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By MICHAEL J. PETRILLI,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
If Virginia’s school system were a person, we’d say it was born on third base and thought it hit a triple. Indeed, the commonwealth’s education officials have spent so many years patting themselves on the back that their arms must hurt.
It’s true that some national magazines have ranked Virginia’s schools highly in the past. But that’s not surprising, given that it’s also one of the wealthiest states in the nation.
Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By BEN PETERS,
Inside NOVA
President Joe Biden on Monday during an Earth Day stop at Prince William Forest Park made a series of announcements aimed at fighting climate change, including $7 billion to expand access to residential solar installations through the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Solar for All” program.
The president, speaking alongside Democratic members of Congress in the Prince William wilderness, also announced that people can now apply to join the American Climate Corps. The initiative is modeled after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps and aims to put more than 20,000 young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change while gaining skills to join the clean energy workforce.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By MICHAEL MARTZ,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
President Joe Biden on Monday celebrated the 54th anniversary of Earth Day with a return trip to Prince William County, announcing a $7 billion investment to help low- and middle-income families buy solar panels for their homes. The investment includes more than $156 million in grants for Virginia. A trio of progressive Democratic leaders — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. — joined Biden in a ringing commitment for the U.S. to lead the fight against climate change.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By ADELE UPHAUS,
FXBG Advance
After several years of remaining flat, in-state tuition at the University of Mary Washington will increase by 2% next year.
“A small increase, still below the rate of inflation, is needed to support state-mandated compensation actions for faculty and staff and the continued success of academic programs and the campus experience,” the university wrote in a press release Monday afternoon.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By MICHAEL MARTZ,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is getting out of the race for governor and jumping into the Democratic nominating contest for lieutenant governor. Stoney, 42, in the final year of his second term as mayor, will formally bow out of the race on Tuesday morning at the same time as his announcement that he will run for lieutenant governor. That is the path then-state Sen. Doug Wilder took almost 40 years ago before becoming the nation’s first elected Black governor four years later.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By LAURA VOZZELLA,
Washington Post
(Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney is telling fellow Democrats that he intends to drop out of next year’s race for Virginia governor and is weighing a run for lieutenant governor instead, according to four people familiar with his plans.
Stoney, who has faced a tough contest against Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) for their party’s gubernatorial nomination, has been calling donors, supporters and others in recent days to say that he will bow out of that race, according to the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private conversations.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By LAURENCE HAMMACK,
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is largely completed, the company said Monday in requesting federal approval for it to be placed in service. Although some work remains, the company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue an order by May 23 that would allow it to begin operations. “Mountain Valley has completed all waterbody and wetland crossings project-wide,” Matthew Eggerding, deputy general counsel for the joint venture building the natural gas pipeline, wrote in a letter filed late Monday to the FERC docket.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By DWAYNE YANCEY,
Cardinal News
Craig County was home to just 4,892 people in the most recent census and is getting smaller in each subsequent estimate. The third least-populated county in the state, Craig is a beautiful land of mountains and valleys with virtually no industry — 78% of the workers leave the county every day to work.
The state of Virginia also says it’s almost as capable of paying for its own school as Prince William County in Northern Virginia is, with one key difference.
In the state’s funding formula known as the Local Composite Index, Prince William County, the land of more than 40 data centers where payrolls are calculated in the billions, saw its ability to pay for schools drop — while Craig County saw its supposed ability rise.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By ERIC KOLENICH,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
For two years, the city of Richmond pitched a new minor-league baseball stadium as a project that would have no impact on the city’s taxpayers.
This month, however, city leaders made a significant pivot. Deciding the old plan had become too expensive, they announced a new financing structure. The city will issue general obligation bonds and, if the worst-case scenario unfolds, the city would have to delay programs or raise taxes to pay off the debt.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By MEGHAN MCINTYRE,
Virginia Mercury
Both residents and Virginia Department of Forestry officials agree: Callery pear trees, including the much-loathed Bradford pear variety, aren’t just offensive to the nose — they’re detrimental to the state’s environment.
A new state program is what led approximately 300 residents to the department’s headquarters in Charlottesville this past weekend, each having chopped down at least one pungent, invasive Callery pear in exchange for a native tree species.
VaNews April 23, 2024
