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By DEAN MIRSHAHI,
WRIC-TV
A bill that would have allowed hundreds of people incarcerated in Virginia on cannabis-related felonies to reduce their sentences or be released was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The bill from state Sen. Angelia Williams Graves (D-Norfolk) was among the seven pieces of legislation from Democrats that the Republican governor axed the day after his hopes of luring two professional sports teams to Alexandria collapsed. It would have given incarcerated people convicted of certain felonies tied to the possession, selling, manufacture, giving, transportation, distribution or delivery of cannabis before July 2021 – when recreational possession was legalized – an automatic hearing to modify their sentence.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By MADISON MOORE,
WRIC-TV
Dozens of Powhatan County residents, teachers and parents showed up to yet another packed Powhatan County School Board meeting Tuesday night, with many voicing their frustrations about the alleged ongoing racial discrimination taking place in the school district.
The public outcry comes in response to a series of recent incidents, including a racist death threat scrawled on a Powhatan High School student’s arm that went viral on social media in February.
“There is a wildfire raging in Powhatan schools and you [Powhatan School Board] are allowing it to escalate,” said a Powhatan resident at the meeting.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By EM HOLTER,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
With less than seven months to go before Richmonders elect a new mayor, six candidates have launched campaigns so far. As Election Day approaches, advertisements and campaign events are starting to pop up across the city — all of which are largely funded by campaign donations.
Here are the latest finance tallies reported to the Virginia Department of Elections for candidates along with their top donors as of Monday.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By RYAN MURPHY,
WHRO
Crews of Spaniards who have worked on digging an 8,000-foot tunnel under Hampton Roads for the last year waved Spanish flags and cheered from the top of a huge pit on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel’s north island.
First, moisture started seeping through tiny cracks in the concrete wall. Then, a larger crack formed and water poured through.
Then, after a few seconds more of the tinkling crackling sound, a three-story tall circular section of concrete fell with an earth-shaking thud. Water used to cool the 430-foot long boring machine, nicknamed Mary, poured out as the massive drill broke through concrete and into fresh air for the first time in a year.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By MARYSA TUTTLE,
WRIC-TV
Virginia lawmakers are calling on the United States Postal Service (USPS) to address mail delivery issues ahead of the 2024 election.
According to the office of Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, who represents the fourth district of Virginia, McClellan and her colleagues are calling on the USPS to ensure the efficient and secure delivery of election mail. McClellan, as well as Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) and Representatives Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11), Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), wrote a letter to the USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the USPS Virginia District Manager Gerald Roane.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By DEAN MIRSHAHI,
WRIC-TV
The city of Petersburg can hold a casino vote this November after Virginia lawmakers approved a change to a bill from Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The Virginia General Assembly approved a bill to make Petersburg eligible for a casino vote, but there was a re-enactment clause added to the legislation to require a second vote to put it into effect.
Gov. Youngkin (R) proposed an amendment to remove that clause that was approved by the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate during the General Assembly’s reconvened session on April 17.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By NATHANIEL CLINE AND CHARLIE PAULLIN,
Virginia Mercury
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and lawmakers have agreed to work together on the biennium budget, after clashing for weeks over two distinctly different spending plans.
A special session will be held on May 13, Youngkin and lawmakers in both chambers announced Wednesday, to consider the revamped budget and prevent a shutdown ahead of July 1, when the current budget expires.
On Wednesday, the House of Delegates voted to reject all 233 of the governor’s amendments to the budget, and agreed to seek a new budget to present to the legislature May 13, with voting on it expected May 15. They also took up the governor’s other bill amendments and 153 vetoes.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By GRAHAM MOOMAW,
Virginia Mercury
The fate of slots-like skill games in Virginia convenience stores and truck stops remained in limbo Wednesday as the state Senate voted to reject Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s sweeping changes to a proposal to legalize and tax the gambling machines.
The Senate voted 34-6 to reject the governor’s tougher amendments to the bill, sending the legislation back to Youngkin in its original form. The bipartisan move raises the risk Youngkin could veto the legislation, an outcome that would leave skill games prohibited throughout Virginia by a ban enacted under former Gov. Ralph Northam. But lawmakers also announced Wednesday that they’re planning a special session later this spring to reach a deal on the state budget, creating an opening to reconsider the skill game issue over the next few weeks.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By DAVE RESS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The state Senate on Wednesday rejected Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s amendments that would toughen state oversight when Virginia legalizes skill games.
The 34 votes against Youngkin’s proposals versus six supporting them move the measure back to the governor, who has the power to veto the measure. If he does, there is no opportunity to override it.
With the bill now headed back to Youngkin’s desk, “we hope that he reconsiders the future of the tens of thousands of small businesses struggling to make ends meet here in his own commonwealth,” said Rich Kelly, president of the Virginia Merchants and Amusement Coalition, a group of stores that lobbied for legalization.
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
