Search
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
By AL WEAVER,
The Hill
A quartet of senators from the greater Washington area tore into a potential provision that would add a number of long-distance flight slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as part of the upcoming reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) panned the plan released by congressional negotiators early Monday that would add 10 slots at National Airport, or five round-trip flights, arguing the airport is already bursting at the seams.
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 BETH JOJACK,
Virginia Business
In 2019, a state study forecast that if the General Assembly allowed five casinos to operate in five economically disadvantaged Virginia cities — Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond — that one-third of the revenue generated would stem from out-of-state visitors.
In other words, if you build it, casino backers sang out to the commonwealth’s legislators, they will come.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By GRAHAM MOOMAW,
Virginia Mercury
Sen. Laschrece Aird, D-Petersburg, says it’s “revisionist history” for city officials to accuse her of inappropriately meddling in the city-run process of picking a casino developer, but she hasn’t offered her own explanation for a casino letter Petersburg council members say the city manager was coerced into signing.
Petersburg had been seeking General Assembly permission to pursue a casino project that would only move forward if city voters approve it in a ballot referendum. As the state legislature was about to take an April 17 vote on whether Petersburg should get that permission immediately, city officials claim they received a “demand” from Aird to sign a letter saying Petersburg intended to award the project to Bally’s Corporation, a national gambling company based in Rhode Island.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By PAYTON WILLIAMS,
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Police late Sunday night and early Monday cleared from the lawn of the Virginia Tech Graduate Life Center and 82 people were arrested after a three-day protest of Israel’s war against Hamas. Police approached protesters in the so-called Gaza Liberation Encampment at 10:15 p.m. and told them they would be subject to arrest if they did not disperse within five minutes. The university had said since Friday that the encampment “was not a registered event consistent with university policy.”
VaNews April 30, 2024
By JASON ARMESTO,
Daily Progress
(Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
In a second attempt to prevent construction of a seven-story apartment complex on Jefferson Park Avenue in Charlottesville, nine homeowners in the surrounding neighborhood are hoping a judge will side with them in a lawsuit. They claim that City Council “acted in an unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious manner,” when it approved a special use permit allowing a developer to construct a 119-unit complex on the 2000 block of Jefferson Park Avenue. ... The group’s first attempt at using the court to derail the student housing project was shot down when the city of Charlottesville, the defendant in the case, filed a demurrer, a pretrial defense challenge to the suit’s legal grounds.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By ANNA BRYSON,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The Richmond School Board is out of compliance with part of its agreement with the state and could lose some state funding if board members do not come together to meet its contractual obligations to attend annual training. The agreement, called a memorandum of understanding, is in place because of the district’s troubled schools. State Superintendent Lisa Coons sent a letter to the Richmond School Board on Wednesday to notify its members of their requirement to fulfill annual professional development and training requirements.
VaNews April 30, 2024
Virginian-Pilot
Editorial
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
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 WRAY FITCH AND ROBERT K. JENNER,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
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
