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Nonemergency line restored at Charlottesville-UVa-Albemarle Emergency Communications Center
For roughly three days, the regional call center that handles 911 calls for the city of Charlottesville, Albemarle County and the University of Virginia was unable to process nonemergency or administrative calls. The Charlottesville-UVa-Albemarle County Emergency Communications Center, or ECC, reported on Saturday that its nonemergency line had gone down and urged those looking to dial in to call an alternative number.
Brown v. Board promised better schools for all, but Richmond falls short
Keri Treadway was setting up her classroom library a few days before students from William Fox Elementary School began attending class at Clark Springs Elementary School. It was about three months after a three-alarm fire destroyed the 111-year-old Fox building in 2022. Treadway is a reading interventionist for Fox students, and due to space limitations usually works in a small room located within a classroom — a quirk of the Clark Springs design. There’s no door separating the space from the main classroom, so Treadway fashioned a curtain to divide the space.
Petersburg won’t release $1.4B casino proposal from company that won project
Petersburg officials say they won’t release the winning proposal for a planned casino project they’ve called the largest economic development effort in the city’s history. Last month, The Virginia Mercury requested a copy of the successful casino offer submitted to the city by Maryland-based Cordish Companies. On Tuesday, the city’s Freedom of Information Act officer said the document wouldn’t be released because the city canceled its competitive bidding process and hasn’t awarded a contract to Cordish. … Petersburg is preparing to ask its voters to approve the Cordish project in a ballot referendum expected to take place in November.
Loudoun Co. proposes 16 delayed-start days next year to allow teachers to meet state training requirements
Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia is considering adding 16 delayed-start days to the calendar for the 2024-25 school year, as part of a plan to give teachers more time to complete critical trainings. The proposal, which Superintendent Aaron Spence presented to the school board Tuesday night, is the result of new standards covering several subject areas getting implemented at the same time. Under the plan, the school district would have teachers start their days at the regular time, but students would arrive two hours late. That would happen roughly two days per month, Spence said.
In hundreds of deadly police encounters, including in Virginia, officers broke multiple safety guidelines
In hundreds of deaths where police used force meant to stop someone without killing them, officers violated well-known guidelines for safely restraining and subduing people — not simply once or twice, but multiple times. Most violations involved pinning people facedown in ways that could restrict their breathing or stunning them repeatedly with Tasers, an Associated Press investigation found. Some officers had little choice but to break policing best practices — safety guidelines that are recommended by government agencies, law enforcement groups and training experts — to save a life or protect someone.
Roanoke city staff emails allege hostile work environment
Emails from city staff to the Roanoke City Council decry a hostile work environment, and City Manager Bob Cowell clarified that an assistant city manager he reassigned was demoted. Following a three-hour closed-door meeting in April, the city council approved Cowell’s appointment of an assistant city manager to replace Brent Robertson. ... a series of emails, obtained via a freedom of information request and first reported on by The Roanoke Rambler, details a previously unmentioned series of events leading to Robertson’s reassignment.
Facing ‘no-win situation,’ Loudoun Planning Commission recommends data centers in neighborhood
The Loudoun County Planning Commission voted narrowly May 9 to recommend approval of the Hiddenwood Assemblage application, which asks the county to allow several homeowners along a once-rural Arcola gravel lane to sell their land to a data center developer. Decision makers on both sides of the issue call it a “no-win situation” as they try to balance the interests of the homeowners petitioning for the zoning change with those who live in Briarfield Estates, an adjacent neighborhood that would be almost entirely surrounded by data center construction if the rezoning goes through.
Shapiro: How the pro-Palestinian movement mirrors ‘Stop the Steal’
The free exchange and balance of ideas at universities is essential to an enriched collegiate experience. Unfortunately, what we’ve witnessed at Virginia Commonwealth University and other colleges across the country the last few weeks is a targeted campaign to silence and intimidate Jewish people and our singular nation-state. The TikTok-fueled propaganda depicted under the benign, euphemistic banner of a “Free Palestine Movement” is riddled with hypocrisy. Student protestors are disrupting and eliminating dialogue, shouting over speakers who dissent.
VCU suspends fraternity for hazing, sorority for selling pills
A Virginia Commonwealth University fraternity has been suspended two years for hazing, and a sorority has received a four-year punishment for using its group forum to buy and sell prescription pills. Two other student groups received interim suspensions after allegations of hazing were made against the fraternities. These represent the latest reports of misconduct among student groups, which universities are now required to publish.
10 years later: Former Virginia Intermont College sits unused and in disrepair
On May 20, 2014, Virginia Intermont College shut its doors due to financial issues and the loss of its accreditation. The college opened in 1884 and became co-educational in 1972. College alumni Ryan Gray was almost two years into his time as an admissions counselor after graduating in 2012. He said the closure didn’t feel real until the final moments. “It was just surreal,” said Gray. “I didn’t want to believe it. But when it did happen that very last day in May, standing in line to get our last checks, that’s when I knew it was real.”