Search
Nuclear power company celebrates expansion with $50M investment, 500 new jobs
Framatome officially unveiled its newly expanded facility on Mill Ridge Road with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning, signaling both a bold investment in the future of nuclear power and a commitment to the Lynchburg community. ... Framatome’s North American President and CEO Tony Robinson said the ribbon cutting is not just opening a new facility but a testament to the shared vision and commitment to nuclear energy and its unwavering commitment to Lynchburg and Virginia. The upgraded site is part of Framatome’s broader $50 million investment to expand capacity, modernize its facilities and add up to 500 new jobs in Central Virginia.
Youngkin speaks in Iowa on education, 2021 election win
Though Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has not said whether he is planning a run for president in 2028, he said during the Iowa GOP Lincoln Dinner on Thursday that he supports keeping the Iowa caucuses first in the nation. Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann asked Youngkin during a “fireside chat” at the fundraiser if he likes the current presidential nominating system that starts with the Iowa Republican caucuses — and Youngkin responded he “absolutely” supports the current system.
Earle-Sears’ campaign manager leaves post
In a shakeup in Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears‘ bid to be Virginia’s next governor, her campaign manager has lost his post. The campaign will announce a replacement for campaign manager Will Archer in the days to come, said general consultant Mark Harris. “We are at the very beginning of this campaign. We have only spent about 5% or less of our total media budget talking to voters. We are at the very beginning of this fight,” Harris told reporters on Thursday.
Virginia Supreme Court upholds denial of Dulles Greenway toll increase
Toll rates on the Dulles Greenway will remain the same. In a July 17 ruling, the Virginia State Supreme Court denied an appeal by the the Greenway operator, TRIP II, short for Toll Road Investors Partnership II, to raise rates. TRIP II is a subsidiary of an Australian company that owns the 14-mile, privately-owned toll road from Leesburg to Dulles International Airport in Sterling. It sought to reverse a State Corporation Commission denial of a rate increase in September.
Virginia Dels. Surovell, Webert to lead new energy subcommittee
Virginia House Majority Leader Scott Surovell, a Democrat representing eastern Fairfax County, has been tapped to chair a newly formed General Assembly subcommittee dubbed “Promoting New Advanced Energy Sources in Virginia: Advanced Nuclear, Geothermal, and Energy Storage.” State Del. Michael Webert, a Fauquier Republican, has been named vice chair. The subcommittee is one of the “few truly bipartisan efforts within the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation,” states a news release from Webert’s office.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says he supports Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who's seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said the Democratic Party made a "massive mistake" in booting Iowa from the leadoff spot on the presidential nominating calendar after the error-riddled 2020 caucuses. Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann asked Youngkin during the Republican Party of Iowa's annual Lincoln Dinner Thursday, July 17, if he supports the presidential nominating process with Iowa at the forefront, and the Virginia governor said "absolutely."
Chesley: Paucity of details on immigration arrests highlights Youngkin’s pattern of misstatements
Gov. Glenn Youngkin, when it comes to culture war issues including immigration, rarely misses a chance to stretch – or even obliterate – the truth. The governor’s office noted this month that more than 2,500 people arrested by the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force for being in the country illegally were “violent criminals.” Then Youngkin, in a news conference July 2 about the state-federal entity, added: “Two-thousand five-hundred violent criminals who are here illegally — MS-13 members, Tren de Aragua, others, international violent gang members.”
Yancey: Election? What election? Most of our local offices are unopposed this year.
Nine weeks from today, the first votes will be cast in Virginia’s 2025 elections. With early voting, we can no longer call these “fall elections” because the voting actually begins in what are technically the last days of summer. While anything other than a presidential election is often considered an “off-year” election, this is actually one of the busiest election cycles Virginia has. This year we’ll not only elect a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, we’ll also pick 100 members of the House of Delegates, plus lots of local offices — some (but not all) boards of supervisors, city councils, town councils, school boards and the so-called “constitutional offices” of commonwealth’s attorney, sheriff, commissioner of revenue and treasurer.
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley talks about Va. elections
With Election Day a little more than 100 days away, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said the GOP is committed to ensuring Winsome Earle-Sears is the next governor of Virginia. Whatley said a lot of the RNC’s resources in Virginia will be used on a get-out-the-vote campaign. “When you think about grassroots and you think about the victory teams that are gonna be on the ground, where we’re recruiting and training volunteers to make phone calls, knocking on doors, and getting out literature,” Whatley told 8News in an exclusive interview.
Sears, Spanberger offer their take on Virginia’s data center-driven future
Data centers, the massive, power-hungry facilities that make the internet and AI work, continue to pop up across the Commonwealth. They bring billions in revenue for Virginia and its localities, but they can also bring neighborhood complaints, development concerns and drains on natural resources. The current landscape leaves open lots of options for how Virginia’s candidates for governor say they’d shape the data center future.