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Police clash with protesters at VCU pro-Palestine event
Richmond and Virginia State Troopers arrested multiple Virginia Commonwealth University students Monday night, firing tear gas and pepper spray to break up a pro-Palestine encampment in a chaotic clash on its Monroe Park campus The protest, similar to those at colleges across the country, was organized by VCU’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. Chapter leaders posted a statement on the organization’s Instagram demanding that the university disclose its expenditure and divest from any companies and partnerships that profit from or support the “colonization and genocide of the Palestinian people.”
University: 82 people arrested at Virginia Tech encampment
Police arrested 82 people, including 53 current students, late Sunday night and early Monday at a pro-Palestine encampment on the lawn of the Graduate Life Center at Virginia Tech. All were charged with trespassing, a university statement said Monday afternoon. This appears to mark the largest arrest of students on campus since May 12, 1970, when 107 students were taken in after occupying Williams Hall as part of a protest of the Vietnam War and the fatal shooting of four students just days earlier at Kent State University, according to university records and the Collegiate Times, the student newspaper.
Antiwar protest at VCU ends in multiple arrests
Police at Virginia Commonwealth University used force to make an unknown number of arrests roughly 10 minutes after arriving at a protest on Monday night. Students and community members who had gathered were demanding the school disclose and sever financial ties with Israel — and call for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. … Students at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond began implementing a “liberation zone” early Monday, writing chalk messages of support for Palestinians and antiwar sentiments on the public campus.
More flights could be coming to DCA despite recent near-collision and pushback from Va. senators
A bill to add more flights to Reagan National Airport is moving forward despite opposition from Virginia’s senators. Senate and House negotiators have reached an agreement to add five more daily round-trip flights to the airport. The 1,069-page reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration will now head to the Senate floor, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation announced today (Monday). The proposed change comes despite an analysis by the FAA itself, which reportedly found that five more round trips would result in an extra 12 hours of delays each day.
As internet data centers multiply, efforts to control them are growing
A backlash against internet data centers has triggered a wave of laws around the country to restrain the rapidly growing industry that uses massive amounts of energy to make cloud computing and smart technology possible. In Northern Virginia, home to the world’s largest concentration of data center buildings, Prince William County last week increased its tax rate on the equipment inside data centers by 72 percent, a response in part to complaints about too many of the football-field-sized facilities being built there. Neighboring Loudoun County — which is home to most of the data centers in Northern Virginia — is moving to keep the buildings away from homes and some commercial corridors, in part by making all data center projects subject to the county board’s review instead of allowing them as a “by right” development in certain areas.
Shadow of Trump looms large in viciously fought GOP primary battle in Virginia’s 5th District
Less than two months before the June 18 primary elections, Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, the incumbent, continues to enjoy the backing of local party leadership, despite ongoing attempts by state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland County, to make the Republican nomination contest in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District a referendum on which candidate is the most loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump. McGuire alleges that Good is “working against Trump … and against our party” any chance he gets. … But Rick Buchanan, the chairman of the district’s GOP committee, said that he doesn’t believe that even a formal endorsement of McGuire by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee — should he offer one — would move the needle much in favor of the ambitious McGuire.
Chesterfield’s Sen. Hashmi joins crowded Democratic contest for lieutenant governor
Virginia’s growing field of Democratic hopefuls for lieutenant governor just got a new entrant. Two-term state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, filed paperwork Monday to formally enter the race. She joins a 2025 Democratic nomination contest that already includes Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney; Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach; and Dr. Babur Lateef, an eye surgeon who chairs Prince William County’s School Board.
Locals hold weekly vigils for hostages in Gaza
Until last week, former Richmond resident Hersh Goldberg-Polin had not been seen or heard from since Oct. 7 — the day he was taken hostage by Hamas militants at a music festival in the Israeli village of Re’im. But on Wednesday, Hamas released a video that appears to show Goldberg-Polin alive: a glimmer of hope after talks between Israel and Hamas previously had stalled. Prior footage of his kidnapping shows the badly wounded Goldberg-Polin, then 23, being loaded into the back of a truck alongside other abductees.
Youngkin says no to encampments on Virginia campuses, supports ‘peaceful’ protests
Amid the unrest over actions in the Gaza War, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Sunday that the commonwealth will permit “peaceful” protests, but will not tolerate intimidation and encampments on college campuses. Since Saturday, protestors have been arrested at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg and in Blacksburg at Virginia Tech. During CNN’s “State of the Union” television show on Sunday, Youngkin said that the First Amendment encompasses freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration. Still, he added it does not allow for intimidating Jewish students, preventing them from attending class and using annihilation speech to express deeply antisemitic views.
House Districts 7 and 10 aren’t the only Va. congressional races with contested primaries
With the filing deadline passed and campaigns ramping up on their spending, the June primary race is well underway for federal office in Virginia. All of Virginia's 11 U.S. House of Representatives seats, along with Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine - who occupies one of two U.S. Senate seats in the commonwealth - will be up for election in November. Six U.S. House districts will have contested primary elections on June 18. Kaine does not have a Democratic primary challenger and will not appear on the June ballot.