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Health plan costs to rise for some state workers

By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Some Virginia state employees will pay more for health insurance beginning July 1, following the state’s latest review and projection of claims. Overall, the state Department of Human Resource Management proposed a 6.3% increase in total premiums for the next fiscal year. But full-time employee contributions — the sums taken out of paychecks — will rise by less than that. For some plans, there will be no increase at all.

VaNews April 23, 2024


President Biden visits Prince William park to talk solar, youth involvement on Earth Day

By CHARLIE PAULLIN, Virginia Mercury

President Joe Biden stopped by Prince William Forest Park in Triangle on Monday, as the country celebrated Earth Day, to tout two initiatives to combat climate change: expanding solar access and creating jobs to fuel America’s environmental efforts. Called the Solar for All program, Biden told the crowd that families could save about $400 a year on their electric bills by tapping into the federal initiative that will provide grant funding to expand the development of solar projects nationwide.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Richmond man charged with assaulting officer in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

By LUCA POWELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

A Richmond man associated with the white supremacist group Patriot Front is accused of striking a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building. Nathaniel Noyce of Richmond is charged with assaulting law enforcement officers, civil disorder, and violence and disorderly conduct at the Capitol.

VaNews April 23, 2024


New law closes marriage loophole to protect Virginia children

Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

By signing a bill last month that abolished child marriage, Gov. Glenn Youngkin made Virginia one of only a dozen states to prohibit the practice and the first Southern state to do so. That’s a landmark for the commonwealth, one that should have earned unanimous support in the legislature. Those who voted against, including three Republicans from Hampton Roads, should account for their opposition.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Beyer votes for Ukraine funding, against Israel military aid

ArlNow

Arlington’s Congressman split his votes on security funding bills for U.S. allies over the weekend. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) voted for bills to aid the defense of Ukraine, which is under Russian invasion, and Taiwan, which is under the threat of Chinese military action. He voted against defense aid for Israel, which is battling Hamas in a bloody conflict that has killed scores of civilians on both sides.

VaNews April 23, 2024


America’s first Black ambassador will be honored in his hometown: Roanoke

By MICHAEL HEMPHILL, Cardinal News

Outside his hometown of Roanoke, Edward R. Dudley lived a life of a civil rights hero. Special assistant counsel to Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. First African American to run for statewide office in New York on the ticket of a major party. First African American to serve as an administrative judge in New York State. And most prominent: first African American U.S. ambassador. But within Roanoke? “He’s such a brilliant guy, my dad,” lamented his 81-year-old son, Edward Dudley Jr. “But nobody knows about him.” Until now.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Bedford school board files $600K lawsuit against father of special needs student

By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

The Bedford County School Board filed a lawsuit seeking $600,000 in damages from the father of a special needs student, claiming the man’s abrasive communications with school staff about his son’s treatment over the last three years amounts to illegal intimidation and harassment. In court filings, Bedford resident David Rife insists he’s the one being intimidated, noting that the county school board sued him shortly after he filed a complaint with the Virginia Department of Education saying local school officials weren’t following the individualized education program, or IEP, designed to accommodate his son’s learning disability and improve his reading skills. When he filed the complaint, Rife told state officials he feared he would face retaliation locally, according to court documents.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Cline votes against Ukraine aid, supports aid for Israel, Taiwan

By CORMAC DODD, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Citing the national debt, U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-6th) voted against legislation that could send Ukraine $60 billion in foreign aid that passed the House over the weekend with bipartisan support. But Cline backed three other measures contained in the $95 billion package the House approved on Saturday, which included $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region to deter China; about $26 billion for supporting Israel and providing humanitarian relief for people in Gaza, and a measure that could force TikTok to sever ties with its parent company, Bytedance, or face a nationwide ban.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Trial opens for former Virginia hospital medical director accused of sexual abuse of ex-patients

By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

The former longtime medical director of a Virginia hospital that serves vulnerable children used physical examinations as a “ruse” to sexually abuse two teenage patients, a prosecutor said Monday, while the physician’s attorney “adamantly” denied any inappropriate conduct. The trial of Daniel N. Davidow of Richmond, who for decades served as the medical director of the Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents, opened Monday morning in New Kent County, where a judge will weigh the charges against him.

VaNews April 23, 2024


Powhatan County School Board adopts state’s model policy on transgender students

By ROSLYN RYAN, Powhatan Today

After previously voting it down, the Powhatan County School Board voted 4-1 on April 16 in favor of adopting a controversial policy related to the division’s treatment of students who identify as transgender or nonbinary. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools,” had been opposed 3-2 by the Powhatan School Board last December, during the last meeting of the previously-elected board.

VaNews April 23, 2024