Search
In Virginia, the fight continues against invasive water chestnut
A day at the arcade would have been good practice for the work aquatic specialists had before them at a Virginia lake one morning in June. Spraying a jet stream of herbicide from an idling airboat is no easy task, especially when the invasive plant they’re trying to target is barely visible beneath native American lotus leaves. “These plants, they get lost among the emerging vegetation, and this one rosette can make 20 fruits in a year,” said Lynde Dodd, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
White: Ranked choice voting improves democracy. Will Va. embrace it?
This year, Virginia voters have been going to the polls for critical elections across the commonwealth, and in many cases, they've seen a lot of names on their ballots. From the recent Democratic lieutenant governor primary to the 11th Congressional District special election primaries, Virginia has two real-time examples of how ranked choice voting (RCV) could benefit voters in crowded races. Both demonstrate why it's time for Virginia's political parties to further embrace RCV.
Still standing? Virginia Supreme Court to hear HFFI’s lawsuit against Fredericksburg City Council
Back in 2018, when Brian McDermott and his wife, Lori, moved into their new (old) home on Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, they were eager to restore the 268-year-old property, also known as the Charles Dick House. . . . A few years later, however, the McDermotts applied for and received a certificate of appropriateness from the city’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) to demolish a small, 1910s-era building nestled in the back corner of their lot at 204 Lewis St. Today, that structure is still standing, and the question of legal standing will go before the Virginia Supreme Court later this year as the final stop in a lawsuit filed by the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) against the Fredericksburg City Council.
MS-13 are just sliver of gang population in Virginia’s prisons
In May, a group of inmates said to be members of MS-13 assaulted corrections officers at Wallens Ridge, one of Virginia’s two supermax state prisons. In a video leaked to a local TV news outlet, a man surprises a Wallens Ridge prison guard with a haymaker. Then more inmates in the prison pod join in a violent beating of a prone corrections officer, who is rescued by a colleague who aerosolized the pod. . . . Despite the attention that MS-13 commands, data from the Virginia Department of Corrections show that international gang comprises a sliver of total gang members in Virginia’s prison system, which remain filled with American criminal organizations. For every MS-13 member in a Virginia prison, there are dozens from gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, white supremacists and others.
Yancey: Will Republicans in Virginia pay a price for the One Big Beautiful Bill? Here’s what the math shows.
To hear Republicans tell it, the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill heralds the onset of a new golden age through tax code changes that will spur more investment in manufacturing and energy production. To hear Democrats tell it, the law will set in motion a health care crisis for those who lose Medicaid coverage, the closure of many rural hospitals that depend on Medicaid payments and higher energy prices because the bill eliminates the tax incentives behind 90% of new energy being added to the grid.
Yancey: Spanberger: Open to data center tax breaks, sees inland port as ‘transformational’ and U.S. 220 improvements as ‘vital’
We don’t know much yet about how either candidate for governor would run the state if she were elected, although we’re learning more about what Democrat Abigail Spanberger would do than we are about Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. Once the candidates were confirmed as their party nominees in early April, I contacted both campaigns to seek an interview on various aspects of policy, starting with energy. Spanberger’s campaign called the next day; an interview was set up for later that month and my interview with her about energy policy published May 5. More than a dozen requests for interviews with Earle-Sears have yet to net an interview.
Trump Appointee and Ex-Prosecutor to Hear DOJ’s Judges Lawsuit
A President Donald Trump appointee who prosecuted white supremacists over a deadly Charlottesville rally and had the backing of Democratic senators will preside over a Justice Department lawsuit against all the federal district judges in Maryland. US District Judge Thomas Cullen in Roanoke was assigned on Wednesday the high-profile litigation against the US trial judges over their standing order that blocked the immediate deportation of detained persons who file a habeas petition. . . . The assignment gives Cullen the task of mediating an unprecedented court fight between his current colleagues on the judiciary and his former ones at the Justice Department.
State DEI reports avoid race, gender discussions
When Virginia state agencies filed their required annual reports on diversity and inclusion programs this year, they rarely mentioned race, ethnicity or gender. A Richmond Times-Dispatch review of the 52 agency reports on their diversity programs found the most common initiatives they mentioned involve efforts to employ interns, make it easier to hire people with disabilities and conduct training sessions on inclusiveness.
Virginia emerges as key bellwether ahead of midterms
Virginia’s off-year elections are being viewed by both parties as a key bellwether heading into next year’s midterms, as well as a potential indicator for how voters view President Trump. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) will face off to become the first female governor of the state, while Democrats will seek to maintain and grow their majority in the House of Delegates.
Cumberland residents continue to raise concerns over landfill proposal
About an hour west of Virginia’s capital city, and east of Lynchburg, the start of Virginia’s Appalachian portion, Cumberland County sits about as close to the center of the state’s Piedmont as it gets. It’s a rural county with rolling landscapes, known for its agricultural and forestry economy. Down the main strip of U.S. 60 sit two types of dollar stores, a hardware and auto shop, a local restaurant, a coffee shop and a few other establishments. Preserving that character has become a rallying cry for residents who oppose a yearslong plan to build a 1,143-acre landfill in the eastern part of the county, citing concerns about groundwater, light and noise pollution.