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By TRENT ENGLAND,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Virginia voters can have confidence in November that the election process will be simple and their votes will count. That’s because of the defeat of two radical election proposals pushed by well-financed lobbying groups. Each would have made voting less transparent and more confusing. Voters were spared the latest mess only by gubernatorial veto on April 8. That bill, Senate Bill 428, would have required the commonwealth to assist local implementation of an election system known as ranked choice voting, or RCV.
England is founder and executive director of Save Our States and co-chairman of the Stop Ranked-Choice Voting Coalition.
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 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 STAFF REPORT,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The CoStar Group, which announced in February plans to move its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Rosslyn, announced that it will acquire California 3D technology company Matterport for $1.6 billion. Matterport offers 3-D capture technology which delivers “dimensionally accurate, photorealistic virtual tours” for any type of property and is widely used in real estate. ... CoStar said last year it expected to hire 2,000 more people in Richmond, putting its workforce here at about 3,500.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By CATHY DYSON,
Free Lance-Star
(Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
People who’ve gotten free medical care at the Moss Free Clinic, as well as those who volunteer and work there, joined members of the community Sunday to show their support for the services the clinic provides. Jim Eagan told the crowd of about 80 people that he went to the clinic when he had an abscessed tooth and couldn’t find help anywhere else. ... The rally came about as the partnership between Mary Washington Healthcare and the clinic, named after the late co-founder, Dr. Lloyd Moss, has deteriorated in recent months.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By CHARLIE PAULLIN,
Virginia Mercury
Almost 20,000 acres have been lit by flames that primarily torched the western and central parts of the state so far during Virginia’s 2024 spring fire season. With about a week left until the season ends, that is double the amount of acres affected annually in the state across its 10-year average.
There’s no question that the fires visibly caused an immediate loss of vegetation and wildlife habitat, but state and federal officials said in interviews with the Mercury last week the blazes provide some benefits and are a centuries-old resource management tool.
“It does play an important role in the ecosystem,” said Michael Downey, assistant director for wildfire mitigation and prevention at the Virginia Department of Forestry.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By DAN RONAN,
WTOP
Thursday’s near collision at Reagan National Airport is raising concerns about plans to increase the number of flights at the airport.
Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine said Thursday morning’s close call at Reagan National is another reason not to expand the number of flights at the airport as some other senators are attempting to do.
“It’s just plain crazy that some are pushing to add more flights to DCA’s overburdened runway,” Warner said to the Senate Friday.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By AVERY GOODSTINE,
The Breeze
The Board of Visitors (BoV) announced former Senior Vice President of Administration and Finance Charlie King as JMU’s interim president — the first in over 30 years — during its Friday morning meeting.
Both the proposed tuition increase and budget for the 2024-25 academic year were approved unanimously. The tuition proposal includes a 3% in-state and 1.5% out-of-state tuition increase.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By BILL ATKINSON,
Progress Index
(Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)
Hopewell’s outgoing city attorney has recommended that the Virginia attorney general’s office look into claims by an alleged department employee that the city’s treasurer improperly removed herself from a state agency’s list of delinquent taxpayers without attempting to settle her own tax debts. The allegations against Shannon Foskey were brought up in a letter sent last week to Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Newman and cited in an April 18 memo from now-former city attorney Danielle Smith to City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By GRACE SCHUMACHER,
Fauquier Now
Warrenton town staff has approved the site development plan for Amazon’s proposed 220,000-square-foot data center campus on the 42-acre plot of land at the intersection of Blackwell Road and Lee Highway off the Route 17 Spur in town.
The approval, which came after staff’s fourth review and was detailed in a letter released Thursday, comes with 27 conditions and requirements. The conditions of approval, written with the intent of governing the project’s development, cover various aspects including adherence to approved plans, compliance with the 25 special use permit conditions and environmental considerations.
VaNews April 22, 2024
