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By FORD MCCRACKEN,
Cavalier Daily
The Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities had their Fraternal Organization Agreements suspended by the University, while the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity had its FOA terminated after allegations of hazing, according to Ben Ueltschey, Inter-Fraternity Council president and third-year College student. While the Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities face temporary suspensions, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity will have its FOA terminated for a minimum of four years. It is unclear when the violations in all three chapters took place or when the University moved to suspend and terminate their FOAs.
VaNews April 23, 2024
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
By JILL PALERMO,
Prince William Times
In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a Civilian Conservation Corps, and about 2,000 of its members worked from 1935 to 1942 to build what is now Prince William Forest Park.
On Monday, President Joe Biden made an Earth Day stop at that park, one of Prince William County’s two national parks, to announce what he called “two major steps forward” in his proposals for fighting climate change — including that the new “American Climate Corps” is now open for applications for the first time.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By ERIC KOLENICH,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
For two years, the city of Richmond pitched a new minor-league baseball stadium as a project that would have no impact on the city’s taxpayers.
This month, however, city leaders made a significant pivot. Deciding the old plan had become too expensive, they announced a new financing structure. The city will issue general obligation bonds and, if the worst-case scenario unfolds, the city would have to delay programs or raise taxes to pay off the debt.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By MEGHAN MCINTYRE,
Virginia Mercury
Both residents and Virginia Department of Forestry officials agree: Callery pear trees, including the much-loathed Bradford pear variety, aren’t just offensive to the nose — they’re detrimental to the state’s environment.
A new state program is what led approximately 300 residents to the department’s headquarters in Charlottesville this past weekend, each having chopped down at least one pungent, invasive Callery pear in exchange for a native tree species.
VaNews April 23, 2024
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
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
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
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
By MICHAEL J. PETRILLI,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
If Virginia’s school system were a person, we’d say it was born on third base and thought it hit a triple. Indeed, the commonwealth’s education officials have spent so many years patting themselves on the back that their arms must hurt.
It’s true that some national magazines have ranked Virginia’s schools highly in the past. But that’s not surprising, given that it’s also one of the wealthiest states in the nation.
Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution.
VaNews April 23, 2024
