July 8, 2025
Where your legislators stand on HEAT funding paying for public surveillance
Using funds for auto theft tipsters to pay more than a million dollars a year for surveillance technology is a step too far for some legislators in Virginia. Last year, only one tenth of one percent of the Help Eliminate Auto Theft fund budget went toward that law’s stated purpose of paying citizen tipsters. Instead, about one-third of HEAT’s $4.4 million budget went toward equipment grants for local law enforcement agencies. Cardinal News found that the majority of those grants were used for license plate reader cameras or similar public-facing surveillance technology. . . . State legislators were divided on whether surveillance technology was an appropriate use of HEAT funding.
New Va. law protecting reproductive health data prompts Walmart’s online data collection pop-ups
Disclosure pop-ups about the “cookies,” or other aggregate bits of data websites collect and store aren’t an uncommon experience while shopping online. What’s less common: when a pop-up indicates that your potential purchase of condoms, birth control medication or menstrual hygiene products is being noted digitally, a message Virginians have started seeing when they shop virtually for such products. Since July 1, a new state law outlines that people’s personally identifiable reproductive or sexual health information cannot be obtained, disclosed, disseminated or sold without consumer consent. As new laws took effect in Virginia on July 1, Walmart has begun alerting customers about certain product or service searches and purchases.
Ryan’s resignation marks a ‘turning point’ for the Jefferson Council
The news of University President Jim Ryan’s resignation stunned the community — students were “devastated,” faculty were concerned, politicians planned for a fight and many alumni were critical of the Justice Department’s actions. But for the Jefferson Council, a conservative alumni group that has advocated for Ryan’s removal for years, the resignation symbolized a victory over what they viewed as Ryan’s attempt to push far-left ideologies onto the University. Now, Jefferson Council President Joel Gardner hopes that this “turning point” brings a new style of leadership to the University.
National seashore lacks lifeguards as Chincoteague fumes
Visitors are flocking to Assateague Island National Seashore in record numbers. The annual Chincoteague pony swim and auction — and the peak of the summer tourism season — is three weeks away. But Chincoteague Mayor Denise Bowden is worried, as the Eastern Shore town faces new responsibilities because President Donald Trump‘s administration never hired lifeguards to protect people thronging the 37-mile-long barrier island in Virginia and Maryland. As in zero lifeguards, with 13 positions unfilled, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Fairfax County parents spoke up about antisemitic bullying. They say it got their kids expelled.
Three kids who attended a Fairfax County private school were expelled after their parents complained about antisemitic bullying, according to a new complaint filed with the Virginia Attorney General’s office. In the 22-page filing, Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy said their 11-year-old daughter faced antisemitic harassment at The Nysmith School for the Gifted. They learned about it when one of her classmates told his parents. Their complaint alleges they urged the head of the school to intervene, but that nothing was done to address the bullying. Kenneth Nysmith, head of the school, said the allegations are false.
MS-13 are just sliver of gang population in Virginia’s prisons
In May, a group of inmates said to be members of MS-13 assaulted corrections officers at Wallens Ridge, one of Virginia’s two supermax state prisons. In a video leaked to a local TV news outlet, a man surprises a Wallens Ridge prison guard with a haymaker. Then more inmates in the prison pod join in a violent beating of a prone corrections officer, who is rescued by a colleague who aerosolized the pod. Despite the attention that MS-13 commands, data from the Virginia Department of Corrections show that international gang comprises a sliver of total gang members in Virginia’s prison system, which remain filled with American criminal organizations. For every MS-13 member in a Virginia prison, there are dozens from gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, white supremacists and others.
Could ICE detention funding trickle down to Virginia's closed prisons?
Just over a year ago, Virginia closed four prisons run by the state. Part of President Donald Trump’s budget bill included billions in new funds for detaining those taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And in some places, that’s meant reopening old facilities. “At the end of the day, the federal dollars are there for a reason. And if we have facilities that can go to work, we should make them available,” Governor Glenn Youngkin said when asked if the four prisons Virginia closed last summer should be turned into ICE detention facilities.
