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By JANET ROACH,
WVEC-TV
Vernell Woods is one of the latest Portsmouth city officials to be let go. He worked as deputy city manager for seven months and was fired by interim city manager, Dr. Lydia Pettis-Patton.
“I really thought I was coming to Portsmouth to improve it, “ Woods said.
With more than 30 years of city government experience, he reluctantly left a city job in Newport News after being encouraged by then-Portsmouth interim city manager Mimi Terry to take the leap.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By ERIC KOLENICH,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The city of Richmond will partner with nonprofit marketing firm Venture Richmond to plant trees, install bathrooms and beautify Brown’s Island, Mayor Levar Stoney announced Tuesday. The plan, which will cost up to $30 million, is designed to make one of downtown Richmond’s biggest attractions better for locals and visitors.
The announcement comes as real estate analytics company CoStar continues building a nearby office tower and construction continues on an outdoor amphitheater, both of which will bring more people to the banks of the James River. “The riverfront is going to be a different place in a few years,” said Lisa Sims, CEO of Venture Richmond.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By BEN PETERS,
Inside NOVA
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors appears likely to raise taxes on data centers in hopes of making good on the promise that data center revenue will help to offset the county’s residential tax burden.
In a related move, the board unanimously agreed to cut next year’s real estate tax rate to 92 cents per $100 in assessed value. At that rate, the average tax bill will be about $26 more than the current year, according to county officials.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
After years of trying — on both sides of the aisle — lawmakers will have to try again to give localities the option to levy local sales taxes to fund school construction.
An effort to overturn Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto of the proposal failed during the reconvened session on Wednesday.
But lawmakers backed a Youngkin amendment that will enable Petersburg residents to vote this year on whether to build a casino resort.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By SUSAN CAMERON,
Cardinal News
Changes made by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to bills that would allow two electric utilities to seek approval to charge customers for early development costs for small modular nuclear reactors were approved Wednesday by the House of Delegates and Senate.
The governor’s amendments to HB 1491, which apply only to Appalachian Power, were approved by the House in a 64-34 vote with one abstention, while the vote in the Senate was 26-14.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By TIM HENDERSON,
Stateline
Juan Ramirez, watching his dog play in Chandon Park here in suburban Virginia on a Saturday morning, tries to imagine the massive office buildings next to the park becoming apartments and townhouses.
“I guess it’s inevitable. People don’t use offices as much now. I hope it’s affordable. Maybe it’ll bring more young people to town, more taxes for parks,” said Ramirez, 38, who grew up in the area and returned recently to take a restaurant management job after living in Minnesota and Ohio.
Cities and suburbs around the country are struggling with vacant office space as remote work becomes an established post-pandemic reality.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By MARKUS SCHMIDT,
Cardinal News
Just hours before lawmakers returned to Richmond for the General Assembly’s reconvened session Wednesday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and key Democrats put their irreconcilable differences over the state’s biennial budget aside and agreed to start over with a clean slate.
Using a procedural maneuver, the House of Delegates by a unanimous vote essentially killed the $64 billion spending plan for fiscal years 2024-26, which the Democratic-controlled legislature sent to the governor’s desk last month.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By THOMAS BAXTER,
Cavalier Daily
The Jewish Leadership Advisory Board, an elected organization of Jewish student leaders, criticized the (UVa.) Board of Visitors for politicizing the experiences of Jewish students at the University in an April 3 letter acquired by The Cavalier Daily. The letter came after the March 1 meeting of the Board of Visitors, where Bert Ellis, Board member and College and Darden alumnus, criticized the University and Rector Robert Hardie for their responses to allegations of rising antisemitism on Grounds.
JLAB is composed of students elected to govern the Hillel Jewish Leadership Council.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
There’s a timeless quip among Jews: If two of us are discussing a topic, expect to hear three opinions.
This doesn’t mean we aren’t of one mind on the survival of Israel. It means there are multiple views on how to ensure that. That debate — along with related issues of Jewish identity, Jewish life, Jewish intellect, Jewish faith — is at full boil at a venue where diversity of opinion is supposed to be the rule, though some, particularly on the right, believe that it’s been crushed by left-leaning intellectual intolerance: the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson, an exemplar of free speech as foundational to democracy.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By HENRI GENDREAU,
Roanoke Rambler
Roanoke Assistant City Manager Brent Robertson has been demoted and city officials are staying tight-lipped about the circumstances.
Robertson, who also served as finance director, was stripped of his titles just as city leaders are finalizing a $379-million budget that went before City Council on Monday.
City Manager Bob Cowell appointed Chris Chittum, a longtime employee who leads the planning department, as acting assistant city manager.
Council approved that decision late Monday — but not before tabling the motion and returning after a three-hour closed door session to approve the measure unanimously.
VaNews April 18, 2024
