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Interior Department defends Va. offshore wind farm in court
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.
Yancey: Shenandoah County set to vote on whether to restore Confederate names
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.
Student safety is an obligation, and ignoring that invites consequences
Let no one underestimate the seriousness of the Clery Act, the federal law that requires institutions that participate in federal financial-aid programs to provide timely reporting of statistics about various types of crime and other information about campus safety. The U.S. Department of Education underscored its importance last month when it imposed a staggering $14 million fine on Liberty University in Lynchburg for what the department called a “systemic and persistent” failure to comply with that campus-safety law.
Loudoun sheriff calls for school resource officers on elementary campuses
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.
VPAP Visual 2024 Top Legislator Stock Holdings
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.
Alexandria resident arrested on felony Jan. 6 assault charges
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.
Race to replace Va. Rep. Wexton accelerates with start of early voting
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.
Youngkin spending on consultants to push for procurement savings
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.
No one will take credit for calling state police on UVa campus protesters
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.
Chesapeake Bay watershed not likely to meet some pollution reduction goals by 2025
Virginia did not reach its 2023 pollution reduction targets for nitrogen and phosphorus, according to modeling tools from the Chesapeake Bay Program, but the state is on track for reducing sediment in the bay. Too much nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment in the Chesapeake Bay contribute to poor quality of the water. Nitrogen and phosphorus fuel the growth of algae blooms, and sediment can block sunlight from reaching underwater grasses, suffocating shellfish. Between 2022 and 2023, pollution loads for nitrogen fell 3.3%, phosphorus fell 4.5% and overall sediment levels decreased by 1% across six states and DC. Those seven entities are part of the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint.