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Virginia’s emergency departments saw an 8% increase in uninsured patient visits last year compared to the previous year, according to new data from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. 

Labeled as “self-pay,” this ER classification identifies people who lack insurance or did not prove they had it at the time they received care. 

The new data reflects health systems’ concerns that more uninsured patients may flood emergency departments rather than seek primary care, due to significant healthcare shifts at the federal level. 

Meanwhile, “safety net” providers like free clinics have cautioned that those who do seek primary care to prevent or manage illness will further strain clinics already tight operating margins. 

State lawmakers have earmarked funding to boost free clinics and federally qualified health centers as well as create a state-level healthcare subsidy to offset losses to Affordable Care Act subsidies that Congress let expire earlier this year. 

The forthcoming subsidy is expected to aid 200,000 Virginians, and will begin enrollment in November.

Virginians with various insurance types ranging from governmental to private sector held steady or had modest increases in ER visits, the association’s data shows. 

Over 67,400 Virginians no longer have ACA insurance through the state marketplace, according to more recent numbers from the State Corporation Commission, compared to this time last year. 

By January of next year, Medicaid beneficiaries will be subject to more stringent work requirements and twice-yearly verifications. While state and local social service departments ready themselves for additional verification workloads, thousands of Virginians may be more vulnerable to losing their insurance.

A recent state report also found that 13 rural hospitals in Virginia are at risk of closure amid the federal impacts to health insurance access. 

Though some hospitals’ struggles can be traced back years and include demographic and regional shifts, current strains are attributed to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rate cuts, the federal reconciliation bill Congress passed last summer and the expired ACA subsidies. 

Aubry Layne, chief administrative officer for Sentara, said earlier this year that the health system has become “more purposeful lately about getting the public to understand” the vulnerabilities. 

Sentara’s Halifax Community Hospital was listed among the at-risk facilities. 

Ballad Health officials — a chain with multiple hospitals identified in the state report — have also said they continue to engage with lawmakers.

VHHA spokesman Julian Walker reiterated that hospitals have a long history of adapting to change and may not be likely to close immediately or forever. 

Adaptations may entail staffing or service cuts, which is already happening in Virginia, or closure of primary care clinics owned by hospital chains. Another method may be cost negotiations with private insurers.

“We will see what other measures might have to be taken to continue to sustain hospitals longterm,” Walker said.

Hospital ER staff must treat everyone who comes through their doors regardless of their ability to pay. But over time, systems have to offset costs of absorbing uncompensated care. 

Layne, from Sentara, noted how his company has begun giving presentations to regional chambers of commerce and hosting roundtable discussions with healthcare workers along with state and federal lawmakers. 

“We’ve been trying to get the message out that if you have commercial insurance and think ‘well, I’m not impacted by this’  —  of course you will be,” he said.

A nationwide charging system for electric and automated aircraft is underway, following the federal government’s launch of its first pilot flight in Charlottesville last week. 

The Thursday announcement came as the nation prepares to expand advanced air mobility, a shift that could improve air transportation while benefiting public health and the environment

Archer Aviation, an aerospace and defense company, in partnership with BETA Technologies and Macquarie Capital, announced the formation of America’s Consortium for Electric Skyways to begin building the charging system for advanced air mobility aircraft across 250 aviation sites in the U.S. by 2030.

Feds launch groundbreaking electric plane pilot program in Virginia

Advanced air mobility refers to aircraft that are highly automated, more flexible than large commercial airplanes and usually electric. They include electric vertical takeoff (eVOTL) and landing aircraft, often referred to as air taxis.

This charging network will help meet the infrastructure needs of commercial operations, according to the announcement.

“Electric air taxi operations can’t scale without the infrastructure to charge them. That’s why we’re building the backbone to support the next 250 years of electric aviation in America,” said founder and chief executive officer of Archer Aviation, Adam Goldstein, in a statement. 

Under the plan, BETA will be responsible for the charging stations compatible with most electric aircraft, while Archer will use the network for its electric air taxis to help drive adoption. Macquarie will advise on financing and securing the funding needed to develop the infrastructure.

The eVOTL program, developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration, is designed to accelerate the safe integration of advanced air mobility into the country’s national airspace system.

“The eVTOL Integration Pilot Program is about more than just getting electric aircraft flying in American cities – it’s about building the infrastructure ecosystem needed to support commercial operations,” said Dan Edwards, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, in a statement.

Kyle Clark, founder and chief executive officer of BETA Technologies, said in a statement that the infrastructure required for advanced air mobility is a fraction of what people expect.

“By deploying interoperable chargers built on an open standard, we’re putting in place nearly all the physical infrastructure this industry needs, built so every operator can use it,” Clark said.

As the pilot program continues, Virginia will host future advanced air mobility demonstrations featuring aircraft and technologies of different sizes, transporting passengers, medical resources, and other cargo. None of them will be public, according to the Virginia Department of Aviation.

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WASHINGTON — In the wake of two fatal shootings in Texas and Maine, U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers will wear “at least one body camera” during traffic stops, Tom Homan, the president’s border czar, said over the weekend. 

Homan, who President Donald Trump has tasked with leading his mass deportation campaign, said in a Sunday interview on Fox News that ICE’s acting director has instructed officers to wear a body camera “whenever possible” during vehicle stops. 

This month, two immigrants — 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero and 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — were shot and killed by ICE agents who stopped their vehicles. Neither man was an initial enforcement target, the Department of Homeland Security said.

During Sunday’s Fox and Friends Weekend program, Homan said he supported body cameras because “they exonerate more law enforcement than they convict.” 

“I want officers to wear body cameras because I want the American people to see what the officers saw when they took that action,” Homan said. 

Federal immigration officers have shot 22 people and killed six, including three U.S. citizens, during the second Trump administration. Most shootings have stemmed from traffic stops, which Homan said officers were continuing. 

After the back-to-back shootings of Salgado Araujo in Texas and Guerrero in Maine, DHS instructed agents to pause vehicle stops, but Trump quickly reversed those plans. 

Congressional standstill

Homan blamed Democrats for the reason immigration agents don’t have body cameras, pointing to the weeks-long shutdown of DHS. He also accused traffic stops of becoming more dangerous because of Democrats criticizing ICE.

“They’re more dangerous now than ever because Democratic members of Congress, Democratic mayors and governors have preached for the past year ‘ICE isn’t a real law enforcement agency. ICE has no authority. Resist,’” he said. 

