turned a salt lick into a boomtown is now in Atlanta, by way of Norfolk. The former, though, is not, at least not in appreciable numbers.
Danish manufacturer Topsoe files formal plans for $400M plant in Chesterfield
While it navigates an uncertain outlook for federal clean-energy financial incentives, Danish company Topsoe continues to take incremental steps toward building a nine-figure manufacturing facility in Chesterfield. The company last week submitted formal site plans with the county for a $400 million plant that would make electrolyzer cells for “clean hydrogen” fuel. Documents show a 300,000-square-foot, two-story facility to be built on a 43-acre site at Meadowville Technology Park.