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Budget details revealed: No new tax increases, no additional tax relief, more than $2.5 billion in K-12 funding
Less than 48 hours after the General Assembly’s budget negotiators and Gov. Glenn Youngkin struck a deal on a spending plan for the next biennium, the legislature’s money committees on Saturday morning released the details of the proposal that lawmakers will weigh when they return to Richmond for a special session on Monday. In its core, the $188 billion budget for fiscal years 2024-26 is identical with the conference report that the Democratic-controlled legislature approved by a bipartisan 62-37 vote in early March.
Fredericksburg-area officials tell state their transportation needs
The state transportation leaders’ annual nine-meeting tour across Virginia stopped in Stafford County on Thursday. ... Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner Stephen Birch told the small crowd the state’s 2025-2030 six-year improvement program draft calls for $19.1 billion in funding for roads, with another $6.3 billion for rail and public transportation. The total funding is down $5 million from the current Six-Year Improvement Plan.
Graduating VCU students walk out during governor’s remarks
As Virginia Commonwealth University’s 2024 commencement kicked off at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, the student singing the national anthem wore a keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headscarf that has become a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians. Soon after, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the commencement speaker, took the stage and dozens of students walked out to cheers from the audience. After exiting the building, they held up signs like “No graduation as usual” and “Unacceptable leadership,” while chanting and marching to nearby Abner Clay Park.
McGuire opts not to attend forum with GOP rival Bob Good
State Sen. John McGuire, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Bob Good in the 5th Congressional District’s June 18 GOP primary will not take part in a May 20 public forum in Amherst County despite an online flyer from the county’s Republican Party billing the two candidates appearing together. The Amherst County Republican Committee’s Facebook page had advertised a forum for May 20 at Sweet Briar College. A statement from McGuire’s campaign said: “We are not going to be participating in an event that is meant to prop up Bob Good’s failing campaign rather than inform voters on the issues.”
Schapiro: Where were friends when Jews needed them?
A Colonial-era farm in Virginia’s tobacco belt is an emblem of Jewish survival at a time when much of the world — now gripped by an Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that, depending on one’s perspective, was caused by, or is causing, antisemitism — was clueless that a huge swath of the Jewish world was doomed. Hyde Park Farm — in Nottoway County, about an hour’s drive south of Richmond — was for several years immediately preceding World War II a peaceful sanctuary for about two dozen German-Jewish teenagers and several adults who fled there as Adolf Hitler’s murderous persecution of European Jews was beginning in earnest.
More than 100 VCU graduates walk out during Youngkin’s graduation speech
As Gov. Glenn Youngkin began his commencement speech Saturday morning, more than 100 graduates of Virginia Commonwealth University staged a walkout. They held signs, wore Middle Eastern keffiyehs around their shoulders in support of Palestine and marched down Richmond’s streets. About 50 demonstrators walked from the Greater Richmond Convention Center to Abner Clay Park, chanting “One, two, three, four, tell Youngkin no more. Five, six, seven, eight, Richmond we will liberate.” Youngkin did not pause his remarks as students departed, proceeding with a 15-minute speech that celebrated VCU graduates and steered clear of controversy.
Hunter: State funding for school-to-work pipeline is crucial to VA’s success
From the data, we know that young women are significantly under-represented in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and math) even though many businesses struggle to find qualified workers in those high-demand fields. We also know that in recent years more young people have been leaving Virginia than have been moving into the area, contributing to an out-migration trend that our new speaker of the House of Delegates, Don Scott, has labeled a “brain drain.” Fortunately, these statistics did not control Kinsey Ebel’s career or destination. Something more powerful intervened: a life-changing internship experience with a Virginia employer.
Virginia budget includes funds for education, toll relief and flood control
Legislators released the details of a two-year state budget plan Saturday that would nix a potential new tax on digital goods while still providing large investments in education. After months of conflict, House Appropriations Committee Chair Luke Torian announced Thursday that budget negotiators had struck a deal with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin that left Democrats’ spending priorities intact despite killing off the digital tax — which the governor opposed — that was expected to bring in more than $700 million for the state. “It looks like it’s a true compromise to me,” said Del. Barry Knight, a Virginia Beach Republican and former budget committee chair.
22 Guatemalan teens missing from Culpeper
Nearly two dozen unaccompanied migrant children from Guatemala who lived for a short time in Culpeper remain missing, considered runaways. It’s an eye-opening issue, happening nationwide, that’s tied to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The federal agency, part of U.S. Health and Human Services, places migrant teens crossing at the southern border with sponsors in communities across America, including Culpeper. But this small-town has seen a disproportionate number of Guatemalan teens go missing — 38 altogether since 2019, mostly males with an average age of 15-17, according to Culpeper Police Sgt. Detective Norma McGuckin.
U-Va. officials defend arrests at protest as faculty seek review of decision
University of Virginia faculty on Friday called for an independent review of the use of police to clear a pro-Palestinian demonstration, but stopped short of condemning the decision to bring in state law enforcement officers. More than 25 people were arrested. University President James E. Ryan said he was sorry for the way things escalated as police moved in on demonstrators, and some faculty members said they were concerned the response was too heavy-handed. Ryan, though, did not say outright he would have acted differently, and the university’s police chief said officials felt compelled to disperse a group that included people with no connection to U-Va.