Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wants the Washington Commanders to relocate to Virginia, but after funding plans fell apart during the last legislative session, the path forward is not yet clear.
“If the Commanders are going to relocate they should relocate to Virginia,” Youngkin recently said while visiting Annandale for a rally geared toward parents, according to ABC 7.
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The left denies it, but it’s truly happening – a massive realignment is underway in the American electorate as Latinos are leaning in with the GOP. This November, Republicans are running Hispanic nominees in key battleground districts, headlined by rising stars like Myra Flores, Cassy Garcia, and Monica De La Cruz in Texas, Michelle Garcia Holmes and Alexis Martinez Johnson in New Mexico, Lori Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon – and of course, Yesli Vega in Virginia. Over the past two years, the Old Dominion has been ground zero for this shift, providing a glimpse into what the future of the Republican Party might look like on a national scale.
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All but one public university in Virginia are taking steps to address students’ tuition burden after a call to action from the governor.
Earlier this year, Glenn Youngkin requested that the commonwealth’s public universities reverse their planned tuition increases, citing inflation.
The University of Virginia (UVA) is the only public university not to announce a plan to reverse its tuition increase. NBC29 reports that UVA students will see a 4.7% tuition and fee increase, raising rates for first-year in-state students to $14,878 and $50,348 for out-of-state students.
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After months of debate about Virginia’s biennium budget, lawmakers reached a deal to provide an income tax cut for the middle class, a reduction in the grocery tax and a pay raise for teachers.
The deal earned approval from Republicans and Democrats in a joint conference committee, but still needs to pass the House of Delegates and the Senate and be signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Republicans narrowly control the House and Democrats narrowly control the Senate.
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Virginia’s Governor Tuesday reacted strongly to the news that the Supreme Court of the United States’ (SCOTUS) confidentiality had been violated, and a draft of its decision in a high-profile abortion case has been released.
“I am in utter disbelief that the sacred confidentiality of the Supreme Court would be violated in this manner,” said Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) in a press release.
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A new Virginia law prohibits school divisions from enforcing face mask mandates, but at least one school district and some parents are suing the commonwealth to overturn the legislation.
Senate Bill 739, which Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law in February, allows parents to opt their children out of any school-imposed mask rules. Under the legislation, which school districts were required to comply with beginning March 1, school officials are prohibited from using any disciplinary or academic punishments to enforce mask rules if a parent opted a student out.
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Virginia House and Senate Democrats are urging House Republicans to support resolutions to allow voters to decide the fate of two proposed constitutional amendments: the automatic restoration of voting rights for felons and same-sex marriage rights.
To adopt a constitutional amendment, both chambers of the General Assembly must pass two identical resolutions two years in a row, with a House of Delegates election in between those years. If approved in the Legislature, the proposed amendment would appear on the general ballot during the fall elections. If supported by the majority of voters, the proposed amendment would be adopted.
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Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Friday followed through on his first official initiative after taking office in January to review, then rescind what his considers “inherently divisive concepts including Critical Race Theory” in commonwealth public school curricula.
Youngkin announced the move in a 19-page report in which he states: “Executive Order One charged the [commonwealth’s] superintendent of Public Instruction to begin the work of identifying and addressing inherently divisive concepts including ‘Critical Race Theory. … This interim report rescinds certain policies, programs and resources that promote discriminatory and divisive concepts as directed by Executive Order One.”
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After a group of parents sued Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) for forcing students to continue wearing masks despite Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) issuing executive order banning that practice, LCPS declined to comment on the situation.
Wayde B. Byard, LCPS’ public information officer, told The Virginia Star Thursday that the only comment he could offer was already made by Superintendent Scott Ziegler.
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The Chairwoman of the Montgomery County School Board says she intends to keep her job after storming out of a meeting earlier this week and offering the position to speaker at the meeting.
“I have not resigned,” Sue Kass told The Virginia Star by email Thursday.
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A court ordered that Loudoun County, Virginia Public Schools cannot enforce its mask mandate on students and will need to expunge students’ records if they had been punished for not wearing masks.
Loudoun County schools had intended to end the mask mandate Feb. 22, but the court order requires them to end it immediately. The school district immediately complied with the order and sent a letter to the school community, students and staff that explained the new policy.
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A Virginia mother addressed her children’s school board Thursday night regarding the district’s mask mandate, which subverts Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order allowing parents to choose whether or not to mask their children in school.
A Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) mother, Carrie Lukas, condemned the school board for requiring children to mask up for school while “across Virginia, right now, adults are gathering in gyms, bars and clubs and laughing together maskless.”
“Yet my five kids spent all day today, eight hours, in masks in Fairfax County Public Schools,” she said. “My first grader has never been inside his school without a mask. He’s never had a chance to smile at his friends or hear his teachers’ unmuffled voice, and it is outrageous and ridiculous.”
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Virginia’s Attorney General released a legal opinion Friday saying that under Virginia law, vaccine mandates for college students are illegal.
“Absent specific authority conferred by the General Assembly, public institutions of higher education in Virginia may not require vaccination against COVID-19 as a general condition of students’ enrollment or in-person attendance,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in his opinion.
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A source inside the Virginia Capitol Thursday spoke exclusively to The Virginia Star about Wednesday’s tiff between Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), who claimed in an interview with the Washington Post that the Governor was not comporting himself in a manner consistent with his Christian faith.
At the time of Washington Post’s publication, Scott was expecting the governor to meet with him in his office.
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The office of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) responded Wednesday to criticism it has drawn over an email Critical Race Theory (CRT) tip line it has made available to Virginia’s parents.
“The governor’s office set up [email protected] as a resource for parents, teachers, and students to relay any questions or concerns,” Youngkin spokesperson Macauley Porter told The Virginia Star. “Governor Youngkin was elected to serve all Virginians and has utilized a customary constituent service, to hear from Virginians and solicit feedback.”
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After a large group of students at Woodgrove High School, part of Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), decided to defy the school’s mask mandate Monday, LCPS has responded.
“This morning 30 Woodgrove students (out of a student body of 1,585) refused to wear a mask. They were asked to move to the auditorium where they could use the Schoology platform to continue their studies,” Wayde B. Byard, LCPS’ Public Information Officer, told The Virginia Star by email. “Teachers dropped periodically in to help students with their work. A lunch period and bathroom breaks were arranged. Several students opted to go home and were allowed to do so.”
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Some of Virginia’s public universities have rescinded their vaccine mandates after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) took office this week and signed a flurry of executive orders on his first day.
One of those orders banned vaccine mandates by employers.
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Newly inaugurated Gov. Glenn Yougkin (R) spoke about the future of Virginia Monday afternoon in his first address to the Virginia General Assembly.
In his speech, Youngkin said the sate is ready to be finished with the pandemic, noting that he was elected to “turn the page” on COVID-19.
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After inaugurated Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) banned schools from establishing mask mandates on his first day as Virginia governor, four major school districts say they won’t abide by his new rule.
Executive Order Number Two (2022) and Order of Public Health Emergency One banned the mandates.
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