Author: Uriah Kiser

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.

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. 

Traffic disruptions and lane reductions are set to begin on northbound I-495 (Capital Beltway Inner Loop) near Tysons, Virginia, as part of the 495 NEXT project’s Big Beam Weekend. The impacts will start tonight, Friday, January 24, at 9 p.m., and continue through 5 a.m. Monday, January 27. Motorists are strongly advised to avoid the area and plan alternate routes, as significant delays and backups are anticipated.

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.”