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Richmond Mayor Stoney tells Democrats he’ll drop bid for Va. governor

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


Trial opens for former Virginia hospital medical director accused of sexual abuse of ex-patients

By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

The former longtime medical director of a Virginia hospital that serves vulnerable children used physical examinations as a “ruse” to sexually abuse two teenage patients, a prosecutor said Monday, while the physician’s attorney “adamantly” denied any inappropriate conduct. The trial of Daniel N. Davidow of Richmond, who for decades served as the medical director of the Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents, opened Monday morning in New Kent County, where a judge will weigh the charges against him.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Health plan costs to rise for some state workers

By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Some Virginia state employees will pay more for health insurance beginning July 1, following the state’s latest review and projection of claims. Overall, the state Department of Human Resource Management proposed a 6.3% increase in total premiums for the next fiscal year. But full-time employee contributions — the sums taken out of paychecks — will rise by less than that. For some plans, there will be no increase at all.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Petrilli: Va. has a chance to up its education game. It shouldn’t swing and miss

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


Beyer votes for Ukraine funding, against Israel military aid

ArlNow

Arlington’s Congressman split his votes on security funding bills for U.S. allies over the weekend. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) voted for bills to aid the defense of Ukraine, which is under Russian invasion, and Taiwan, which is under the threat of Chinese military action. He voted against defense aid for Israel, which is battling Hamas in a bloody conflict that has killed scores of civilians on both sides.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Stoney drops out of governor’s race to run for lieutenant governor

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


Biden announces solar investments at Earth Day visit to Prince William Forest Park

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


Cline votes against Ukraine aid, supports aid for Israel, Taiwan

By CORMAC DODD, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Citing the national debt, U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-6th) voted against legislation that could send Ukraine $60 billion in foreign aid that passed the House over the weekend with bipartisan support. But Cline backed three other measures contained in the $95 billion package the House approved on Saturday, which included $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region to deter China; about $26 billion for supporting Israel and providing humanitarian relief for people in Gaza, and a measure that could force TikTok to sever ties with its parent company, Bytedance, or face a nationwide ban.

VaNews April 23, 2024


America’s first Black ambassador will be honored in his hometown: Roanoke

By MICHAEL HEMPHILL, Cardinal News

Outside his hometown of Roanoke, Edward R. Dudley lived a life of a civil rights hero. Special assistant counsel to Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. First African American to run for statewide office in New York on the ticket of a major party. First African American to serve as an administrative judge in New York State. And most prominent: first African American U.S. ambassador. But within Roanoke? “He’s such a brilliant guy, my dad,” lamented his 81-year-old son, Edward Dudley Jr. “But nobody knows about him.” Until now.

VaNews April 23, 2024


CoStar Group to acquire Calif. technology company Matterport for $1.6 billion

By STAFF REPORT, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The CoStar Group, which announced in February plans to move its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Rosslyn, announced that it will acquire California 3D technology company Matterport for $1.6 billion. Matterport offers 3-D capture technology which delivers “dimensionally accurate, photorealistic virtual tours” for any type of property and is widely used in real estate. ... CoStar said last year it expected to hire 2,000 more people in Richmond, putting its workforce here at about 3,500.

VaNews April 23, 2024