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Youngkin: Education is the bedrock of attaining the American dream
The American Dream is essentially rooted in attaining a quality education, Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin told attendees at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s RISE summit on Thursday. Youngkin said he has made education similarly a bedrock of his tenure in Richmond, in that he is dedicated to improving the lives of Virginians and helping to offer the next generation a chance to live to their fullest potential. “I wake up every morning, and I start a quiet time, because I need to first thank the Lord for putting me here… and I thank Him and say, ‘Please, Lord, what should I do today; how should I do it?’ – and education is always top of the agenda.”
GOP U.S. Senate candidate doubles down on ‘podunk’ remark, says driving to Abingdon for debate ‘ridonkulous’
Hung Cao, one of five candidates seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to oppose the Democratic incumbent Sen. Tim Kaine in the fall, on Wednesday doubled down on his remarks referring to the Staunton News Leader as a “podunk local newspaper.” During a virtual town hall meeting hosted by the Fauquier County GOP, Cao alleged that the newspaper is run by left-wing hacks. “Everybody in Staunton knows that, they laugh at those people. You wouldn’t even wrap your fish with that,” Cao said in a video recording of the town hall meeting obtained by Cardinal News.
Yancey: An art show at an Augusta County school prompts an emergency school board meeting
In the spring of 2023, the theater departments at Lynchburg’s two public high schools joined together to produce the popular, but often controversial, musical “The Prom,” which is loosely based on the true story of a gay couple banned from attending their high school prom. Lynchburg City Council member Marty Misjuns blasted the choice: “It’s absolutely appalling to me that the publicly funded Lynchburg City Schools would put on a production with children that openly mocks the vast Judeo-Christian majority in our city … Lynchburg City Schools should immediately cancel the rest of these productions out of respect for those that believe in, prescribe to, and practice the Christian faith.”
Gov. Youngkin lauds new initiative as a collaborative approach to solving Southwest Virginia’s problems
A new initiative called Accelerate Southwest Virginia was announced in Wise on Thursday by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who said the collaborative effort will take a holistic approach to solving the region’s problems by focusing on infrastructure, economic development, health care, housing and lowering the cost of living. The governor said those are the issues that were most talked about during a “listening tour” he held across the region on March 20. “I believe we need to go faster and accomplish more,” he said.
Logistics giant moving ahead with more Sterling data center plans
Prologis Inc. is moving ahead with plans to redevelop with data centers some warehouses it’s long owned in Sterling, the heart of Loudoun County’s “data center alley,” where the company has other similar data center projects in the works. The San Francisco logistics real estate investment trust filed a special exception application Tuesday, asking for extra density above what the underlying zoning allows for data centers at 42121 and 45181 Global Plaza.
Park Service changes mind, lets Knights of Columbus hold Mass at Poplar Grove cemetery
Mass will be celebrated at a national cemetery this year following Thursday’s dismissal of a lawsuit over denial by the National Park Service to allow it. Attorneys for the Petersburg-based Knights of Columbus Council 694 and First Liberty Institute agreed to drop the suit after the park service, which operates Poplar Grove National Cemetery on Vaughan Road on the outskirts of Petersburg, reversed its decision and granted a permit to conduct the service.
Virginia agriculture thrives despite mounting challenges
For the fifth consecutive year, Memorial Day weekend will pass without the Pungo Strawberry Festival, once a mainstay on the region’s calendar that put a welcome spotlight on agriculture in Hampton Roads. It’s especially disappointing this year when, by all accounts, it was a banner year for the crop. While the event is missed, it’s worthwhile for residents here to show some appreciation for our area’s farmers, whose toil, skill and dedication annually produce a tremendous bounty for our dinner tables. Their hard work deserves acclaim and support as they face a future made more challenging by a changing climate.
Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Prince William Digital Gateway
The controversial Prince William Digital Gateway, a rezoning allowing a massive data center development at the edge of the Manassas battlefield, is facing one fewer hurdle following the dismissal Thursday of the first of three lawsuits filed against it. The lawsuit was filed in December 2022, about a year before the Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted in December 2023 to rezone about 1,700 acres northwest of the battlefield and along Pageland Lane to allow a corridor of up to 37 data centers.
Nexus Services Inc. continues to be bludgeoned by courts, accused of playing ‘shell game’
The hits just keep on coming for Nexus Services Inc. as the company continues to be bludgeoned by the courts. Last week, a federal judge ordered the former Verona company be placed into receivership in an ongoing six-year legal battle with an Illinois Insurance company, forcing Nexus to finally open up its books in an effort to scrutinize its finances. In another gut punch, a United States Supreme Court decision last week could deeply impact a recent federal lawsuit where Nexus and its defendants were ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars.
Virginia Has the Biggest Data Center Market in the World. Can It Also Decarbonize Its Grid?
While short-lived, the denial came as a surprise. This March, Loudoun County, a suburb of Washington, D.C. in Northern Virginia that is home to the greatest concentration of data centers in the world, made an unexpected move: It rejected a proposal to let a company build a bigger data center than existing zoning automatically allowed. … County supervisors would later reverse the decision, approving a smaller version of the project. But the initial denial sent ripples throughout Virginia, where concern over the rapid growth of data centers and what that means for the state’s ambitious decarbonization goals is growing.