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Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority to sell 148-acre property for $6.2 million
The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority found a buyer to take its 148-acre property for $6.2 million. The EDA board of directors voted at its meeting on Friday to approve a motion to enter into a contract with Plein Smith for three, undeveloped plots totaling 148 acres on Progress Drive in the Happy Creek Technology Park. Plein Smith has agreed to buy the plots for $6,260,000 per the contract. ... The sale of the property helps the EDA pay down its multi-million-dollar debt incurred under a previous executive director, Jennifer McDonald ...
Google Announces $1B Investment in Virginia Data Center Expansion, AI Training Programs
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat on Friday announced a $1 billion investment to expand Google’s Virginia data center campuses this year including two Loudoun County sites. The $1 billion investment brings Google’s total investment in the state to more than $4.2 billion. Google calculates its Loudoun County investment at more than $1 billion.
2 Bedford County School Board members say board wasn’t aware of lawsuit against parent
Three of seven Bedford County School Board members have spoken up in a Facebook group about a lawsuit filed last month against a parent, with two saying the school board didn’t sign off on the suit bearing its name as plaintiff. The suit seeks $600,000 in damages from Moneta resident David Rife, alleging he used crude language and threatened police and legal action during repeated calls to the school district about his son.
William & Mary to raise tuition for second year in a row
William & Mary will increase tuition for the second year in a row after years of the price remaining the same. Tuition will increase by 2.5% for in-state undergraduate students and by 3.3% for out-of-state undergraduate students for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, according to a resolution passed by the W&M Board of Visitors on Friday.
State rolling back regulations for wetland delineators under Youngkin directive
Those puddles of water along highways and property that seem like swamps are wetlands, a natural resource with numerous environmental benefits ranging from wildlife habitat and protection from flooding. How those wetlands are sited and how they are protected is determined by wetland delineators, who are professionally certified after rigorous training and years of experience. But Virginia legislators this year rolled back one requirement for the job and are attempting further changes through a less public regulatory process. Current professional wetland delineators say those efforts could undermine the integrity of the state’s certification and efforts to preserve a natural resource that is already under threat.
Spotsylvania School Board reps demand answers on superintendent’s firing
As a newly elected Spotsylvania County School Board member, Belen Rodas was not involved in the contentiousness that made national news on a regular basis over the previous two years. Rodas received a firsthand view of the argumentative nature of the group during a work session Tuesday night, as a discussion on whether to release the cause of the firing of former Superintendent Mark Taylor became heated. Microphones were shut off as board members screamed at each other. Allegations of dishonesty were lobbed at Chair Lorita Daniels by board members Lisa Phelps and April Gillespie. Daniels attempted multiple times to enter recess but was rebuffed because a motion was on the floor.
Protest at Virginia Tech swells; police move to break it up
Pro-Palestinian protesters linked arms to protect Muslim participants during late afternoon prayers at Virginia Tech, minutes after student organizers warned of a potential police crackdown during a third day of demonstrations on Sunday. Hundreds participated and more people watched as chants continued outside the Graduate Life Center on campus in Blacksburg. Around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, police were setting up a perimeter and warning anyone inside it to leave or be arrested, including media. Buses with police officers were arriving.
RPD asked protesters to scale back marches amid spike in violence, staffing issues
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards on Thursday said the department had reached out to pro-Palestine protest organizers to ask them to decrease the frequency of their demonstrations amid a surge in violent crime in the city and persistent police staffing issues. In a text message sent by Richmond police officer Mohammed Maher Hameed to organizer Zaid Mahdawi, Hameed requested that the protesters give Richmond police “a little break.”
Warrenton mayor defends controversial data center project
The special Warrenton Town Council meeting was called to hear from Dominion Energy about how it will run power lines to the proposed Amazon data center on Blackwell Road. But when Dominion failed to supply any new information, it spun into something else. Three council members tried to gain approval for one last check on noise the data center might emit, but the move clearly frustrated Mayor Carter Nevill, who launched into a nearly eight-minute speech, during which he defended the controversial Amazon project, the town council and staff — as well as the rigor of the town’s approval process.
Many Hampton Roads families are struggling to get students back in class.
One day, Judith Burkett of Portsmouth received a call from her grandson’s school: Did she know where Jakob was? He hadn’t attended in months. Months before, the boy — his mother, her partner and three younger brothers — had been living with Burkett. But Burkett’s daughter and her partner had a drug problem and the family suddenly left in fall 2022, a couple of months into Jakob’s third grade year. Burkett started asking friends and family to help look. She found out where they were living and alerted the school. The school attendance liaison became “a godsend.” “She was like a pit bull until she got him back in school.”