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By setting aside partisan bickering, Virginia officials reached a compromise budget
It’s rare in our deeply divided, hyperpartisan political environment to see elected officials pass anything remotely resembling a genuine compromise, but the two-year state budget approved this week is a notable, and laudable, exception. Democratic lawmakers who lead the General Assembly and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin each made substantial concessions from their priority wish list in order to reach agreement on a deal that, by and large, advances the commonwealth’s interests. Both sides deserve credit for choosing engagement rather than extremism in order to see this through.
Roanoke police settle ACLU lawsuit with new department policy
The Roanoke Police Department and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia reached a settlement agreement this month in a lawsuit related to an immigrant’s visa situation. The lawsuit, which the ACLU-VA says is the first of its kind, was filed in Roanoke Circuit Court in March. The civil rights group sued the police department on behalf of an immigrant survivor of domestic violence, whose request for a visa certification was denied by the department “despite clear state law,” according to an ACLU-VA press release published Friday.
Burned by the British in 1781, lost barracks are found in Williamsburg
Years after the Williamsburg barracks were burned, former Continental Army soldier Spencer Davis, of Virginia, recalled seeing the glow from the blaze in the distance. A British force had pounced on the Americans at night, killing two, causing the others to flee, and setting the fire, Davis recalled. It happened in 1781, near the close of the Revolutionary War. The barracks, built in 1776 after the Declaration of Independence, had been a proud symbol for the new country.
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.
Youngkin Vetoes Measures to Remove Tax Breaks for Confederate Heritage Group
Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia vetoed on Friday two bills that would have revoked tax exemptions for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a century-old organization that has often been at the center of debates over the state’s Confederate past and its racial history. In doing so, Mr. Youngkin sided with fellow Republicans in the legislature who almost unanimously opposed the bills and the efforts by the state’s Democrats to curtail the Commonwealth’s relationship with Confederate heritage organizations.
‘How do you get hypothermia in a prison?’ Records show hospitalizations among Virginia inmates
The Virginia State Police investigator seemed puzzled about what the inmate was describing: “unbearable” conditions at a prison so cold that toilet water would freeze over and inmates were repeatedly treated for hypothermia. “How do you get hypothermia in a prison?” the investigator asked. “You shouldn’t.” The exchange, captured on video obtained by The Associated Press, took place during an investigation into the death of Charles Givens, a developmentally disabled inmate at the Marion Correctional Treatment Center, who records show was among those repeatedly hospitalized for hypothermia.
Youngkin vetoes bills on birth control, Confederate tax loopholes
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed bills meant to ensure access to contraceptives and close tax loopholes for Confederate heritage groups Friday night, continuing a record-breaking veto spree that also nixed measures to ban guns from psychiatric hospitals and remind parents to store weapons out of their children’s reach. Acting on bills that the General Assembly sent back to his desk in April without his proposed amendments, Youngkin signed seven and vetoed 48, taking his veto total for the year to 201 — more than the 120 that the previous record-holder, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, issued over four years as governor.
Segregationist history? In RVA, the past is our present
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” — William Faulkner For a city that has spent 150 years attempting to erase its most painful chapters — the most recent effort spurred by conservative backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement and nationwide protests after the brutal police killing of George Floyd — Faulkner’s famous observation in “Requiem for a Nun” is proving more prescient than ever. Friday marked the anniversary of the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled legal segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Seventy years later, metro Richmond’s schools remain more segregated than ever.
Kaine listens to appeals regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine was at St. Thomas Episcopal Church Friday, where he met with members of the Appalachian Peace Education Center and heard their concerns regarding the ongoing violence in Gaza. Kaine heard from several speakers, who presented him with a call to action. “When we see the epidemic of violence, the genocide in Palestine, we don’t know all the solutions. But we do know that sending more bombs and more rockets is not the answer,” Buckey Boone, APEC chairman, said. “We want you to speak out against the mass killing and forced migration of people, the starvation of children, the total destruction of the medical system.
Maizlish: Virginia should reject Confederate symbols and honor worthy figures instead
The Shenandoah County School Board’s vote reverting the names of Honey Run Elementary School and Mountain View High School to names that honor Confederate generals shows an ignorance of American and Virginia history. The decision warrants a review of the history of the Civil War and an examination of how the United States came to honor men who committed treason. Supporters of the school board’s decision claim that these Confederate names honor Virginia’s heritage. They argue that removing the names “erases history.” The truth is Confederate memorials such as these school names were part of an organized propaganda campaign to erase and rewrite Civil War history.