GOVERNMENT + POLITICS
Richmond’s post-graduation mass shooting reflects America’s gun violence epidemic
This morning, a Richmond mother woke up to the yawning absence of her teenage son and husband, men whose lives were snuffed out by bullets in a mass shooting right after Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony in downtown Richmond Tuesday afternoon. That son and brand-new graduate, Shawn Jackson, was just 18 years old when his […]
Questions swirl at ABC over store thefts and high-ranking officials being put on leave
Embezzlement occurred at seven stores operated by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority over the last year, according to ABC officials, after employees exploited a vulnerability in the cash register system that was flagged by an internal audit report in September 2022. The liquor authority’s leadership insists that audit report went undetected by senior officials […]
How Virginia is spending new state funding to prevent gun violence
The office of Attorney General Jason Miyares plans to hire six prosecutors and group violence intervention coordinators with the $2.6 million in grant funding it received to try to reduce gun crime. Another $5 million will go toward the extension of a hospital-based violence intervention program meant to help people escape life circumstances that led […]
After Buckingham, more Virginia registrars find themselves on chopping block
BURKEVILLE – In a sweltering community meeting room, William H. Clarke told his fellow Nottoway County residents calling people racist is a “dangerous thing” that shouldn’t be done lightly. But some of the pushback to Nottoway’s first Black registrar, he said, seems racist. “If you get rid of this man, get rid of him on […]
Half a million people in less than a dozen states have lost Medicaid coverage since April
More than 500,000 people across 11 states have lost their Medicaid coverage since the unwinding of a policy that allowed people to stay in the program throughout the pandemic. The data, reported by the states and tracked by health policy researcher KFF, shows that of the five states providing data on people who lost Medicaid […]
Mountain Valley Pipeline approvals OKed as part of debt ceiling deal
The controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline received federal support for completion Thursday after the U.S. Senate approved a debt ceiling deal that includes a provision requiring fast-tracked approvals for the project, despite opposition from some members of Virginia’s congressional delegation. Both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate sent the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which prevents the […]
Why groups are fighting over obscure 1960s-era ‘slot and perimeter’ rules at a Virginia airport
This spring has seen increased bickering in Northern Virginia over two little-known aviation regulations called the slot and perimeter rules, which govern operations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County. What exactly are they — and why are people fighting over them? Read on to figure out what you need to know. The […]
Youngkin deploys 100 Virginia National Guard troops for border enforcement in Texas
Gov. Glenn Youngkin is sending 100 Virginia National Guard troops and 21 support personnel to help with border security in Texas, according to a Wednesday announcement from Youngkin’s office. The governor’s office portrayed the move as stepping up to help with an issue the federal government has failed to address, but Virginia Democrats criticized it […]
U.S. House approves debt limit package, sending it to Senate with just days until default deadline
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House took a broadly bipartisan vote Wednesday night on the debt limit package, sending it to the U.S. Senate where lawmakers are expected to vote quickly to clear the measure. The bill would suspend the nation’s borrowing limit through Jan. 1, 2025 and set caps on discretionary spending for two years. […]
Report on Virginia public education standards and policies overdue
Over a four-month period in 2022, Virginia leaders in education and workforce development held a series of meetings to provide recommendations to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration on improving state K-12 education. However, a report on recommendations from those meetings, which were convened to fulfill the requirements of a 2022 law known as House Bill 938, […]
Virginia ABC officials say they’ve ‘automated’ liquor lotteries to prevent future errors
Virginia liquor officials said they’re taking steps to automate the random lottery process for rare bottles after an outcry from bourbon enthusiasts who say the state bungled a recent lottery and allowed some entrants to win multiple bottles despite steep odds of that outcome occurring naturally. The leadership of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority […]
Debt limit deal hits turbulence in Congress as leaders prep for vote
WASHINGTON — Congress began moving the bipartisan debt limit package forward Tuesday, though frustrations with provisions in the bill could make for narrow passage in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats both aired their disappointment with the agreement forged over the weekend, but only GOP lawmakers are looking to possibly […]