Virginia Scope – The Virginia Senate is blocking multiple appointees from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration. A source told Virginia Scope that these appointees had no idea they were not going to be removed.

Jeff Goettman, Yesli Vega, Meg Bryce and Ken Marcus were among the appointees blocked.

When these appointments made it to the full Senate floor Friday afternoon, the debate lasted hours.

Fredericksburg Free Press – Community leaders and local officials in the Fredericksburg area are grappling with how to protect undocumented immigrants in the context of mass deportation efforts directed by President Trump and enforced by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

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WRIC-TV — In an effort to improve workers’ rights, Virginia Democrats have introduced two bills during this year’s General Assembly session to allow all public employees at both the state and local levels to collectively bargain.

“We need collective bargaining and we need it now,” Harry Szabo, an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University said at a press conference on Friday.

Currently, public workers are allowed to join a union, but they can’t collectively bargain for higher wages or better working conditions unless collective bargaining has been approved by their locality.

With contraception rights under scrutiny nationwide, Virginia Democrats are doubling down on efforts to safeguard access, even as they brace for potential pushback from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the Virginia Mercury reports.

House Bill 1716, introduced by Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, passed the House of Delegates on Thursday, while a companion bill from Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, cleared the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Last year, similar bills passed both chambers with bipartisan support but were ultimately vetoed by Youngkin.

Legislation to provide free breakfast to public school students across the state is moving forward in the General Assembly with committees set to review the cost, Virginia Mercury reports.

Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, and Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, are leading the charge after a similar effort fell short last year. Bennett-Parker’s bill was shelved by the House Appropriations Committee due to competing priorities while Roem’s Senate bill was following an amendment by Gov. Glenn Youngkin directing a work group to evaluate the program’s potential impact.

More than two weeks after a power outage set off a series of events that crippled Richmond’s water treatment plant, Virginia regulators are putting the city on notice that it may have violated state law and are launching their own investigation into what went wrong, the Richmonder reports.

“The water crisis should never have happened and was completely avoidable,” wrote an official with the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water in a notice of alleged violation issued Thursday. “The City of Richmond could have prevented the crisis with better preparation.”

A majority of the residents who spoke during Wednesday’s public input session about Fredericksburg’s proposed Technology Overlay District acknowledged or even supported the city’s pursuit of data centers, reports the Fredericksburg Free Press.

Rather, it’s the terms and timetable governing said pursuit that comprised most of their questions asked during a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and City Council.

More than one speaker noted that adjacent jurisdictions, such as Stafford County, have taken up to six months from initiating the public process to voting for a data center. By contrast, Fredericksburg’s city council first discussed a Technology Overlay District in detail on Dec. 10 and could vote on related resolutions and ordinances as early as its Feb. 25 meeting.

The disciplinary action taken against Patriot High School Principal Michael Bishop earlier this month is the latest chapter in a turbulent tenure at the school, Insidenova.com reports.

Bishop was placed on involuntary leave, the school announced Jan. 9.

The school division did not provide further details upon request from InsideNoVa because it is a “personnel matter,” said Diana Gulotta, the school system’s director of communications.

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Virginia Mercury: "Virginia lawmakers are moving forward with a bill to crack down on the misuse of the “homeless” designation by school officials to recruit student athletes. House Bill 1656, introduced by Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, also prohibits officials from accepting money or gifts intended to influence a student’s decision to transfer schools for athletic purposes.

The legislation narrowly advanced to the full House on an 11-10 party-line vote in the House Education Committee. No lawmakers spoke on the bill ahead of the vote.

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