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Cost of Mountain Valley Pipeline up to $7.85 billion
As work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline nears a finish, the price of the massive infrastructure project continues to climb. The estimated cost is now $7.85 billion, according to a first-quarter earnings report released Tuesday by Equitrans Midstream Corp., the lead partner of the 303-mile natural gas pipeline. That’s up from $7.6 billion earlier this year, and more than double the $3.7 billion projection made in 2018, when construction began on the deeply controversial project that cuts a path through the New River and Roanoke valleys.
Virginia Beach denies collective bargaining of city employees
The City Council denied collective bargaining of city employees in a 5-5 vote with one abstention Tuesday, and instead decided to establish employee relations committees for full-time city workers. Police officers, firefighters, emergency medical services and public works personnel wanted to negotiate better wages and enhanced employment conditions. But Mayor Bobby Dyer said the timing wasn’t right yet “given the budget constraints we have now.”
VPAP Visual Governor’s Amendments Adopted
When the General Assembly reconvened this year to consider Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s recommendations, it adopted only 53% of his amended bills, a record low since 2006. See how this compares with recent years in VPAP’s latest visual.
Steel tubes ready for start of Virginia Beach offshore wind farm construction
The first batch of the enormous metal structures used as wind turbine bases in Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm will soon be headed on a boat to the construction site off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia Port Authority officials said Tuesday. Six monopiles — steel tubes almost as long as a football field — are ready to be loaded onto the Orion vessel to be installed at the wind farm site, Virginia Port Authority Chief Development and Public Affairs Officer Cathie Vick told the port’s board of directors during an April 30 meeting.
McElwain: As other states ban abortion, Va. remains a beacon of hope
In a small town in Florida, a half-day drive from Richmond, a woman takes a pregnancy test after realizing her period is a couple of weeks late. If she goes into her nearest Planned Parenthood in Tallahassee to seek an abortion, she may be too late now that Florida’s six-week abortion ban has taken effect. Even if she makes it into the health center prior to the cutoff, she will have to come back again at least 24 hours later due to Florida’s mandatory waiting period. As Florida’s near-total ban on abortion takes effect, our hearts go out to all impacted. In these troubling times, I want to assure those seeking care: Virginia is here for you.
Drakes: School nurses could be the cure to chronic absenteeism
Chronic absenteeism in K-12 schools is at an all-time high in Virginia as the public education system continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Chronic absenteeism is defined as students who miss more than 18 days of school, and this number has doubled across the commonwealth since 2019. The Virginia Department of Education has launched a campaign in response to this issue, as gaps in learning have been revealed by the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) test scores.
Scrap over expanded flights at Reagan National bedevils big aviation bill
This week’s vote on a major aviation bill is reigniting one of the Capitol’s most parochial recurring feuds — a spat over how many flights can take off and land at Congress’ favorite airport. Once again, the senators who represent Virginia and Maryland appear outgunned. The D.C.-area lawmakers are waging a last-ditch fight nonetheless to try to keep Congress from approving additional flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Their arguments include the contention that the extra flights would compromise safety — although the Federal Aviation Administration has said the agency will ensure safety isn’t harmed.
Youngkin’s biggest legacy in Virginia could be his impact on education—for better or worse
With a new sports arena dead in the water and a legislature controlled by political opponents, Governor Glenn Youngkin’s largest impact on the state after he leaves office could be in the education space. Youngkin was clear about his education priorities on the campaign trail back in 2021. “We watched parents all over the commonwealth stand up and try to defend their children, get our schools open, make sure materials are appropriate in the classroom,” then-candidate Youngkin said on the campaign trial. Now, two and a half years later, Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera said the governor has delivered on those promises.
Va. Beach rejects collective bargaining for city employees
Virginia Beach’s City Council voted 5-5 on a measure to allow employees to negotiate their wages and working conditions, ultimately defeating the proposal. Five council members — Sabrina Wooten, David Hutcheson, Jennifer Rouse, Worth Remick and Joash Schulman — voted in favor of the request from the city’s firefighter’s union. Councilmember Amelia Ross-Hammond abstained from the vote. Council measures need a majority vote to pass. Mayor Bobby Dyer and others suggested an ‘enhanced meet-and-confer,’ which would create a formal committee for the city manager to hear employee concerns instead of granting collective bargaining rights.
Williams: Police crackdown of VCU protest is sad déjà vu
“Four years later and we’re still writing the same headlines about protesters,” read Monday night’s text message from a friend. “History always has a way of repeating itself.” Virginia Commonwealth University responded to a pro-Palestinian encampment by summoning shield-bearing riot police who sprayed students with a chemical irritant. The college showed remarkably little forbearance for what had been a peaceful protest before a busload of police, in an act of provocation and intimidation, rolled up to the Cabell Library to forcefully evict students from the “Liberation Zone for Gaza.”