Democrats refused to approve funding for DHS unless restraints were placed on ICE and Border Patrol officers, such as the requirement for body cameras, after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal immigration officers in Minnesota in January. 

Congressional Republicans last year used a special legislative maneuver to allocate roughly $175 billion to DHS for immigration enforcement, detainment and deportations, without needing Democratic support. 

GOP lawmakers used the same move following the shutdown this year to fund $75 billion for ICE and Border Patrol until September of 2029.

In a separate interview, on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday, Homan again gave his support for body cameras on ICE officers and blamed Democrats for a lack of body cameras. 

“I think body cameras are the way to go,” he said. 

After the two killings in Minnesota in January, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said DHS would be issuing body cameras to immigration officers. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Sunday that the Taylor Farms lettuce sample that tested positive for the parasite cyclospora was actually a false positive. 

The announcement comes after the FDA previously reported on Saturday that a sample of iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms in central Mexico had tested positive for the parasite. As of Sunday, the FDA said there are no confirmed samples of Taylor Farms lettuce testing positive for cyclospora.

The FDA did not cite any other positive tests for the source of the outbreak, which has been linked to severe gastrointestinal illness.

As of Monday morning, a banner on an FDA webpage tracking the outbreak still reads: “Do not eat recalled iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico. FDA’s investigation is ongoing.”

The FDA also said: “Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive.”

After an FDA investigation into the source of the outbreak affecting at least five states identified shredded lettuce provided by Taylor Farms and sold in many Taco Bell restaurants in the United States as a potential reason, the California-based produce firm announced a voluntary recall of many of its lettuce products. 

The FDA and Taylor Farms continue to work together to ensure that “product implicated in this outbreak” has been removed from store shelves and not sold on the market, the Sunday statement continued. 

In its own statement Sunday, Taylor Farms said the FDA had apologized to the company. 

“Based on initial information provided by health officials, in an abundance of caution, we completed a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce from central Mexico,” the company’s statement read. “Recalled product was limited to iceberg lettuce grown and processed in central Mexico. All other Taylor Farms products, including all Taylor Farms brand products available for purchase, are not involved in the recall.” 

The multistate outbreak of the parasite has mostly been concentrated in the Great Lakes and Appalachian regions, with cases identified in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to the FDA. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been more than 1,644 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, the food-borne illness caused by ingestion of the parasite, with 94 of those cases leading to hospitalization. There have been no reported deaths. 

Virginia’s surging energy demands require more power generation infrastructure to be built, a slow process that’s delaying new data centers waiting to be connected to the grid.

Dominion Energy, the state’s largest utility, has an estimated 70 gigawatts worth of projects in their queue that need more power sources online before they can link to the energy network. The company is able to connect about 10 large-load customers a year.

Tech companies are responding by creating their own power to try to skip the line.

Dominion’s data center customers have an average wait of seven years to be connected to the grid. Project proposals containing on-site power generation for data centers – including natural gas turbines — have increased. This has heightened community concerns about air pollution, and created a gap in the state’s clean energy goals.

How data centers plan to produce their own power

The build-your-own power approach is called “behind the meter.” 

The idea is that the data center industry would be able to acquire and use their own gas turbines, or other power methods, faster than utility companies can get them up and running. 

“Access to reliable power in a timely manner is the pacing challenge to meeting America’s unprecedented demand for data and digital services,” said Aaron Tinjum, vice president of energy for the Data Center Coalition. “Given this challenge, data center companies are exploring innovative energy strategies to meet unprecedented demand for digital services, including on-site generation.”

Gas turbines owned by data centers and only serve their facilities are not beholden to the Virginia Clean Economy Act. That law requires utilities to retire their carbon emitting power sources by 2050.

Since data center-operated energy sources are not typically providing power to the general public, they also do not have to go through State Corporation Commission’s approval process to find them “in the public interest”, as energy generation projects for utilities are required to do. 

If a data center’s natural gas turbines are over 25 megawatts then they have to participate in the carbon allowance auction as part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, but there are ways around that.

“You may have 25 MW of gas generation at a data center site, but it’s spread across four or five different turbines that don’t individually need the stationary source threshold,” Lee Francis with the League of Conservation Voters explained.

Legislators, governor weigh in

State lawmakers tried to curb the environmental impacts of data centers, including those who chose to use carbon emitting power sources, this year and the debate was central to the months-long budget battle that brought Virginia to the brink of its first-ever government shutdown. 

The House version of the budget initially included environmental requirements that the industry would have had to meet in order to keep being exempt from the state’s sales and use tax.

Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax, introduced House Bill 897 to address energy and water use, but also had behind the meter gas generation in mind. His bill wasn’t designed to ban the use of natural gas turbines, he said, but to draw a line in the sand and create more stringent baseline environmental expectations for the industry.

“It seems to me there’s no single silver bullet. I keep coming back to the principles that were embodied in HB897: Make sure data centers are using as little energy as possible, make sure that they are, weaning in themselves off of diesel generation and using a different kind of backup power,” Sullivan said in an interview last week.

Those environmental requirements weren’t included in the final budget language, but will be analyzed by the task force that was formed to examine further regulations for the state’s booming data center industry. Lawmakers did levy a new tax on the industry that’s expected to generate $1.2 billion over the biennium. 

Gov. Abigail Spanberger advocated for the industry’s tax exemption to continue, both to honor standing contracts with data centers and preserve the state’s economic interests and reputation with businesses.

But in an interview with the press on Thursday, Spanberger pushed for data centers to look to clean energy technology first before bringing more polluting sources online. 

It’s good that large-load users want to bring their own power generation to take them off the grid, Spanberger said, but there should be more research into what may be hindering the industry from turning towards cleaner energy sources.

“I do not want to see us move in a place where we think, as a commonwealth, we’re on path towards meeting the VCEA goals but that’s because there’s all this generation that is sort of outside of the scope of what is counted,” Spanberger said. “Now how does Virginia become the place where (there are) the best in class generation efforts in newer technologies?”

As data centers push for more power, environmental concerns amplify

Dominion is required to serve the customers who ask them for power, but there’s no requirements on how fast they have to meet those requests. Amid unprecedented load growth, the company has policies in place to manage how and when it makes power connections to prevent stranded assets and maintain grid reliability. 

But data companies have aired their frustration with Dominion’s lengthy connection queue. In the SCC case regarding large load connection queue policies, the Data Center Coalition argued that Dominion’s “large load interconnection queue process standards lack transparency and treat high quality, well capitalized projects, the same as speculative projects.”

