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Sen. Warner talks technology and intelligence in swing through Western Virginia

By TAD DICKENS, Cardinal News

Biotechnologists and life scientists could be players in the U.S.’s defense and intelligence worlds, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, told a group gathered on Wednesday in Roanoke. Warner was part of a roundtable at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, where he heard a lot about the Roanoke-Blacksburg region’s growth over the past decade. Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the group that one of his jobs is to try to broaden the definition of national security beyond tanks, guns, ships and planes.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Prince William School Board appoints local Moms for Liberty leaders to key advisory committees

By CHER MUZYK, Prince William Times

The Prince William County School Board recently appointed three leaders of the local Moms for Liberty chapter to key school division advisory committees at the request of school board member Erica Tredinnick. … Moms for Liberty is a national organization comprised of local chapters of typically conservative parents. The organization was first formed in Florida in 2021 to challenge mask rules and other pandemic-related restrictions. It has since spread to dozens of states with the stated goal of supporting “parental rights” in public education ...

VaNews March 28, 2024


Warren supervisors seek to block Front Royal Economic Development Authority’s return of McDonald house

By ALEX BRIDGES, Northern Virginia Daily

Warren County supervisors said Tuesday they want to block the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority from allowing the EDA’s former executive director to buy back her home. The EDA took ownership of property at 158 Faith Way, the home of Jennifer McDonald and her husband, Samuel North, on Feb. 5. The EDA took the property as part of a court-ordered civil settlement after McDonald was accused of funneling millions in EDA money through banks and other agencies ... The EDA board of directors voted at its March 22 meeting to authorize the transfer of the property back to McDonald and North in exchange for $350,000.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Baltimore cruises to reroute; Carnival will move some operations to Norfolk

By HANNAH SAMPSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Cruise lines are scrambling to make alternative plans and avoid the Port of Baltimore while officials suspend vessel traffic amid cleanup and rescue efforts around the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. Three major cruise lines sail from Baltimore, though no ships were in port Tuesday morning. The next cruise was scheduled to depart Sunday, but its operator confirmed late Tuesday afternoon that the voyage would instead head out from Norfolk.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Hanover approves zoning request for 1,200-acre data center project

By JACK JACOBS, Richmond BizSense

The Hanover Board of Supervisors has given the nod to a massive planned industrial project outside Ashland. Development company Tract on Wednesday secured the zoning approval needed to create a 1,200-acre data center park along Hickory Hill Road east of Interstate 95 in Hanover County. Tract Chief Investment Officer Graham Williams previously told BizSense that the company anticipated the project area would be able to support up to 9 million square feet of data center space spread across 30 buildings on multiple campuses.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Pharrell movie filming in Richmond

By COLLEEN CURRAN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

A musical based on Pharrell Williams’ childhood is set to begin filming in Richmond. Details are scarce at the moment, but here’s what we know: “(T)he film is said to be a coming-of-age musical, set in 1977 Virginia Beach, which draws inspiration from Williams’ childhood growing up in the city’s Atlantis Apartments,” Deadline reported. Michel Gondry, director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” has signed on to direct the Universal project.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Though Richmond is taking action now, past audits show city finance woes date back several years

By TYLER LAYNE, WTVR-TV

Over the past few months, Richmond business owners have come forward to share concerns about dramatic meals tax late fees, inaccurate advice they received from finance employees, incorrect tax accounts, and a lack of transparency from City Hall. The issues have left business owners and some city leaders wondering how the finance department got into this position in the first place, where the problems stem from, and when officials knew about them.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Southwest Virginia landowners again appeal Mountain Valley Pipeline case to U.S. Supreme Court

By MATT BUSSE, Cardinal News

Six Southwest Virginia landowners are once again asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case related to the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Since 2020, the six have argued that Congress violated the constitutional separation of powers when it delegated the legislative power of eminent domain to the executive branch by way of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates interstate pipeline construction. In 2017, FERC authorized developers to take property from the six landowners for the 303-mile natural gas project.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Chesapeake Public Schools’ new security includes scannable IDs, weapon detectors

By CONOR HOLLINGSWORTH, WTKR-TV

... Last week, the Chesapeake Public Schools Security Task Force outlined security changes they are making. One of them is a weapon detector pilot program. “It uses propriety sensors in an AI system to look at anything that carries the level of alloy, shape, that would construe a weapon so then we’re not having the whole historical metal detectors where you’re dumping everything in a basket to go through,” said [Penny Schultz, Assistant Director of School Safety and Security at Chesapeake Public Schools].

VaNews March 28, 2024


Hampton Roads regional landfill is filling up fast

By IAN MUNRO, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The South Hampton Roads regional landfill is filling up faster than previous planning scheduled, leaving questions about how residents will dispose of their waste in the future and what it will cost. The challenge is twofold. The landfill is facing an uphill regulatory challenge to expand its capacity, according to Dennis Bagley, executive director of the Southeastern Public Service Authority. Meanwhile, a facility that burns up to 70% of waste destined for the landfill and converts it into energy is closing in June and has already dialed back how much waste it’s burning.

VaNews March 28, 2024