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The Buc-ee’s stops here? Stafford residents put off by potential gas giant
The mascot for Buc-ee’s may be the beaver, but many Stafford residents aren’t eager for the business to come to the county. Buc-ee’s, a Texas-based chain of large gas station/convenience stores, is seeking a permit to build what would be its third Virginia location near the intersection of Interstate 95 and Courthouse Road in Stafford. The initial public hearing on the proposal likely won’t be held until late fall or early winter at the earliest, but some Stafford residents who live near the proposed site have already begun voicing their opposition to it with county officials.
Portsmouth casino exceeds projections in first year
Fourteen months after opening, the Rivers Casino Portsmouth has generated more than $86 million in state and local tax revenues and about $340 million in total revenues, a new report shows. Virginia’s first permanent casino reported $329 million in adjusted gaming revenues and $11.2 million in food and beverage revenues during the period from its opening in late January 2023 through March 31, 2024, according to a report filed with the Virginia Lottery Board.
General Assembly budget leaders, Youngkin reach compromise
General Assembly budget leaders and Gov. Glenn Youngkin have reached a compromise on the next two-year state budget that would use an additional $525 million in state revenues to pay for Democratic spending priorities — including raises of 3% each year for state employees and teachers — without raising taxes and crossing the Republican governor’s red line for a potential veto. House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian, D-Prince William, confirmed on Thursday afternoon that assembly budget negotiators had reached a deal with Youngkin that they hope to approve on Monday in a special session that would last one day instead of three.
Yancey: 37 years ago, one of the Republican Senate candidates tried to run in Roanoke. Here’s what happened.
None of the five candidates seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to run against Democrat Tim Kaine have ever held public office. In some quarters, that’s considered a plus. Some of them, though, have tried. One of them has tried more than any other. In 2010, Virginia Beach attorney Chuck Smith ran for the U.S. House of Representatives against Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, in the 3rd District but lost, as Republicans typically do in that strongly Democratic district. In 2012, Smith ran for the Kempsville district seat on the Virginia Beach City Council, but finished fourth out of a field of four candidates. In 2017, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for attorney general but failed to qualify for the ballot. In 2021, Smith did far, far better ...
Virginia budget negotiators, Youngkin strike deal on spending plan
General Assembly negotiators and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) have reached a deal on the state budget, agreeing to use several hundred million dollars in excess state revenue to pay for spending priorities favored by the General Assembly without resorting to the tax expansion opposed by the governor. “We have a budget!” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Luke E. Torian (D-Prince William) said Thursday afternoon after meetings between lawmakers and Youngkin. The full document will be made public Saturday morning and still has to be approved by the legislature in a special session next week.
Shenandoah County School Board votes to restore Confederate names of schools
For the first time in United States history, a school district that changed the name of schools that honored Confederate generals, voted to restore the Confederate names years later. The Shenandoah County School Board held a public hearing on May 9 at Peter Muhlenberg Middle School to discuss restoring the names of Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School to Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School. At the hearing, residents voiced their opinions on the school’s current names and whether they agreed with the restoration or were against it.
Senate passes five-year FAA bill that would expand Reagan National flights
The Senate on Thursday passed a five-year, $105 billion bill that will reauthorize the FAA, after a bruising fight over whether to expand long-haul flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport … The measure, H.R. 3935, was passed 88-4. In the end, over the strenuous objections of the Maryland and Virginia delegations, the bill retains language that would expand those flights by five round trips per day.
Port of Virginia on track to have deepest channels on East Coast
Even while unexpectedly supporting the Port of Baltimore over the past three months, the Port of Virginia is on its way to having the deepest channels on the East Coast by next year, a distinction that will help it further support the exchange of domestic and international goods. According to Port of Virginia CEO and Executive Director Stephen Edwards, such investments have helped the company maintain a competitive edge in the market, which has handled the most cargo over the past four years compared to ports in South Carolina, Georgia and New York.
Commonwealth’s NIL rule for college sports should be national model
Nearly four years since the NCAA appropriately decided that student-athletes should be free to receive compensation for their names, images and likenesses (NIL), the landscape of college athletics has been profoundly transformed by the absence of clear, firm rules about those opportunities. Virginia recently has moved to bring order to the chaos with a law that should protect students and ensure stronger oversight in a previously untamed environment. Other states looking to do the same — and Congress, which has dithered on the issue — would do well to follow the commonwealth’s lead and adopt similar models.
A Week After Mountain Valley Pipeline Burst, Builder Says Testing Works
A week after a section of the Mountain Valley Pipeline ruptured during testing, its builder says the failure shows the testing is working as designed and intended. Part of the pipe burst on May 1 at Bent Mountain in Roanoke County, Virginia, releasing an unknown quantity of municipal water used to pressure test the line. Initially, the only way the public knew about the incident was because a landowner reported the sediment-laden water had inundated her property to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.