This comes after a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission directive for regional grid operators to “justify or reform the rules that govern how data centers, manufacturing facilities, and other large energy users connect to the electric grid.” 

This means that PJM, the regional grid operator for the majority of the East Coast, will have to defend or revise its policies when it comes to connecting these large load customers to the grid.

In a letter to PJM sent last month, SCC Chair Kelsey Bagot and the Data Center Coalition President Josh Levi agreed to convene a work group to study standardized retail tariff provisions for mandatory or voluntary interruptible service. 

The group will also examine backup power generation regulations to manage grid reliability, and ensure that costs are not being shifted onto residential ratepayers.

The Piedmont Environmental Council said the letter was vague and lacked details on who will be involved in these conversations. The group is especially worried about how discussions on possible increased use of the backup diesel generators as a way to manage grid strain will play out.

“It’s just basically saying, ‘we’re willing to do it –
 we’re gonna start digging into this.’ But it’s concerning that they don’t identify any other stakeholders. They don’t say, ‘and we’re gonna talk to the environmental community, or we’re gonna talk to anybody else other than the data in our industry,’” said Julie Bolthouse, PEC’s director of land use.

Data center proposals have met increasing community pushback statewide, with hundreds of residents turning out to speak up at local board of supervisors meetings. Plans that contain self-generated power through natural gas turbines compound the concerns of people who would have to live near the polluting facilities.

In recent years, residents and lawmakers have fought against the use of diesel back up generators due to the high levels of emissions that come from the older, lower tier generators.

New laws have been passed to ensure cleaner generators are installed at future data center sites. But during peak energy use days, like the state saw in early July, PJM allowed utilities to ask data centers to kick on backup power if needed for grid reliability.

In Shenandoah County in the city of Strasburg, local residents are opposed to a proposed project that includes two data centers as well as gas turbine power generations that are said to be in front of the meter – meaning the power would be sold back onto the grid. 

Strasburg resident Kaylee Tanner is keeping tabs on applications for the project that would be near her home.

“The sound levels of that are going to be insane. What kind of pollution is that putting into the air? I have no idea what that’s going to emit into our air quality,” Tanner said.

Data center proposals keep cropping up

Another proposed data center with on-site gas generation is going through the approvals process in Wise County, Cardinal News reported earlier this year.

In Prince William County, a massive data center complex proposal that included natural gas turbines was recently shot down by county supervisors. Another proposal that included on-site power generation was withdrawn by the company over tax debates.

In Fauquier County, developers changed their original proposal for the Remington technology park proposal to a new, different kind of behind the meter energy power generation through fuel cell power. 

This technology uses an electrochemical process on the natural gas rather than combustion, which leads to less air and noise pollution compared to a traditional turbine. Another similar power plant is proposed nearby in Fairfax County, Northern Virginia Magazine reported in May.

The PEC said that since it is such a new technology that has not yet been deployed in Virginia, there are still many questions they want answered before it is built.

“Are there any safety ramifications with this? What are the risks? Do we even know because no one else has done it?” Bolthouse said.

The Department of Environmental Quality has approved just one air permit for a data center campus with on-site gas generation, the Vantage VA2 data center. On Friday, during a historical air pollution event due to wildfire smoke blanketing the commonwealth, DEQ reported that the facility had “a failure of a critical 480V Circuit Breaker” the night before, prompting the facility to run the backup diesel generators for several hours.

Local residents have pushed back against the project, telling DC News Now that they were not told  gas turbines would be built alongside the proposed data center and were not made aware until construction had already begun.

DEQ officials said the agency has received one other application from a data center project for operating their own gas turbines, in Charles City.

Mind the gap

Deeds said loopholes in the law that allow a proliferation of gas turbines to supply power to data centers behind the meter and set the state back in its clean energy goals should be addressed “if they’re getting around the (Virginia) Clean Economy Act.”

“And if that’s the case, then that undermines that argument that was made to me,” Deeds said of his prior conversations with data center industry representatives.

Spanberger said Virginia being the data center capital of the world allows the state to hold the cards when it comes to regulating the industry with clean energy goals in mind.

“We have two options. We can either sort of walk away from the conversation, in which case, the data center goes to Maryland or goes to Pennsylvania, it’s still PJM that is still impacting our costs,” Spanberger said, adding that data centers in other states also still impact the environment.

”Virginia is really unique (in) the level of pull and the level of levers that we have, in being a leader in driving an entire industry in a particular direction.”

Tamiaka Bryant has rebuilt her life from scratch before. She doesn’t want to have to do it again. 

Originally from North Carolina, Bryant saw her hometown of New Bern pummeled by Hurricane Florence in 2018. Flooding and heavy winds caused an estimated $100 million in commercial and residential damage, prompting the city to spend the next several years drafting a resilience and hazard mitigation plan. 

But not long after the storm, Bryant realized she needed to leave. 

“I just came up here with the car and a box of clothes,” she said.

Bryant had completed a successful phone interview with the Country Club of Virginia, and Richmond has been her home ever since. 

At one point, she left to care for her father and fell behind on rent. Her next paycheck was a little more than one week away, but her landlord filed eviction proceedings. 

Under previous Virginia law, tenants had five days to pay overdue rent before landlords could begin eviction proceedings.  A new law, House Bill 15, by Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, extends that grace period to 14 days. 

“I literally just needed to get my next check, which wasn’t going to be within five days,” Bryant said. 

She recalled worrying about what would happen to her and her two pets, a dog and a cat. 

Residents like Bryant may be able to turn to friends, coworkers or local unions for help before their next paycheck arrives. But if the money isn’t available by the first court hearing, they can face an unfavorable ruling as well as court costs and attorney fees. 

Bryant said she felt a coldness in the courtroom that day. 

“When you go to the courtroom, all they do is say, ‘Do you owe money?’ So you say ‘Yes, I do,’ and then the judge has nothing else to say,” Bryant explained. “You could have had a death in the family or something, but he has nothing else to say and you’re just sitting with that.” 

Bryant said she’s grateful to have gotten through the ordeal and found support. Her employer offered to help, and the Richmond Tenant Union also stepped in. 

“But that five-day thing messes up a lot of people’s lives,” Bryant said. “I appreciate lawmakers for addressing this.” 

A piloted eviction diversion program was also made permanent and expanded statewide, giving tenants another resource when they need help. Other new laws strengthen renter protections for renters whose landlords fail to maintain residents’ health and safety. 

Gov. Abigail Spanberger said renters in need could quickly benefit from those new protections. 

