“Police in Falls Church have arrested a man suspected of fatally stabbing a dog last night,” reports ARLnow.com.
Virginia
“As data centers continue to proliferate across Virginia, the General Assembly this winter is poised to take up a host of bills intended to address their impacts, including increased electricity costs and environmental pressures,” reports Charlie Paullin at The Virginia Mercury. “Virginia is home to the greatest concentration of data centers in the world. While the centers can be found around the state, most are in Northern Virginia, which has more than 300. Eastern Loudoun County, where the facilities cover roughly 573 acres, is known as Data Center Alley, and Prince William is increasingly becoming a hot spot after local officials recently approved a campus of 27 centers that would sit on 270 acres.”
Delegates Joshua Cole, D-Stafford, and Candi King, D-Dumfries have introduced two bills related to tolls in Virginia.
“Kicking off the first day of Virginia’s 2024 legislative session, Gov. Glenn Youngkin gave the annual State of the Commonwealth address,” reports Morgan Sweeney at The Center Square.
Virginia DMV: “The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) encourages customers to take advantage of convenient time-saving online services especially when full-service customer service centers are closed. DMV offices will be closed on the following days for state holidays and observances this year:”
“During these closures and anytime, you can renew your tags, update your address, renew or replace your driver’s license or ID card, in addition to dozens of other services available at dmv.virginia.gov. Most transactions take minutes to complete, saving you a trip to a DMV location.”
“The candidacy of former President Donald Trump is under scrutiny in more than a handful of states; the question of whether Trump will be on the primary ballot for Virginia, at least, appears to have been resolved,” reports Morgan Sweeney at The Center Square.
The new year signals change, specifically new laws which will take effect in Virginia, especially in the health care sector.
The U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) Office for Civil Rights is investigating George Mason University (GMU) for “discrimination involving shared ancestry” following accusations of antisemitism against the school.
After decades of conservation work and multiple pieces of state and federal legislation passed on its behalf, 2023 proved a banner year for the Chesapeake Bay, according to data gathered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Virginia’s Old Dominion University, reports Morgan Sweeney at The Center Square.
Virginia State Parks: “Construction is complete on Sky Meadows State Park’s Lost Mountain Trail, bringing it up to sustainability standards. The 2.2-mile trail, designed for hikers and equestrians, is one of six located in the park’s 248-acre Lost Mountain area, which opened to the public in the early ‘90s.”
“Due to several factors, including regular traffic and improper drainage, Lost Mountain Trail was suffering from significant erosion, making it difficult to traverse. Sky Meadows hired Ironwood Outdoors to address the issue, the third project at the park for the full-service trail building company since 2018.”