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Legislators call for revisiting Clean Economy Act as rural Virginia rejects large solar farms
Five years after the General Assembly enacted the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which mandates Dominion Energy transition to 100% carbon-free power sources by 2045, two Republican legislators who represent Isle of Wight and Surry counties say the goal is easier said than done. It’s a position two of the state’s top Democrats, who voted to enact the 2020 law when their party held both legislative chambers and the governor’s office, say they’ve come to share.
Va. unemployment rate sees longest rise since ’08 crisis
Virginia's unemployment rate is on a steady five-month increase — the longest streak since the 2008 Great Recession. The Trump administration's federal job slashing and freezing of grants, contracts and medical research may be to blame. Virginia's unemployment rate climbed to 3.4% in May, per new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. While still below the national average (4.2%), the uptick marks the state's highest unemployment level since August 2021. The state's total labor force decreased by more than 11,500 compared with last May, according to new Virginia Works household survey data.
Jones, Miyares trade blows in Virginia attorney general race
As November's election draws closer, the race for Virginia's attorney general is heating up, with incumbent Republican Jason Miyares and Democratic challenger Jay Jones, a former State House Delegate, engaged in a tough race. Both candidates are holding little back, exchanging critiques on qualifications, public safety, and political loyalties. "Look at his record in the General Assembly; he's one of the most left-wing legislators ever in the history of the Virginia legislature," Miyares said of his opponent.
In first big federal relocation, HUD will move to Virginia
The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be the first major federal agency to relocate its headquarters outside of D.C., part of a larger plan to restructure the federal government’s real estate footprint. HUD Secretary Scott Turner, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Michael Peters, commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service, said at a news conference that the agency will move 2,700 workers from a building in such a state of disrepair that the ceiling appears to be crumbling to a more modern building in the city of Alexandria.
HUD announces relocation to National Science Foundation building in Alexandria
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will relocate its headquarters to the National Science Foundation (NSF) building in Alexandria, displacing approximately 1,800 NSF employees over the next two years, officials announced Wednesday. HUD Secretary Scott Turner, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and General Services Administration (GSA) Commissioner Michael Peters made the announcement at the NSF headquarters at 2415 Eisenhower Ave. on Wednesday (June 25), emphasizing taxpayer savings and improved working conditions for HUD employees.
VPAP Visual Three Leaders, Three Types of Votes
Each of the top three candidates in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor "won" among a different set of ballots. Levar Stoney won the most early in-person votes, Sen. Aaron Rouse won the most mail votes, and Sen. Ghazala Hashmi won the election day votes, the largest category of ballots.
Democrats pour $400K into Virginia House races as key battlegrounds emerge
With control of the Virginia House of Delegates hanging in the balance, national Democrats are pumping another $400,000 into the fight — and putting their weight behind candidates they see as crucial to flipping Republican districts this November. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), an arm of the Democratic National Committee focused on state legislative races, announced the new funding Wednesday along with a fresh slate of endorsements for candidates running in competitive districts.
Phillips: Virginia tobacco farmers are footing the bill for foreign competitors. This needs to end.
Virginia was once considered the largest and richest of the original 13 colonies, in part thanks to its flourishing tobacco farms. But the double drawback tax loophole, which foreign tobacco companies exploit to receive U.S. tax refunds, puts the entire American tobacco industry at risk. And while President Trump tried to end this loophole, the courts determined it was Congress who must be the ones to close it for good. Now, with the House of Representatives doing the right thing, we need our Senators to follow suit and help Virginia’s tobacco farms, many of them small family businesses, survive and flourish.
Promising federal bill could help curb Chesapeake Bay pollution
Legislation introduced in Congress by a bipartisan group of Virginia lawmakers offers a promising approach to ridding the Chesapeake Bay of the pollutants that threaten its future. Republican Reps. Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman and Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott, all of the Hampton Roads region, have introduced the Chesapeake Bay Conservation Acceleration Act. Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Tim Kaine, both Democrats, are sponsoring a version of the bill in the Senate.
Rockingham County school board removes more books from libraries
The Rockingham County school board removed two books from school libraries and discussed scaling back technology used in elementary schools at Monday night’s school board meeting. ... Three books were up for a vote Monday night, and the school division’s content review committee recommended that all three be retained. Nevertheless, the board voted to remove two of them.