“If you’re someone who’s kind of always teetering on potential eviction, you’ll feel it real quick when you have just a little bit more breathing room to be able to kind of steady yourself and pay your rent,” Spanberger said in a recent interview. 

Other housing policies could take longer to bear fruit, she noted. 

“Some of the longer-term things that we’ve done related to housing supply increase, it’ll take longer for people to feel that,” Spanberger said. 

For instance, Senate Bill 74, sponsored by Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, allows local governments to amend their zoning ordinances to create affordable housing programs — a power previously granted only to some localities. HB 594 by Del. Shelly Simmonds, D-Newport News, could help streamline approvals for affordable housing developments. 

Market-rate housing developers can more easily build cost or scheduling  uncertainties into their budgets. Projects focused on providing below-market rents don’t always have that luxury. 

Still, it can take time for new housing to move from concept to approval and construction. 

More targeted housing policies have also become law, including one allowing people to build tiny homes on their property. Advocates argue the change could help increase the housing supply, allow seniors to age in place near family and provide affordable rentals for students or low-income workers.  

“I think the priority needs to be on our administration and members of the General Assembly who passed all these bills to be connecting the dots, to be communicating and to be celebrating,” Spanberger said. 

Rental relief laws such as Price’s may be among the most visible changes for now.

Eviction has long been a problem, but Price said there has not always been enough political will to address it. 

When she first joined the legislature a decade ago, Price described eviction rates in her district as “oddly normative.” 

She began examining the causes after hearing about sudden medical bills or car repairs that left constituents behind on rent. Others had their work reduced because of an illness or the need to care for a loved one. In more recent years, Price said rising gas, grocery and energy costs have strained household budgets. 

“If you’re budgeting check-to-check, that’s significant,” she said.  

Price introduced what has become her flagship housing bill five times before a governor finally signed it. She said she first realized the policy could work when “the sky didn’t fall down” after rental relief was temporarily granted during the pandemic. 

Price said the policy could ultimately save tenants and landlords money by helping them avoid court proceedings and related fees.

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“By the time you start the eviction, you’ve ruined (tenants’) credit, and it makes it harder for them to find somewhere else to go,” Price explained. “You didn’t get their money. Now things are in court, and you may not get your money anyways.” 

Federal legislation could also bolster Virginia’s efforts. 

The sweeping 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that recently became law without President Donald Trump’s signature includes concepts first introduced or pioneered in states including the commonwealth and could further support state and local efforts to increase the housing supply and affordability. 

Bryant is grateful to have a roof over her head, but her next challenge is the rising cost of living. By the time she pays her bills and buys groceries, she often has little left to spend at Richmond event spaces or restaurants that are considered local amenities. 

“I work, and I go home. I’m doing better. I just feel like I’m never going to be well,” she said. “But government policies here do make me feel like I’ve got a breath of fresh air.”

Virginia schools will have greater agency in administrative decisions and flexibility in how they spend federal funds heading into the upcoming school year, potentially affecting low-income student programs and teacher development.

Over the past year, the U.S. Department of Education has loosened some rules on how federal Title program funds can be used. In December, Virginia submitted a successful application for the Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999 program to boost student success and implement educational improvements.

Some education advocates, like Chris Jones, executive director of the Virginia Association for Teaching, Learning and Leading, said they conditionally support flexibility in education funding, but only if it preserves or strengthens equity for underserved students. 

“Nobody knows what their students need more than the people who actually serve them,” said Jones, adding that funds used for underserved student groups should continue to be protected.

Other leaders like Ben Pearson-Nelson, president of the Virginia Parent Teacher Association, argue that federal “flexibility” in education funding compounds long-term defunding of public schools, harming at-risk students, students in poverty, students with special needs, and the teaching profession. 

He stresses that while local control over funds may sound positive, it often means districts are forced to do more with less in an already under-resourced system, with particularly harsh impacts on rural schools and on public education as a whole.

Pearson-Nelson said, “putting it in a small, beautifully wrapped package doesn’t change the fact that we’ve taken a system designed to help our kids, and decided that it’s not worthy of attention or investment.”

Ed-Flex program background

On Jan. 16, the U.S. Department of Education gave Virginia more flexibility over education rules by allowing the state to approve certain federal waivers for local school divisions without first getting permission from the federal education agency. 

This change is designed to help schools to spend less time on paperwork and more time improving student learning and meeting the needs of their local communities.

The Ed-Flex program is authorized under the Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999 and was reauthorized with the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015.

“The Trump Administration’s goal is to improve academic achievement, particularly by strengthening literacy and numeracy instruction, empowering parents, and returning education to the states,” Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Hayley Sanon said last September.

Virginia can approve exceptions to certain federal “how-to” rules for certain education grants, giving schools more flexibility in how they use those funds. Those grants apply to programs for students from low-income families, teacher and school leader development, and programs that fund technology and student health and safety.

Under the Ed-Flex program, schools could consolidate or reallocate federal funds.

For example, they could extend spending deadlines, request flexibility in Title I program requirements, relief from administrative and reporting requirements, and organize professional development implementation.

Last month, Culpepper Schools posted a public notice seeking an Ed-Flex waiver to carry over more than 15% of its Title I funds from the 2025–2026 school year into the 2026–2027 school year. 

If approved, the division says it plans to use these funds to continue and strengthen academic and behavioral supports, including reading and math intervention services, supplemental instructional support for students most at risk of failing to meet academic standards, and behavioral supports to improve student engagement and school climate.

“This flexibility would help ensure continuity of services and supports for students,” the school division said in a statement, adding that the waiver is expected to improve student achievement, including increasing reading and math proficiency and reducing behavioral barriers to learning.

Funding programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Title I, are generally the most debated because they contain the largest amount of K-12 funding and directly address educational inequity. 

Historically, critics have questioned its allocation formulas, accountability measures and overall effectiveness, but few reform proposals have been advanced.

Levi Goren, director of research and education policy with the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, said the real test of Virginia’s new funding flexibility is whether state and local leaders use it to strengthen support for students facing the greatest barriers, especially low-income kids, rather than shift money away from them.

“I think the general question is how to balance the legitimate benefits of flexibility for local school divisions and states with the fact that this money was provided by Congress to make sure students facing particular types of barriers get the resources they need in order to learn,” Goren said. 

While the program offers some administrative flexibility, Virginia cannot waive certain federal requirements, including ESEA standards, assessments and accountability requirements.

Federal funding distribution rules and several Title I eligibility provisions as well as equitable participation for private school students and staff, and parental involvement requirements also can’t be waived.

