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By EMMA COLEMAN,
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Roanoke’s Gun Violence Prevention Commission welcomed three new members and a new chairperson at its meeting Tuesday, day 54 since the last shooting with injuries was reported in the city. Since Jan. 1, Roanoke has recorded two homicides. At least one of those, which killed 27-year-old Uhura Willis Feb. 17, was gun-related. As of Tuesday, seven other people have been shot but not killed in aggravated assault incidents. In the same time frame in 2023, 20 people were shot but not killed.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By KONRAD PUTZIER,
Wall Street Journal
(Subscription Required)
Big technology companies are cutting back on office space across major coastal cities, leaving some exposed landlords with empty buildings and steep losses.
The pullback marks a sharp reversal after years when companies such as Amazon.com, Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Google parent Alphabet had been bolstering their office footprints by adding millions of square feet of space. Their expansion continued even after the pandemic erupted and many employees started working remotely. Tech companies have been the dominant tenant in West Coast cities like Seattle and San Francisco, and by 2021 these companies came to rival those in the finance industry as Manhattan’s biggest user of office space.
Now, big tech companies are letting leases expire or looking to unload some offices. Amazon is ditching or not renewing some office leases and last year paused construction on its second headquarters in northern Virginia.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By HUNTER SAVERY,
Fauquier Times
Last week, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized strict new standards for “forever chemicals” in public drinking water, Fauquier County unveiled alarming new test results.
The new tests reveal that more than 15,000 Fauquier County residents use drinking water that would not meet the new national standards. Under the new EPA rules, Fauquier Water and Sanitation Authority, like other public waterworks, will have five years to address that problem.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By NATALIE ANDERSON,
Virginian-Pilot
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
When she was 16, Sara Tasneem said she had been forced to marry her rapist while she was six months pregnant. “My abuser was 13 years older than me and he was able to marry me and continue abusing me for the following seven years under the protection of a marriage certificate,” Tasneem said. Tasneem said she faced legal barriers when trying to leave the marriage. ... She was one of several abuse victims who shared personal testimonies with Virginia lawmakers last month before the General Assembly ultimately voted to end the practice in the commonwealth. Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed the bill, filed by Del. Karen Keys-Gamarra (D-Fairfax County), into law this month.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By SCOTT GELMAN,
WTOP
Fairfax County Public Schools would lose over $6 million in funding for English language learners in each of the next two years, as a result of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed changes to the state’s budget.
That is one of several findings in the school district’s analysis of the proposed changes, which was obtained by WTOP.
The proposed amendments to the state’s budget would also reduce overall funding for the state’s largest school district by $16.7 million in fiscal year 2025 and $24 million in fiscal 2026, the school division’s review found.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By KATELYN HARLOW,
WRIC-TV
A bill that permits educational programs about periods to be taught in public schools, if school boards allow it, has been signed into law by Governor Glenn Youngkin.
The law was introduced by Del. Holly Seibold (D-12) and permits each school board to provide an instructional program on menstrual education as a part of health education instruction offered for students in grades four through eight, as the school board deems appropriate.
Currently, within the Standards of Learning Documents for Health for those grades, which were adopted in 2020, there is no educational guidance about menstrual cycles.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By CHEYENNE PAGAN,
WRIC-TV
An oversight hearing was held Tuesday morning in Washington D.C. about the ongoing challenges the United States Postal Service has been facing across the country.
The hearing comes after metro Richmond residents have been expressing concerns about delays, missing mail and stolen mail over the last several months.
Lawmakers had a chance to question top leaders in the Postal Service and find out what’s been causing mail issues, not just in Richmond, but elsewhere as well.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By JULIAN E. BARNES,
New York Times
(Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
The threat against U.S. elections by Russia and other foreign powers is far greater today than it was in 2020, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Tuesday.
Senator Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat who leads the committee, said the danger had grown for multiple reasons: Adversarial countries have become more adept at spreading disinformation, Americans are more vulnerable to propaganda, communication between the government and social media companies has become more difficult and artificial intelligence is giving foreign powers new abilities.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By GRAHAM MOOMAW,
Virginia Mercury
The debate over how high taxes need to be to properly fund core government services is a more normal topic than many of the hyperpartisan culture war issues that now dominate politics. But the budget battle playing out between Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the Democratic-led General Assembly is anything but routine.
One day before state lawmakers were set to return to Richmond to take up Youngkin’s amendments and vetoes, House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, posted a campaign-style video accusing Youngkin of standing in the way of a bipartisan budget that boosted funding for K-12 education.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By MIKE GANGLOFF,
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Students at Christiansburg Middle School were told a month ago to give up their cellphones and other electronic devices during school hours – and seem happier without them, said a report presented Tuesday to the Montgomery County School Board. There also have been numerous phones confiscated after students used them despite the ban, the report said. “I’m seeing smiles on faces instead of the cellphone zombies walking down the hallways and not paying attention to what’s going on around them,” Christiansburg Middle School Principal Danny Knott told school board members.
VaNews April 18, 2024
