Virginia: The Old Dominion

Probably about 150 or so people at peak crowd size. Not nearly as much as No Kings which must have been close to 500 people but I was honestly expecting way less considering I didn’t hear about this till last week.

According to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, Vice Mayor Carl "Ben" Nett and Town Manager Kwasi Fraser were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday.

A spokesperson for VSP issued the following statement to WUSA9.

“Following a Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation Fairfax Field Office Investigation, a grand jury charged Carl B. Nett, Purcellville Vice-Mayor, with six felony counts: four involving violations regarding the Virginia Criminal Information Network and two related to bid rigging and conspiracy.

In addition, the grand jury also charged Kwasi Fraser, Purcellville Town Manager, on two felony counts related to bid rigging and conspiracy.”

In Due Course is a selection of legislation passed by the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly that is likely to affect the daily lives of the citizens of Virginia. The [included] legislation has been signed by the Governor and for the most part will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

Per the Virginia State Constitution:

"All laws enacted at a regular session, ... excluding a general appropriation law, shall take effect on the first day of July following the adjournment of the session of the General Assembly at which it has been enacted."
Constitution of Virginia, Article IV, Section 13

The linked PDF contains a list prepared by the Division of Legislative Services of some of the new laws taking effect on Tuesday, July 1.

Today is the day designated for 2025 Primary contests. You can find out who is on your ballot here.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/40143092

BOTH CANDIDATES FOR Virginia attorney general in Tuesday’s Democratic primary have much in common. They’ve both promised, for instance, to fight against Donald Trump and DOGE, and to protect abortion rights.

When it comes to who is funding their campaigns, though, there’s one source of cash that marks a striking difference between the candidates: Dominion Energy, the Fortune 500 utility company that has long thrown around huge sums to shape politics in Virginia.

In the attorney general primary this year, local prosecutor Shannon Taylor has accepted $650,000 in donations from Dominion, while former state delegate Jay Jones has not taken any from the company.

And that cash has made a difference: Jones had a significant fundraising lead this year — until Dominion began sending checks to Taylor.

In newly signed legislation in Virginia, social media companies are required to restrict use to only one hour per day for kids younger than 16 years old.

On one hand, great, kids need less social media. We're seeing how absolutely toxic it is. On the other, this shouldn't be the states call to make.

The report by Wood MacKenzie, an energy research firm, examined 20 large power users. In almost all of those cases, the firm found, the money that large energy users paid to electric utilities would not be enough to cover the cost of the equipment needed to serve them. The rest of the costs would be borne by other utility customers or the utility itself.

The D.C. public transportation system is set to expand dramatically over the next 20 years. But aside from the long-delayed Purple Line, new train tracks aren’t part of the plan. Leaders in and around the Metro system are putting their energy behind the less-loved side of transit: the bus.

In June, Metro rolls out its new “Better Bus Network,” remaking the existing system with fewer stops and promises of faster service. Northern Virginia leaders just proposed 28 new bus routes, five of which are already in the works.

The D.C. public transportation system is set to expand dramatically over the next 20 years. But aside from the long-delayed Purple Line, new train tracks aren’t part of the plan. Leaders in and around the Metro system are putting their energy behind the less-loved side of transit: the bus.

In June, Metro rolls out its new “Better Bus Network,” remaking the existing system with fewer stops and promises of faster service. Northern Virginia leaders just proposed 28 new bus routes, five of which are already in the works.

Hundreds of employees at the Georgia-Pacific plywood plant in Emporia, Virginia, are losing their jobs after the facility ceased operations immediately on Friday.

The company delivered the news to the plant's just over 550 employees during a series of meetings Friday morning and through a letter distributed to workers, according to Rick Kimble, Georgia-Pacific's director of public affairs.

From last year to now, Virginia raised teacher pay by an average of $3,000. Still, the commonwealth’s average pay rate for educators remains stagnant compared to other states, according to the latest salary report published by the National Education Association.

The commonwealth dropped by one spot to 26th, paying teachers an average of $66,327, an increase from a year ago. Virginia’s average teacher pay is $5,703 below the national average of $72,030, the NEA report states.

Virginia’s 2025 governor’s race is set: Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears will face former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee.

The Republican Party of Virginia announced Saturday afternoon that Earle-Sears is the GOP nominee and that there will be no Republican primary for governor.

The Democratic Party of Virginia announced Friday Spanberger is the Democratic nominee for governor, as no other Democrats filed to run before the deadline.

Former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison for accepting over $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing numerous Northern Virginia businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs within his department.

With other Virginia communities drying up, this one seemed like a good choice to have some sort of representation for the residents of Virginia on Lemmy.
Unfortunately, the user who created this sub had been inactive for two years and no upkeep was being done.

For that reason, I reached out to the admins and requested to take over moderation so that I could do some basic work to keep the lights on.

To that end, I'd appreciate any ideas of what the community needs (I already unpinned the two year old pinned posts).

So, what does everyone want with c/virginia?

When companies win their pitches for state incentives to fund a new plant or expansion in Virginia, they sometimes end up hiring fewer people than they said they would.

But a shift away from making upfront grants — to require that companies show that they have hired and invested before the state releases funds — has made a big difference, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis of state economic development spending data.

When companies win their pitches for state incentives to fund a new plant or expansion in Virginia, they sometimes end up hiring fewer people than they said they would.

But a shift away from making upfront grants — to require that companies show that they have hired and invested before the state releases funds — has made a big difference, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis of state economic development spending data.

RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an Executive Order to direct local and state law enforcement to assist in immigration enforcement.

Executive Order 47 directs the Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to sign Section 287(g) agreements with ICE and directs the Secretary of Public Safety & Homeland Security to request a certification from local and regional jail authorities confirming their full cooperation with ICE and that they will cooperate with the Section 287(g) VSP Task Force.

“As Governor, protecting our citizens is my foremost responsibility and today we are taking action that will make Virginia safer by removing dangerous criminal illegal immigrants from our Commonwealth,” said Youngkin. “This order will allow Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to partner with President Trump’s administration on federal immigration enforcement. Dangerous criminal illegal immigrants should not be let back into our communities to assault, rape and murder. They should be sent back where they came from.”

Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.

Virginia law enforcement agencies will no longer be able to withhold the names of their employees from the public.

That’s the result of a ruling issued on Tuesday afternoon by the Virginia Court of Appeals, which found that “the names of law enforcement personnel are not exempted” from public records requests made under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.