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Youngkin heads to the land where tall corn grows - along with presidential bids
Many Virginians head for the beach or the Blue Ridge for a summer break, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin is bound for Iowa and South Carolina. And while Des Moines hosts the nation’s biggest skate park and Columbia, S.C. is proud of its Riverbanks Zoo & Garden, both states also happen to be early gatekeepers to the Republican Party's 2028 nomination for president. Not, Youngkin says, that that’s on his mind.
VPAP Visual Women on the Rise in House Primaries
The number of women running for, and winning, party nominations for the Virginia House of Delegates has steadily increased since 2009. A record high share of House candidates were women in last month's primary elections, and the share of women who won a nomination was second only to 2017.
Elimination of DEI played out differently at VCU and UVa
When state and federal officials told Virginia Commonwealth University to scrub DEI from every corner of campus, the university's administrators went straight to work. They dissolved the university's central office for diversity, equity and inclusion and started reviewing the work of DEI employees. They even hired a consultant to check their work. At the University of Virginia, however, things played out much differently. Its board voted to eliminate the university's office for DEI, but what the school's administration did next is unclear. Weeks later, federal officials and conservative alumni accused UVa making change too slowly.
Over 734,000 Hampton Roads residents await impact of Medicaid funding changes
Over 734,000 Virginians in the Hampton Roads area currently rely on Medicaid and FAMIS (Family Access to Medical Insurance Security) for their healthcare needs. It's a number that could see significant shifts with federal funding cuts following the passage of President Trump's spending bill on Thursday.
Smithsonian committed to keeping space shuttle in Chantilly despite relocation proposal
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has no intention right now of shipping off a centerpiece of its Chantilly facility to Texas. The federal budget bill that squeaked through the Republican-led U.S. Senate on Tuesday (July 1) includes a provision directing NASA to transfer the Discovery space shuttle from its longtime home at the Udvar-Hazy Center to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, allocating $85 million toward transportation and construction costs. However, the Smithsonian Institution asserts that it has full ownership of the shuttle, suggesting NASA would have no authority to relocate it even if the proposal makes it to the final budget package intact.
Ex-Virginia Beach prosecutor avoids jail time after pleading guilty to stealing crime victim funds
A former Virginia Beach prosecutor who pleaded guilty in March to embezzling money from crime victims to fund his gambling addiction will not serve jail time. James Spero Panagis Jr., 46, was sentenced last week to three years supervised probation along with a five-year suspended sentence. He pleaded guilty to one felony count of embezzlement of greater than $500, two felony counts of uttering a forged check and two felony counts of embezzlement by a public officer.
ICE increasingly targets undocumented migrants with no criminal record
The Trump administration is increasingly targeting unauthorized immigrants with no criminal record as it ramps up arrests, a Washington Post analysis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data shows. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem often touts that ICE officers are arresting the “worst of the worst.” But more than half of those removed from the country since Jan. 20 do not have a criminal conviction. . . . Texas, Florida and California registered the highest number of arrests, but many other states saw substantial increases. In Virginia, ICE officers arrested four times as many people in the first months of the Trump administration as they did over that same period in 2024. That is the biggest percentage increase of any state.
Virginia county says April ransomware attack exposed employee SSNs
Government employees working for the county of Gloucester in Virginia had Social Security numbers and other sensitive data stolen during a ransomware attack in April. The county sent 3,527 current and former employees notices this week warning that their personal information was accessed by hackers who breached county systems on April 22. In addition to Social Security numbers, names, driver’s license numbers, bank account information, health insurance numbers and medical information was also stolen during the incident.
Ramadan: Losing pandemic-era tax credits would devastate Virginia
Across Virginia, too many families still gather around the kitchen table facing impossible choices — what to pay now, what to delay, what to go without. But in recent years, one essential need has been made a little easier: health insurance. For over 350,000 Virginians, expanded access to affordable coverage through the federal marketplace has been a lifeline. That relief is thanks to the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits (EPTCs) — a bipartisan response to the pandemic that helped lower premiums and stabilize working families. But this progress is now at risk. These tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts. If they’re allowed to lapse, premiums will skyrocket — and the consequences will be felt immediately.
Buc-ee’s just opened its first Va. location. It is truly a behemoth.
Want to microdose Texas this summer? Start in the roasting asphalt parking lot at Buc-ee’s. Wipe the sweat from your brow as you shovel down a bun stuffed with 13-hour-smoked and barbecued brisket, and sip the Styrofoam cup of cream soda on the hood of your car. Lock eyes with the red-capped, bucktoothed beaver, whose cartoon face appears on gas pump awnings, towering highway signs and just about everywhere else at the 74,000-square-foot country store. Virginia welcomed its first iteration of the Texas-based chain in Rockingham County, six miles south of James Madison University, with much fanfare on Monday.