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Architectural board OKs new state courthouse building planned in downtown Richmond
A project to build a new state courthouse building in downtown Richmond has taken a step forward. Virginia’s Art and Architectural Review Board last week endorsed the final design plans for a 309,000-square-foot building planned for 900 E. Main St., which would house the Virginia Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals of Virginia. ... The proposed new state courthouse facility, called the Commonwealth Courts Building, would be built on the site currently occupied by the Pocahontas Building, which is slated for demolition. The project site is on the southwest corner of Capital Square. The Commonwealth Hotel on the same block as the project site would stay in place.
Spanberger unveils plan to make housing more affordable, accessible
Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger unveiled her plans to make housing more affordable and accessible throughout Virginia while in Henrico County on Friday. “No matter where I travel, whether I’m in the City of Richmond or Richmond County, or Radford, or Roanoke, or Hampton Roads, I hear about the high cost of housing,” Spanberger said. The Democratic nominee for governor said that it starts with investing in ways to increase Virginia’s housing supply.
Fifteen years after shuttering its tax-prep app, Va. may be ready to compete with TurboTax again
The Virginia Department of Taxation’s website parts company with the web presences of other agencies in the commonwealth: It doesn’t offer its own tools to help you complete your primary task there — taxes. While you can renew a car registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles site and register an LLC at the State Corporation Commission’s site, Virginia Tax doesn’t let you file your state income taxes online and instead points you to commercial tax-prep services. That’s not because Virginia Tax hasn’t developed its own filing app. It’s because 15 years ago, the department shelved the iFile app that had already drawn more than 278,000 users in 2009.
Local judge indicted on charge of bribery of a Spotsylvania County public official
Toward the end of the Aug. 13, 2024, Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors meeting and following a closed session, the board voted on a vague motion, and county officials didn’t provide clarity afterward. Courtland District Supervisor Drew Mullins made a motion to authorize County Attorney Karl Holsten to cooperate with the Virginia State Police in an ongoing investigation regarding the actions of a person subject to the oversight of a public body in the county. The board unanimously supported the motion, and the meeting was adjourned. There is now a bit more clarity, however, regarding the circumstances surrounding the vote. Richard T. McGrath, the Chief Judge of the 15th Judicial District of Virginia, which includes the Fredericksburg region, was indicted Monday on a Class 4 felony charge of bribery of a public official.
Appeals court upholds dismissal of councilman’s lawsuit against Lynchburg
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought by At-large Lynchburg Councilman Martin Misjuns, who argued his termination from the city’s fire department violated his rights to free speech and religion. The opinion, written by Judge Roger Gregory, affirmed the rulings by Judges Norman Moon and Robert Ballou, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, to dismiss the councilman’s lawsuit.
‘I will punch back’ against Trump administration, Stoney says in Alexandria as Dem primary nears
With only 10 days left until the June 17 Democratic primary, former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney stopped in Alexandria Saturday afternoon for a meet-and-greet with some of his most influential Northern Virginia supporters. Facing five opponents in what’s expected to be a low turnout primary election, Stoney said that, if elected, he’d focus on housing affordability.
Democrats plan ‘firehouse’ primary for 11th District special election
June will be a hectic month for many Fairfax County voters. In addition to participating in statewide elections, Democratic voters will be faced with choosing their party’s nominee for the 11th Congressional District special election to determine the late Rep. Gerry Connolly’s successor. The Fairfax County Democratic Committee announced today (Friday) that it will select a nominee with a “firehouse primary” on June 28 — 11 days after the party’s June 17 primary, which has the statewide lieutenant governor and attorney general races on the ballot.
VPAP Visual Paid Conferences: 2016-2024
After nearly disappearing in 2020, the number of paid conferences attended by Virginia General Assembly members and statewide officeholders has returned to pre-pandemic levels. This includes trips within Virginia, to other states, and outside the United States.
Va. agencies’ financial reporting increasingly inaccurate
Over the past several years, state agencies have increasingly been filing inaccurate and late financial reports, the office of Virginia’s Auditor of Public Accounts says. Now that the office has completed the latest round of its annual reviews, it has found state agencies needed to make $4.1 billion of adjustments to financial reports from last year, up from $2.4 billion the year before, said Zach Borgerding, the office’s deputy auditor for human capital and operations.
With DEI under attack, here’s how Virginia’s diverse slate of candidates talk about identity
It’s the most diverse Republican ticket in Virginia history. In her bid for the commonwealth’s top seat, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears could become the country’s first Black woman governor. John Reid, as the nominee for lieutenant governor, is the first openly gay person on the state’s ticket. And Jason Miyares, running for a second term as attorney general, was the first Hispanic man elected to statewide office in 2021. But while Earle-Sears and Reid have spoken openly about their identities, they, alongside the Republican party, have distanced themselves from diversity efforts more broadly.