Virginia’s hospitals are sounding the alarm after President Donald Trump signed his big beautiful bill into law. “The Senate did a couple of things that, at full implementation, are going to cost hospitals in Virginia more than $2 billion annually based on our projections,” said Julian Walker, vice president of communications at the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. The latest data from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that about 11.8 million people could lose their health insurance as a result of cuts made to Medicaid and other programs.
Chesapeake-based Dollar Tree completes sale of Family Dollar stores
Dollar Tree announced on Monday the completion of the sale of its Family Dollar business. The Chesapeake-based company sold the business segment to Brigade and Macellum, two capital management companies, for $1 billion in cash. The net proceeds are estimated to total approximately $800 million.
Annual ‘Best Places to Bike’ report ranks Va. cities low, rankles officials and advocates
Doug Allen knows good biking infrastructure when he sees it. The Richmond resident has been to Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin — places widely considered some of the most bicycle friendly cities in the world. “Every time I travel somewhere, I try to check out the transit and the biking if I can,” he said. When PeopleForBikes’ national report highlighting the best places to bike debuted in late June, Virginia cities ranked low on the list. The news comes after the state has beefed up bike infrastructure to improve access and safety for cyclists.
Virginia agencies assist Texas flood recovery, share how state prepares for dangerous weather events
After tragic flooding in Texas claimed dozens of lives and wreaked havoc in several communities, Virginia weather and emergency officials are pitching in to the Lone Star State’s recovery efforts and sharing how they prepare for major weather events here at home. Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Sunday announced two of the state’s swift water rescue teams have been deployed to assist with rescue operations in Texas, as the state braces for more rain after flash flooding devastated its central region. The rescue teams are equipped with gear that is meant for traversing treacherous waters.
Bristol first responders deploy to Texas to assist with flood rescue operations
A local team of swift water rescue specialists departed early Monday morning to help in Texas, where catastrophic flooding over the July Fourth weekend has left more than 80 people dead and many others missing. Six members of the Bristol Virginia Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue Team, which is designated as Virginia Task Force 4, left around 4:30 a.m. after receiving deployment orders overnight, according to Bristol Fire Chief Mike Armstrong. The team includes five firefighters and one police officer, each trained in advanced water rescue techniques.
Virginia children thrive when their fathers show up, study finds
Children in Virginia are more likely to excel in school and avoid depression when their fathers are present and engaged, a new study shows. Approximately one in four children in Virginia live without their biological fathers, according to “Good Fathers, Flourishing Kids: The Importance of Fatherhood in Virginia,” a comprehensive study conducted by scholars from the University of Virginia, the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, and other research groups.
Trump administration's freeze of education money could cost Loudoun schools $700K
The Trump administration is withholding nearly $7 billion in education money allocated by Congress, including about $700,000 slated for Loudoun County Public Schools. The money is for the Title III program, a U.S. Department of Education initiative to help low-income students. At LCPS, the money is primarily used to assist English Learner students. Of the approximately 82,000 LCPS students, nearly 12,000 — about 14% — are EL students. LCPS has an approximately $2 billion annual budget, and school division spokesman Dan Adams said in an email that if the money remains frozen, the costs would be paid through the division's operating fund.
Emails show school board splits and dysfunction led to Norfolk superintendent’s firing
When the Norfolk School Board abruptly fired Superintendent Sharon I. Byrdsong last month, it was the final act in a years-long campaign against her by a faction of the board that opposed her even before she was considered for the position. In February 2020, the board voted 4-3 to hire Byrdsong after scrapping the search process to consider her. At the time, she was serving as interim superintendent. . . . The board divisions continued over the years, reaching a conclusion on June 11 when a last-minute resolution to the agenda was added during a meeting to terminate Byrdsong without cause.
To hear Republicans tell it, the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill heralds the onset of a new golden age through tax code changes that will spur more investment in manufacturing and energy production. To hear Democrats tell it, the law will set in motion a health care crisis for those who lose Medicaid coverage, the closure of many rural hospitals that depend on Medicaid payments and higher energy prices because the bill eliminates the tax incentives behind 90% of new energy being added to the grid.
