Search
Virginia lawmakers pass bipartisan budget that leaves tax policy unchanged
After months of partisan combat over different priorities, Virginia lawmakers approved a bipartisan budget deal Monday with no major tax changes, funding boosts for education and mental health and salary increases for teachers and state employees. Both chambers of the General Assembly approved the new two-year budget plan by wide margins. In the House of Delegates, the vote was 94-6. The state Senate approved it 39-1.
Virginia lawmakers approve bipartisan spending plan
Weeks of Virginia state budget drama ended Monday with pledges of bipartisan goodwill as the General Assembly passed a compromise two-year spending plan that boosts funding for education and other priorities without increasing taxes. Votes in both the Senate and the House of Delegates were nearly unanimous. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who had raised the specter of an unprecedented state government shutdown by vowing not to sign the budget the legislature passed in March, rushed Monday to sign the new document after a special one-day legislative budget session.
GOP attorneys general, including Miyares, sue Biden administration over rules on gas-powered trucks
A large group of Republican attorneys general on Monday took legal action against the Biden administration and California over new emissions limits for trucks. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is leading the group of GOP attorneys general who filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to overturn an Environmental Protection Agency rule limiting truck emissions. … States that joined Nebraska’s latest action against the EPA [include] … Virginia.
Virginia Tech student helps lead push for women’s health legislation
At 20 years old, Aarushi Khanna played a central role in getting new legislation passed in Virginia. The Virginia Tech student is an ambassador for the Pad Project, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to menstrual products in places where supplies are limited, and to increasing education on women’s menstrual health. Khanna was one of several activists who pushed for the passage of House Bill 1221, which would allow for all schools in Virginia to provide menstrual education as part as overall health instruction for students middle school-age and up.
Federal official celebrates rural broadband effort in Stafford
Richland Baptist Church in Stafford County was crawling with federal officials and black SUVs on Monday, but the contingent was there to celebrate, not investigate. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her troops, along with Comcast and Stafford officials, descended on the property to tout a public–private partnership that brought high-speed broadband to the western part of the county. “While over 650 homes may seem like a small number to some, I assure you it is huge for us and means the world to our residents,” said Meg Bohmke, chair of the Stafford Board of Supervisors.
An inside look at how AP African American Studies is taught at one Va. high school
Standing in the front of his Lorton, Virginia, classroom in October, Sean Miller told his students that food would be a topic of conversation during the class period. He also said they would talk about the types of goods that emerged in ancient East and West Africa. Part of that would involve how the influence of gold shaped the development of certain African empires. But first, Miller advised the class to pay attention to the video he was about to play. As part of a conversation about the cultural implications of food, he asked the class the types of food they’d expect to see at a Black family reunion.
70 years after Brown v. Board, many Virginia students separated by race, economic class
When the U.S. Supreme Court ordered school desegregation in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education, the court hoped K-12 schools across the nation would give equal opportunities to both Black and white students. Many believed that tying the fate of Black students to the fate of their white peers would lift Black students because of white parents’ and legislators’ resources and political leverage to provide for their own children. But today, nearly 70 years after the landmark ruling, students in Virginia remain largely separated by race and economic class. While segregation is no longer mandated by public policy, it is reinforced by school attendance zones and segregated housing patterns.
Virginia child care rating system aims to improve kids’ school readiness
Virginia has implemented new guidelines to establish a unified rating and improvement system to assess the commonwealth’s publicly funded early childhood care providers. Approximately 75% of child care programs that received public funding previously did not participate in the state’s voluntary quality measures, according to Del. David Buolva, D-Fairfax, who co-patroned 2020 legislation that led to all publicly funded providers being required to participate.
UVA’s last-minute update to tent regulations document creates confusion, frustration
In the days after police forcibly cleared a pro-Palestine encampment near the University Chapel, a last-minute edit to a list of guidelines — from the Office of Environmental Health and Safety — related to the use of tents on Grounds has been the subject of questions and debate. According to University administrators, a document on the office’s website outlining fire safety regulations for tents contained an inaccurate clause that exempted recreational tents from permit requirements. University officials said the document was updated for accuracy, as official University policy requires all tents to receive permits prior to their use on Grounds. Administrators said the encampment violated this policy.
School Board votes for Arlington Career Center contract with no prevailing wage agreement
The Arlington School Board has approved construction of a new Arlington Career Center building without a guarantee of paying workers a prevailing wage. Seeking to avoid rebidding the project and causing at least a year of delays, Board members voted 4-0 last night (Thursday) to finalize a $132 million contract that has drawn criticism from Arlington state representatives, labor groups and the local NAACP chapter.