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Virginia Beach punts on collective bargaining referendum
The pros and cons of allowing city employees to collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions will be hashed out in a study. Mayor Bobby Dyer called for the analysis and had the support of enough colleagues for the proposal to advance Tuesday. He had suggested studying the matter last month, but the decision walks back his previous call to include a collective bargaining advisory referendum on the November ballot.
Schapiro: Rao row — or tale of the faulty tower
In the business world — think: publicly traded J.C. Penney, Hewlett-Packard and Home Depot — a CEO who costs shareholders millions is out of a job. In the academic world — think: publicly financed Virginia Commonwealth University — a CEO who costs stakeholders millions is still in his. The academic business that is VCU — led since 2009 by Michael Rao, the state’s longest-serving university president, one of its highest paid at north of $1 million annually and among its most embattled — had largely escaped official scrutiny until earlier this year, when its allies could avert their eyes no longer.
Military families in Va. worry they will be stripped of college funding
Anya Ruzicka wants to earn a graduate degree to become a high school English teacher, and she’s banking on a state program to cover most of her tuition. But now, following changes made to the program, the 21-year-old Midlothian resident might get hit with a surprise bill for $26,000. Until last month, Ruzicka was eligible to have four years of college paid for under the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program. She qualifies thanks to her father’s service in the U.S. Army and his disability.
Officials: Mountain Valley Pipeline gas can benefit region
Installation of the Mountain Valley Pipeline inflicted environmental costs on forests and streams but, with the pipeline almost ready to carry gas, a utility CEO and an economic development official predict it will generate economic gains as well. By bolstering natural gas access in the region, the MVP creates conditions that could catalyze a wave of industrial expansion, according to officials. Summit View Business Park in Franklin County will receive gas upon the MVP beginning service, possibly this month, a boon to efforts to market its 13 available sites. In addition, Roanoke Gas Co. will tap the MVP to augment supplies for the greater Roanoke region — and none too soon.
Trump looms over Va. GOP primary for Kaine’s Senate seat
The fluttering banner didn’t show any of the five Republicans vying for the party’s nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., in November. It showed former President Donald Trump, glowering in a mug shot taken after his arraignment last year on election racketeering charges in Georgia. The banner loomed above a gathering of more than 70 supporters in a shopping center parking lot [in Loudoun County] Monday for a rally to “Free Trump” after his conviction on separate felony charges in New York City for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up a hush payment to an adult film star. The former president, facing an election rematch with President Joe Biden in November, looms over Virginia’s Republican U.S. Senate primary June 18.
Chasing shiny objects, VCU and city leaders lose their way
A mayor whose administration carves out $170 million for a nonessential ballpark, but struggles to fund schools and dips into the pockets of the city’s most important retail sector — restaurants. A university president who signs off on a real estate deal as part of a government-subsidized “economic development” project downtown — then pulls out at a cost of nearly $80 million. For all the progress RVA has made in the last decade, Richmond has a leadership problem.
Crime statistics useful, but public safety hard to quantify
As The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press continues the “Shots Fired” series, an examination of gun violence in Hampton Roads, diving into crime statistics — what they tell us and what they cannot — is an important aspect of taking full measure of the crisis and charting the most effective avenues for addressing it. Measuring crime — violent crime, in particular — can be a challenge. Law enforcement and public officials compile statistics that show how many offenses occurred in a community, but that’s not a complete picture of public safety.
GOP hopefuls for Spanberger seat trade fraud, defamation charges over ad
A once-sleepy Republican primary for Virginia’s most competitive congressional seat has suddenly gone into overdrive, with both leading candidates launching fiery ads about the other’s professional record and accusing each other of lying, fraud and defamation. The six-way nomination contest in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District is led by two military veterans — Derrick Anderson, a former Army Green Beret, and Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL — who have both pitched themselves as the GOP’s strongest candidate to flip this battleground seat.
Rogers: Governor, lawmakers must resolve menhaden conflict
If a Canadian owned timber company purchased a local saw mill near Virginia’s Shenandoah National Forest that employed 250 local workers, would we allow it to indiscriminately clear cut trees from that forest and process them into lumber for export back to Canada? I don’t think so. If a Chinese company purchased a local coal processing plant in the Appalachian Mountains that was part of a Virginia state park that employed 250 workers, would we allow it to strip mine the surface from that state park for export back to China? I don’t think so. Well that is exactly what we are allowing a Canadian-owned seafood company to do in the Chesapeake Bay.
Youngkin says Trump could become the first GOP presidential candidate to win Virginia in 20 years
It’s been two decades since a Republican carried Virginia in the race for the White House. You have to go back to then-President George W. Bush, who won the Commonwealth in his 2004 re-election victory. Democrats have carried the state in four straight presidential elections, including President Biden’s 10-point victory over Donald Trump four years ago as he won the White House. But GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin thinks the former president has a very good shot of ending the Republican losing streak in Virginia as Trump faces off this autumn with Biden in a 2024 election rematch.