According to the federal agency, school districts seeking an Ed-Flex waiver must draft the proposed waiver, post it publicly, accept public comments and submit the request..

The authority extends through the 2029–2030 school year, provided Virginia continues to meet federal requirements, including annual reporting.

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WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that public health officials have linked the ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis in five states to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants.

The fast food chain wrote in a statement that it plans to remove the “potentially impacted lettuce” from its “supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.”

“While no official advisory has been issued, we believe public health is a shared responsibility among restaurants, their suppliers, and authorities, and we are proud to have consistently acted quickly and proactively to protect our guests,” the statement said. “Taco Bell has taken precautionary action, and we encourage all relevant restaurants, retailers, and foodservice operators to do the same.”

The CDC statement said it had linked the ongoing outbreak to Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. The statement didn’t say whether the lettuce was the cause of the severe gastrointestinal illness caused by a parasite in other states. 

Since the outbreak began, the CDC has confirmed more than 1,600 cases in 34 states. Nearly 150 of those people were hospitalized, though no deaths have been reported so far. 

The CDC writes on a webpage about the outbreak that it expects the number of confirmed cases will continue to increase given the six-week “reporting lag between illness onset and case reporting to CDC.”

Abigail Spanberger took the oath of office on the steps of Virginia’s state Capitol six months ago Friday, becoming the state’s first woman elected governor after winning by the largest margin for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in more than six decades. 

She entered office promising to lower costs through her Affordable Virginia agenda. But a new poll suggests many Virginians remain unconvinced, with inflation, housing costs and an unpredictable economic forecast still topping voters’ concerns. 

Spanberger addressed those concerns Thursday during an interview with reporters in the cabinet room at the Patrick Henry Building in Richmond’s Capitol Square, defending her administration’s record to date while acknowledging that  the impact of many of her biggest initiatives will take time to manifest. 

The Virginia Commonwealth University survey, released Wednesday, found 44% of registered voters approved of Spanberger’s job performance, while 47% disapproved. Inflation and the cost of living ranked as voters’ biggest worries. 

Spanberger said she was not surprised by the findings, noting that the polls before last year’s election also suggested a much closer race than her eventual 15-point victory. Polls can provide a snapshot in time, she said, but she did not need survey results to know affordability remained top of mind for Virginians. 

“I did not need a poll to know that that would be what people would be talking about,” Spanberger said.

The governor also tied the poll results to the nation’s starkly divided political climate, accusing President Donald Trump and his administration of “constantly” picking fights as a political strategy. Spanberger said she has not spoken directly with Trump since taking office. 

“I think, tragically, we do continue to live in times that are either polarized or where a narrative of polarization continues to be pushed,” she said, adding that the tension shapes how people view politics, elected officials and issues that concern them. 

Affordability still tops the list

Spanberger emphasized that the laws passed during her first six months reflect her administration’s focus on affordability, although many of them will take time to reach families. 

She pointed to a $35 cap on out-of-pocket insulin costs, expanded renter protections and other measures aimed at lowering healthcare, housing and energy costs. 

“If you’re someone who relies on insulin, there’s going to be a huge impact on you right away,” Spanberger said. “If you’re someone who struggled to try and get your health care needs addressed, because you’ve got to go to pre-authorization after pre-authorization, you’ll feel it.”

She also pointed to a new law requiring landlords to give tenants 14 days’ notice before pursuing an eviction instead of five.

“If you’re someone who’s kind of always teetering on potential eviction, you’ll feel it real quick when you have just a little bit more breathing room to be able to kind of steady yourself and pay your rent,” Spanberger said. 

Other priorities, including efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing, will take longer to produce results, she admitted.

Spanberger also cited the state budget approved last month, pointing to additional funding for public schools, child care and higher education, along with more than $5 billion in announced business investment and more than 3,000 new jobs since January. 

She also noted Virginia climbed to third in CNBC’s annual ranking of America’s Top States for Business. The state fell to fourth place on the list last year. 

The budget also created a new energy consumption tax on data centers that lawmakers project will generate about $600 million annually. The issue surfaced in this week’s VCU poll, with 81% of respondents saying they support additional fees on data centers to help offset demands on the electric grid. 

Spanberger said the next step is making sure Virginians see how those policies affect their everyday lives. 

“The priority needs to be on our administration and, frankly, the members of the General Assembly who passed all these bills to be connecting the dots,” she said. 

Court fights over new laws continue

Spanberger also defended two new laws that remain tied up in court: Virginia’s ban on certain  assault-style firearms and large-capacity magazines, and a law generally prohibiting law enforcement officers from concealing their identities while on duty. 

She said constitutional questions were part of her review of every bill that reached her desk and noted she declined to sign some legislation because of those concerns. 

The mask law applies to local, state and federal law enforcement officers, with exceptions for undercover assignments, health precautions and other circumstances. A federal judge blocked the law just hours before it was set to take effect, finding the U.S. Justice Department was likely to succeed in arguing Virginia cannot regulate federal officers that way. 

Spanberger said officers who conceal their identities can erode public trust. 

“This sort of theatrical policing, like we’ve seen in some other states with the use of masks or facial coverings, is an expectation that law enforcement in Virginia — local, state and federal — not pursue,” she said. 

Spanberger said she expected the law to face legal challenges but remains convinced restrictions on assault-style firearms and magazine capacity will save lives. 

“It’s unfortunate that they’re choosing to sue the commonwealth of Virginia,” she said. “But we will continue to defend it because ultimately the law is about saving lives.”

She added that while the state would rather not spend money defending its laws in court, litigation is part of the legislative process. 

Redistricting remains in rearview 

Asked about Democrats’ unsuccessful mid-decade redistricting effort, Spanberger said she does not view it as a mistake. 

Virginia voters narrowly approved a constitutional amendment in April that would have allowed the General Assembly to redraw the state’s congressional map before the November midterm elections. 

The Supreme Court of Virginia later struck it down in a 4-3 ruling, finding lawmakers had failed to follow the constitutional amendment process. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene, leaving the current congressional map in place. 

Spanberger said the court’s decision should not be confused with a rejection by voters, noting that a majority backed the amendment. She also argued Democrats do not need new district lines to gain new seats this fall.

She pointed out that she carried the territory currently represented by Republican U.S. Reps. Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans during last year’s statewide election. She also cited stronger Democratic performances in districts represented by U.S. Reps. John McGuire, R-Goochland, and Ben Cline, R-Botetourt. 

