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Virginia Wesleyan and Marymount universities want the Supreme Court to protect DACA
Virginia Wesleyan and Marymount universities were the only Virginia schools to sign on to a legal brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to protect students covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that President Donald Trump cancelled in 2017. “Virginia Wesleyan University is committed to inclusiveness and acceptance of all, especially those seeking […]
Lawmakers are considering a tax for vape products. Vape shops warn it could fuel a dangerous black market.
It used to be that Jay Taylor smoked his first cigarette — a Marlboro Red — before getting out of bed in the morning. By the time most days were over, he would have smoked three packs. Taylor worked at UNOS, which manages organ transplants, so he knew that smoking degraded his lungs, heart and […]
Mass shooting takes center stage in Virginia Beach State Senate campaign
VIRGINIA BEACH — Karen Havekost was in Virginia Beach’s Municipal Building 2 when a shooter opened fire in May. “I walked out of the bathroom and saw the gunman on the other end of the hallway,” she says in a political ad released at the end of September. “I saw a coworker in the middle, […]
Thousands of college students might qualify for food stamps but don’t use the program
Roughly half of the students in college in Virginia in 2017 qualified for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, though many didn’t use the program, according to newly released data from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. SCHEV used information from financial aid paperwork and statistics from the Department of Social Services to […]
Democrats see opportunity in race for a rural Eastern Shore House seat
VIRGINIA BEACH — In the stands on a Friday night at his son’s high school football game across the Chesapeake Bay from the Eastern Shore-based House of Delegates district he represents, Rob Bloxom isn’t especially worried about the looming election. Bloxom’s been told — jokingly, he says — that he should spend more time in […]
UVA-Wise wants more teachers with advanced degrees in Southwest Virginia
The University of Virginia at Wise has asked the State Council of Higher Education to start a master’s in education program by fall 2020 which could help 30 more teachers in Southwest Virginia earn advanced degrees every year. “What we’ve found is that teachers trained from UVA-Wise tend to stay in the region and they […]
Va. isn’t ready to settle with Purdue — yet. Here’s what it wants.
In recent weeks, several states have settled opioid lawsuits brought against Purdue Pharma. Virginia isn’t one them. Attorney General Mark Herring said in a release he won’t agree to a settlement until it’s in the “best interest of Virginians” and Purdue and the Sacklers “must face real, significant, personal accountability.” The state alleges that over […]
How Virginia’s new student loan ombudsman helps borrowers
Student loans: Just over a million Virginians have $38 billion worth of them and have made thousands of complaints about confusing rules, ballooning balances and misapplied payments to the federal government in the past three years. Since January, students have been able to send concerns to Scott Kemp, the state’s first student loan ombudsman. He’s […]
Elections officials say overseas voters should send ballots back early in case the U.S. leaves an international mail agreement
State elections officials have asked deployed service members and other overseas voters to submit their absentee ballots three weeks before Election Day in case the United States leaves an international postal agreement. “It may be that mail won’t get delivered from these locations,” said Chris Piper, elections commissioner. “That obviously affects our uniformed and overseas […]
‘My community doesn’t have a voice’: Are Virginia schools meeting the needs of an increasing Hispanic population?
Over the last five years, Jimmy Trujillo’s stepdaughter has moved through elementary and middle school in Richmond with average grades but below-average and stagnating English skills. His daughter, now in high school, can only read, write and speak a handful of English words, according to her standardized language test results. Without a better grasp of […]
Groups want a passenger train route from the ‘Blue Ridge to the beach’
As a long-awaited higher-speed passenger rail project between Richmond and Washington gets a key federal approval, a coalition of business, higher education, transportation and environmental groups wants the state to study the possibility of connecting the state via east-west passenger rail service. On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation announced that the lengthy […]
A million people likely won’t get state tax refund checks, report says
A liberal think tank estimates that more than a million Virginia taxpayers won’t receive tax refund checks lawmakers approved as part of a major tax policy change earlier this year. Most of those will be lower-income Virginians, according to a new analysis by The Commonwealth Institute, a Richmond policy nonprofit. “Although this group of taxpayers […]