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Hearing examiner recommends denying Greenway toll increase
The senior hearing examiner overseeing the Dulles Greenway’s application to raise tolls on the privately owned road has recommended that the State Corporation Commission deny the request outright. The examiner, Michael D. Thomas, filed a 159-page report May 15 that found the Greenway’s request to raise tolls would “materially discourage use of the Greenway” and are not “reasonable to the user in relation to the benefit obtained,” thereby failing to meet the standards of a 2021 state law that made the regulations that govern the road more stringent.
Stafford County School Board proposes banning student phones during class
At last night’s monthly meeting, the Stafford County School Board announced an update to the division policy regarding student cell phone use. The proposed update to the Code of Student Conduct and Related Policies adds a regulation that “prohibits personal communication devices during the regular school day.” Students will have to turn their phones off or silence them and store them out of sight in a backpack or bag from the start bell until the dismissal bell.
Va. lawmakers react after Biden announces he won’t participate in debate at VSU
Last November, it was announced that Virginia State University would become the first historically black college and university (HBCU) to host a presidential debate. However, now just six months later, it appears the historic event won’t happen after all. That’s because President Joe Biden’s campaign announced Wednesday that he would not participate in debates hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates, including one scheduled to take place at Virginia State University on Oct. 1.
Complaints spark second review of Prince William Digital Gateway area property values
After weeks of complaints, criticism and landowner appeals, the Prince William County assessor’s office on Monday revised its sky-high assessments of properties inside the planned Prince William Digital Gateway data center corridor. Roughly half the property valuations dropped, but half went up — the result of the county eliminating one discount but replacing it with a new one. But even for those whose assessments are now lower, there is no joy in Mudville. That’s because Digital Gateway-area landowners’ assessments remain in the millions, and their tax bills will be in the tens, or even hundreds, of thousands.
MacArthur Center redevelopment still likely several years away, Norfolk official says
While a gleaming vision for the transformation of the city’s struggling downtown shopping mall has been revealed, Norfolk’s economic development director is cautioning anyone who is looking for construction barrels anytime soon. Instead, Sean Washington, who has led the city’s economic development efforts for nearly two years, wants to make clear that the rendering and possibilities shared by Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander at his recent state of the city address are “very much so conceptual” and that there is still “a long road ahead.”
Kempsville High baseball season ended over ‘racism, hate speech, and harassment’ within team
Kempsville High School’s baseball season is over after “a lengthy investigation” found that “racism, hate speech, and harassment” have been prevalent on the team for multiple years, according to a note principal Melissa George sent to parents in recent weeks. “After our lengthy investigation after we received allegations of racism on the baseball team earlier in April, we have found that racism, hate speech, and harassment have been an ongoing issue for multiple years,” George wrote in the message, first reported by WTKR. “Due to additional information we have through our investigation, at this time we are forfeiting (the May 2) game against (Princess Anne).”
Salem pharmacy fined $75,000 for vaccine, drug violations in 2021, 2022
A CVS in Salem delegated the provision of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 to an untrained nurse who injected a youth with six doses at once, according to state records. One of a dozen violations found in connection with a routine inspection in January 2022, authorities cited the drugstore for posing a danger to the public’s health. The long-pending case was resolved when the Virginia Board of Pharmacy fined the store $75,000 earlier this month for violations of state law including the state Drug Control Act.
Segregation skyrocketed among Virginia’s Latino students in past 30 years
Richmond Public Schools had the highest levels of school segregation between white and Latino students in Virginia in 2022, according to a Stanford University analysis of federal data. The combination of ethnicity, poverty and language create a “triple segregation” among Latino students that’s been overlooked for decades and “left to fester,” said Gary Orfield, co-director of the UCLA Civil Rights Project. Latino students’ federal right to desegregation didn’t happen until nearly 20 years after the Brown v. Board ruling with the 1973 Supreme Court case Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver.
Hanover County School Board members discuss possible policy change on student cell phone usage
Hanover County Public School leaders are grappling with what to do when it comes to cell phones usage at schools across the district. At a meeting on Tuesday, May 14, board members had to weigh in on whether to change the district’s current policy to further limit students’ use of the devices in school buildings. The discussion at the May 14 meeting centered around whether to change the policy at elementary and middle schools in the county. The decision to revisit the policy comes as several surrounding districts have recently made changes to their cell phone policies that limit student usage.
Schapiro: A Wilder ride for Rao and Youngkin
Doug Wilder always says the loud part louder. In a little-noticed speech this past weekend, the former governor and ex-Richmond mayor artfully laid into the president of Virginia Commonwealth University, Michael Rao, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who appoints the overseers of VCU and more than a dozen other taxpayer-financed colleges and universities. Wilder has attacked both men before. His speech wasn’t necessarily more of the same, though, because Wilder had a different audience. He spoke to newly minted, politically focused university graduates who, he implied, should not follow Rao’s and Youngkin’s examples.