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Youngkin ignores assembly on vetoes as budget takes effect
Virginia will have a new budget on Tuesday, but it won’t include money to pay for wider access to weight loss drugs, hire nursing home staff under Medicaid or prevent the state from issuing contracts that allow vendors to pocket a portion of any savings they find. Those three provisions were among 37 line-items that Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed in the revised budget that the General Assembly adopted in late February.
Accreditor puts Emory & Henry on probation over fiscal concerns
Emory & Henry University has been placed on probation by its accreditor due to concerns about its fiscal responsibility. The private institution in Emory remains accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges but will spend the next 12 months on “probation for good cause.”
Judge voids VB City Council’s vote that implemented 10-1 voting system
A judge has ruled a 2023 vote taken by City Council to institute a 10-1 district election system is now void, but held off on dictating what system must be put into place to elect council and School Board members. Instead, state Circuit Court Judge Randall Smith, retired out of Chesapeake, stayed his ruling Monday until after a referendum on the voting system is held in November. Voters in the city will have the choice to either endorse continuing to use the 10-1 system that has been used in the 2022 and 2024 elections, or transition to a 7-3-1 system, spelled out in the City Charter.
Rotherham and Forte: Virginia students deserve better. Close the 'honesty gap'
Alarming data from multiple sources, most notably the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), underscores just how deeply every state was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic — the only difference is by how much. In Virginia, failure to adequately serve students resulted in the largest drops in learning on national assessments of any state, with average achievement in some cases reverting to 1990s levels. Students who were already struggling were impacted the most. This was, and remains, a genuine crisis for students, families and the commonwealth.
Powhatan Board of Supervisors, School Board clash over demolition of Pocahontas Middle
Some Powhatan County residents are wanting to put a stop to parts of the former Pocahontas Middle School set to be demolished in the second week of July. The school is a symbol of desegregating Powhatan County Public Schools in 1969. This comes after a Powhatan County School Board vote on June 24. The board voted 4-1 for the partial demolition contract, but 8News is told the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors were hoping to take over the property to avoid this.
Judge voids Virginia Beach district-based election system, but not results
A Circuit Court judge ruled Monday that the district-based election system Virginia Beach imposed to comply with federal voting rights law is void. According to the ruling, that’s because the General Assembly did not vote to pass corresponding legislation that would have officially changed the city’s charter. Attorneys said Monday’s summary judgement, means that the “10-1” system used in the past two local election cycles is not permitted unless and until the state legislature passes legislation that amends the city charter to that effect. However, the ruling applies only to future elections ...
Gas station's opening in Rockingham County draws a crowd
Before the sun came up on Monday morning, Cristi Trego left her home in Houston, Delaware, to make the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Mount Crawford in Virginia’s Rockingham County to stop at one particular gas station. “We love Buc-ee’s,” Trego said about herself and her 3-year-old grandson, Mason, as they were waiting in line to meet Buc-ee the Beaver. . . . The nation’s northernmost Buc-ee’s travel center, and the first in Virginia, opened Monday morning amid huge crowds, sweltering weather, and a parking lot that was full-to-bursting with cars. County sheriffs and Buc-ee’s employees eventually had to begin directing the traffic that came from as far away as Georgia.
State issues funds for micro reactor feasibility study for Southwest Virginia
The state approved nearly $100,000 last week to conduct a feasibility study for potentially locating a micro nuclear reactor in Southwest Virginia. On Friday Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the funding as part of $6.8 million for eight projects in Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) grant awards.
State Democrats celebrate new maternal health care laws
Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling (D–Henrico) — and more than a dozen of her Democratic colleagues — took the stage Monday outside a Portsmouth preschool, with a tent shielding a crowd of about 100 people from the midday sun. “Tomorrow, July 1, moms, babies and families across the commonwealth will begin to feel the benefit of maternal health policies that fundamentally transform how Virginia supports mothers, babies, and families,” said LeVere Bolling. The crowd fanned their faces with handouts on the package legislation, which Democrats called “the momnibus.” . . . The bills are Democrats' answer to disparities in maternal mortality, a long waitlist for subsidized child care, and access to health care.
J.J. Davis named acting president of UVa
University of Virginia Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis will soon assume the role of acting president, taking the helm of Virginia’s flagship public university after the sudden resignation of Jim Ryan last week. When exactly Davis will take over is still unclear. “President Ryan’s resignation has not yet become effective, we’ll announce a date for that as soon as we have one,” UVa spokesman Brian Coy told The Daily Progress late Monday afternoon.