Search
By SAMUEL B. PARKER,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards on Thursday said the department had reached out to pro-Palestine protest organizers to ask them to decrease the frequency of their demonstrations amid a surge in violent crime in the city and persistent police staffing issues.
In a text message sent by Richmond police officer Mohammed Maher Hameed to organizer Zaid Mahdawi, Hameed requested that the protesters give Richmond police “a little break.”
VaNews April 29, 2024
By KATHERINE SCHULTE,
Virginia Business
Google is investing $1 billion in expanding its Virginia data center campuses this year and is launching a $75 million Google.org AI Opportunity Fund, one of Google’s top executives and Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday at Google’s Reston office. “Today is a great day. We’ve got a $1 billion investment in the commonwealth that we’re announcing. There’s an establishment of a new AI Opportunity Fund. And we’re creating new and opportunistic ways and pathways for people to upskill and find a new pathway to an amazing career,” Youngkin said. “That is worth celebrating.”
VaNews April 29, 2024
By JOEY LOMONACO,
Fredericksburg Free Press
At least 12 people — including several University of Mary Washington students — were arrested Saturday evening as police from descended upon an encampment in Jefferson Square that was previously disbanded on Friday night.
However, students from the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine organization re-staked their tents on Saturday afternoon, and at 5:39 p.m., SJP president Amirah Ahmed sent a Free Press reporter a two-word text message: “they’re arresting.”
An Instagram live feed from UMW’s SJP showed at least three students being led away from the square in handcuffs by UMW Police officers, while a mix of students, faculty and community members looked on. Troopers from the Virginia State Police were also on the scene.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By GABBY ALLEN,
WDVM-TV
IAFF Local 3756, the union that represents about 650 officials throughout the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Department, ratified their first-ever Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on Sunday night.
The Loudoun Career Fire Fighters Association (LCFFA) said the members of Local 3756 are the first public sector employees to ratify a CBA in the history of Loudoun County. The association described it as a “blowout and historic victory.”
VaNews April 29, 2024
By PATRICIA MAZZEI,
New York Times
(Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
Amid a dizzying array of standoffs involving pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments at colleges, schools that cracked down on protesters over the weekend have given varying justifications for their actions, while others sent mixed signals with their inaction.
Behind it all was a central question confronting university leaders across the country: When does a demonstration cross the line?
Colleges have cited property damage, outside provocateurs, antisemitic expressions or just failures to heed warnings as reasons to clear encampments and arrest students. Student groups have strongly denied or questioned many of those claims.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By DAN CASEY,
Roanoke Times
(Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
There’s a popular saying about the war in Ukraine that goes something like this: “If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, Ukraine ends.” More than anything else, that simple aphorism highlights the nature of the most damaging conflict in Europe since World War II: Unprovoked military aggression by the authoritarian Russian Federation against a European democracy.
VaNews April 29, 2024
By CARDINAL STAFF,
Cardinal News
Virginia Tech ordered the students protesting the Israeli military action in Gaza to disperse Sunday night or risk arrest. Freelance journalist Justin Fleenor said he saw “more than two dozen” people arrested, including one professor.
Virginia Tech did not have a number available for how many people were arrested.
One video that Fleenor posted showed a woman in a Tech graduation robe being arrested; another showed police carrying a protestor from the site. Others were seen walking with police. Fleenor also posted a video showing a large group of students chanting “let them go!” Videos from others at the scene showed a crowd jeering police as they led handcuffed protestors to waiting vans.
VaNews April 29, 2024
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
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
By SEAN JONES,
Richmond Times-Dispatch
(Metered Paywall - 7 articles a month)
Henrico County leaders are considering a plan to make roughly 100 to 150 new homes more affordable each year. There’s a national home affordability crisis that’s showing its effects locally with average homebuyers being priced out of the market. Staple jobs — police officers, teachers, dental assistants and paralegals — often make less than half the yearly salary needed to afford the median home price in the county.
VaNews April 29, 2024
