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Del. Rasoul seeks cease-fire for Gaza
Roanoke citizens and a state lawmaker responded to heightened conflict in Gaza this week, urging people to speak out against Israeli-Palestinian violence. Israeli troops seized control of a border crossing in Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, according to news reports on Tuesday. The latest military action follows months of Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, retaliating for a terrorist attack conducted by Hamas last October. As reports about an incursion into Rafah spread, state Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, on Monday sent an email asking people to call their congressperson and demand President Joe Biden enact a cease-fire.
UVa. president, other leaders defend steps that led to arrests at protest
University of Virginia and police officials defended actions that led to the arrests of more than 25 pro-Palestinian protesters on campus grounds over the weekend, even as faculty members and others criticized what they saw as an overly aggressive response. In a virtual town hall Tuesday, Tim Longo, chief of police at U-Va., said that officials offered to let demonstrators stay if they took down their tents and that authorities moved in Saturday only when they refused. James E. Ryan, the university’s president, said that police were met with “physical confrontation and attempted assault” and that officials then called in Virginia State Police.
Free clinics see increased demand following Medicaid unwinding in Virginia
Free clinics across Virginia are seeing more patients than in years past, with fewer volunteers to handle the volume. According to Virginia Free & Charitable Clinics (VAFCC) CEO Rufus Phillips, patient demand was up 11.5% from July 2023 to March 2024, compared to the same period the year prior. He says since the pandemic, the number of volunteers has fallen from 11,800 to 5,600. … VAFCC is requesting more money from the General Assembly to try to keep up with an influx of new patients.
Loudoun sheriff calls for school resource officers on elementary campuses
Loudoun County’s sheriff is renewing a push to add school resource officers to its 62 elementary schools. The call from Sheriff Mike Chapman (R) came in response to Loudoun County Public Schools releasing 11 safety recommendations from a months-long “Blue Ribbon Panel” on school security. Adding security personnel to elementary schools was among the ideas.
VPAP Visual 2024 Top Legislator Stock Holdings
Virginia legislators are required to file conflict of interest forms each year disclosing their ownership of securities, including stock in publicly traded companies. See the companies that were reported in the stock portfolios of at least five members of the 2024 General Assembly.
Where is Jim Ryan?
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan would like you to know that he found the entire episode on Grounds this past Saturday “upsetting, frightening, and sad.” Only imagine how he might have felt if he had been there. But no one saw hide nor hair of Mr. Ryan Saturday, even though his official residence at Carr’s Hill is steps away from the epicenter of the violence that unfolded as state police encircled and then raided a quiet and, frankly, meager attempt at a protest on a soggy patch of grass by the University Chapel.
Interior Department defends Va. offshore wind farm in court
The Biden administration and the developer of a $9.8 billion wind farm off of Virginia Beach, Virginia, assured a federal court Friday that the project has all necessary approvals, amid claims that construction would harm the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The joint court filing from the Interior Department and Dominion Energy comes in response to a request to halt work on the massive Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which is slated to include 176 turbines and is the largest project of its kind currently under development in the United States.
Yancey: Shenandoah County set to vote on whether to restore Confederate names
The Shenandoah County School Board is set to vote Thursday on whether to restore Confederate names to two schools. What used to be Stonewall Jackson High School is now Mountain View High School. What used to be Ashby Lee Elementary is now Honey Run Elementary. The 2020 name changes have not sat well with some in the county. Those who opposed the name changes in the first place remain on the school board; those who favored them are now gone and a new school board might well take the unusual step of returning Confederate names to public buildings.
Student safety is an obligation, and ignoring that invites consequences
Let no one underestimate the seriousness of the Clery Act, the federal law that requires institutions that participate in federal financial-aid programs to provide timely reporting of statistics about various types of crime and other information about campus safety. The U.S. Department of Education underscored its importance last month when it imposed a staggering $14 million fine on Liberty University in Lynchburg for what the department called a “systemic and persistent” failure to comply with that campus-safety law.
Data center project proposed for 120-acre site in Powhatan County
A large assemblage in Powhatan once eyed for a mixed-use project is now being pitched as the county’s first data center campus. California-based developer Province Group is seeking zoning approval for a 1.5 million-square-foot data center project on 120 acres on the Powhatan-Chesterfield line. The project site consists of three parcels, one of them being 1318 Page Road. The project would rise near Anderson Highway’s intersection with Page Road.