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’No other choice’: UVa president defends decision to call in state troopers amid protest
Hours after calling in state troopers to break up a quiet, rain-soaked encampment of anti-war protesters, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan issued a public statement calling the episode “upsetting, frightening and sad.” Ryan had been noticeably absent from the episode itself. His public statement Saturday evening, his first on the matter, came well after the encampment had been raided and the 25 demonstrators who had pitched tents on the patch of grass by the university's chapel were arrested and carried off to Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
25 arrested at UVa. after clashes with police
Authorities arrested 25 pro-Palestinian demonstrators during a sustained confrontation at the University of Virginia on Saturday, university officials said, after dozens of law enforcement officers in riot gear surrounded a student encampment and used pepper spray to disperse people from the area. The clash, which U-Va. President James E. Ryan described in a letter to the school community Saturday evening as “upsetting, frightening and sad,” marked the latest escalation during the past several weeks of protests on campuses over the Israel-Gaza war.
Coakley: Election officials aren’t just vote counters. We’re part of the community
Election officials and our work can be a heated subject, particularly in a world of viral media where conflict and extreme views often get the most reach. It would be easy for any voter to imagine “election officials” as a far-off group of people in their state capital or in Washington, D.C., who don’t know them or understand their community. In reality that couldn’t be further from the truth — election officials are part of every single community in the nation, and we conduct elections according to the highest standards of ethics and integrity.
VCU should embrace peaceful dissent, not send in the riot police
No matter one’s religious or political beliefs, there is no denying the anger and passion fueling the recent nationwide surge in student protests over the Israel-Hamas war. In the city, after a violent clash between police and demonstrators at Virginia Commonwealth University on Monday night, the streets are once again littered with proverbial eggshells. To this point, Richmond is but a snippet. The pro-Palestinian movement has been slowly building in RVA for months, but so far most of the violent imagery flashing across our screens is from elsewhere.
Election workers fear threats and political interference. Listen to them.
Six months before Americans cast their ballots for president, members of Congress and a host of local offices, election workers are deeply concerned about their safety and worried that unscrupulous officials will interfere with the vote. Those are among the findings of a recent survey conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice, which makes for grim reading. Virginia recently took an important step to protect poll workers, but they also need responsible leaders to build trust in the system rather than maligning it for political gain.
Democrats hold 5th District candidate forum in Danville
Three Democrats vying for the nomination to run for the 5th District Congressional seat faced off during a candidate forum at Danville Community College on Thursday evening. The three contenders, Gary Terry, Paul Riley and Gloria Witt, hope to replace current Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, who is being challenged for the Republican nomination by state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland.
Locke: Youngkin administration actions undermine academic freedom
Back in the fall of 2021, while teaching a unit on the presidency in an American government class, I encountered a question from a student about why I would even address Donald Trump. My response was straightforward: “Because he was a president.” This simple exchange illustrates the essence of academic freedom — a principle that is currently under threat in Virginia. The question didn’t arise from mere curiosity; it stemmed from a broader political critique, suggesting a “thinly veiled attempt to incorporate the progressive left’s groupthink on our students.”
VCU protesters arraigned as dozens appear in court to support them
Twelve people were arraigned in a packed courtroom at the John Marshall Courts Building on Friday morning on charges related to Monday’s violent clash between pro-Palestine protesters and police outside the James Branch Cabell Library on VCU’s Monroe Park campus. [They] have all been charged with participating in an unlawful assembly and trespassing on VCU property after a group of protesters established an encampment on the lawn outside the library and refused to disperse when ordered by officers dressed in riot gear and carrying guns and pepper spray.
Dominion: Big development projects get electric bill discounts
Wooing Virginia development projects for the kind of growth that generates scores of jobs and millions of dollars of new investments can sometimes mean millions of dollars of breaks on electric bills. In Virginia, such projects received some $24 million worth of discounts on utility bills since Dominion Energy’s launch of an incentive program nine years ago, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis of State Corporation Commission filings.
Williams: Congressional bill is about curbing college speech, not antisemitism
Antisemitism was on the march on a college campus in August 2017 when torch-carrying Nazis and other white supremacists chanted “Jews will not replace us” during a rally at the University of Virginia. Antisemitism was on the hunt on Oct. 27, 2018, when a gunman open fired during the Shabbat morning services at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue ... But it was not until Wednesday that the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, as if suddenly cognizant of the lethal power of anti-Jewish hate.