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University Of Virginia Faculty Vote No Confidence In Governing Board
The University of Virginia Faculty Senate has voted that it has no confidence in the school’s Board of Visitors. The resolution of no-confidence in the Board passed 46 to 6, with eight senators abstaining. The vote occurred on Friday, July 11, the same day that UVA President Jim Ryan officially stepped down from his post and released a video of farewell and gratitude to the campus community.
UVa faculty deliver overwhelming vote of no confidence in board
After more than an hour of debate at an emergency meeting Friday, the University of Virginia Faculty Senate held a vote of no confidence in the school's governing Board of Visitors for “not protecting the University and its president from outside interference, and for not consulting with the Faculty Senate in a time of crisis." That crisis, referred to in the resolution the vote approved, refers to President Jim Ryan's resignation under pressure from the Trump administration Department of Justice.
Virginia Democrat on possible shutdown: ‘It’s time to stand up for the American people’
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said he supports Democrats’ threats to shut down the government if Republicans proceed with a planned rescissions package, saying his party should use all the leverage they can to prevent cuts to previously approved funding. “I say it’s time to stand up for the American people,” Subramanyam said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” when asked what he thinks about a potential shutdown. . . . Republicans are ramping up efforts to pass a rescissions package that President Trump requested last month, which includes more than $9 billion in funding cuts for foreign aid and public broadcasting programs.
Yancey: Nothern Virginia is ‘at a critical crossroads,’ which means rural Virginia is, too
An office complex in Fairfax County recently changed hands, and taxpayers across rural Virginia ought to be alarmed. Why should we care who owns Tysons International Plaza? We don’t. We should, though, care about what the new owners paid for it: 60% less than the previous owners had bought it for just eight years ago.
Virginia Intermont campus owners pay off Bristol taxes
The owners of the former Virginia Intermont College property, on Friday, paid off its current and delinquent Bristol, Virginia, tax bills — effectively negating a city lawsuit filed Thursday. John Kieffer, a local attorney representing U.S. Magis International Education Center, delivered cashier’s checks totaling $353,484 to city Treasurer Angel Britt’s office at noon Friday. ... The funds arrived at TACS on Thursday, the same day Bristol Virginia filed action in Circuit Court seeking control of the property due to non-payment of taxes under provisions of a new state law designed to address vacant, blighted properties.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears visits Newport News
For the first time since Virginia's June primaries, Republican gubernatorial candidate and current lieutenant governor Winsome Earle-Sears answered questions from local media in Hampton Roads following a campaign stop at Newport News Shipbuilding. The visit comes weeks after the first appearance of the entire GOP statewide ticket, in which Sears, lieutenant governor candidate John Reid and Attorney General Jason Miyares appeared together for the first time.
No-fish story: Milde afraid that lack of menhaden is dooming osprey
Del. Paul Milde is concerned that a lack of a small, oily fish could be causing the collapse of the osprey population in the Chesapeake Bay, and he says the Democratic majority in the House of Delegates isn’t helping matters. Milde (R-Stafford) continues to push legislative efforts to have a study of menhaden fishing done as new research suggests that declining numbers of the species, which osprey eat, could be leading to a drop in the population of the birds. The lawmaker issued a statement late last month saying inaction on scrutiny of the menhaden is a result of partisan politics.
Osprey came back from the brink once. Now chicks are dying in nests, and some blame overfishing
Stepping onto an old wooden duck blind in the middle of the York River, Bryan Watts looks down at a circle of sticks and pine cones on the weathered, guano-spattered platform. It’s a failed osprey nest, taken over by diving terns. “The birds never laid here this year,” said Watts, near the mouth of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. “And that’s a pattern we’ve been seeing these last couple of years.” Watts has a more intimate relationship with ospreys than most people have with a bird — he has climbed to their nests to free them from plastic bags, fed them by hand and monitored their eggs with telescopic mirrors.
Holbrook and Williams: Sentara should invest more to improve regional health
A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money,” said the late Sen.Everett Dirksen. Now comes the shocking news that Sentara Health System lost $1.5 billion on health insurance ventures according to its 2024 publicly available audited financials. One of these was Sentara Holdings Florida, an HMO bought for $225 million in December 2022 which lost $290 million over the next two years. All that “real money” would have made a profound impact if it had been invested back into Hampton Roads where it came from. Yes, we are thankful for Sentara’s pledge to give $35 million annually for 10 years to the Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, but it should have been much more and should have been given much earlier.
Atkinson: Halt menhaden harvest until studies determine its effects
With summer in full swing, Chesapeake Bay fishermen, birders and environmentalists are once again faced with the harsh reality that menhaden, the most important fish in the sea, are scarce. Even Omega Protein, the Canadian-owned menhaden reduction fishery (i.e. reduces the fish to animal feed), and its partner Ocean Harvesters, with its spotter planes and huge purse seine nets, is having trouble finding them.