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Students confront UVa President Jim Ryan, demand answers after police crackdown on protesters
The meeting did not go as planned. When University of Virginia President Jim Ryan walked down the Lawn Thursday afternoon, he was expecting to sit down in Pavilion VI with a handful of students who want the school to sever financial ties with weapons manufacturers and other companies “complicit in Israeli human rights violations.” ... When Ryan entered Pavilion VI, accompanied by Chief Student Affairs Officer Kenyon Bonner and Dean of Students Cedric Rucker, he expected the meeting he and UVa Apartheid Divest had agreed to on April 11. What he encountered was five students who had but nine words for him.
Shenandoah County School Board votes to restore Confederate names of schools
For the first time in United States history, a school district that changed the name of schools that honored Confederate generals, voted to restore the Confederate names years later. The Shenandoah County School Board held a public hearing on May 9 at Peter Muhlenberg Middle School to discuss restoring the names of Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School to Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School. At the hearing, residents voiced their opinions on the school’s current names and whether they agreed with the restoration or were against it.
Metro’s new bus system proposal could eliminate more than 600 stops, rename routes
On Tuesday, the Metro’s board of directors approved a resolution to hold a series of public meetings next month so riders can weigh in on a major proposed overhaul of Metro’s bus routes. For well over a year, Metro leaders have been working on a plan to make major changes to the bus system. This week, Metro has finally put out concrete plans for the changes they are proposing.
Congresswoman Speaks Candidly About Her Incurable Brain Disease: ‘I’m Too Young for This’
Jennifer Wexton was gearing up for her third term as a United States congresswoman in late 2022 when she received the difficult news that, even if she felt she had a lot left to give to the people of Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, her body didn’t. “Cognitively, I’m the person I’ve always been,” Wexton, 55, tells PEOPLE, her voice muffled and speech somersaulting. “But there are things that it takes me a lot longer to do.” Less than two years ago, the rising Democrat from Leesburg, Va., had a clear vision for her future. She entered Congress in 2018 with a few key bipartisan goals — including fighting childhood cancer in honor of a young girl in Wexton’s community who died of an inoperable brain tumor.
Budget deal reached by Virginia governor and negotiators, chairman says
After an earlier breakdown in state budget negotiations, General Assembly budget negotiators and Gov. Glenn Youngkin reached a consensus on a two-year spending plan for Virginia that does not raise taxes. House Appropriations Committee Chair Luke Torian confirmed the budget conferees reached a deal Thursday, though he said the full details of the plan would not go public until this weekend. “It will not be released until Saturday; there are a lot of administrative things that need to be done,” Torian, D-Dumfries, said Thursday. “We just reached an agreement this afternoon.”
General Assembly budget leaders, Youngkin reach compromise
General Assembly budget leaders and Gov. Glenn Youngkin have reached a compromise on the next two-year state budget that would use an additional $525 million in state revenues to pay for Democratic spending priorities — including raises of 3% each year for state employees and teachers — without raising taxes and crossing the Republican governor’s red line for a potential veto. House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian, D-Prince William, confirmed on Thursday afternoon that assembly budget negotiators had reached a deal with Youngkin that they hope to approve on Monday in a special session that would last one day instead of three.
Commonwealth’s NIL rule for college sports should be national model
Nearly four years since the NCAA appropriately decided that student-athletes should be free to receive compensation for their names, images and likenesses (NIL), the landscape of college athletics has been profoundly transformed by the absence of clear, firm rules about those opportunities. Virginia recently has moved to bring order to the chaos with a law that should protect students and ensure stronger oversight in a previously untamed environment. Other states looking to do the same — and Congress, which has dithered on the issue — would do well to follow the commonwealth’s lead and adopt similar models.
Yancey: 37 years ago, one of the Republican Senate candidates tried to run in Roanoke. Here’s what happened.
None of the five candidates seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to run against Democrat Tim Kaine have ever held public office. In some quarters, that’s considered a plus. Some of them, though, have tried. One of them has tried more than any other. In 2010, Virginia Beach attorney Chuck Smith ran for the U.S. House of Representatives against Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, in the 3rd District but lost, as Republicans typically do in that strongly Democratic district. In 2012, Smith ran for the Kempsville district seat on the Virginia Beach City Council, but finished fourth out of a field of four candidates. In 2017, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for attorney general but failed to qualify for the ballot. In 2021, Smith did far, far better ...
Virginia judge to decide whether state law considers embryos as property
A trial is underway in Virginia that will determine whether state law allows frozen embryos to be considered property that can be divided up and assigned a monetary value. Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Dontae Bugg heard arguments Thursday from a divorced couple who disagree over the ex-wife’s desire to use two embryos that they created when they were married. Honeyhline Heidemann says the embryos are her last chance to conceive a biological child after a cancer treatment left her infertile. Jason Heidemann, says he does not want to be forced to become a biological father to another child.
VCU Health planning massive redevelopment of campus
The Virginia Commonwealth University Health system is planning a significant reimagining of its campus in downtown Richmond, a preliminary plan that could take more than 15 years to implement and seemingly cost north of $1 billion. The vision includes a new dental school, an expansion to the inpatient hospital, more space for research, and removal of the 83-year-old West Hospital. With few formal plans made, the vision is considered a “roadmap,” and it’s possible not all projects will come to life, said Meredith Weiss, VCU’s vice president for administration and interim chief financial officer. She presented the plan to VCU’s board of visitors on Thursday.