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By BILL ATKINSON,
Progress Index
(Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)
The chief patron of the successful legislation that brought the long-pursued casino referendum has blasted Petersburg City Council over the choice of its former collaborator as the winning bidder for the business. In a scathing statement Friday night, Sen. Lashrecse Aird also pushed back at the city’s earlier claim that it wrote but never sent a letter of intent to one of the other four vendors “under duress” so that Aird would have a name to use as a bargaining chip in Richmond.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By GABBY ALLEN,
WDVM-TV
IAFF Local 3756, the union that represents about 650 officials throughout the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Department, ratified their first-ever Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on Sunday night.
The Loudoun Career Fire Fighters Association (LCFFA) said the members of Local 3756 are the first public sector employees to ratify a CBA in the history of Loudoun County. The association described it as a “blowout and historic victory.”
VaNews April 29, 2024
By JASON ARMESTO,
Daily Progress
(Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
An anonymous University of Virginia parent has accused two professors and one student of antisemitism for organizing an Israel-Palestine film series. Organizers, however, say the series was specifically designed to show balanced perspectives. It alternated between screening movies from Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers. The accusation is one of many listed in a document compiled by multiple UVa parents, which outlines a wide range of reported antisemitic incidents they say have occurred on UVa Grounds since Israel’s war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas began in October of last year.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By GRACE MAMON,
Cardinal News
As fire and rescue volunteerism declines across the state, many localities are changing the way they provide this service. Using paid crews is costly and sometimes controversial, but it’s already been an effective solution for several Southern Virginia counties, and likely will be for many more.
Some localities, like Henry County, have coupled paid staff and volunteers for decades. Others, like Franklin and Pittsylvania counties, are in earlier stages of the transition to what is called a combination model of rescue services.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By DAN CASEY,
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
There’s a popular saying about the war in Ukraine that goes something like this: “If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, Ukraine ends.” More than anything else, that simple aphorism highlights the nature of the most damaging conflict in Europe since World War II: Unprovoked military aggression by the authoritarian Russian Federation against a European democracy.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By CARDINAL STAFF,
Cardinal News
Virginia Tech ordered the students protesting the Israeli military action in Gaza to disperse Sunday night or risk arrest. Freelance journalist Justin Fleenor said he saw “more than two dozen” people arrested, including one professor.
Virginia Tech did not have a number available for how many people were arrested.
One video that Fleenor posted showed a woman in a Tech graduation robe being arrested; another showed police carrying a protestor from the site. Others were seen walking with police. Fleenor also posted a video showing a large group of students chanting “let them go!” Videos from others at the scene showed a crowd jeering police as they led handcuffed protestors to waiting vans.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By STAFF REPORT,
Loudoun Now
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat on Friday announced a $1 billion investment to expand Google’s Virginia data center campuses this year including two Loudoun County sites.
The $1 billion investment brings Google’s total investment in the state to more than $4.2 billion. Google calculates its Loudoun County investment at more than $1 billion.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By KEITH EPPS,
Free Lance-Star
(Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
About a year and a half ago, Fredericksburg police responded to an accident at one of the city’s apartment complexes in which an 8-year-old boy ran in front of a car and was struck. City police chief Brian Layton said the first responding officer spoke Spanish and was able to communicate with the boy. But he couldn’t save the child, who died in the officer’s arms. “It was a horrific scene,” Layton said. “That’s the kind of thing that stays with you for a lifetime.”
VaNews April 29, 2024
By SEAN JONES,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Henrico County leaders are considering a plan to make roughly 100 to 150 new homes more affordable each year. There’s a national home affordability crisis that’s showing its effects locally with average homebuyers being priced out of the market. Staple jobs — police officers, teachers, dental assistants and paralegals — often make less than half the yearly salary needed to afford the median home price in the county.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By ANGELA WOOLSEY,
FFXnow
The cost of riding Metro trains and buses will go up, starting July 1, when the transit agency’s new budget takes effect.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) board of directors approved a $4.8 billion fiscal year 2025 budget yesterday (Thursday) that will increase fares by 12.5%, including by ending the flat $2 rate for weekend and late-night rides introduced in 2021 and expanded in 2022.
VaNews April 29, 2024
