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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.
Candidates for Virginia governor respond to the words of an immigrant mother with U.S.-born children
President Donald Trump is removing people without legal status from the United States, and Virginia, at a breakneck pace. It’s brought federal agents into communities across the Commonwealth, including Chesterfield County where more than a dozen people have been removed in recent days. They’re targeting folks like the one mother of three U.S. born children who lives outside of D.C. We’re only referring to her as “the mother” because she fears deportation. Her husband, and the father of two of her children, who we’re not naming for similar reasons, was deported in front of those kids last month.
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.
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.
Spanberger, Hashmi advocate in Charlottesville for abortion access
Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a crowd of about 300 people gathered Tuesday in Charlottesville to hear Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger discuss the future of reproductive health care in Virginia. Spanberger was joined on her “Span Virginia Bus Tour” by her running mates, state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D–Chesterfield) and former Del. Jay Jones, to say that a potential Democratic trifecta in state government would work to codify reproductive rights in Virginia’s Constitution.
Housing Department to Move Headquarters to Virginia, Booting National Science Foundation
The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced on Wednesday that it was moving its headquarters out of Washington and into a building in Alexandria, Va., already occupied by the National Science Foundation, with no clear plan in place for the foundation’s employees. It is the first major shift of a federal agency’s operations out of the capital under President Trump’s plans to relocate parts of the government. But the science foundation will need to move out before the housing agency moves in. Union representatives for the foundation’s employees said that more than 1,833 people with the agency work in the building, and that they did not know where those employees would go.
HUD plans move to Alexandria, booting National Science Foundation from headquarters
The Department of Housing and Urban Development will move its employees out of D.C. to Alexandria, Virginia, booting the National Science Foundation from its headquarters, officials announced Wednesday. Government officials said it’s the first major agency to relocate its headquarters as part of the Trump administration’s effort to reduce federal real estate.
Arlington board grants Amazon extended deadline to build next phase of HQ2
Amazon has received another three years to get started on the next phase of its Crystal City headquarters. The Arlington County Board granted a three-year extension to plans to develop the PenPlace site at a meeting earlier this month. Amazon’s new deadline to act on the current site plan, which envisions a futuristic spiral structure towering over the intersection of S. Eads Street and 12th Street S., is June 30, 2028. An Amazon representative told ARLnow that the company has ample space at its current Metropolitan Park location, but continues to look at PenPlace as a long-term investment.
Audit: Richmond city credit cards used for $5M in ‘questionable expenditures’
City auditors on Tuesday morning released a damning assessment of City Hall’s purchasing card program that, among other things, identified $5 million in “questionable expenditures” made by cardholders between July 2022 and May 2024. That’s nearly one quarter of the credit card spending during that timeframe. Those transactions were referred to Richmond’s inspector general, who investigates claims of fraud, waste and abuse, auditors said.
Audit finds ‘significant weaknesses’ with Richmond’s government purchasing cards
An internal audit of the city of Richmond’s purchasing card system found at least $5 million in “questionable expenses” and a lackadaisical approval and oversight system that made it difficult for the city to track and control what employees were buying with their city-issued cards. A report released Tuesday by Auditor Riad Ali said the “significant weaknesses” in city controls over the purchasing cards (known as P-cards for short) led the auditor’s office to refer millions in questionable spending to the city’s inspector general office, which has more power to investigate wrongdoing such as waste, fraud or abuse.