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Youngkin signs 2-year state budget, which includes toll relief for Hampton Roads
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an $188 billion state budget proposal Monday, moments after it was passed by the General Assembly. The two-year spending plan nixes a potential new tax on digital goods — a priority for Youngkin, who initially suggested the idea before reversing course — but still manages to fund most of the projects prioritized by Democrats, including massive investments in education. Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Louise Lucas, who sat beside the governor as he signed the proposal into law, called the plan a “big win” for Virginia.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signs $188B, 2-year budget in quick special session
Virginia lawmakers passed a $188 billion budget Monday, using unexpected tax money to fund spending increases General Assembly Democrats proposed in April, instead of a new digital sales tax that they had been at loggerheads over with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. When compared to the last two-year budget, the budget increases education funding by $2.5 billion; has a 3% raise for state employees, teachers, and support staff; and increases funding for child care by $500 million, according to a Senate summary.
An inside look at how AP African American Studies is taught at one Va. high school
Standing in the front of his Lorton, Virginia, classroom in October, Sean Miller told his students that food would be a topic of conversation during the class period. He also said they would talk about the types of goods that emerged in ancient East and West Africa. Part of that would involve how the influence of gold shaped the development of certain African empires. But first, Miller advised the class to pay attention to the video he was about to play. As part of a conversation about the cultural implications of food, he asked the class the types of food they’d expect to see at a Black family reunion.
600-acre data center project in Henrico up for deciding vote
Two years after a previous rezoning attempt by another group fizzled out, local development firm Hourigan is one vote away from securing approval for a massive industrial development in Varina that’s planned to include multiple data centers. Henrico supervisors are slated to vote tonight on Hourigan’s request to rezone 622 acres southeast of the Interstate 64-295 interchange from agricultural use to the county’s Light Industrial district. The change would allow more than half of the largely wooded site to be developed for manufacturing, office and production uses, including advanced manufacturing and data centers.
State budget includes $50M for broadband deployment
Virginia’s recently passed law to speed broadband deployment to rural areas now has a financial component. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s signature on the General Assembly’s budget bill will move $50 million over two years from the general fund to the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, or VATI. The money, earmarked to help cover construction costs for private sector broadband service providers, follows the so-called make-ready bill passed in April to solve disputes and speed work toward getting internet to the commonwealth’s rural residents.
Virginia lawmakers approve bipartisan spending plan
Weeks of Virginia state budget drama ended Monday with pledges of bipartisan goodwill as the General Assembly passed a compromise two-year spending plan that boosts funding for education and other priorities without increasing taxes. Votes in both the Senate and the House of Delegates were nearly unanimous. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who had raised the specter of an unprecedented state government shutdown by vowing not to sign the budget the legislature passed in March, rushed Monday to sign the new document after a special one-day legislative budget session.
New N. Va. data center firm sees big opportunities — outside N. Va.
Two regional real estate pros have launched a new company specializing in tapping data center demand outside Northern Virginia, citing local officials' cooling interest in the area's continuing to be home to the data center industry’s explosive growth. “Data center development is being choked off in Northern Virginia,” Ross Litkenhous, who recently co-founded Oasis Digital Properties LLC with Nick Over ... The new firm currently has eight deals in the works in King George and Wise counties, as well as other undisclosed places in southwestern Virginia.
Virginia Tech student helps lead push for women’s health legislation
At 20 years old, Aarushi Khanna played a central role in getting new legislation passed in Virginia. The Virginia Tech student is an ambassador for the Pad Project, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to menstrual products in places where supplies are limited, and to increasing education on women’s menstrual health. Khanna was one of several activists who pushed for the passage of House Bill 1221, which would allow for all schools in Virginia to provide menstrual education as part as overall health instruction for students middle school-age and up.
General Assembly passes budget with funds for priorities, no tax hike
The General Assembly found a way to compromise with Gov. Glenn Youngkin on tax policy while paying for such priorities as raises for teachers and state employees in a $188 billion two-year budget that the legislature adopted on Monday. The House of Delegates voted 94-6 to pass the spending plan for July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026. In the Senate, the vote was 39-1. The budget compromise avoids a showdown with Youngkin over modernizing Virginia’s tax code and returning the state to a multistate compact for reducing the greenhouse gases that scientists link to global warming and climate change. It also sidesteps — for now — an unresolved debate over whether to allow electronic “skill” games in convenience stores ...
Virginia could see more days with worse air quality ratings. Here’s why.
Virginians could start seeing more days rated with poorer air quality, the state says. But that’s because of changes in the standards – not the air. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality puts out daily forecasts that grade air quality based on public health threats from pollution emitted by sources like cars, power plants and wildfires. … The department said last week that residents might notice an uptick in days marked as moderate as opposed to good. That’s because a recent revision of federal pollution standards is stricter about what constitutes good air.