“I believe we will win, but there’s been new challenges created for the candidates who have been working hard, who now have a primary coming up in August later than our typical June,” she said. 

Virginia’s congressional primary was postponed until Aug. 4 ahead of the referendum. Spanberger said Democrats now need to focus on winning under the map that will actually be used this fall. 

Asked which Republican-held seats Democrats could flip, she named the districts represented by Wittman, Kiggans, McGuire and Cline. 

“The 9th is always more difficult,” she said of the district held by U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.

Spanberger declined to say whether Democrats should pursue another redistricting effort before the 2028 election, saying the political landscape could look very different by then.

In the meantime, she said she hopes Democrats gain enough seats this fall to “be a check on a lawless presidency.” 

A Southwest Virginia circuit court will consider whether a sitting governor’s decision to remove a college governing board member was legal, a rare type of case in the commonwealth.

In June, John Rocovich, one of the longest-serving governing board members in Virginia Tech’s history, filed a civil lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court challenging Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s May decision to remove him from his board seat.

Spanberger wrote to Rocovich at the time that his “misconduct” spurred her action but did not specify the alleged violations, saying only that the findings provided “sufficient cause” for removal.

Carl Tobias, a professor and constitutional law expert at the University of Richmond, predicts the former board member’s lawsuit is unlikely to succeed because the governor acted within her rights under the board’s bylaws and state code.

Virginia Tech rector refuses to resign after Spanberger’s dismissal

“It’s an uphill endeavor — I don’t think the plaintiff is going to win — and I hope it doesn’t make the situation worse at Virginia Tech for the present board members going forward,” Tobias said by phone.

Rocovich, appointed by former Gov. Glenn Youngkin and confirmed by the General Assembly in 2023, could conceivably win at some stage, Tobias acknowledged.

He said such a result would be highly consequential for the current governing body and future board members who might challenge the governor’s authority.

How Rocovich’s removal lines up with state law

State law sets the rules for university board members and permits the governor to remove members for “malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetence, or gross neglect of duty any member of the board of any public institution of higher education, and fill the vacancy resulting from the removal.”

The governor is required to write a public statement explaining their reasons for removing any member at the time it happens. 

Rocovich’s removal came early in Spanberger’s term, as the administration made several changes to Virginia’s boards and commissions, including public colleges and universities statewide. 

Lawmakers called for political influence to be removed from Virginia’s public university governing boards this year, after several of the state’s higher education institutions tangled with federal authorities over diversity, equity and inclusion policies and differing political ideologies last year..

In her letter to Rocovich, Spanberger did not mention politics as a factor for his removal. 

However, records show that Rocovich was a donor to the campaign of Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears, a rival of Spanberger, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Rocovich is one of two former board members to be removed by a governor in the past two years. Bert Ellis, a businessman who sat on the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia, was removed by Youngkin. Ellis did not challenge the governor’s decision.

Before his removal, the board granted an exception permitting Rocovich to serve a third one-year term as rector during the search for Virginia Tech’s next president after Tim Sands resigned in April, Cardinal News reported. 

The board minutes noted that Rocovich was elected rector because no other nominees were available and he was willing to serve.

Rocovich’s challenge 

Rocovich is asking the Montgomery court to officially rule that his removal was invalid and restore him to his position on the board, court records show.

James Turk Jr., an attorney representing Rocovich, said in a June 9 complaint that his client had more than a year left on his four-year term when it came to an abrupt end.

“Governor Spanberger had no lawful cause to remove Rocovich,” Turk wrote, because “no grounds for his removal exist. There has been no ‘malfeasance, misfeasance, (or) incompetence’ — let alone ‘gross neglect of duty’ — on the part of Rocovich.”

Turk also argued in the complaint that the governor failed to provide sufficient details regarding his client’s removal.

This is an area the former rector could also explore in his challenge, Tobias said, adding that the governor should have been “more fulsome” in explaining why she removed him and her justifications.

He noted, however, that state law doesn’t require the governor to provide a full, detailed explanation.

“It really doesn’t,” Tobias said. “It sets out some language, but it doesn’t call for a full, thoroughgoing detailing of all the reasons. It’s pretty terse.”

Based on how the court interprets state law in this case, legislative changes requiring the governor to provide fuller explanations for the college board removals could be on the horizon, Tobias suggested. 

What’s next

The Honorable Gerald E. Mabe, II, judge of the Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit, has been assigned to the case. 

The governor’s legal representation was granted an extension to respond to the complaint. 

No hearings have been set as of Thursday afternoon.

A parasite that causes intestinal trouble like diarrhea, cramps and bloating is spreading nationwide this summer, but Virginia’s Department of Health said this week there is no evidence to suggest an outbreak in the state.

There were 37 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis as of July 4, officials said. Cyclospora, the microscopic parasite that causes it, is transferred to humans through contaminated fruits and vegetables. Authorities are still trying to pinpoint the source.  

VDH risk communications manager Brookie Crawford said that washing fruits and vegetables under running water before eating, cutting, or cooking can help prevent the illness. She added that thorough handwashing also helps. 

As of this week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,645 known cases of cyclosporiasis, with 141 hospitalizations from it and no deaths. The CDC website noted that it is aware of 5,100 cases that may require further analysis to confirm whether they stem from cyclosporiasis. 

“So far this year, multiple states have reported an increase in cases compared to the same period in 2025,” the CDC website reads. 

Symptoms, which also include nausea and fatigue, typically begin about a week after exposure. Less common symptoms may include low-grade fever and vomiting. If left untreated, symptoms may last from a few days to a month or longer, the CDC said. 

Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal infection and a seven to 10 day course of antibiotics can treat the illness. People living with HIV may need a longer course of therapy as their immune systems are already compromised. 

Piedmont Virginia still wrangling measles outbreak

The latest VDH data also shows Virginia reporting 177 measles cases, noting a consistent climb this summer. 

Many of the state’s measles cases originate in the Buckingham County area, where VDH designated it as an outbreak. It has since expanded to neighboring Cumberland County. 

Piedmont Health District Director Maria Almond, whose district is in the region of the state where most measles cases are occurring, said in an email that local health officials continue recommending vaccinations.

Crawford added that the local health district is hosting vaccination clinics and providing health education to their communities. 

She also suggested that people who are experiencing measles symptoms or who are not vaccinated against the disease will have an increased risk of spread or exposure if attending large, crowded events. 

The illness had been considered eliminated in the U.S. about two decades ago, but anti-vaccine rhetoric has grown more mainstream over the years, leading to confusion and vaccine hesitancy. 

