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Healthcare company Molina laying off hundreds of employees in Henrico
As it prepares to wind down a contract with the state of Virginia, a California-based healthcare plan management firm is shutting down its local operations. Molina Healthcare plans to permanently close its office at 3829 Gaskins Road and lay off 268 workers at the end of June, according to a notice that the company recently submitted to the state government. Molina is a Fortune 500 company that manages government-sponsored healthcare programs in multiple states, including Virginia. But the company’s work with the Old Dominion is coming to an end.
13 Virginia localities sign agreements to help ICE
A handful of Virginia’s 133 localities, including two near Roanoke, have agreed to work with federal immigration enforcement. Several more, including the Portsmouth Sheriff’s Office, are in the process of signing similar agreements, according to documents from the Department of Homeland Security. Richmond’s own police department does not have such an agreement, which Police Chief Rick Edwards has suggested would undermine detectives’ ability to solve crime in immigrant communities. Immigrant advocacy organizations also vehemently oppose the partnerships.
Trump administration changes funding rules for broadband expansion
Virginia officials and broadband providers have had the “rug pulled out from under them” by a U.S. Commerce Department policy shift on internet expansion, the state’s Broadband Advisory Council chairwoman said Monday. Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax County, said she was frustrated that the Trump administration has restructured the Biden-era Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, also known as “Internet for All.” The $42.5 billion program, part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, had prioritized fiber broadband over satellite and other wireless internet delivery systems to serve more rural regions.
Fauquier supervisor defends decision to sell family farm for data centers
Daron Culbertson, a Fauquier County supervisor, says economics prompted his decision to sell his family farm on Remington Road to developers of a data center campus. He plans to recuse himself from discussions and decisions on the data center development, according to a statement issued on Monday. Culbertson’s statement comes amid criticism and backlash following news of the impending sale and proposed data center development last week.
Republicans will decide 11th Congressional District nominee at lone canvass event
Local Republicans will determine their nominee for the 11th Congressional District special election on the same day as their Democratic counterparts. A singular canvass event will be held on June 28 at Fairfax High School, gathering all voters in one location to select a nominee, Virginia’s 11th Congressional District Republican Committee announced last week. Planned directly by the party, the canvass precedes the Sept. 9 special election set by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin earlier this month. The winner of that election will serve the remaining time in the two-year term of Rep. Gerry Connolly, who died last month.
Lewis: As Democrats duke it out in Va. primaries, GOP nominees won’t be seen together
In about 10 days, we will know the names of all the candidates who will appear on November’s general election ballot for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general in Virginia. What we might not know by then is whether both parties’ tickets are unified. The nominees are set in the Republican Party. So there should have been no need there for the acrimony and infighting that tests the bonds of party cohesiveness in the run-up to primary elections and then the strained, awkward rapprochements that follow. Right? The Democrats still have that bridge to cross with a six-way primary for lieutenant governor and a one-to-one showdown in the attorney general primary.
Wallace: Trump’s DEI mandate is a surrogate for white social grievances
On April 3, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring elementary through higher education institutions to certify they have no “illegal DEI practices,” defined as whites being subjected to discrimination while non-whites and marginalized groups benefit. Non-compliant institutions have lost federal non-related research contract funding and private universities may lose tax-free status. Sixty colleges have opposed this interference with higher education legal entitlements. Additionally, Trump utilized various retaliatory schemes against law firms, publishing and broadcast companies, major corporations and tech companies which ignored his expectations.
Yancey: Only 2 of 12 statewide candidates have been to Virginia’s westernmost county
Doug Wilder set a standard that few candidates since him have met. In 1985, he formally launched his campaign for lieutenant governor in the most unlikely place possible: the Cumberland Gap, the westernmost point in Virginia. There was a certain political brilliance in Wilder going as far away from the state capital as he could. Few believed that he could win, that Virginia wasn’t ready for a Black candidate — so Wilder went to the whitest part of the state, Southwest Virginia. That guaranteed lots of free news coverage for a candidate who didn’t have much money, and it helped him make the rhetorical case that he was running to represent all Virginians. It also didn’t hurt that most of Southwest Virginia then was still strongly Democratic territory. Wilder was greeted with a warm reception, lots of free publicity and, that fall, 59.2% of the vote in Lee County.
Virginia Senate panel says no to Cuccinelli, other Youngkin college appointees
A key state Senate panel has refused to confirm all eight of Gov. Glenn Youngkin‘s latest appointments to college and university boards, including former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to the University of Virginia board of visitors. The Senate Privileges and Elections committee voted down Youngkin appointees to the boards of UVA, Virginia Military Institute and George Mason University by an 8-4 party-line vote.
Spanberger in Norfolk announces plan to lower Virginia energy costs
Democratic nominee for Virginia governor, former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, made a stop in Norfolk Monday. Spanberger unveiled another pillar of her plan she says will make Virginia more affordable, specifically when it comes to energy bills. She visited the home of a Norfolk resident who recently made her home more energy efficient. Some of the changes include new windows and solar panels on the roof.