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Youngkin and Vance: Fentanyl is a community threat. It’s time for the community to respond
Fentanyl has played a role in more than 75% of all drug overdose deaths in Virginia. In the last three years alone, some 6,000 people in our commonwealth have been killed by fentanyl. More than 300 of them lived in the Roanoke area. An estimated five Virginians will die from a fentanyl overdose every day this year: mothers, fathers, children, friends and coworkers. Each and every one of these losses is a tragedy. There’s no such thing as “not our problem” with fentanyl. It’s a Roanoke problem, a Virginia problem — an everyone problem.
U.S. company fined $650,000 for illegally hiring children to clean meat processing plants
A Tennessee-based sanitation company has agreed to pay more than half a million dollars after a federal investigation found it illegally hired at least two dozen children to clean dangerous meat processing facilities in Iowa and Virginia. The U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday that Fayette Janitorial Service LLC entered into a consent judgment, in which the company agrees to nearly $650,000 in civil penalties and the court-ordered mandate that it no longer employs minors. The February filing indicated federal investigators believed at least four children had still been working at one Iowa slaughterhouse as of Dec. 12.
Interior Department defends Va. offshore wind farm in court
The Biden administration and the developer of a $9.8 billion wind farm off of Virginia Beach, Virginia, assured a federal court Friday that the project has all necessary approvals, amid claims that construction would harm the endangered North Atlantic right whale. The joint court filing from the Interior Department and Dominion Energy comes in response to a request to halt work on the massive Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which is slated to include 176 turbines and is the largest project of its kind currently under development in the United States.
Coyner: Hospitals backstop our mental health. We must keep them open
Most people tend to think of hospitals as a place you go to seek treatment for serious or life-threatening physical injuries. We think of the emergency departments whose doors are open 24/7, every day of the year, ready to provide acute and comprehensive care. But in addition, hospitals are also increasingly providing a different kind of crucial safety net: backstopping our mental health services.
Rozell: Youngkin, Dems wasted months on political theater. Can they pass a budget?
During the one-day reconvened General Assembly session in which legislators consider gubernatorial amendments and vetoes, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Democratic legislative leaders said out loud the part we knew all along — it was finally time to compromise. Perhaps we should rejoice that the realization sank in late instead of too late to meet the June 30 deadline for finalizing a new budget to direct state government spending for the next two fiscal years.
Yancey: Shenandoah County set to vote on whether to restore Confederate names
The Shenandoah County School Board is set to vote Thursday on whether to restore Confederate names to two schools. What used to be Stonewall Jackson High School is now Mountain View High School. What used to be Ashby Lee Elementary is now Honey Run Elementary. The 2020 name changes have not sat well with some in the county. Those who opposed the name changes in the first place remain on the school board; those who favored them are now gone and a new school board might well take the unusual step of returning Confederate names to public buildings.
Student safety is an obligation, and ignoring that invites consequences
Let no one underestimate the seriousness of the Clery Act, the federal law that requires institutions that participate in federal financial-aid programs to provide timely reporting of statistics about various types of crime and other information about campus safety. The U.S. Department of Education underscored its importance last month when it imposed a staggering $14 million fine on Liberty University in Lynchburg for what the department called a “systemic and persistent” failure to comply with that campus-safety law.
Data center project proposed for 120-acre site in Powhatan County
A large assemblage in Powhatan once eyed for a mixed-use project is now being pitched as the county’s first data center campus. California-based developer Province Group is seeking zoning approval for a 1.5 million-square-foot data center project on 120 acres on the Powhatan-Chesterfield line. The project site consists of three parcels, one of them being 1318 Page Road. The project would rise near Anderson Highway’s intersection with Page Road.
Shenandoah County School Board set to vote on school names Thursday
The Shenandoah County School Board will vote Thursday whether to restore the names of two schools in the southern end of the county that were once named after Confederate generals. … In 2020, the school board renamed Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School, both in Quicksburg, to Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School. The decision, the school board said at the time, was made in an effort to condemn racism and affirm the school division’s commitment to an inclusive environment for all.
Loudoun sheriff calls for school resource officers on elementary campuses
Loudoun County’s sheriff is renewing a push to add school resource officers to its 62 elementary schools. The call from Sheriff Mike Chapman (R) came in response to Loudoun County Public Schools releasing 11 safety recommendations from a months-long “Blue Ribbon Panel” on school security. Adding security personnel to elementary schools was among the ideas.