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Virginia Beach cleared 100 homeless encampments in the past year

By STACY PARKER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Since spring of last year, a team of city departments have cleared 100 encampments where homeless people had set up makeshift shelters. Twenty individuals living in the encampments were connected to shelter and as many as 10 were placed in housing. Not all of the cleared camps were occupied, Ruth Hill, director of Virginia Beach Housing & Neighborhood Preservation, told the City Council last week.

VaNews June 10, 2025


Ejecting international students will diminish Va. schools

Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

In its haste to drive out international students it deems hostile to the United States, the Trump administration is needlessly disrupting the lives of more than 21,000 students enrolled at Virginia colleges and universities and undermining academic freedom in a way that could do lasting damage to medical research, technology development, job growth, tuition costs and more.

VaNews June 10, 2025


Manouchehri: A smarter, more efficient defense budget starts in Virginia

By ALI REZA MANOUCHEHRI, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

Growing up in an Iranian-immigrant household shaped by service and sacrifice, we never took our opportunities for granted. My parents believed in hard work, giving back, and reminded me often: public service requires commitment and sacrifice. Today, I have the privilege of leading MetroStar, a Reston-based, venture-backed AI-enabled services company focused on digital modernization for the federal government — including the Department of Defense and intelligence community. Our work sits at the intersection of national security and innovation. It’s here, in Virginia, where we believe the future of cost-effective, software-defined defense begins.

Manouchehri is the CEO and co-founder of MetroStar, an AI-enabled services company headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

VaNews June 10, 2025


Wilkins: Cutting solar tax credits will cost Virginia billions

By CHAD WILKINS, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

When my company first began installing solar panels in Virginia, I knew I was helping businesses and homeowners save on their energy bills, hedge against utility rate increases, and achieve environmental goals. Now, 12 years later, I’ve witnessed solar energy grow from a promising technology to an engine of economic development, creating thousands of good-paying jobs and attracting billions in private investment.

Wilkins is the owner and founder of Convert Solar LLC, established in 2013 in Virginia Beach, and now employs 60 full-time solar professionals and 150 subcontractors across the state.

VaNews June 10, 2025


Attorney for fired Hopewell city manager calls termination illegal, demands she be rehired

By BILL ATKINSON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)

The attorney for former Hopewell City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker is demanding she be reinstated to her post immediately, claiming her May 1 termination was handled improperly according to Roberts Rules of Order, the almost-universal conduct manual local governing bodies, including Hopewell's, follow for meetings. In a June 9 letter to City Attorney Anthony Bessette, Richard Hawkins gave City Council until June 20 to give Manker back her job or face legal action for wrongful termination. In addition to violating Roberts Rules, Hawkins also said one of the votes to terminate – from newly elected Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis – violated Virginia’s conflict-of-interest laws because Ellis works for the city.

VaNews June 10, 2025


Yancey: Only 2 of 12 statewide candidates have been to Virginia’s westernmost county

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

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.

VaNews June 10, 2025


Lewis: As Democrats duke it out in Va. primaries, GOP nominees won’t be seen together

By BOB LEWIS, Virginia Mercury

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.

VaNews June 10, 2025


VPAP Visual Statewide Candidate Fundraising: June 2025

The Virginia Public Access Project

See a ranked list of the amount raised by candidates and their cash reserves for Virginia's statewide offices through June 5.

VaNews June 10, 2025


From VPAP Now Live: Candidates’ Pre-Primary Campaign Finance Reports

The Virginia Public Access Project

VPAP has posted all pre-primary campaign finance disclosures filed by candidates whose office is on the November 2025 ballot. Use our overview page to find what interests you — including candidates for statewide office, the House of Delegates, and local offices on the ballot in November. We rank each group of committees by amount raised and cash on hand. If you are interested in a specific committee, you can drill down for a sortable list of donors and expenditures reported through June 5 for candidates.

VaNews June 10, 2025


‘I will punch back’ against Trump administration, Stoney says in Alexandria as Dem primary nears

By JAMES CULLUM, Alx Now

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.

VaNews June 9, 2025