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By JILL PALERMO,
Prince William Times
A move to expand data centers into the mid-county area has been dealt a blow by the Prince William County Planning Commission.
Commission members recommended unanimously last week that the supervisors say no to an application to turn the Colchester Industrial Park on Dumfries Road into another data center complex. The area is few miles south of the former Parsons Farm, also on Dumfries Road, which was recently rezoned to allow for 85-foot data centers.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Virginia’s growing field of Democratic hopefuls for lieutenant governor just got a new entrant. Two-term state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, filed paperwork Monday to formally enter the race. She joins a 2025 Democratic nomination contest that already includes Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney; Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach; and Dr. Babur Lateef, an eye surgeon who chairs Prince William County’s School Board.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By MARKUS SCHMIDT,
Cardinal News
Less than two months before the June 18 primary elections, Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, the incumbent, continues to enjoy the backing of local party leadership, despite ongoing attempts by state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland County, to make the Republican nomination contest in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District a referendum on which candidate is the most loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump.
McGuire alleges that Good is “working against Trump … and against our party” any chance he gets. … But Rick Buchanan, the chairman of the district’s GOP committee, said that he doesn’t believe that even a formal endorsement of McGuire by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee — should he offer one — would move the needle much in favor of the ambitious McGuire.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By SAMUEL B. PARKER,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Until last week, former Richmond resident Hersh Goldberg-Polin had not been seen or heard from since Oct. 7 — the day he was taken hostage by Hamas militants at a music festival in the Israeli village of Re’im. But on Wednesday, Hamas released a video that appears to show Goldberg-Polin alive: a glimmer of hope after talks between Israel and Hamas previously had stalled. Prior footage of his kidnapping shows the badly wounded Goldberg-Polin, then 23, being loaded into the back of a truck alongside other abductees.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By JESS KIRBY,
Loudoun Times
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Loudoun County firefighters voted to approve their first collective bargaining agreement after 16 months of negotiations with the county, the firefighters’ union announced this week. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the contract on May 7 to decide whether it can take effect. Represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3756, also known as the Loudoun Career Fire Fighters Association, the firefighters’ contract represents Loudoun County’s first ever collective bargaining agreement with public employees.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By MARTIN WEIL, ANNABELLE TIMSIT, BEN BRASCH AND KARINA ELWOOD,
Washington Post
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at colleges across the D.C. region intensified over the weekend and into Monday, including the arrest of dozens of students on Virginia campuses. Virginia Tech in Blacksburg reported that campus police arrested more than 80 people late Sunday and into the morning. Of those, 53 were current students. The university said in a statement that the demonstration was not compliant with policy on the use of campus facilities.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By RICH GRISET,
Virginia Business
As a registered nurse unit coordinator and charge nurse at Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton, Andrea Samuel spends her days communicating with doctors and nurses in addition to administering direct bedside care.
A Miami native, Samuel entered nursing school at age 19 and has worked for Sentara since 1991. She celebrated her 78th birthday in March and has no plans to slow down.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By JENNIFER HILLER AND SCOTT PATTERSON,
Wall Street Journal
(Subscription Required)
The cutting edge of technology is driving the power grid back to the 19th century.
An explosion of so-called hyperscale data centers in places such as Northern Virginia has upended plans by electric utilities to cut the use of fossil fuels. In some areas, that means burning coal for longer than planned.
These giant data centers will provide computing power needed for artificial intelligence. They are setting off a four-way battle among electric utilities trying to keep the lights on, tech companies that like to tout their climate credentials, consumers angry at rising electricity prices and regulators overseeing investments in the grid and trying to turn it green.
Ground zero for the fight is Northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley.”
VaNews April 30, 2024
By ANTONIO OLIVO,
Washington Post
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A backlash against internet data centers has triggered a wave of laws around the country to restrain the rapidly growing industry that uses massive amounts of energy to make cloud computing and smart technology possible.
In Northern Virginia, home to the world’s largest concentration of data center buildings, Prince William County last week increased its tax rate on the equipment inside data centers by 72 percent, a response in part to complaints about too many of the football-field-sized facilities being built there.
Neighboring Loudoun County — which is home to most of the data centers in Northern Virginia — is moving to keep the buildings away from homes and some commercial corridors, in part by making all data center projects subject to the county board’s review instead of allowing them as a “by right” development in certain areas.
VaNews April 30, 2024
By NATHANIEL CLINE,
Virginia Mercury
Amid the unrest over actions in the Gaza War, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Sunday that the commonwealth will permit “peaceful” protests, but will not tolerate intimidation and encampments on college campuses.
Since Saturday, protestors have been arrested at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg and in Blacksburg at Virginia Tech.
During CNN’s “State of the Union” television show on Sunday, Youngkin said that the First Amendment encompasses freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration. Still, he added it does not allow for intimidating Jewish students, preventing them from attending class and using annihilation speech to express deeply antisemitic views.
VaNews April 30, 2024
