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By CORMAC DODD,
Winchester Star
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
Citing the national debt, U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-6th) voted against legislation that could send Ukraine $60 billion in foreign aid that passed the House over the weekend with bipartisan support. But Cline backed three other measures contained in the $95 billion package the House approved on Saturday, which included $8.1 billion for the Indo-Pacific region to deter China; about $26 billion for supporting Israel and providing humanitarian relief for people in Gaza, and a measure that could force TikTok to sever ties with its parent company, Bytedance, or face a nationwide ban.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By TRENT ENGLAND,
published in
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Virginia voters can have confidence in November that the election process will be simple and their votes will count. That’s because of the defeat of two radical election proposals pushed by well-financed lobbying groups. Each would have made voting less transparent and more confusing. Voters were spared the latest mess only by gubernatorial veto on April 8. That bill, Senate Bill 428, would have required the commonwealth to assist local implementation of an election system known as ranked choice voting, or RCV.
England is founder and executive director of Save Our States and co-chairman of the Stop Ranked-Choice Voting Coalition.
VaNews April 23, 2024
ArlNow
Arlington’s Congressman split his votes on security funding bills for U.S. allies over the weekend.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) voted for bills to aid the defense of Ukraine, which is under Russian invasion, and Taiwan, which is under the threat of Chinese military action. He voted against defense aid for Israel, which is battling Hamas in a bloody conflict that has killed scores of civilians on both sides.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By MEGHAN MCINTYRE,
Virginia Mercury
Both residents and Virginia Department of Forestry officials agree: Callery pear trees, including the much-loathed Bradford pear variety, aren’t just offensive to the nose — they’re detrimental to the state’s environment.
A new state program is what led approximately 300 residents to the department’s headquarters in Charlottesville this past weekend, each having chopped down at least one pungent, invasive Callery pear in exchange for a native tree species.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By BEN PETERS,
Inside NOVA
President Joe Biden on Monday during an Earth Day stop at Prince William Forest Park made a series of announcements aimed at fighting climate change, including $7 billion to expand access to residential solar installations through the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Solar for All” program.
The president, speaking alongside Democratic members of Congress in the Prince William wilderness, also announced that people can now apply to join the American Climate Corps. The initiative is modeled after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps and aims to put more than 20,000 young Americans to work fighting the impacts of climate change while gaining skills to join the clean energy workforce.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By STAFF REPORT,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
The CoStar Group, which announced in February plans to move its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Rosslyn, announced that it will acquire California 3D technology company Matterport for $1.6 billion. Matterport offers 3-D capture technology which delivers “dimensionally accurate, photorealistic virtual tours” for any type of property and is widely used in real estate. ... CoStar said last year it expected to hire 2,000 more people in Richmond, putting its workforce here at about 3,500.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By JILL PALERMO,
Prince William Times
In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a Civilian Conservation Corps, and about 2,000 of its members worked from 1935 to 1942 to build what is now Prince William Forest Park.
On Monday, President Joe Biden made an Earth Day stop at that park, one of Prince William County’s two national parks, to announce what he called “two major steps forward” in his proposals for fighting climate change — including that the new “American Climate Corps” is now open for applications for the first time.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By DWAYNE YANCEY,
Cardinal News
Craig County was home to just 4,892 people in the most recent census and is getting smaller in each subsequent estimate. The third least-populated county in the state, Craig is a beautiful land of mountains and valleys with virtually no industry — 78% of the workers leave the county every day to work.
The state of Virginia also says it’s almost as capable of paying for its own school as Prince William County in Northern Virginia is, with one key difference.
In the state’s funding formula known as the Local Composite Index, Prince William County, the land of more than 40 data centers where payrolls are calculated in the billions, saw its ability to pay for schools drop — while Craig County saw its supposed ability rise.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By FORD MCCRACKEN,
Cavalier Daily
The Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities had their Fraternal Organization Agreements suspended by the University, while the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity had its FOA terminated after allegations of hazing, according to Ben Ueltschey, Inter-Fraternity Council president and third-year College student. While the Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities face temporary suspensions, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity will have its FOA terminated for a minimum of four years. It is unclear when the violations in all three chapters took place or when the University moved to suspend and terminate their FOAs.
VaNews April 23, 2024
By DAVE RESS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Some Virginia state employees will pay more for health insurance beginning July 1, following the state’s latest review and projection of claims.
Overall, the state Department of Human Resource Management proposed a 6.3% increase in total premiums for the next fiscal year.
But full-time employee contributions — the sums taken out of paychecks — will rise by less than that. For some plans, there will be no increase at all.
VaNews April 23, 2024
