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Richmond residents must contact mortgage lenders to resolve city’s tax error, officials say
City officials over the weekend said they’d accidentally issued thousands of real estate tax bills directly to homeowners — rather than to mortgage lenders, which is the standard practice. It’s up to residents who received the errant bills to resolve the issue, officials said. The mistake came after employees in the city’s finance department updated loan data in MUNIS, the system used to administer real estate taxes. Records for at least 33,000 taxpayers “failed to import completely,” a city spokesperson said, and as a result, MUNIS was unable to link some taxpayers to their mortgage lenders.
Jennifer McDonald attorneys say judge’s errors at trial are grounds for appeal
Attorneys for Jennifer McDonald, the former executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority, are asking that an appellate judge vacate the judgment against her and remand her case back to the lower court. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon sentenced McDonald on May 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia to 14 years in prison for committing financial crimes while she was head of the EDA. ... Dillon also ordered McDonald as part of the sentence to pay $2,744,268.60 in restitution to the EDA and to forfeit $5,201,329 to the government.
Local food banks have lost 1.4M meals to Trump’s cuts
Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains area is largely rural and conservative, with Donald Trump carrying all but two counties that checker the central and western part of the state in the 2024 election. It is also a place where it has become increasingly difficult for people to find enough to eat. Every free meal counts there, said Michael McKee, the CEO of Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which is the main provider of food assistance to 25 counties in the region. But after the U.S. Department of Agriculture paused $500 million in funding for programs related to food in March, Blue Ridge and other food banks have been struggling to meet the growing needs of their communities.
Decline to opine: Virginia attorney general will not weigh in on Hopewell firings issue
Virginia’s attorney general will not intervene in the question of whether a Hopewell city councilor’s vote to fire the city manager earlier this month represented a conflict-of-interest because he is a city employee. Hopewell Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Newman confirmed last week that Attorney General Jason Miyares would not offer an opinion on the vote by Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis. Newman had asked council to delay any action on the future of Dr. Concetta Manker until Miyares could opine on Ellis’ ability to vote.
State Sen. Favola receiving treatment for uterine cancer
State Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, announced Monday that she has been diagnosed with uterine cancer and underwent a hysterectomy on Friday. "The operation was successful and my care team at Virginia Hospital Center was wonderful," Favola said. Favola said a series of chemotherapy treatments is likely to follow, but she expects to continue her Senate duties between these sessions.
Virginia revenues still strong, with warning signs ahead
Virginia remains more than $200 million ahead of its forecast for tax revenues to meet its budget obligations with two months left in the fiscal year, but state policymakers remain concerned over the potential economic fallout from shifting federal government policies on spending and tariffs. State tax collections through April were $1.5 billion ahead of the same 10-month period a year ago, but the margin shrank to $211.1 million when compared to the revenue projections that Gov. Glenn Youngkin used to assemble a revised two-year budget that he introduced in December and signed earlier this month.
It’s past time to prohibit personal enrichment by office holders
So many Americans seem to reflexively believe their elected officials are corrupt — at least two-thirds of adults, according to a recent poll by YouGov — it sometimes seems as if such suspicions are a requirement of citizenship. It certainly doesn’t help, though, when the president and lawmakers do less and less to avoid the appearance of wrongdoing or commit acts that, by any reasonable standard, defy the responsibilities of holding elected office. One of the most egregious examples of potential corruption lately is President Donald Trump’s direct involvement in peddling a meme coin called $Trump.
Jenkins: Academic freedom means rejecting book bans
While grading narrative essays in the school library when I was teaching, a parent tour entered. The parents focused on a bookcase full of books on display in the front of the library, with yellow caution tape draped across it — the same type you would see at a police crime scene. “Why is there caution tape across these books?” asked a parent.
Petrine and Pace: What’s driving Virginia’s economy? It’s the talent.
Graduation season is upon us as carloads of family and friends made their way on Interstate 81 to Blacksburg and Radford to cheer on a new generation. They’re celebrating a milestone as thousands of Virginia students prepare to step into the workforce full of potential to shape their communities. Because they are products of Virginia’s higher education system, their chances of success are greater than their counterparts in other states.
Read the texts: Richmond mayor found out about city’s fluoride discharge from Henrico county manager
Staff at Richmond’s water treatment plant never informed their boss, Department of Public Utilities Director Scott Morris, that excess fluoride had been discharged into the region’s drinking water on April 23, text and email correspondence between officials shows. Instead, Morris found out about the incident four days later from the Virginia Department of Health. And Morris didn’t notify Mayor Danny Avula, the correspondence shows. Avula found out when Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas sent him a frustrated text message regarding the situation — to which Avula replied that he had not even heard about it.