Search
By GRACE MAMON,
Cardinal News
As fire and rescue volunteerism declines across the state, many localities are changing the way they provide this service. Using paid crews is costly and sometimes controversial, but it’s already been an effective solution for several Southern Virginia counties, and likely will be for many more.
Some localities, like Henry County, have coupled paid staff and volunteers for decades. Others, like Franklin and Pittsylvania counties, are in earlier stages of the transition to what is called a combination model of rescue services.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By TAFT COGHILL JR.,
Fredericksburg Free Press
As a newly elected Spotsylvania County School Board member, Belen Rodas was not involved in the contentiousness that made national news on a regular basis over the previous two years.
Rodas received a firsthand view of the argumentative nature of the group during a work session Tuesday night, as a discussion on whether to release the cause of the firing of former Superintendent Mark Taylor became heated.
Microphones were shut off as board members screamed at each other. Allegations of dishonesty were lobbed at Chair Lorita Daniels by board members Lisa Phelps and April Gillespie. Daniels attempted multiple times to enter recess but was rebuffed because a motion was on the floor.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By JASON ARMESTO,
Daily Progress
(Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
An anonymous University of Virginia parent has accused two professors and one student of antisemitism for organizing an Israel-Palestine film series. Organizers, however, say the series was specifically designed to show balanced perspectives. It alternated between screening movies from Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers. The accusation is one of many listed in a document compiled by multiple UVa parents, which outlines a wide range of reported antisemitic incidents they say have occurred on UVa Grounds since Israel’s war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas began in October of last year.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By ROBERT ARCHER,
published in
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The efforts in the recent legislative session to make the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority more independent of the executive branch give me pause and concern. I have been involved in the alcohol business at Blue Ridge Beverage Company Inc. for more than 50 years. Our family business has always taken seriously the responsible marketing and consumption of alcoholic beverages and the issues surrounding them. Also, in my travels over the years as a member of our national trade association leadership, I learned that Virginia’s ABC has always served as a model for the control and regulation of a product that can cause harm if abused.
Archer is chairman and CEO of Blue Ridge Beverage Inc. based in Salem.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By NOUR HABIB,
Virginian-Pilot
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
One day, Judith Burkett of Portsmouth received a call from her grandson’s school: Did she know where Jakob was? He hadn’t attended in months. Months before, the boy — his mother, her partner and three younger brothers — had been living with Burkett. But Burkett’s daughter and her partner had a drug problem and the family suddenly left in fall 2022, a couple of months into Jakob’s third grade year. Burkett started asking friends and family to help look. She found out where they were living and alerted the school. The school attendance liaison became “a godsend.” “She was like a pit bull until she got him back in school.”
VaNews April 29, 2024
By BILL ATKINSON,
Progress Index
(Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)
The chief patron of the successful legislation that brought the long-pursued casino referendum has blasted Petersburg City Council over the choice of its former collaborator as the winning bidder for the business. In a scathing statement Friday night, Sen. Lashrecse Aird also pushed back at the city’s earlier claim that it wrote but never sent a letter of intent to one of the other four vendors “under duress” so that Aird would have a name to use as a bargaining chip in Richmond.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By JONATHAN HUNLEY,
Fredericksburg Free Press
It was about a year and a half ago, right before Christmas, when a Fredericksburg police officer had a life-changing moment.
He was responding to a call for service at an apartment complex, and he was first on the scene.
An 8-year-old boy had been walking back from a playground with a family member when he saw that his parents had just gotten back home. The boy ran over to see his mother and father, but he was struck by a car coming through the parking lot.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By MICHAEL MARTZ,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, now with a clear path to the Democratic nomination for governor next year, jumped into the party’s primary in the 1st Congressional District on Friday by endorsing political newcomer Leslie Mehta for the nomination.
Mehta, 47, a former civil rights attorney in Chesterfield County, is running against former New Kent County Treasurer Herb Jones for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st, who defeated Jones two years ago.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By PATRICK LARSEN,
VPM News
A bill that would set up a bank to better position the state to receive federal clean energy loans was sent back to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk by legislators.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) sponsored the proposal, which would establish the Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank and fund it with $10 million. He’s said during hearings on the bill that it could help funnel more than $300 million in federal loans authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act to the state.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By ERIC KOLENICH,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The city of Richmond’s plan to build a new minor-league baseball stadium has gained a groundswell of support from more than just baseball fans. The plan has found favor with union workers.
The Diamond District project calls for the developers to hire a minimum number of union workers, small businesses and minority-owned businesses to build the $110 million stadium, the infrastructure and the development around it.
VaNews April 29, 2024
