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By ACACIA JAMES,
FFXnow
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is asking the county’s General Assembly delegation to oppose Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed funding cuts to Metro in the state’s budget.
During a board meeting on Tuesday (April 16), supervisors unanimously approved a letter written by Chairman Jeff McKay, Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw, and Dranesville District Supervisor James Bierman, asking the delegation to oppose the cuts and retain the funding needed to address the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) estimated $750 million shortfall.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By ALYSSA HUTTON,
Cardinal News
More than 100 people gathered Thursday morning to witness the unveiling of a state historical marker for Lucyville, a community founded in the late 19th century by a freed slave.
The Rev. Reuben T. Coleman was born into slavery, then freed in 1860. Lucyville is named after his daughter. Coleman owned a bank in the community, which in the 1890s also had a post office, a mineral springs resort and a newspaper.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By ANNA BRYSON,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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A senior-level Virginia Department of Education official has left her post to serve as Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s special adviser to the CEO of the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. Although she has no experience with cannabis policy, the Youngkin administration says Elizabeth Schultz is uniquely positioned to serve under the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, Terrance Cole.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By JAMI FRANKENBERRY,
Virginian-Pilot
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As Gov. Glenn Youngkin prepared to sign an unprecedented name, image and likeness bill Thursday in Richmond, he harkened to his playing days. “I want to be very clear that had the NIL rules been in place when I was in college, I would not have had an NIL deal,” joked Youngkin, who averaged just 1.4 points game in four years as a basketball player at Rice University. Youngkin signed into law a bill that grants Virginia colleges unprecedented freedom to administer name, image and likeness benefits to athletes.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By JOSH JANNEY,
Virginian-Pilot
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A proposal to rename Fort Monroe has been resurrected by board of trustees members who are concerned the current name ignores centuries of the site’s history and could be stifling fundraising efforts.
The Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees considered the question of whether the site should be renamed Thursday morning as members met during a retreat. Some alternative suggestions floated for the 565-acre property and its affiliated organizations included “Old Point Comfort,” “Point Comfort,” and “Point Comfort at Fort Monroe.”
VaNews April 19, 2024
By DEAN MIRSHAHI,
WRIC-TV
The Supreme Court of Virginia has again ruled against the state and ordered the release of a man who said he earned credits to be let out from prison early but was wrongfully denied by the Department of Corrections.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a petition for the release of Jose Garcia Vasquez, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, arguing he earned enough sentence credits to be released around November 2022 but an “erroneous interpretation” of a law by the corrections department kept him in prison.
VaNews April 19, 2024
Associated Press
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed measure into law Thursday that allows state colleges and universities to directly pay their athletes through name, image and likeness compensation deals, a measure believed to be the first of its kind.
The law, which takes effect July 1, was signed one day after the NCAA eased some of its NIL restrictions but noted that its longstanding “prohibitions against pay-for-play and schools compensating student-athletes for use of their NIL remain in place.”
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said other states may follow Virginia’s lead.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By EM HOLTER,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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The Richmond Coliseum, the defunct regional arena, could soon be torn down pending a vote by the Richmond City Council.
The request comes from the city administration that petitioned an additional $3.5 million be tacked on to Mayor Levar Stoney’s proposed $3 billion FY2025 budget to cover the $3 million cost of demolition as well as $500,000 to meet security needs.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By MARKUS SCHMIDT,
Cardinal News
The state Senate on Wednesday soundly rejected Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s far-reaching slate of amendments to legislation that would legalize so-called skill games in Virginia and create a regulatory framework and tax structure for the electronic devices.
By a 34-6 bipartisan vote, the body sent SB 212, sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, and Sen. Timmy French, R-Frederick County, among others, back to Youngkin’s desk for a signature or a veto. The bill had passed in the Senate by 32-8 in February and in the House by 51-45.
VaNews April 18, 2024
By GAVIN STONE,
Virginian-Pilot
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The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion Project reached another milestone Wednesday as Mary, the affectionate name for the massive tunnel boring machine doing much of the heavy lifting, broke through onto the North Island, marking roughly the halfway point of her journey.
Mary will now have to be turned around to dig back toward Norfolk to create the second tunnel of what will be two new eastbound lanes on I-64, a process expected to take about five months. Once that’s complete, the Virginia Department of Transportation aims to make the return trip in about 11 months, slightly faster than the 51 weeks on the first tunnel. VDOT hopes to use the lessons from the first tunnel to expedite the second, according to Ryan Banas, VDOT project director.
VaNews April 18, 2024
