A proposal to ease toll burdens for frequent drivers and low-income residents cleared a key hurdle in the state legislature this week, as a House Transportation subcommittee advanced the measure for further review.
Mike Berryman vividly recalls freezing nights in his prison cell, where the cold was so intense he could sometimes see his breath. On humid nights, he said, ice would form on the walls. By summer, the opposite was true — his cell became stifling, leaving him drenched in sweat, reports The Virginia Mercury.
“I’ve never been so close to madness in my life, because there’s nothing you could do to shake the heat,” Berryman said in an interview.
The Trump administration’s latest move to freeze payments on several federal programs has sparked alarm among Virginia Democrats, who are questioning how the halt might impact critical funding, reports Insidenova.com.
“I am concerned that yesterday we learned that the Trump administration is pausing federal grants,” state Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, posted on X. “We have asked the Secretary of Finance in Virginia to inform us how this impacts our current budget and cash flow.” Lucas is chair of the Virginia Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee.
At the crack of dawn on Tuesday, a Democratic-led Senate subcommittee rejected or delayed several of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s signature tax cut proposals, opting instead to fold them into ongoing budget negotiations or disregard them altogether, Virignia Mercury reports.
The Senate Finance Resources subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, killed or tabled measures ranging from phasing out Virginia’s unpopular car tax to nixing a proposal that would exempt service tips from the state income tax and extending the state’s higher standard deduction and a partially refundable earned income tax credit (EITC).
Value City Furniture has opened its new store at 1731 Carl D. Silver Parkway in Fredericksburg’s Central Park shopping center. The company relocated its former store at 3545 Plank Road in Spotsylvania County, reports the Fredericksburg Free Press.
The push to allow a casino in Fairfax County has officially entered new territory, FFXnow.com reports.
After tabling similar legislation proposed by state Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35) last year, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee voted 9-6 this morning (Tuesday) to report Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell’s (D-34) bill to add the county to Virginia’s list of eligible casino hosts to the full chamber.
The Prince William County School Board is considering a proposal that would redistrict three new residential developments in the Brentsville District due to overcrowding at The Nokesville School, Insidenova.com reports.
The School Board in November directed division staff to develop a redistricting proposal related to the three developments. The division brought the proposal to the board at its Jan. 22 meeting.
The three developments – Bristow Corner, Bristow Crossing and Thomas Farm at Bristow Station – have already been approved by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and would be districted to The Nokesville School.
Flanked by UVA Health-branded bags filled with pregnancy supplies beside a table of neatly-aligned cupcakes, nurse Teresa Baltuano-Post addressed a crowd of expectant mothers and their families, alternating between English and Spanish, Insidenova.com reports.
“I’ve been doing the baby shower for about 24 years,” Baltuano-Post told InsideNoVa. “The goal … is to educate our moms and to make sure they know what to do when they need to come to the hospital.”
Just weeks after former Rep. Abigail Spanberger left the U.S. House for good, she strolled onto the floor of a different political chamber: the Virginia House of Delegates, reports the Associated Press. The three-term congresswoman, now vying to be the state’s next governor, rubbed elbows with fellow Democrats and held someone’s baby at her hip, a not-so-subtle reminder that statewide elections are looming in the commonwealth this year.