Many recent measles cases have been children younger than 12, signaling some parents  likely followed anti-vaccine trends that emerged in the earlier 2000s and resurfaced in recent years from public figures or politicians. 

VDH Commissioner Dr. Cameron Webb said earlier in the summer that anyone who is still not sure about the vaccine should talk with their healthcare providers. 

“They can answer all your questions and address any concerns you may have,” Webb said.

The tiniest menace of summer doesn’t care if you’re hiking through the woods, walking the dog or pulling weeds in your backyard.

It just wants a ride and a meal.

As ticks spread into new parts of the country and emergency room visits for tick bites climb higher than usual, states are scrambling to monitor where the pests are showing up, what diseases they may be carrying and how to warn residents before a bite turns into something far more serious.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in April that emergency department visits for tick bites were higher than expected across much of the United States and at their highest levels for that point in the year since 2017. 

In June, there were 112 tick-related ER visits per 100,000 people, compared with 110 per 100,000 during the same period last year, according to the CDC’s online tick bite tracker. That suggests this year’s summer trend may be in line with 2025.

Nationwide, the latest available data show an estimated 65 tick bite-related emergency department visits per 100,000 people, up from 47 per 100,000 last year. This year’s current figures are preliminary and subject to change, but if they hold, this year’s rate may be the highest since 2017.

Health officials say the trend reflects a combination of expanding tick populations, changing environmental conditions and increased human exposure during warmer months.

The concern extends well beyond Lyme disease.

The lone star tick, once found primarily in the Southeast, has steadily expanded its range and is known for its aggressive host-seeking behavior, often actively crawling toward people and animals. An adult female is distinguished by a white dot or “lone star” on her back.

The species has been linked to alpha-gal syndrome, an allergy that can cause people to develop severe reactions after eating beef, pork and other mammalian products. Researchers also continue to monitor ticks that carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis and other illnesses.

Tick surveillance by state health officials varies widely across the country. Some states maintain active surveillance programs that collect and test ticks to identify where disease-carrying species are becoming established. Other states rely more heavily on human disease reports or passive tick submissions, making it harder to detect changes before infections begin to rise.

Those differences can leave public health officials with an incomplete picture of how quickly tick populations are changing — and where people may face the greatest risk.

Several states, including Massachusetts, Missouri and Oklahoma, have expanded surveillance efforts in recent years or launched public education campaigns as tick habitats shift. All three joined the list of states that now or will soon mandate reporting of alpha-gal syndrome. Other states are studying the spread of lone star ticks and the increasing recognition of the syndrome, which experts believe remains underdiagnosed. 

Some experts say warmer winters in many parts of the country have allowed ticks to remain active for longer periods each year while expanding into regions where they were once uncommon. At the same time, growing white-tailed deer populations and changing land use have created more opportunities for people and ticks to cross paths.

Public health officials say the best defense remains preventing bites altogether. They recommend using insect repellents registered by the Environmental Protection Agency, wearing permethrin-treated clothing, including long sleeves and pants in wooded or grassy areas, checking people and pets for ticks after spending time outdoors and removing attached ticks as soon as they’re found.

For states, the challenge is becoming less about responding to tick season and more about adapting to a future in which, in many places, the season is lasting longer — and the tiny hitchhikers are turning up in places they never did before.

Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at [email protected].

• “Crime down across Virginia in 2025, per new VSP report.” — WAVY

• “Justice Dept. taps veteran lawyer to lead Virginia federal prosecutor’s office.” — The Washington Post 

• “Virginia Department of Social Services office evacuated after staff receive threats.” — WRIC

• “New study aims to map dangerous heat islands in Northern Virginia.” — WJLA

• “Experts weigh in on air quality alert as Virginia sees wildfire smoke from Canada.” — WWBT

Dominion Energy on Wednesday submitted their official arguments to the State Corporation Commission to allow the utility to merge with the Florida-based NextEra. The utilities plan to combine, creating an East Coast energy titan. 

The all-stock deal is valued at about $67 billion; NextEra shareholders will own 74.5% of shares and Dominion shareholders will own 25.5%, if the merger is approved. The SCC now has six months to review the arguments, hear testimony from both sides and make a decision on if the merger will succeed.

In an extensive interview with the Mercury, Dominion’s senior vice president of corporate affairs and communications Bill Murray said that the biggest draw of this merger is its combined buying power that could be of future benefit to ratepayers. 

Murray said the joint company will be able to buy in bulk, ultimately bringing down the price of energy infrastructure and benefitting the entity’s credit rating.

“It’s not a matter of we threw our hands up and said we can’t do this, somebody, please, merge with us,” Murray said. “But doing it together …  at a one-notch credit rating upgrade, financing it more efficiently. That’s a benefit to customers.”

The joint venture will cover 10 million customers across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. It will also combine Dominion and NextEra’s110 gigawatts of power, and their large-load customer connection queue totaling 130 GW. 

Dominion, which will remain as its own entity, will still be responsible for its fossil-free energy buildout under the Virginia Clean Economy Act and have to follow all orders from the SCC.

Murray said that the merger could also help bring more small modular reactors online when the technology becomes more readily available on the market.

The merger “doesn’t mean there’s cross subsidies financially. Virginia customers deal with a unit in Virginia, Florida customers deal with one in Florida,” Murray said.
”But being able to look at standardizing technology is something that makes a lot of sense.”

The planned merger has generated significant public scrutiny. 

Advocacy group Clean Virginia urged lawmakers to be wary of some of the decisions NextEra has made in Florida concerning political lobbying and rate increases for their customers.

“Before Virginia ratepayers are locked into a relationship with NextEra Energy, every policymaker and regulator in the Commonwealth needs to understand what NextEra has done in Florida and ask hard questions about whether Virginians can expect anything different,” Clean Virginia Executive Director Brennan Gilmore said in a May statement when the merger was announced.

Echoing those concerns, Lieutenant Gov. Ghazala Hashmi posed a list of 64 questions to both companies, which she said they should answer before the SCC began the case and the legally-contracted time constraints would begin. 

Dominion hasn’t answered all of the questions, Murray said, but he expects many of them to be addressed during cross examination during the case. That’s exactly what Hashmi argued against in her query to the companies.

“The existing baseline questions allow the applicants to frame the narrative in their own terms, potentially omitting the details, rigorous data support, and challenging topics necessary for a true public-interest review,” Hashmi wrote in her letter to the commission.

