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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 ROBYN SIDERSKY,
Virginia Business
In the past year, Amazon.com continued its march across the commonwealth, announcing plans to build a 650,000-square-foot fulfillment center and a 219,000-square-foot delivery station in Virginia Beach, which are collectively expected to produce more than 1,000 jobs.
About 60% the size of the Pentagon, Virginia’s second largest building belongs to Amazon — a 3.8 million-square-foot robotics fulfillment center in Suffolk ...
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 STACY PARKER,
Virginian-Pilot
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Allowing city employees to negotiate over their wages and benefits will be up for a vote by the City Council Tuesday. The council will be presented with two options, at the request of the mayor: To allow collective bargaining or to allow a “meet and confer” process whereby employee committees will be able to regularly share concerns with the city manager. If the council approves collective bargaining, city staff will negotiate with city workers’ unions to draft a new law, which could take months, according to City Attorney Mark Stiles.
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 ELIZABETH BEYER,
News Leader
(Metered Paywall - 3 to 4 articles a month)
With the filing deadline passed and campaigns ramping up on their spending, the June primary race is well underway for federal office in Virginia. All of Virginia's 11 U.S. House of Representatives seats, along with Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine - who occupies one of two U.S. Senate seats in the commonwealth - will be up for election in November. Six U.S. House districts will have contested primary elections on June 18. Kaine does not have a Democratic primary challenger and will not appear on the June ballot.
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
By RACHEL SMITH,
News & Advance
(Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
In Lynchburg, there is a pressing need for affordable child care, with a current shortage of licensed slots impacting the workforce.
The United Way of Central Virginia (UWCV) is launching an initiative to tackle workforce and child care issues in the Greater Lynchburg area.
Inspired by a successful project in Southwest Virginia, UWCV plans to establish the Childcare and Workforce Development Center.
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
