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Fredericksburg-area officials tell state their transportation needs
The state transportation leaders’ annual nine-meeting tour across Virginia stopped in Stafford County on Thursday. ... Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner Stephen Birch told the small crowd the state’s 2025-2030 six-year improvement program draft calls for $19.1 billion in funding for roads, with another $6.3 billion for rail and public transportation. The total funding is down $5 million from the current Six-Year Improvement Plan.
What we know about how UVa’s narrative differs from eyewitness accounts of May 4
University of Virginia officials have cited a number of justifications for their decision to have state police wearing tactical gear break up a small encampment of anti-war protesters on May 4, arresting 27 people and deploying pepper-spray into a crowd of students, faculty and members of the public. But witnesses and video footage raise questions about the claims made by President Jim Ryan, UVa Police Chief Tim Longo and other top officials.
New ballpark? Unless poverty becomes our top priority, RVA will keep losing
In a city that’s so accustomed to losing, even the wins feel like defeat. After more than 20 years of handwringing and public debate, the Richmond City Council finally approved a massive, $170 million financing plan on Wednesday to build a new ballpark to replace the nearly obsolete, 40-year-old Diamond on Arthur Ashe Boulevard. ... It would also be paid for with city tax dollars, the same tax dollars that council members struggled to scrounge up just two weeks ago.
Carilion Clinic cleared in tainted instrument probe
Investigators received an anonymous complaint last summer tipping them off that Carilion Clinic’s two largest hospitals were struggling with a months-long spike in surgical instruments with blemishes, stains, spots and debris. Tainted surgical instruments were found on the front lines of care, including in trays awaiting use in heart procedures, and pulled before use. When surgeons had too few clean instruments to operate, patients waited. While the health system showed that no blemished instrument ever touched a patient and few surgeries overall were delayed, inspectors working on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put a condition into effect known as “immediate jeopardy.” The reason: a breakdown in infection control.
MVP fined again by regulators for environmental problems
State regulators again cited the Mountain Valley Pipeline for environmental violations, and are seeking another $31,500 in fines that total more than $2 million over the past five years. In an email sent Friday, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality informed the company that its inspections found at least 13 cases of non-compliance with erosion and sedimentation control regulations.
Some VCU students walk out of commencement during Youngkin address
Dozens of Virginia Commonwealth University students walked out of their graduation ceremony Saturday morning as Gov. Glenn Youngkin delivered the commencement address, demonstrating support for Palestinians and protesting some of the Republican’s crusade against efforts to promote racial equity in education. The selection of Youngkin as speaker drew criticism from some ahead of the ceremony. The university’s chapter of the NAACP [last] week urged VCU officials to rescind the invitation, and some students in recent days said they would hold a walkout during the ceremony.
In 7th District primary, Republicans debate party’s future
Clashes among Republican factions in the 118th Congress are playing out in Virginia's 7th Congressional District, with money and endorsements flowing to rival candidates in a GOP primary from the party's establishment and most conservative wings in the House of Representatives. The 7th, based in Prince William, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties, is a pivotal political battleground in the outer Northern Virginia suburbs and countryside for control of the House in a presidential election year.
Schmude: Amid expansion, Chesapeake Regional seeks unnecessary price hikes
Chesapeake Regional Healthcare recently announced more than $150 million in new construction across Hampton Roads. In the same breath, the system has demanded dramatic price increases for Tidewater’s people and businesses in its current negotiations with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia. I spend my time advocating for health care affordability because it is consumers and businesses that pay for health care, and they should not bear the burden of flagrant cost increases to fund Chesapeake’s expansion plans.
Gibson: Online sexual abuse against women is imperiling our democracy
Last month, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s painful experiences as the victim of AI-driven sexual abuse appeared in a piece in Rolling Stone. Titled “Fake Photos, Real Harm: AOC and the Fight Against AI Porn,” the article explores how U.S. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez first discovered the artificially generated explicit images of her, and her effort to amend the Violence Against Women Act in order to create civil liability in response to this new form of sexual abuse. Like so many people who read it, I was both horrified and motivated.
Fears grow as Mountain Valley Pipeline nears completion
The most visible scars from the Mountain Valley Pipeline are gone now from the pastoral property that Anne and Steve Bernard call home. But the Bernards remain troubled by what they can’t see. “Bottom line: I’m scared to death of that pipe sitting out there,” Steve Bernard said of the buried steel pipe, through which highly pressurized natural gas could soon begin flowing along a route that passes about 150 feet from the couple’s white frame house and adjacent art studio.