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Trump’s trade war impacting Va. port, reshoring hopes
As President Donald Trump’s tariff wars heat up, Virginia businesses and the industries that support them are feeling the burn. That’s according to the Virginia Advisory Committee on International Trade that met in Richmond Tuesday. When the committee last met in April, the word of the day was uncertainty. And according to Riverwind Advisors investment firm president Bob Feeser, not much has changed. “Most businesses can deal with almost any kind of trade policy regime and tariff, but there has to be some certainty that you can plan around,” he said at the meeting held at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership office.
Henrico County adopts new approval process for companies looking to set up data centers
Henrico County has adopted a new approval process for companies looking to set up data centers. The Board of Supervisors voted to change regulations affecting one of Virginia's fastest-growing economic sectors—large warehouses that house servers and data storage equipment. The new regulations create a stricter approval processes for proposed data centers. Now, companies must obtain a provisional use permit, which means there will be public input and final approval from the Board of Supervisors. Previously, only approval from the planning commission was required.
Reports: Virginia Democrats outdoing Republicans in raising campaign contributions
Democratic House of Delegates hopeful Kimberly Pope Adams raised the second-highest amount in Virginia of contributions to House campaigns for the latest campaign reporting period, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. Pope Adams, who has already locked up the Democratic nomination in the 82nd House District, reported a total of $262,048 in money raised for the April 1-June 5 window, based on data from the Virginia Department of Elections that was compiled by VPAP. That trailed only House Speaker Don Scott of Portsmouth, who raised just over $344,000 for the period.
Richmond spent $100K since 2023 on billboards boasting ‘safe, reliable’ drinking water
City officials since December 2023 spent nearly $100,000 on billboards proclaiming the safety of Richmond’s drinking water. But the billboard on display during the city’s second water crisis last month was an error, a city spokesperson told The Times-Dispatch. The six-month ad campaign included messaging on the controversial billboard located in a historic Black cemetery in Richmond’s North Side. Former Mayor Levar Stoney last year requested billboard giant Lamar take down the sign out of respect, but the company declined.
Virginia Senate Dems refuse to confirm Cuccinelli, other Youngkin board nominees
In a Monday evening vote, Democrats on a Virginia State Senate committee declined to confirm eight of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees for three university boards, including former Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli and former state commerce and trade secretary Caren Merrick. Rejected in an 8-4 vote of the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections were eight Youngkin appointees to the boards of George Mason University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Military Institute.
Danville area is rare part of Virginia with both Democratic and Republican House primaries in same district
Del. Danny Marshall’s seat has drawn a primary election on both sides of the aisle. Marshall announced in February his intention to not seek reelection to the House of Delegates 49th District, citing health concerns. Two Democrats and two Republicans qualified for primary elections in a district made up of the city of Danville and parts of Halifax and Pittsylvania counties. Only one other House district in Virginia — District 89 in Chesapeake and Suffolk — also has both a Democratic and Republican primary this year. It’s also a district where the incumbent is retiring; in that case Del. Baxter Ennis, R-Chesapeake.
N. Va. leaders: More funding is not guaranteed for proposed Metro improvement plan
Northern Virginia political leaders at the local and state levels seem to have a firm dollar figure associated with the proposal to improve Metro service across the region. There remains a question, however, regarding whether they’ll be able to come up with the funding. The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) is preparing to adopt a resolution on July 17 acknowledging that Virginia will need to commit an additional $153 million in fiscal year 2027 to implement operational upgrades and keep the transit system on track.
Yancey: Who does the unrest in Los Angeles hurt most politically? Here’s what history and polls tell us about Va.
The president federalizes the state’s National Guard — and then sends in the regular U.S. military to an American city to deal with a crisis. This action comes against the backdrop of a governor’s race in Virginia. The year was 1957, when President Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce the integration of Little Rock Central High School. In Virginia that year, Republican Ted Dalton of Radford was mounting the second of his two gubernatorial campaigns that challenged the iron grip of Sen. Harry Byrd’s political machine on Virginia. Four years before, Dalton had come closer to winning than any Republican ever had in Virginia. Come 1957, Dalton was trying again. He was thought to be doing well — there was no real polling in those days — but then came the Little Rock crisis that September.
Rise in Virginia deportation orders sparks concern from lawmakers, community
Virginia is now one of the top five states in the country experiencing a dramatic increase in immigration enforcement, with more than 2,000 individuals receiving deportation orders in March alone. Over 300 of those cases originated in the Richmond region, according to newly released federal data. The sharp uptick comes as part of a nationwide directive from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to triple daily arrests, aiming for a quota of 3,000 per day.
New system for using credit cards to ride Metro earns Virginia leaders’ praise
New tech allowing Metro users to pay their fare by tapping debit or credit cards is receiving good grades from local leaders. At a meeting last week, representatives on the Metropolitan Washington Area Transit Authority (WMATA) board of directors said the new “Tap-Ride-Go” initiative will benefit both regular and infrequent users of the regional system. “The acceptance of this program already has been hugely successful. The numbers are well beyond the expectation we had,” said Virginia representative Paul Smedberg at a Thursday meeting of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC).