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VPAP Visual Record Vetoes in 2024
With the final vetoes complete as of last Friday, Governor Glenn Youngkin has set a new record for bills vetoed in a single year, axing a total of 201 bills. This year alone, Youngkin has killed more legislation than any recent governor of Virginia has in their full four-year term.
Amazon data center arm buys Manassas site
Amazon.com Inc. has acquired another Manassas-area site approved for data center development, this one for $218 million. The e-commerce giant’s data center arm, Amazon Data Services Inc., bought the 91-acre assemblage at 14237 and 14209 Dumfries Road from Parsons Business Park LLC on April 25, according to Prince William County property records. The sale price works out to about $2.4 million per acre.
Advocates: Youngkin’s veto won’t deter fight for right to contraception legislation
The sponsors of Virginia’s Right to Contraception Act are vowing to continue to fight for the legislation even after Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto Friday. “I’m here to say that the fight isn’t over,” said state Sen. Ghazala F. Hashmi (D-Chesterfield). Hashmi was joined by House sponsor Del. Marcia Price (D-Newport News), Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), [and] Lara Bury and Penny Blue — both from Red, Wine and Blue, a women’s rights advocacy group. “This bill would have simply protected the rights of contraception in Virginia if the Supreme Court were to take away that right like they did with the Dobbs’ decision and abortion,” explained Price.
Backed by rival GOP factions, veterans in Virginia’s 7th District primary look similar on paper
Save for the facial hair, it would have been hard to tell Derrick Anderson and Cameron Hamilton apart. Sitting side by side at a candidate forum here earlier this month, the front-runners in one of Virginia’s most competitive GOP primaries both highlighted their time serving in elite military units and then in the federal government. Both pledged to go hard on China and campus protesters while pitching themselves as Republicans’ best chance to flip this battleground seat.
Kiggans blasts Veterans Affairs after missed deadline for Hampton VA Medical Center investigation
The Department of Veterans Affairs is under fire for missing the deadline to provide information on the Hampton VA Medical Center to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs following allegations of employee retaliation and substandard care. The House committee launched an investigation after lawmakers said they met with medical professionals and whistleblowers who work at the medical center in March to discuss the delivery of care after recent scrutiny. Led by U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, the House committee on April 9 requested documents related to disciplinary actions against employees, patient safety reports related to the medical center’s surgical department ...
Sen. Mark Warner meets with students and educators to discuss FAFSA issues
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) hosted a discussion at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday with students, school districts and universities about the issues they have been having with the revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA. Many of those who attended said the rollout of the new FAFSA has been very troublesome for students, families and schools for months. … Superintendent of Loudon County Public Schools Aaron Spence said some of the district’s students still do not know where they will be attending college in the fall, weeks after the typical May 1 deadline.
Westbrook and Allen: Our boys were found innocent. So why are they still in prison?
Another year has come and gone and we’re approaching another presidential election season without our sons. They were found not guilty by a federal jury of their peers, but still sentenced to life in prison. It has been nearly 23 years since we’ve last had our boys, Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne, at our dinner table. We’ve since had four presidential administrations, countless promises of criminal justice reform, and still no end in sight for the injustice they are experiencing. We are calling on the Biden Administration to grant them clemency — and asking that you do, too.
Deaths, ill treatment at Riverside spark call for regional jail reform
Denise Gunn asked Chesterfield County prosecutors to go to court to revoke her son Kevin Wyatt’s probation last year, thinking he’d be safer in jail than on the street. He died in Riverside Regional Jail eight months later of an overdose of cocaine and fentanyl, she said. He was due to be released from the Prince George County facility in three weeks. When jail officials called Gunn, some 10 hours after her son’s death, they asked her if her son brought drugs into jail, she said. But he’d been there for months, she replied. How could he have?
In the face of a lawsuit and veto, Virginia Beach’s election system still up in the air
A Circuit Court judge Monday denied a request that would have prevented district-based elections of Virginia Beach City Council members this fall and will issue an opinion soon on whether a lawsuit against the city’s voting system can move forward. The 2024 election will continue as planned under the current ward-based system, said Deputy City Attorney Chris Boynton. Former Norfolk Judge Charles Poston presided over a hearing Monday on a lawsuit brought by former Councilman Linwood Branch and several other residents who contend that the city “illegally manipulated the Virginia Beach electoral system by eliminating three at-large seats that are expressly established under the City Charter,” and deprived the rights of voters. On Friday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill that would have aligned Virginia Beach’s city charter with its district-based election system, citing the pending lawsuit.
Yancey: Roanoke city manager’s departure comes as city council faces an unusual amount of turnover
The job of the next Roanoke City Council just got more interesting. But first, so does the job before city voters this summer and fall. City Manager Bob Cowell announced his resignation Monday night, at the tail end of the council meeting. Cardinal’s Tad Dickens has more details, such as they are. I’ll focus on the politics — and the future. Cowell’s departure comes as the Roanoke City Council is about to undergo an unusual amount of turnover. At least three, and maybe four, members of the seven-member council won’t be there next year. Mayor Sherman Lea and council member Trish White-Boyd are retiring. Council member Luke Priddy is resigning to take a job out of town. That guarantees three new members on the dais.