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DuVal: New K-12 accountability standards must also address disparities
Virginia’s business community is keenly aware of the vital role that education plays in driving economic development and preparing a well-trained, qualified workforce. Our students of today are our workforce of tomorrow. The Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the largest business advocacy organization in the commonwealth with more than 30,000 members, has long supported policies that strengthen our education-workforce system to bolster Virginia’s economic growth and business climate. Simply put, to be the best state for business, Virginia must be the best state for talent.
Carilion Clinic cleared in tainted instrument probe
Investigators received an anonymous complaint last summer tipping them off that Carilion Clinic’s two largest hospitals were struggling with a months-long spike in surgical instruments with blemishes, stains, spots and debris. Tainted surgical instruments were found on the front lines of care, including in trays awaiting use in heart procedures, and pulled before use. When surgeons had too few clean instruments to operate, patients waited. While the health system showed that no blemished instrument ever touched a patient and few surgeries overall were delayed, inspectors working on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put a condition into effect known as “immediate jeopardy.” The reason: a breakdown in infection control.
Legislators slash funding for Health Wagon amid reports CEO’s compensation package nearly doubled in 2 years
Legislators have pulled more than $800,000 from the state budget that had been earmarked for St. Mary’s Health Wagon, a free clinic in Southwest Virginia whose top executive was recently compensated more than $520,000, a sum that nearly doubled over two years and places her compensation far beyond the salaries of comparable executives in wealthier regions of Virginia. The Health Wagon has received state funding consistently since 2006, and an earlier version of this year’s budget included another allocation for it. However, state budget negotiators removed this allocation after reports surfaced that leadership, including CEO Teresa Tyson and clinical director Paula Hill-Collins, as well as other Health Wagon employees, earned outsized compensation packages in recent years.
McGuire opts not to attend forum with GOP rival Bob Good
State Sen. John McGuire, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Bob Good in the 5th Congressional District’s June 18 GOP primary will not take part in a May 20 public forum in Amherst County despite an online flyer from the county’s Republican Party billing the two candidates appearing together. The Amherst County Republican Committee’s Facebook page had advertised a forum for May 20 at Sweet Briar College. A statement from McGuire’s campaign said: “We are not going to be participating in an event that is meant to prop up Bob Good’s failing campaign rather than inform voters on the issues.”
In 7th District primary, Republicans debate party’s future
Clashes among Republican factions in the 118th Congress are playing out in Virginia's 7th Congressional District, with money and endorsements flowing to rival candidates in a GOP primary from the party's establishment and most conservative wings in the House of Representatives. The 7th, based in Prince William, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties, is a pivotal political battleground in the outer Northern Virginia suburbs and countryside for control of the House in a presidential election year.
Waddell: Support academic freedom, but don’t deny oversight
State Sen. Mamie Locke’s guest column in the May 4 paper, “Youngkin administration actions undermine academic freedom,” is on target in saying that “higher education … is about equipping students with the tools to navigate complex issues, not indoctrinating them with a particular ideology,” and that students deserve a comprehensive education that “equips them to think critically.” I applaud and join in those sentiments, for there is no greater threat to our country right now than our inability to think dispassionately and carefully, to admit the possibility that our beliefs may not be 100% right, and to negotiate with ourselves.
22 Guatemalan teens missing from Culpeper
Nearly two dozen unaccompanied migrant children from Guatemala who lived for a short time in Culpeper remain missing, considered runaways. It’s an eye-opening issue, happening nationwide, that’s tied to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The federal agency, part of U.S. Health and Human Services, places migrant teens crossing at the southern border with sponsors in communities across America, including Culpeper. But this small-town has seen a disproportionate number of Guatemalan teens go missing — 38 altogether since 2019, mostly males with an average age of 15-17, according to Culpeper Police Sgt. Detective Norma McGuckin.
More than 100 VCU graduates walk out during Youngkin’s graduation speech
As Gov. Glenn Youngkin began his commencement speech Saturday morning, more than 100 graduates of Virginia Commonwealth University staged a walkout. They held signs, wore Middle Eastern keffiyehs around their shoulders in support of Palestine and marched down Richmond’s streets. About 50 demonstrators walked from the Greater Richmond Convention Center to Abner Clay Park, chanting “One, two, three, four, tell Youngkin no more. Five, six, seven, eight, Richmond we will liberate.” Youngkin did not pause his remarks as students departed, proceeding with a 15-minute speech that celebrated VCU graduates and steered clear of controversy.
$3 billion data center project proposed for Powhatan
A California developer wants to bring Virginia’s data center boom to new territory: Powhatan County, on an undeveloped 119.9-acre tract abutting the Chesterfield County line north of U.S. Route 60. Ultimately, the project would mean a $1.5 billion investment in buildings and other improvements as well as about $1.5 billion in equipment, said Roxanne Salerno, Powhatan’s economic development manager.
Facilities run by Virginia’s behavioral health agency don’t comply with parts of disability rights law, audit finds
Unannounced inspections of the 12 facilities run by Virginia’s behavioral health agency last July found many Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance issues, per a new audit, including that most had inaccessible restrooms and paths from parking areas. The office of Virginia’s inspector general looked into whether the state-operated facilities overseen by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) complied with some requirements of the federal law prohibiting discrimination based on disability.