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Rep. Good brings ‘Freedom Fighters’ tour to Amherst, addresses Ukraine funding bill

By JUSTIN FAULCONER, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

At a campaign event in Amherst County on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-5th District, described his intra-Republican Party battle with a state legislator challenging his allegiance to former President Donald Trump as “the highest-profile primary race in the country.” Good, chair of the House Freedom Caucus who was among the group in Congress who engineered the historic ouster of former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last fall, is trying to secure a third term in the June 18 primary against newly elected state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland.

VaNews April 29, 2024


Aird rips Petersburg’s casino pick, blasts council for choosing self-service over serving citizens

By BILL ATKINSON, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 10 articles a month)

The chief patron of the successful legislation that brought the long-pursued casino referendum has blasted Petersburg City Council over the choice of its former collaborator as the winning bidder for the business. In a scathing statement Friday night, Sen. Lashrecse Aird also pushed back at the city’s earlier claim that it wrote but never sent a letter of intent to one of the other four vendors “under duress” so that Aird would have a name to use as a bargaining chip in Richmond.

VaNews April 29, 2024


Warner vows to continue support for mental health training for police, first responders

By KEITH EPPS, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

About a year and a half ago, Fredericksburg police responded to an accident at one of the city’s apartment complexes in which an 8-year-old boy ran in front of a car and was struck. City police chief Brian Layton said the first responding officer spoke Spanish and was able to communicate with the boy. But he couldn’t save the child, who died in the officer’s arms. “It was a horrific scene,” Layton said. “That’s the kind of thing that stays with you for a lifetime.”

VaNews April 29, 2024


Google Announces $1B Investment in Virginia Data Center Expansion, AI Training Programs

By STAFF REPORT, Loudoun Now

Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat on Friday announced a $1 billion investment to expand Google’s Virginia data center campuses this year including two Loudoun County sites. The $1 billion investment brings Google’s total investment in the state to more than $4.2 billion. Google calculates its Loudoun County investment at more than $1 billion.

VaNews April 29, 2024


Warner meets with first responders to discuss mental health issues

By JONATHAN HUNLEY, Fredericksburg Free Press

It was about a year and a half ago, right before Christmas, when a Fredericksburg police officer had a life-changing moment. He was responding to a call for service at an apartment complex, and he was first on the scene. An 8-year-old boy had been walking back from a playground with a family member when he saw that his parents had just gotten back home. The boy ran over to see his mother and father, but he was struck by a car coming through the parking lot.

VaNews April 29, 2024


William & Mary to raise tuition for second year in a row

By SAM SCHAFFER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

William & Mary will increase tuition for the second year in a row after years of the price remaining the same. Tuition will increase by 2.5% for in-state undergraduate students and by 3.3% for out-of-state undergraduate students for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, according to a resolution passed by the W&M Board of Visitors on Friday.

VaNews April 29, 2024


State rolling back regulations for wetland delineators under Youngkin directive

By CHARLIE PAULLIN, Virginia Mercury

Those puddles of water along highways and property that seem like swamps are wetlands, a natural resource with numerous environmental benefits ranging from wildlife habitat and protection from flooding. How those wetlands are sited and how they are protected is determined by wetland delineators, who are professionally certified after rigorous training and years of experience. But Virginia legislators this year rolled back one requirement for the job and are attempting further changes through a less public regulatory process. Current professional wetland delineators say those efforts could undermine the integrity of the state’s certification and efforts to preserve a natural resource that is already under threat.

VaNews April 29, 2024


Declining volunteerism leads rural Va. counties to use paid EMS services

By GRACE MAMON, Cardinal News

As fire and rescue volunteerism declines across the state, many localities are changing the way they provide this service. Using paid crews is costly and sometimes controversial, but it’s already been an effective solution for several Southern Virginia counties, and likely will be for many more. Some localities, like Henry County, have coupled paid staff and volunteers for decades. Others, like Franklin and Pittsylvania counties, are in earlier stages of the transition to what is called a combination model of rescue services.

VaNews April 29, 2024


UVa students, faculty named in blacklist, accused of antisemitism without evidence

By JASON ARMESTO, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

An anonymous University of Virginia parent has accused two professors and one student of antisemitism for organizing an Israel-Palestine film series. Organizers, however, say the series was specifically designed to show balanced perspectives. It alternated between screening movies from Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers. The accusation is one of many listed in a document compiled by multiple UVa parents, which outlines a wide range of reported antisemitic incidents they say have occurred on UVa Grounds since Israel’s war against Palestinian terrorist group Hamas began in October of last year.

VaNews April 29, 2024


Yancey: Here’s what readers recommended visitors see on the way to Southwest Virginia

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

Y’all sure know how to make someone feel welcome. Not me. I’m already here. I’m talking about the Arlington reader who contacted me recently, said he’d never been west of Roanoke and hoped soon to rectify that. He was writing in response to my column in defense of Southwest Virginia which, in turn, was a response to a story in Axios Richmond that made dismissive reference to “whatever the hell is west of Roanoke.” I told our prospective visitor that I’d give him some recommendations on what to see and do and then promptly turned to the best source for that — you.

VaNews April 29, 2024