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Loudoun schools scrap 2-hour delay proposal
Loudoun County Public Schools is no longer considering starting school two hours late on 16 days next year to accommodate state-mandated training for teachers. In a division-wide letter to parents on May 17, Superintendent Aaron Spence said LCPS received nearly 2,000 comments from parents after administrators first announced the proposal at a May 14 School Board meeting. Officials are now exploring alternatives, he said.
Loudoun Schools Abandon Delayed Start Training Plan Amid Parental Pushback
Just days after presenting a plan to the School Board to have 16 two-hour delayed school days to accommodate more than 36 hours of state-required teacher training, division administrators announced Friday they are changing course after receiving nearly 2,000 responses from the community. “After carefully reviewing the feedback and recognizing that the adjusted arrival schedule is not an ideal option for the majority of the families we heard from, we are reconsidering our approach,” according to the emailed announcement.
Attorney says he misled client into taking plea in Richmond graduation shooting case; judge rejects motion to withdraw
Room 301 at the John Marshall Courts Building was packed Friday afternoon as Amari Pollard, the man who pleaded guilty in February to the shooting death of Shawn Jackson after Huguenot High School’s 2023 graduation ceremony, returned to court. He was there for a hearing on his motion to withdraw, or to legally ‘take-back’ his guilty plea.
Virginia has history of underfunding school construction
... Richmond Public Schools has acknowledged it’s been playing Whac-A-Mole with infrastructure issues. The district created a facilities plan in 2017, but some schools — like Woodville Elementary — were and still are on the list for needed upgrades. RPS is just now developing a plan to build a new Woodville. Meanwhile, Chesterfield County’s long-term school facilities plan is carefully charted to build and renovate numerous school buildings over the next five years.
Dominion approved for 3 long-term battery storage pilots
Dominion Energy recently received state regulatory approval to use developing battery storage technologies that could have major implications for the commonwealth’s renewable energy transition. The projects include two battery systems at Darbytown Power Station, a natural gas plant in Henrico County. One will utilize an iron-air battery system; the other, a zinc-hybrid technology. An additional project to help power Virginia State University’s Multi-Purpose Center will use metal-hydrogen batteries. Battery storage is expected to double on the United States electric grid in 2024.
Virginia’s Republican U.S. Senate candidates face off in Staunton ahead of primary
Four Republican candidates lobbed attacks at Democratic incumbents, Sen. Tim Kaine and President Joe Biden, and appeared to jockey for former President Donald Trump’s endorsement in the Virginia Senate primary race during a candidate forum on Friday. Scott Parkinson, Johnathan Emord, Eddie Garcia, and Chuck Smith met each other on stage Friday morning in front of roughly 100 people at Victory Worship Center and World Outreach, a church on a hill that overlooked a cow pasture and I-64 in Staunton.
Bristol Casino reports nearly $14M in April revenues
Adjusted gaming revenues for the first four months of this year topped $55 million for the Bristol Casino, future home of Hard Rock. On Wednesday the Virginia Lottery released its monthly casino revenues report, showing the temporary Bristol Casino generated nearly $14 million in adjusted gaming revenue – hitting $13.94 million. Through the first four months of the year, the casino’s revenues exceeded $55.7 million, or about 1% ahead of the first four months of 2023, lottery records show.
Second lawsuit is filed against Luna Innovations, alleging securities fraud
A newly filed federal lawsuit seeking class-action status against Roanoke-based Luna Innovations Inc. is looking to expand the timeline of the company’s alleged securities fraud. Plaintiffs’ lawyers accuse the fiber-optic sensing company of issuing financial reports that illegally inflated Luna’s stock price. The suit — which identifies Luna, its former chief executive officer, Scott Graeff, and two former chief financial officers, Eugene J. Nestro and George Gomez-Quintero, as defendants — makes allegations similar to a case filed in April.
Who were the mysterious ‘men in black’ at the UVa encampment?
Who were the men in black? In the fallout since the University of Virginia’s controversial decision to have Virginia State Police break up a small encampment of anti-war protesters on May 4, UVa officials have cited a number of justifications. Among them is a claim that four mysterious men in black, wearing helmets and backpacks, joined the encampment the night before. “At least two of these [men] were known to law enforcement personnel as participating in violent acts elsewhere in the commonwealth,” UVa President Jim Ryan said in a "virtual town hall" days after the incident. “This became a safety and security issue, especially when the four men came in on Friday night.” Since then, the university has offered almost no further details on the mysterious quartet ...
Under Glenn Youngkin, Parole in Virginia Has Nearly Vanished
In early April, Sarah Moore got the news she was dreading: Her husband, Dennis Jackson Moore, had been denied parole again. It was his fourth rejection in as many years. Dennis, who goes by Vega, is 45. He has spent more than half his life in prison in Virginia for a murder and armed robbery he committed as a teenager. At the time, his defense argued that he did not fully understand the charges against him and had been misled by a detective when he gave a recorded confession. Vega was tried in adult court.