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U.S. Department of Education says special education funds untouched in reduction process
Before a federal judge temporarily halted the dissolution of the agency Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education ensured “uninterrupted services” to children and youth with disabilities, in response to probing questions by U.S. senators from Virginia and other states about the future of special education. ... A key point of concern for the lawmakers was the one-month freeze on investigations into discrimination complaints that left a backlog of 12,000 complaints, “half of which involve students with disabilities,” Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia and 20 of their colleagues wrote.
‘A voice for people who didn’t have a voice’: Hundreds come out to honor and remember Rep. Gerry Connolly
An estimated 1,500 people waited in line on Monday in Fairfax County to honor the life and legacy of Congressman Gerry Connolly. He died last week from cancer at the age of 75. Connolly was elected to represent Northern Virginia in Congress in 2008. Prior to that, he sat on Fairfax County's Board of Supervisors from 1995 to 2007. ... The longtime public servant was remembered not just for his political contributions but also for his personal connections and unwavering advocacy for his community. "He was somebody who was a voice for people who didn't have a voice," said James Walkinshaw, Braddock District Supervisor and Connolly's former chief of staff.
Mourners remember Rep. Gerry Connolly at Fairfax viewing
A public visitation wrapped up at the Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home for Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, who passed away at the age of 75 after a battle with cancer. A long line of mourners was seen at the funeral home Monday evening as people lined up to pay their respects to the longtime congressman. His office said about 1,500 people attended. "He cared about the people in this district," constituent Doris Evens said. "You could always reach him. If you had any problem, he would respond."
Transportation board approves Smart Scale projects
Four Fredericksburg District projects will get funding through this year’s Smart Scale program. That result is not what area planners wanted in the sixth round of the state program that scores and funds projects sent in by localities across Virginia. ... The Richmond and Hampton Roads districts cleaned up in this round. ... The Fredericksburg district was allocated $90.3 million to help pay for four projects. District planners sent in 34 applications for project funding.
Army awards Virginia Tech $5M to fend off drone attacks
Virginia Tech is adding a new level of drone defense research with $5 million from the U.S. Army. Five months after a rash of mysterious drone sightings along the East Coast, the university announced the award to its well-established uncrewed aerial systems, or UAS, research, according to a news release. The award will create the Counter UAS Research and Testing Center, with the unmanned aircraft experts at the Virginia Tech National Security Institute and the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership leading the way. The goal is to help the Department of Defense and law enforcement deal with threats from both novice drone users and bad actors, according to the release.
Trump says he’s pardoning Virginia sheriff convicted on bribery charges
President Donald Trump said Monday that he is pardoning a former Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury convicted him on federal bribery charges for deputizing several businessmen in exchange for cash payments. Former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, 53, was found guilty on fraud and bribery charges and sentenced in March. But on Monday, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that Jenkins and his family “have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ.”
Trump pardons former Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery, fraud
President Donald Trump announced on Monday his pardon of former Culpeper County, Virginia, sheriff Scott Jenkins, who was convicted of federal bribery and fraud charges in December. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Jenkins was a victim of the “Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail.” Jenkins was sheriff for 12 years before being voted out of office after his indictment on bribery charges.
Loudoun Co. sheriff renews call for elementary school resource officers
Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman wants to begin expanding the school resource officer program to the Virginia county’s 65 elementary schools, as part of the agency’s first public strategic plan. “We certainly have made a request to expand our SRO program to elementary schools — we’ve done that for several years now — but unfortunately, we haven’t met with success,” Chapman told WTOP. As recently as last year, Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Aaron Spence, while supporting the current SRO program, has stated he didn’t think expanding the armed officers in elementary schools would be beneficial.
Yancey: 2 Virginians helped cover up how incapacitated the president was. This wasn’t Biden, though.
A Democratic president is in such poor health that he can no longer run the country. A small circle of advisers keeps even his own cabinet secretaries in the dark about his true condition. Republicans start to publicly question the president’s fitness, and eventually, even the president decides it’s best not to run for another term. The scenario describes very recent events, as documented in the new book “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” by Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios. However, this scenario also describes the situation more than a century ago involving Woodrow Wilson — a cover-up of a health condition that involved a president born in Staunton, a first lady born in Wytheville and a doctor born in Culpeper County.
More Hampton Roads drivers use toll discounts, but millions of dollars are still available
Enrollment is growing in a program that offers millions of dollars of toll relief to Hampton Roads drivers who traverse the Downtown and Midtown tunnels. But the amount of money being used is just a fraction of what state lawmakers secured in the commonwealth’s fiscal budget. Virginia’s 2024-26 biennium budget includes $101 million in toll relief at the Downtown and Midtown tunnels connecting Norfolk and Portsmouth ...