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Virginia faces Medicaid cuts after US Senate passes Trump budget bill
On Tuesday, the US Senate passed its version of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” by a narrow 51–50 margin, with Vice President JD Vance casting the deciding vote after three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — joined Democrats in voting against the bill. The bill will cut roughly $1 trillion from Medicaid, according to a preliminary review done by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The legislation will now head back to the House of Representatives, where at least two Republican members of Virginia’s congressional delegation have said they opposed it.
McLean government IT contractor hiring almost 900
McLean, Virginia-based 22nd Century Technologies is investing $1 million to expand its headquarters and will hire an additional 880 workers. At a time when many big D.C.-area government contractors are scaling back expansion, minority-owned 22nd Century continues to grow operations in Fairfax County and across the U.S. The company relocated its headquarters from New Jersey to McLean in 2008. Fairfax County competed with sites in Texas, Florida and West Virginia for the company’s expansion.
The Unexpected Trump Target: As the University of Virginia’s president is forced out, the campus is reeling.
On Saturday, scores of students, faculty and staff members, and local residents joined James E. Ryan, president of the University of Virginia, for what could be the very last “Run With Jim.” Only this time, it was branded as a “Run for Jim.” Ryan, whose compelled resignation under pressure from the Department of Justice startled the higher-ed sector last week, had made recurring group jogs around campus his trademark. They helped cement his reputation among some as a president-of-the-people after taking office in 2018. Nearly seven years later, at the abrupt and emotional end of his presidency, Ryan addressed some of those people.
FBI headquarters will remain in Washington, but at newer digs
After more than a decade of haggling over efforts to move the FBI’s headquarters to the Washington suburbs, federal officials announced Tuesday it will remain in Washington, but at a newer location. The bureau’s thousands of agents who now work in the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue will move up the street, literally, to the more recently constructed Ronald Reagan Building. The announcement angered lawmakers in Virginia and Maryland, who had been working for years to lure the FBI to the suburbs, which would bring new revenue, more than 7,500 jobs and an economic boost from a newly constructed headquarters.
‘Fight the Flood’ program pairs Middle Peninsula property owners with flooding solutions
Lewie Lawrence hears the same thing over and over from people living along Virginia’s rural Middle Peninsula: They have issues with flooding, but don’t know where to turn for help. People say, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to pay for this, and nobody will call me back,” said Lawrence, a lifelong resident of the area and outgoing head of the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission. “That is a constant and consistent theme.” That’s where the organization’s Fight the Flood program comes in.
Audit of Richmond’s fuel program reveals at least $44,000 in ‘questionable transactions’
At least $44,000 in Richmond taxpayer money was spent on “questionable transactions” through the city’s employee fleet fuel program, an audit revealed, which also uncovered inconsistent oversight and inadequate policies and procedures. On Tuesday, July 1, the Office of the City Auditor (OCA) released a 42-page audit of the fleet fuel program, which comes a week after it released a separate audit in late June of the city’s employee purchasing card program, which also found similar issues in oversight.
After thumbs down from commission, developer withdraws, plans to refile 700-acre Chesterfield data center proposal
Following a negative review by the Chesterfield Planning Commission, the company behind a proposed data center campus has withdrawn the project, with plans to come up with a new approach. Denver-based development firm Tract on Tuesday pulled its zoning application that would have set the stage for a data center park on 744 acres at 16100 Branders Bridge Road. But the company isn’t giving up on the project entirely.
Judge overturns Charlottesville 'upzoning'
The city of Charlottesville lost a major battle Monday in its fight to preserve a recent citywide rezoning after its two-man legal team forgot to make a timely filing — a mistake that led a judge to issue a default ruling against the city. Charlottesville Circuit Judge Claude Worrell said he would enjoin the city from enforcing the new zoning ordinance that would have allowed greater density in construction across the city. "Oh, geez," exclaimed City Councilor Lloyd Snook, a backer of the new zoning ordinance, when The Daily Progress informed him of the ruling. "They didn't even ask for an injunction."
Relocating HUD from D.C. to Northern Virginia will come at a cost
It’s certainly possible that the relocation of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development personnel to Virginia could be a boon to the commonwealth. Gov. Glenn Youngkin argued as such in making the announcement last week that HUD staff would move across the water from the District of Columbia to offices in Alexandria. Absent in the governor’s announcement, however, was any mention that HUD’s new digs are occupied by the National Science Foundation, whose 1,800 personnel will be unceremoniously evicted from space they’ve used since 2017. As the Trump administration continues to undermine the United States’ advances in science, research and innovation, Virginia should work to ensure NSF remains headquartered in the commonwealth.
Newman: Cuts to Medicaid will worsen health outcomes
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act being considered by Congress will cut the Medicaid budget substantially and cause millions to lose health insurance coverage. Without access to good primary care and preventive measures, many more people will present to overloaded emergency departments with health disasters such as heart attacks and strokes that are much more expensive to treat. The net effects are a greater cost to society and personal catastrophe for those affected. Data from the Commonwealth Fund show the United States has poor health outcomes by nearly every measure relative to 10 other wealthy nations; this is because we are the only country of these that does not insure all our citizens.