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Environmental groups challenge Mountain Valley Pipeline extension in federal court

By MATT BUSSE, Cardinal News

Eight environmental groups have filed a petition in federal court challenging regulators’ approval of a planned extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, arguing that the project’s scope has changed so much that an earlier approval is no longer relevant. The pipeline developers’ latest plans for the MVP Southgate extension from Pittsylvania County into North Carolina call for a shorter route and a wider pipe to transport nearly twice as much gas as previously planned. Developers have also abandoned plans for a new compressor station in Pittsylvania.

VaNews April 24, 2024


Yancey: 20 questions for the next governor

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

Just like that — snaps fingers — Abigail Spanberger is the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor next year. To be fair, she’s had that position for a while now, which is no doubt what led Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to drop his gubernatorial bid Tuesday and announce instead for lieutenant governor. That instantly led state Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, to announce what had been widely known anyway: that he’s also a candidate for lieutenant governor. So is Babur Lateef, the chair of the Prince William County School Board. Will a three-way race induce others to enter on the theory that the vote will be chopped up and a majority may not be necessary to win?

VaNews April 24, 2024


Violent crime survivors, loved ones share stories with Virginia AG at forum

By MARTA BERGLUND, WVEC-TV

Shana Turner is the founder of Hampton Roads Mothers Against Senseless Killings (M.A.S.K.). She started the organization after her son, Shaquille, was killed in 2017. … Turner co-hosted a crime victims’ rights forum Tuesday night, alongside Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Pastor Calvin Durham of New Hope Church of God in Christ and local law enforcement leaders.

VaNews April 24, 2024


Judge nixes lawsuit challenging Virginia law on broadband crossings of railroads

By TAD DICKENS, Cardinal News

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that disputed a Virginia law governing internet service providers’ ability to string fiber across railroad lines. The lawsuit, which the Association of American Railroads filed last year on behalf of Norfolk Southern and CSX, was a response to a new state law that reduced the approval process time and costs to ISPs, particularly the state’s electric cooperatives, that were trying to reach rural customers across railway tracks.

VaNews April 24, 2024


Who in Virginia is running for Congress? Here are the 2024 candidates.

By PRESTON STEGER, WVEC-TV

Virginia is once again gearing up for primary elections, as voters across the Commonwealth will pick who they want to represent them in the U.S. Congress later this year. One of Virginia’s two seats in the Senate, and all 11 House of Representatives seats are on the ballot on Nov. 5, 2024. Primary elections for those seats will be held on June 18. Several races already have party nominees in place, since those candidates didn’t have anyone else running against them. The deadline to become a candidate in the Democratic or Republican primaries was April 4.

VaNews April 24, 2024


Former Ginter Park elementary in Richmond renamed to honor school’s first Black teacher, principal

By MEGAN PAULY, VPM

Relatives, friends and neighbors gathered along Chamberlayne Avenue on Tuesday to honor Frances W. McClenney — who the former Ginter Park Elementary School has been renamed after. The school, like Richmond’s botanical garden, was previously named for Confederate Maj. Lewis Ginter. A new school marquee with McClenney’s name was also unveiled. McClenney was the school’s first Black teacher, as well as its first Black principal. Her daughter, Jacqueline McClenney, said the positions came with death threats.

VaNews April 24, 2024


CoStar to receive a grant from Richmond worth millions

By ERIC KOLENICH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The city of Richmond will give CoStar Group Inc. a grant worth several million dollars, a recognition of the company’s plan to build an office tower expected to generate more than $30 million in new tax revenue. Richmond City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that will refund some of CoStar’s real estate and business property taxes after the 26-story building is complete. “This project is an incredible success story for the city,” said Leonard Sledge, Richmond’s head of economic development.

VaNews April 24, 2024


Kaine, Warner urge coverage of IVF treatment for federal workers

By CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Virginia Democrats, joined lawmakers from the House and Senate to urge the Office of Personnel Management to require all health insurance carriers in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program to cover in-vitro fertilization treatments and medications. If the agency were to take up the request, this would affect federal employees, many of whom live in Northern Virginia.

VaNews April 24, 2024


Richmond Mayor Stoney, state Sen. Rouse announce candidacies for lieutenant governor

By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

Democratic Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced Tuesday he is dropping his bid for Virginia governor in 2025, avoiding a nomination contest with U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, and will instead run for lieutenant governor. A former member of ex-Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration and a two-term mayor of the capital city, Stoney said he had wrestled with the decision since he and his wife welcomed their first child in March. While his campaign had sought to make the case in a memo just weeks ago that a Stoney-Spanberger primary would be competitive, he said Tuesday that “while there was a path to victory it was a narrow path.”

VaNews April 24, 2024


Legislation to protect children’s online privacy back in Youngkin’s hands

By SIERRA KRUG, WRIC-TV

... Proposed legislation in Virginia would protect kids’ online privacy, but politics could get in the way. As initially written, Senate Bill 361 focuses on protecting kids younger than 13. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin wanted to up the ante, protecting all minors, but ultimately, Senate members rejected his recommended changes. … SB361 made it through the Virginia General Assembly with bipartisan legislators voting to bar websites from accessing and selling data from online users under the age of 13.

VaNews April 24, 2024