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By JUSTIN FAULCONER,
News & Advance
(Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
At a campaign event in Amherst County on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-5th District, described his intra-Republican Party battle with a state legislator challenging his allegiance to former President Donald Trump as “the highest-profile primary race in the country.” Good, chair of the House Freedom Caucus who was among the group in Congress who engineered the historic ouster of former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last fall, is trying to secure a third term in the June 18 primary against newly elected state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By TAFT COGHILL JR.,
Fredericksburg Free Press
As a newly elected Spotsylvania County School Board member, Belen Rodas was not involved in the contentiousness that made national news on a regular basis over the previous two years.
Rodas received a firsthand view of the argumentative nature of the group during a work session Tuesday night, as a discussion on whether to release the cause of the firing of former Superintendent Mark Taylor became heated.
Microphones were shut off as board members screamed at each other. Allegations of dishonesty were lobbed at Chair Lorita Daniels by board members Lisa Phelps and April Gillespie. Daniels attempted multiple times to enter recess but was rebuffed because a motion was on the floor.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By GABBY ALLEN,
WDVM-TV
IAFF Local 3756, the union that represents about 650 officials throughout the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Department, ratified their first-ever Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on Sunday night.
The Loudoun Career Fire Fighters Association (LCFFA) said the members of Local 3756 are the first public sector employees to ratify a CBA in the history of Loudoun County. The association described it as a “blowout and historic victory.”
VaNews April 29, 2024
By SAM SCHAFFER,
Virginian-Pilot
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
William & Mary will increase tuition for the second year in a row after years of the price remaining the same.
Tuition will increase by 2.5% for in-state undergraduate students and by 3.3% for out-of-state undergraduate students for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, according to a resolution passed by the W&M Board of Visitors on Friday.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By JOSHUA BARLOW,
WTOP
Twelve people protesting the war in Gaza, including nine students, were arrested at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on Saturday after those individuals refused to vacate an area around Jefferson Square, according to the university president.
In a message to the college community, UMW President Troy Paino said that after safety concerns arose during the afternoon on Friday, participants in the protest were told that encampments and tents would not be permitted as part of the demonstration.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By ROBERT ARCHER,
published in
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The efforts in the recent legislative session to make the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority more independent of the executive branch give me pause and concern. I have been involved in the alcohol business at Blue Ridge Beverage Company Inc. for more than 50 years. Our family business has always taken seriously the responsible marketing and consumption of alcoholic beverages and the issues surrounding them. Also, in my travels over the years as a member of our national trade association leadership, I learned that Virginia’s ABC has always served as a model for the control and regulation of a product that can cause harm if abused.
Archer is chairman and CEO of Blue Ridge Beverage Inc. based in Salem.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By JOEY LOMONACO,
Fredericksburg Free Press
At least 12 people — including several University of Mary Washington students — were arrested Saturday evening as police from descended upon an encampment in Jefferson Square that was previously disbanded on Friday night.
However, students from the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine organization re-staked their tents on Saturday afternoon, and at 5:39 p.m., SJP president Amirah Ahmed sent a Free Press reporter a two-word text message: “they’re arresting.”
An Instagram live feed from UMW’s SJP showed at least three students being led away from the square in handcuffs by UMW Police officers, while a mix of students, faculty and community members looked on. Troopers from the Virginia State Police were also on the scene.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By LUKE WEIR,
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Pro-Palestinian protesters linked arms to protect Muslim participants during late afternoon prayers at Virginia Tech, minutes after student organizers warned of a potential police crackdown during a third day of demonstrations on Sunday. Hundreds participated and more people watched as chants continued outside the Graduate Life Center on campus in Blacksburg. Around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, police were setting up a perimeter and warning anyone inside it to leave or be arrested, including media. Buses with police officers were arriving.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By MARTIN WEIL,
Washington Post
(Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Arrests were underway early Monday at a pro-Palestinian protest at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, the school said. “They are being made,” a school spokesman said in an email early Monday. The numbers of those arrested and of those demonstrating could not be learned immediately. Posts on X indicated that hundreds were demonstrating and that several had been arrested.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By KATHERINE SCHULTE,
Virginia Business
Google is investing $1 billion in expanding its Virginia data center campuses this year and is launching a $75 million Google.org AI Opportunity Fund, one of Google’s top executives and Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday at Google’s Reston office. “Today is a great day. We’ve got a $1 billion investment in the commonwealth that we’re announcing. There’s an establishment of a new AI Opportunity Fund. And we’re creating new and opportunistic ways and pathways for people to upskill and find a new pathway to an amazing career,” Youngkin said. “That is worth celebrating.”
VaNews April 29, 2024
