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By LUCA POWELL,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
This pistol spits like a rattlesnake. It’s wild and inaccurate, even in the hands of an expert officer from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It’s a handgun like any other, unless you count the plastic prop that has been used to modify it. The street name for this little addition is a “Glock switch” or “auto-sear.” Its official name is “machine-gun conversion device,” which gives a pretty clear picture of what this sliver of plastic does. ... It was only in the 2024 legislative session that switches became illegal to possess in Virginia.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By DAVE RESS AND MICHAEL MARTZ,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
With a potential budget deal at stake, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and General Assembly budget leaders will keep a close eye on taxes Virginians pay and refunds they claim as state income taxes come due by May 1. Tax collections so far are up dramatically, which could open a path to a budget compromise in a May special session that does not include a tax increase. But legislators want to be sure they will have enough money for K-12 schools and other priorities in the next two years.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By LAURA VOZZELLA AND GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER,
Washington Post
(Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
After pulling back from a risky game of chicken this week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and leading Virginia Democrats are heading into the unknown territory of a state budget do-over. Youngkin and the Democratic-controlled legislature struck an 11th-hour truce on Wednesday to avert a standoff that could have triggered a state government shutdown and tarnished Virginia’s stellar bond rating. While most of the attention was on the budget they set aside that day, legislators also sent a host of bills back to Youngkin after stripping them of his amendments ...
VaNews April 22, 2024
By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Both sides blinked. If you were looking for evidence neither Glenn Youngkin, the nascent lame-duck Republican governor, nor his Democratic tormentors in the legislature had the upper hand in their hissing match over taxes and spending, look no further than their announced do-over on a Virginia budget for the two-year cycle that begins in just over two months.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By JEFF STURGEON,
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
A retired judge, lawyer and nurse from Floyd plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, for the 9th District seat in Congress. Democrat Karen Baker will make her official announcement at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in downtown Floyd, her campaign said. The location is the public gathering place on the sidewalk in front of Warren G. Lineberry Community Park. The Federal Elections Commission website lists the 72-year-old Baker as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives on the November ballot. She is the only Democrat who registered for the race.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By THAD GREEN,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Topsoe, a Danish company that provides carbon emission reduction technologies worldwide, announced it will build a manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County. The facility is being aided by nearly $136 million in tax credits that Topsoe received as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides provisions and tax credits to incentivize clean energy investments. The project is expected to bring more than $400 million in investments and at least 150 new jobs to Virginia. The exact location of the facility has not yet been disclosed ...
VaNews April 22, 2024
By TREVOR METCALFE,
Virginian-Pilot
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A longstanding Virginia law is changing later this summer, and now uninsured Hampton Roads drivers will need to have car insurance by July 1. For years, Virginia was one of just two states, along with New Hampshire, that did not require car owners to possess auto insurance, according to auto club AAA. Car owners were required to pay $500 every year to register an uninsured vehicle with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. A fee system has existed since the 1950s, former state Sen. Frank Ruff said in an email.
VaNews April 22, 2024
By KELLY ROSKAM,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
With the conclusion of Virginia’s veto session, Gov. Glenn Youngkin refused to do more to protect individuals, most of whom are women, experiencing domestic violence. Violence against partners and family members is a public health epidemic. The danger is amplified for victims of domestic violence when combined with the prevalence and accessibility of firearms. To protect victims, survivors and the public, domestic abusers are often prohibited from possessing firearms; yet enforcement of those prohibitions are lacking. By vetoing bills aimed at strengthening our domestic violence and firearms laws, Gov. Youngkin chose to protect abusers and their firearms rather than victims and public health.
Roskam is director of law and policy at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
VaNews April 19, 2024
Associated Press
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed measure into law Thursday that allows state colleges and universities to directly pay their athletes through name, image and likeness compensation deals, a measure believed to be the first of its kind.
The law, which takes effect July 1, was signed one day after the NCAA eased some of its NIL restrictions but noted that its longstanding “prohibitions against pay-for-play and schools compensating student-athletes for use of their NIL remain in place.”
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said other states may follow Virginia’s lead.
VaNews April 19, 2024
By ACACIA JAMES,
FFXnow
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is asking the county’s General Assembly delegation to oppose Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed funding cuts to Metro in the state’s budget.
During a board meeting on Tuesday (April 16), supervisors unanimously approved a letter written by Chairman Jeff McKay, Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw, and Dranesville District Supervisor James Bierman, asking the delegation to oppose the cuts and retain the funding needed to address the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) estimated $750 million shortfall.
VaNews April 19, 2024
