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Interior Department defends Va. offshore wind farm in court

By NIINA H. FARAH, E&E News

The Biden administration and the developer of a $9.8 billion wind farm off of Virginia Beach, Virginia, assured a federal court Friday that the project has all necessary approvals, amid claims that construction would harm the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The joint court filing from the Interior Department and Dominion Energy comes in response to a request to halt work on the massive Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which is slated to include 176 turbines and is the largest project of its kind currently under development in the United States.

VaNews May 7, 2024


Yancey: Shenandoah County set to vote on whether to restore Confederate names

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

The Shenandoah County School Board is set to vote Thursday on whether to restore Confederate names to two schools. What used to be Stonewall Jackson High School is now Mountain View High School. What used to be Ashby Lee Elementary is now Honey Run Elementary. The 2020 name changes have not sat well with some in the county. Those who opposed the name changes in the first place remain on the school board; those who favored them are now gone and a new school board might well take the unusual step of returning Confederate names to public buildings.

VaNews May 7, 2024


Loudoun sheriff calls for school resource officers on elementary campuses

By KARINA ELWOOD, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Loudoun County’s sheriff is renewing a push to add school resource officers to its 62 elementary schools. The call from Sheriff Mike Chapman (R) came in response to Loudoun County Public Schools releasing 11 safety recommendations from a months-long “Blue Ribbon Panel” on school security. Adding security personnel to elementary schools was among the ideas.

VaNews May 7, 2024


VPAP Visual 2024 Top Legislator Stock Holdings

The Virginia Public Access Project

Virginia legislators are required to file conflict of interest forms each year disclosing their ownership of securities, including stock in publicly traded companies. See the companies that were reported in the stock portfolios of at least five members of the 2024 General Assembly.

VaNews May 8, 2024


Alexandria resident arrested on felony Jan. 6 assault charges

By VERNON MILES, Alx Now

Alexandria resident David Marshall, 57, has been arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly assaulting law enforcement during the Jan. 6 riot in 2021. Marshall was arrested on May 1 for multiple alleged assaults on law enforcement officers and on a member of the news media, according to the Department of Justice.

VaNews May 7, 2024


Race to replace Va. Rep. Wexton accelerates with start of early voting

By ANTONIO OLIVO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A cow bell clanged inside the Rust Library in Northern Virginia, and the 12 Democrats vying for a chance to replace U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) each moved to a different cluster of voters, hoping to win them over during a “speed dating” candidates forum. A few days later, three of the four Republicans running in their party’s primary election in Wexton’s 10th Congressional District stood before an audience of Loudoun County retirees and tried to outflank each other on issues like border security and inflation.

VaNews May 7, 2024


Youngkin spending on consultants to push for procurement savings

By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Gov. Glenn Youngkin‘s chief procurement officer is leaving state government, but not before a final push to reach the governor’s promised goal of saving $200 million on state purchases of goods and services by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Reaching that goal is costing the state more money on outside consultants, including four information technology consultants that the governor’s office hired in the previous three months.

VaNews May 7, 2024


No one will take credit for calling state police on UVa campus protesters

By JASON ARMESTO, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

On Saturday, a decision was made by someone at the University of Virginia to have state police break up a small anti-war encampment on Grounds. Exactly who made that decision remains unclear. Gov. Glenn Youngkin is not taking credit. Various statements from the school indicate it was President Jim Ryan or university police that determined state troopers were needed to remove the two dozen rain-soaked protesters, what remained of a four-day demonstration on a patch of grass near the University Chapel.

VaNews May 7, 2024


Rozell: Youngkin, Dems wasted months on political theater. Can they pass a budget?

By MARK J. ROZELL, published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

During the one-day reconvened General Assembly session in which legislators consider gubernatorial amendments and vetoes, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Democratic legislative leaders said out loud the part we knew all along — it was finally time to compromise. Perhaps we should rejoice that the realization sank in late instead of too late to meet the June 30 deadline for finalizing a new budget to direct state government spending for the next two fiscal years.

Rozell is the dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University where he holds the Ruth D. and John T. Hazel Chair in Public Policy.

VaNews May 7, 2024


Family of patient killed by deputies reacts to withdrawn charges against five of them

By BILL ATKINSON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)

Dinwiddie commonwealth’s attorney Amanda Nicole Mann said Monday that a judge has agreed to her motions to drop second-degree murder charges against five of the Henrico County deputies in the March 6, 2023, death of a mental patient at Central State Hospital. Meanwhile, 40 miles north of Dinwiddie County in a downtown Richmond conference room, the mother of that patient blasted Mann’s decision as “radical and reckless,” and restated her request that the U.S. Department of Justice take over prosecution of the matter.

VaNews May 7, 2024