Search
Yancey: Rural Virginia sees same population growth rate as Nashville. That growth just isn’t evenly distributed.
Nashville has grown so fast it’s no longer just Nashville. It’s now sometimes jokingly called Nashvegas. Far from being just a country music city, Nashville is now a corporate center, a health care center, home to teams in the National Football League, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. It’s considered on the short list of cities to get a Major League Baseball team once the next round of expansion comes. Nashville is one of the hot cities in the country right now, economically speaking. The latest Census Bureau figures show that since 2000, the Nashville metro area has seen 50,532 more people move in than move out. That’s the equivalent of Nashville adding a county about the size of Virginia’s Henry County. It also works out to a net-migration growth rate of 3% since the last census headcount in 2000.
How the Shenandoah County School Board Decided to Restore Confederate School Names
Proud and satisfied, or sad and embarrassed. However citizens of the commonwealth view Shenandoah County School Board’s recent decision, Virginia appears to be the first in the nation to restore Confederate school names, after years of vigorous community engagement, a controversial renaming process, and a change in board priorities related to race, diversity and inclusion.
Loudoun Schools Abandon Delayed Start Training Plan Amid Parental Pushback
Just days after presenting a plan to the School Board to have 16 two-hour delayed school days to accommodate more than 36 hours of state-required teacher training, division administrators announced Friday they are changing course after receiving nearly 2,000 responses from the community. “After carefully reviewing the feedback and recognizing that the adjusted arrival schedule is not an ideal option for the majority of the families we heard from, we are reconsidering our approach,” according to the emailed announcement.
Youngkin vetoes bills on contraception access, skill games, Confederate heritage rollbacks
Last week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed 48 more bills passed by the Democratic-led General Assembly, blocking legislation aimed at preserving contraception access, ending state perks for Confederate heritage groups and legalizing slot machine lookalikes known as skill games. Friday was the governor’s deadline to act on a final batch of bills the General Assembly had returned to him in April. Most of the vetoes dealt with legislation Youngkin tried to amend in ways the legislature opposed.
Attorney says he misled client into taking plea in Richmond graduation shooting case; judge rejects motion to withdraw
Room 301 at the John Marshall Courts Building was packed Friday afternoon as Amari Pollard, the man who pleaded guilty in February to the shooting death of Shawn Jackson after Huguenot High School’s 2023 graduation ceremony, returned to court. He was there for a hearing on his motion to withdraw, or to legally ‘take-back’ his guilty plea.
Virginia has history of underfunding school construction
... Richmond Public Schools has acknowledged it’s been playing Whac-A-Mole with infrastructure issues. The district created a facilities plan in 2017, but some schools — like Woodville Elementary — were and still are on the list for needed upgrades. RPS is just now developing a plan to build a new Woodville. Meanwhile, Chesterfield County’s long-term school facilities plan is carefully charted to build and renovate numerous school buildings over the next five years.
Second lawsuit is filed against Luna Innovations, alleging securities fraud
A newly filed federal lawsuit seeking class-action status against Roanoke-based Luna Innovations Inc. is looking to expand the timeline of the company’s alleged securities fraud. Plaintiffs’ lawyers accuse the fiber-optic sensing company of issuing financial reports that illegally inflated Luna’s stock price. The suit — which identifies Luna, its former chief executive officer, Scott Graeff, and two former chief financial officers, Eugene J. Nestro and George Gomez-Quintero, as defendants — makes allegations similar to a case filed in April.
Oakes family, VCU to host state’s first ever anti-hazing summit
The family of Adam Oakes will host a statewide hazing prevention summit at Virginia Commonwealth University next month, a first-of-its-kind event that brings together educators and anti-hazing foundations aimed at stopping the dangerous behavior. The event will be June 4 at the VCU Student Commons. About 30 groups have signed up so far, including 19 colleges, one K-12 school district, fraternity representatives and foundations, said Courtney White, Oakes' cousin.
Fedderman: For Virginia schools, learn from the past and ready for the future
As we mark the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that promised an end to public school segregation, we face a sobering reality: Too many of Virginia’s schools are sliding back into segregation, undoing decades of progress. This is not just a failure to live up to legal mandates; it’s a failure in our responsibility to our children — and to justice. As the first Black male president of the Virginia Education Association, I feel a deep, personal resonance on this anniversary. It’s time to come together, learn from our mistakes, and renew our commitment to realizing the promise of the Brown decision for diverse and adequately resourced schools.
UVa graduates walk out on President Jim Ryan’s opening commencement address
The University of Virginia’s Final Exercises were barely underway Saturday morning when a couple dozen graduates walked out in protest. Their exit was triggered by the entrance of UVa President Jim Ryan, who took the stage in front of Old Cabell Hall to welcome the crowd of thousands to Grounds and congratulate the class of 2024. ... With many students and parents still getting situated by the time Ryan stepped up to the podium, it was difficult to make out which graduates were participating in the walkout and which were taking their seats.