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Governor’s VCU, Mason course review requests reflect a pattern

By NATHANIEL CLINE, Virginia Mercury

George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth Universities have submitted their syllabi for courses about diversity, equity, inclusion and race to Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera for review at the request of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a move that sparked frustration among some of the schools’ students and staff who said political influence has no place in classrooms. The administration previously reviewed and rescinded similar materials related to racism, discrimination and equity from Virginia Department of Education teacher training and classroom resources, following Youngkin’s 2022 executive order to eliminate “inherently divisive concepts” from being taught in Virginia public schools.

VaNews March 28, 2024


A lack of child care can be a barrier for community college students. Virginia is looking for answers.

By LISA ROWAN, Cardinal News

When Taneisha Mathews went back to school, her daughters went with her. It was Mathews’ second attempt at working toward an associate degree. When she first enrolled at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg in 2014, she was a teen mom who felt that going to college was what she was supposed to do — but she didn’t know yet what she wanted her career to look like. “I ended up flunking out because I mentally was forcing myself to do it,” she said.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Soil & Water Conservation district to pay state $300,000 for unauthorized approvals

By CHARLIE PAULLIN, Virginia Mercury

A group responsible for managing soil and water conservation efforts in Appomattox incorrectly authorized state payments for farming practices to reduce pollution entering waterways, an investigation found, and will have to pay back about $300,000 to the commonwealth. The Virginia Soil & Water Conservation Board voted Wednesday to direct the Robert E. Lee Soil and Water Conservation District, based in the Appomattox area, to make the payment after a former employee, John Wooldridge, approved the state funds to be used for several water- and soil-saving practices without having the authority to do so.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Wizards, Caps to stay in D.C. after Alexandria kills proposed Potomac Yard arena

By LIAM GRIFFIN, Washington Times

Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, who confirmed Wednesday his teams will stay in the District through 2050, praised the $515 million neighborhood redevelopment package put together by Mayor Muriel Bowser and anti-crime legislation recently approved by the D.C. Council. Mr. Leonsis, head of the teams’ parent company Monumental Sports and Entertainment, said at an evening press conference alongside the mayor that the deal would include 200,000 square feet of expansion of the existing Capital One Arena complex into the nearby Gallery Place space, the creation of an entertainment district in the city’s surrounding Chinatown neighborhood and safety and transportation upgrades.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Amtrak service delay to Christiansburg could also impact Bristol

By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

Passenger rail service to the New River Valley has been pushed back to at least 2028 and potential changes there could impact extending service to Bristol. The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority notified stakeholders in the New River Valley in late January of the delay. Amtrak service from Roanoke to the greater New River Valley area was originally proposed by 2025 or 2026.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Alexandria declares $2 billion arena project dead; Youngkin blames legislature

By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

The city of Alexandria declared the $2 billion Monumental arena project dead on Wednesday, expressing disappointment in the acrimonious political stalemate between the Virginia General Assembly and Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who had championed the project as his top legislative priority. Instead, Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, announced a deal with Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to keep the teams in Washington until 2050.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Virginia Patriot Front members sued for defacement of Richmond’s Arthur Ashe mural

By LUCA POWELL, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)

Residents of the Battery Park neighborhood of Richmond are suing 27 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front for defacing a mural of Arthur Ashe, the Black civil rights icon and tennis legend. Arthur Ago, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the group’s actions were “evidence of white supremacy.” Ago said the vandalism led to the partial closure of the park and deprived residents of its use. The vandalism was never criminally prosecuted.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Landowners continue their legal fight against Mountain Valley Pipeline

By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

As work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline continues, so does litigation aimed at slowing it down. Six landowners in Franklin, Montgomery and Roanoke counties asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to hear their challenge of eminent domain laws used to take their private property for the controversial project. First filed four years ago, the lawsuit contends that Congress improperly delegated its power to seize private property to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees construction of interstate natural gas pipelines.

VaNews March 28, 2024


Sen. Warner talks technology and intelligence in swing through Western Virginia

By TAD DICKENS, Cardinal News

Biotechnologists and life scientists could be players in the U.S.’s defense and intelligence worlds, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, told a group gathered on Wednesday in Roanoke. Warner was part of a roundtable at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, where he heard a lot about the Roanoke-Blacksburg region’s growth over the past decade. Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the group that one of his jobs is to try to broaden the definition of national security beyond tanks, guns, ships and planes.

VaNews March 28, 2024


The future of energy in Hampton Roads: Local leaders weigh how to meet rising demand

By KATHERINE HAFNER, WHRO

Hampton Roads officials are discussing how to address energy demand that’s expected to surge in the coming decades — because they say doing nothing is not an option. “We will not keep a status quo if we get no new energy in our region,” Hampton City Manager Mary Bunting said at a recent meeting of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. “We will actually fall even further behind. … ” The ongoing discussions have grown out of a regional analysis completed a couple years ago called the Hampton Roads Long-Term Energy Roadmap.

VaNews March 28, 2024