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Skill game backers ask Youngkin to deliver on vow to support their industry

By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

Gov. Glenn Youngkin is still reviewing a bill that would legalize and tax the slot machine lookalikes known as skill games, but supporters of the gambling machines are asking the governor to stick to what he said he’d do when he was running for office. In a radio appearance posted to Youngkin’s campaign YouTube page in August of 2021, the then-candidate called himself a “big supporter of the skill games.” “I’m supportive of the skill games. I just think all businesses should be allowed to do business,” Youngkin said on Hampton Roads area station WNIS. “Skill games actually do enable so many small businesses to not only grow their business but also simply to survive.”

VaNews March 27, 2024


Yancey: Students are forced to subsidize college sports. Why?

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

The James Madison men’s basketball team lost its NCAA tournament game against Duke over the weekend, but JMU has still finished first in one national category — just not a good one. A recent report by Sportico, a news site devoted to covering “the business of sports,” said that JMU used more money in student fees to support intercollegiate athletics than any other school in the country. In second place was Old Dominion University.

VaNews March 27, 2024


Shreve: Up is down on planet Youngkin

By DAVID SHREVE, published in Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

As Virginians await the day in April when state lawmakers return to Richmond to take up Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s budget vetoes and amendments, one big thing is clear: Our governor’s well-articulated priorities — and combative political posture — now reflect very well the principal delusions of the modern Republican Party.

Shreve is a former history professor at the University of Virginia.

VaNews March 27, 2024


Beaudet: Restricting vaping products will only help big tobacco, not consumers

By TOM BEAUDET, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

It can’t be said any clearer than this: Virginia is on the brink of disaster when it comes to helping people quit smoking cigarettes if Gov. Glenn Youngkin signs Senate Bill 550 and House Bill 1609 into law. This legislation effectively bans most forms of vaping products while giving a major carve-out to the same products produced by big tobacco companies. This legislation will drive large numbers of consumers back to cigarettes in stark contrast to the decades spent encouraging people to give up the unhealthy practice.

Beaudet is CEO of Accorto Regulatory Solutions.

VaNews March 27, 2024


Patrick County hospital sold again

By BILL WYATT, Martinsville Bulletin (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The former Pioneer Community Hospital property on Jeb Stuart Highway has been sold again and Patrick County officials are seeking partnerships with other providers. Foresight Health purchased the property in 2022 for $2.1 million and, earlier this month, sold it to Wolf of Wabash LLC for $1.6 million, according to records on file at the Patrick County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office. Both companies are based in Chicago.

VaNews March 27, 2024


Owners of Dollywood and Ripley’s express interest in taking over operations of Virginia Aquarium

By BRETT HALL, WAVY-TV

City management will begin negotiating with the companies that own Dollywood and Ripley’s Believe It or Not attractions after both expressed interest in either purchasing or operating the Virginia Aquarium. In a briefing in front of Virginia Beach City Council Tuesday, Monica Croskey, an assistant city manager, revealed leadership from both Herschend Family Entertainment, which owns Dollywood, and Ripley’s Entertainment, have come to tour Virginia Beach’s aquarium after responding to a request for information from the city last year.

VaNews March 27, 2024


Frederick County School Board chair aims to remove ‘sexually explicit’ books from libraries

By MOLLY WILLIAMS, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Frederick County’s School Board Chairman Edward “Scott” Sturdivant said at last week’s board meeting that he is still taking aim at certain books in the division’s libraries, which was one of his campaign promises. “[L]et me assure you now. I will get those sexually explicit adult content books removed from our libraries if it’s the last thing that I ever do, and you can bank on that,” he said.

VaNews March 27, 2024


Prince William police chief disappointed by Youngkin’s veto of bill allowing DACA recipients to become police officers

By CHER MUZYK, Prince William Times

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto of a bill that would have allowed young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to become police officers was met with disappointment from Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham, who pushed for the measure and went to Richmond to support it. “We are very disappointed that a county resident and county employee who considers the United States her home will not be able to pursue her lifelong dream of serving her community as a Prince William County police officer,” Newsham said in a statement.

VaNews March 27, 2024


Bond hearing delayed again for Fariss

By MARK D. ROBERTSON, Cardinal News

Former Del. Matt Fariss remains in jail following a Saturday night arrest on gun and drug charges and a twice-delayed bond hearing. A bond hearing scheduled for Tuesday for the former Republican lawmaker from Campbell County was continued after the special prosecutor assigned to the case, Nelson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Daniel Rutherford, was unavailable. The hearing was rescheduled for Thursday morning, defense attorney Chuck Felmlee said ...

VaNews March 27, 2024


Patriot Front leader indicted in 2017 torch-wielding mob at UVa

By HAWES SPENCER, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

The leader of a White nationalist group that aggressively sows racial discord around the country has been named as the 12th man indicted for sowing such discord in Albemarle County seven years ago. Thomas Ryan Rousseau, a 25-year-old resident of Grapevine, Texas, and the founder of the group known as Patriot Front, was indicted on Aug. 7 for participating in the 2017 torch-lit march across University of Virginia Grounds that preceded the deadly Unite the Right rally-turned-riot in Charlottesville. Ryan has been charged with using fire to racially intimidate, a felony in Virginia dating back to the Jim Crow era. That's according to records that were unsealed March 5.

VaNews March 27, 2024