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By DAVE RESS,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Virginia could put some $50 million of taxpayer funds to better use by tighter oversight of overtime payments and trying a new approach at behavioral health facilities, the Office of the Inspector General said. It found that Virginia state agencies’ overtime payments for the 11 months that ended May 31, 2023, had increased by 90% since the 2010 decision to leave overtime pay decisions with individual state agencies instead of the state’s central personnel management office. That increase is not adjusted for the pay increases state employees have received over those dozen years.
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 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 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 GHAZALA HASHMI AND MARCIA S. "CIA" PRICE,
published in
Virginian-Pilot
(Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
In a striking disregard for the values and will of Virginians, Gov. Glenn Youngkin last week proposed a substitute that would gut Virginia’s Right to Contraception Act (RTCA), vital legislation we introduced as a critical defense against the growing right-wing assault on reproductive freedom.
The governor claimed our bill, which would protect Virginians’ right to use condoms, the pill, IUDs and Plan B, went “too far.” Instead, he replaced it with a Section 1 bill, reducing the legislation to a non-binding suggestion rather than an enforceable law. Simply put, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.
Sen. Hashmi represents Chesterfield County and Del. Price represents Newport News. Both are Democrats.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By JAHD KHALIL,
VPM
A day before legislators are set to return to Richmond, Democratic leadership in the General Assembly and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin seemingly have not reached a budget agreement.
Lawmakers on Wednesday will consider Youngkin’s actions on legislation, after he amended 116 bills and vetoed a record 153 others. They’ll also consider his 242 recommendations on the budget, which center around maintaining current tax levels and funds Democrats’ priorities at a lower level than what they proposed.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By TOM ROUSSEY,
WJLA-TV
Northern Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly is calling on Metro to hand over documents to the commission overseeing safety after the transit agency refused a request for them.
“It’s not a matter of voluntary compliance,” Connolly (D – VA 11th District) told 7News in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “Metro must comply.”
… The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC) – which was created in part by Connolly and other members of Congress to bring independent oversight to Metro – said it requested documents related to drug and alcohol testing of Metro employees, hazardous materials, and other safety-related issues.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By DAVID J. TOSCANO,
published in
Daily Progress
(Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
Virginia’s legislature and governor are embroiled in a “two scorpions in a bottle” fight over the new biennial budget, which must be passed by June 30 to fund the government. On Wednesday, both sides returned to Richmond for the “reconvened” or “veto” session. Budget battles in the commonwealth are not unusual, but this one is unique, both in the number of changes Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin proposed to the bipartisan spending plan and the rhetoric that has accompanied the process.
Toscano, an attorney and former mayor of Charlottesville, served 14 years in the House of Delegates representing Charlottesville and Albemarle County, including seven as minority leader.
VaNews April 17, 2024
By ANTONIO OLIVO,
Washington Post
(Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
A helicopter hovers over the Gee family farm, the noisy rattle echoing inside their home in this rural part of West Virginia. It’s holding surveyors who are eyeing space for yet another power line next to the property — a line that will take electricity generated from coal plants in the state to address a drain on power driven by the world’s internet hub in Northern Virginia 35 miles away.
There, massive data centers with computers processing nearly 70 percent of global digital traffic are gobbling up electricity at a rate officials overseeing the power grid say is unsustainable unless two things happen: Several hundred miles of new transmission lines must be built, slicing through neighborhoods and farms in Virginia and three neighboring states. And antiquated coal-powered electricity plants that had been scheduled to go offline will need to keep running to fuel the increasing need for more power, undermining clean energy goals.
VaNews April 17, 2024
