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By SAMUEL B. PARKER, MARGO WAGNER, LUCA POWELL, ZACH JOACHIM AND THAD GREEN,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Police and pro-Palestine protesters clashed Monday night after officers tried to clear a makeshift encampment on the lawn outside the James Branch Cabell Library on VCU’s Monroe Park campus, pitching tents in what they called a “liberation zone" and demanding an immediate end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The chaotic scene, which began at around 8:30 p.m., saw protesters build a barricade with shipping pallets and hurl water bottles and other objects at the police. Officers, some in riot gear, charged the line of demonstrators and deployed chemical agents in an effort to disperse the crowd. Police made numerous arrests and began disassembling the tents, blankets and tarps at the scene.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By DWAYNE YANCEY,
Cardinal News
Texas likes to proclaim “Don’t mess with Texas.”
Don’t mess with Southwest Virginia, either.
I’m not sure what happens if you mess with Texas — I’ve never tried — but a writer for Axios Richmond tried to mess with Southwest Virginia by making a dismissive reference to “whatever the hell is west of Roanoke.” That led to me writing a column to defend the western part of the state, which in turn led to a reader in Arlington saying he’d never been to this part of the state, so I offered to give him some travel advice — yours.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By SAMUEL B. PARKER,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Until last week, former Richmond resident Hersh Goldberg-Polin had not been seen or heard from since Oct. 7 — the day he was taken hostage by Hamas militants at a music festival in the Israeli village of Re’im. But on Wednesday, Hamas released a video that appears to show Goldberg-Polin alive: a glimmer of hope after talks between Israel and Hamas previously had stalled. Prior footage of his kidnapping shows the badly wounded Goldberg-Polin, then 23, being loaded into the back of a truck alongside other abductees.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By MARTIN WEIL, ANNABELLE TIMSIT, BEN BRASCH AND KARINA ELWOOD,
Washington Post
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at colleges across the D.C. region intensified over the weekend and into Monday, including the arrest of dozens of students on Virginia campuses. Virginia Tech in Blacksburg reported that campus police arrested more than 80 people late Sunday and into the morning. Of those, 53 were current students. The university said in a statement that the demonstration was not compliant with policy on the use of campus facilities.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By JAHD KHALIL, SHABAN ATHUMAN, AND DAWNTHEA M. PRICE LISCO,
VPM
Police at Virginia Commonwealth University used force to make an unknown number of arrests roughly 10 minutes after arriving at a protest on Monday night. Students and community members who had gathered were demanding the school disclose and sever financial ties with Israel — and call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. … Students at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond began implementing a “liberation zone” early Monday, writing chalk messages of support for Palestinians and antiwar sentiments on the public campus.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By RICH GRISET,
Virginia Business
As a registered nurse unit coordinator and charge nurse at Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton, Andrea Samuel spends her days communicating with doctors and nurses in addition to administering direct bedside care.
A Miami native, Samuel entered nursing school at age 19 and has worked for Sentara since 1991. She celebrated her 78th birthday in March and has no plans to slow down.
VaNews April 30, 2024
Virginian-Pilot
Editorial
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Even among natural disasters, only hurricanes can come close to inspiring the terror of a tornado. A powerful funnel cloud can form quickly, move unpredictably and often gives those in the path of destruction only minutes to take shelter.
So much depends on the timeliness of warnings from the National Weather Service, whose alerts can be the difference between life and death. But recent outages have shown the fragility of NWS infrastructure, making its improvement a matter of national urgency.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By JENNIFER HILLER AND SCOTT PATTERSON,
Wall Street Journal
(Subscription Required)
The cutting edge of technology is driving the power grid back to the 19th century.
An explosion of so-called hyperscale data centers in places such as Northern Virginia has upended plans by electric utilities to cut the use of fossil fuels. In some areas, that means burning coal for longer than planned.
These giant data centers will provide computing power needed for artificial intelligence. They are setting off a four-way battle among electric utilities trying to keep the lights on, tech companies that like to tout their climate credentials, consumers angry at rising electricity prices and regulators overseeing investments in the grid and trying to turn it green.
Ground zero for the fight is Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley.”
VaNews April 30, 2024
By WRAY FITCH AND ROBERT K. JENNER,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Last week, a prominent Northern Virginia church, The Falls Church Anglican, released the findings of its investigation into a former director of youth ministries who sexually abused children for more than a decade while serving as the church’s youth director and subsequently as director of adult discipleship. This horrific, years-long abuse by Jeff Taylor highlights the need for change in how Virginia enables survivors of childhood sexual abuse to seek justice against their abusers and the organizations that turn a blind eye. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse face immense challenges in coming forward and seeking justice.
Fitch is a partner at Baird Mandalas Brockstedt & Federico who represents injured individuals and victims of sexual abuse. Jenner is the founding partner of Jenner Law and focuses his practice on helping people affected by the harmful conduct of others.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By GARY WALLACE AND BRIAN BORTELL,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
As the summer months approach, thousands of high school and college students are preparing to join internship programs across the Richmond region. In light of the continued tight labor market, internship programs have become an increasingly important method of introducing students to hands-on learning opportunities.
Wallace is a CPA and managing partner at Keiter. Bortell is president and CEO at The Timmons Group.
VaNews April 30, 2024
