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DNC pours large donation into Virginia’s high-stakes elections
The Democratic National Committee will contribute $1.5 million to help elect Democrats in Virginia this year, highlighting the national significance of the state’s contests for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates ahead of next year’s congressional midterms. The donation to Virginia’s combined campaign, announced Tuesday, comes on the heels of an even bigger political windfall from House Speaker Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth), who last week made a total of $3 million in contributions for his party’s legislative candidates.
New recovery programs in Southwest Virginia will help mothers stay with their children during addiction treatment
Two new residential addiction treatment facilities for pregnant and parenting women are coming to Southwest Virginia, addressing a critical gap in care in a region hard-hit by the opioid crisis. Strong Futures, which will be located in Norton, and Four Truths, in Roanoke, received funding from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority to launch and expand residential treatment options that allow women to keep their children with them in the facility while they go through treatment for substance use disorder.
National Democrats to send $1.5 million for Virginia races
The Democratic National Committee is pledging $1.5 million to the party in Virginia to boost Democratic candidates in elections this year — from races for statewide offices to every seat in the House of Delegates. The national committee called the pledge “one of the largest and earliest initial investments the DNC has ever made to the Virginia Democratic Coordinated Campaign in an off-year election cycle.”
‘They literally blast horns’: Overnight Metro work keeps Virginia residents awake
Track work on the southern end of Metro’s Blue Line is underway in Northern Virginia – and people who live nearby say it’s keeping them awake overnight. The Franconia-Springfield and Van Dorn Street stations are closed, with shuttle buses replacing usual rail service. Alexandria residents told News4 that overnight and in the early morning hours they hear power tools, blasting horns and conversations on workers’ radios.
Hanover leads state in removing books from school libraries
Hanover County Public Schools has removed twice as many books from its school libraries as any other school division in the state and accounts for more than one-third of removed books over the past five years, according to a new report from the state legislature’s watchdog commission. The Monday report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shows that the Hanover school division has removed 125 book titles from its school libraries between July 2020 and March 2025.
State report: Hanover County leads Virginia with most removed books
The question of what books should be in a school library has been a lightning rod for controversy recently. A report released Monday morning by a state watchdog agency revealed details on what’s been removed and where it’s happening. About two-thirds of the over 90 Virginia school divisions that responded to the survey did not remove any books from their school libraries. Among those that did, Hanover County led the pack with 125 titles removed. That’s according to a new report from the state’s non-partisan research group the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission, or JLARC.
DOJ withdraws from Sentara investigation
The federal government is withdrawing from intervening in a whistleblower complaint against Sentara Health that alleges the Hampton Roads health care system improperly inflated local insurance rates in 2018 and 2019. On June 19, the federal government sent a notice of its decision to withdraw its prior notice of partial intervention, and that it is declining to intervene on the matter. The DOJ declined to comment when asked to elaborate on its reason for withdrawing.
Yancey: 223 book titles pulled from school library shelves in Virginia, but 75% were in just 5 places
Across Virginia over the past five years, 223 different books have been removed from school library shelves, many of them by more than one school system. However, those removals have been concentrated in a relative handful of communities. Hanover County has removed more books from its school library shelves than any other locality in the state — 125 in all. That one county accounts for more than one-third of the book removals in the state. Along with another four counties — Rockingham County, which removed 57 books, Goochland County with 34, Madison County with 23 and Spotsylvania County with 19 — those five counties alone accounted for 75% of the book removals in the state.
Norfolk cleared to start construction on first phase of floodwall
People passing through the eastern edge of downtown Norfolk will soon see construction for the first phase of the city’s massive floodwall project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Norfolk Planning Commission recently approved designs for Phase 1A of the more than $2.6 billion project, which the city calls Resilient Norfolk. The effort aims to protect the city from catastrophic flooding during major storms and is part of the Army Corps’ wider Coastal Storm Risk Management program developed after 2012’s Hurricane Sandy. Virginia Beach and the Peninsula are working on CSRM projects but are still in the study phase.
Virginia schools removed 200+ different books from libraries, report finds
Most Virginia school divisions surveyed by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission did not remove any books from school libraries based on content in the last five years. But a handful of school divisions account for the vast majority of the 223 different book titles that were removed based on content during that time. JLARC was directed by the General Assembly earlier this year to survey school divisions about school library book removals, and 92 of the state’s 132 divisions responded.