This is also not the first time that NextEra has attempted to acquire other utilities. The company had tried to merge with other companies in Texas, Hawaii, and South Carolina. Those efforts did not come to fruition. 

When asked if Dominion was concerned about NextEra’s failed deals and accusations of shady political maneuvers, Murray said with new management and himself at the helm, he has confidence their new plan will go differently.

“The person responsible for the Dominion footprint today, in terms of public policy, government affairs, is me,” Murray said. “After this closes it’s me, because we’ve been very clear of
current leadership teams of the utilities. So nothing’s changing how we do it.”

Virginia House members tried to give the legislature the chance to weigh in on this merger. But the language granting them that ability wasn’t included in the final budget that passed in June. 

Murray said that the six-month review by the SCC will be thorough and dismissed concerns from Hashmi and others that it will not be enough time for regulators to make an informed decision.

“Some of the same voices (who) say three expert judges, a staff of hundreds, six months where this is a primary focus, that’s not enough time would be very comfortable if they had the votes doing this in 27 minutes on a legislative subcommittee. So I feel like there’s a little mismatch there,” Murray said.

A $2.25 billion shareholder-funded bill credit for customers across Dominion’s three-state coverage area is included in the SCC filing, which is slated to offset merger-related costs. 

Ratepayers will see those savings for two years, and it is not clear if the savings will grow after that time period. Those changes would be determined by the SCC. 

The commission is expected to release a schedule for the case in the coming weeks.

The merger faces applications for approval not only from Virginia’s SCC but also from the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the Public Service Commission of South Carolina.

The waiting period of the federal Antitrust Improvements Act would have to expire or be terminated for the merger to succeed, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission would need to give their approval, as well.

• “Will a new Virginia law boost energy storage?” — WHRO

• “Virginia SNAP enrollment drops 100K as federal cuts strain food pantries.” — WSLS

• “Virginia Sales Tax Holiday Weekend.” — WAVY

• “No evidence of gunshots fired after reported armed person at Virginia Military Institute.” — WSET

• “Heat index could reach 109 as three-day stretch of very hot weather hits Virginia.” — WTVR

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to resume traffic stops Wednesday, reversing a one-day pause on the policy after officers killed two immigrants who were in their vehicles in Texas and Maine.

In a post to social media, Trump called the practice of federal immigration officers conducting enforcement during traffic stops “one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective” tools. 

The Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign has led to an uptick in people killed by immigration officers, including at traffic stops.  

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security ordered all federal immigration officers to pause vehicle-related enforcement after the killings of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7 and 25-year-old Johan Sebastián in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday. 

Both men were stopped in their vehicles when federal immigration officers shot and killed them. Neither was an initial target of immigration enforcement, DHS said.

Monday’s shooting prompted a demand from Maine’s Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is in the midst of a tight reelection race, for ICE to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”

Trump said Democrats wanted the pause on immigration enforcement at traffic stops.

“The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch,” he said. “I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to detailed questions about the president’s directive. White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment.

Congress calls for action

Monday’s shooting sparked calls for action among lawmakers, with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus advocating for dismantling of ICE and Maine’s congressional delegation pressing an independent watchdog to conduct an expedited investigation.

“Given the gravity of the situation and the understandable anxiety within the Biddeford community, we urge you to prioritize this investigation,” the Maine delegation wrote to DHS’s Office of Inspector General. 

“Timely and factual answers will be critical to providing closure for the grieving community and ensuring that federal law enforcement operations are conducted safely, lawfully, and in a manner that respects public safety.”

Collins and independent Sen. Angus King also requested the Department of Justice collaborate with state and local law enforcement authorities to investigate the fatal shooting.

International outrage

Sebastián was a Colombian immigrant with legal work authorization. Salgado Araujo was a Mexican national who had been in the United States for decades and was the father of three U.S. citizen children.

Both of their killings sparked outrage in their communities, as well as from the leaders of Mexico and Colombia.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called Sebastián’s death, “a murder of a Colombian, a Latin American, at the hands of the US government.”

In a social media post written in Spanish, Petro said he expects to hear from Trump about the shooting. 

“They killed him for believing him to be an inferior being without rights, and as a person, he had all the rights conferred on a human being simply for being born, and he was a citizen with rights in the US,” he said. 

He added that “ICE is an organization that must be denounced on a worldwide scale.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Monday that her government will file complaints to the Justice Department relating not only to Salgado Araujo’s death, but in states where Mexican nationals have died in U.S. federal detention centers or during immigration enforcement.

“I don’t think this situation appears acceptable to anyone,” she said, according to the Texas Tribune. “This is an issue for all Mexicans.”

One of two lawsuits challenging Virginia’s pending reproductive rights constitutional amendment was struck down Tuesday in Campbell County Circuit Court.

Virginians are slated to approve or reject a measure to enshrine reproductive rights into the state’s constitutions this November. If approved, it would protect access to abortions, fertility treatments and contraception in the state. 

Charla Bansley, a Bedford County supervisor, filed the lawsuit this March, arguing the state violated its constitutional amendment process because House of Delegates Clerk Paul Nardo failed to send copies of the amendment to circuit court clerks across the state.

The requirement for clerks to post amendment language outside of courthouses was in past years intended to increase public awareness of pending referendums.

Lawyers for Nardo argued during Tuesday’s hearing that in modern times, information is more readily available through news organizations and the internet — which is why state lawmakers repealed the requirement earlier this year. The repeal took effect July 1.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Erin McNeil told the court that people have been able to learn about pending constitutional amendments “with the internet in our pockets,” she said in reference to cell phones. 

Bansley’s lawyers referenced Article 12, Section 1 of the constitution  during the Tuesday hearing multiple times — which outlines the state legislature’s responsibility to submit pending amendments to voters “in such manner as it shall prescribe.”

Because the constitutional amendment — which had to pass the legislature two years in a row before appearing on statewide ballots — occurred while the repealed state code was still on the books, Bansley and her attorneys said the process should be invalidated. 

Though the repeal did not take effect until this summer, McNeil countered that lawmakers have authority to adjust the constitution and prescribe how they do it. 

“How can the General Assembly have this authority to prescribe a process but not have the authority to change that process?” McNeil asked. 

The case was originally filed in Bedford County. Although it was dismissed in Campbell County, Bansley’s attorneys signaled they will appeal to the state’s highest court. 

“The reality is this was always going to go higher,” lawyer Daniel Schmidt of Liberty Counsel said. “No question, this is heading to the (Virginia) Supreme Court.”

Virginia’s marriage equality and voting rights amendments advanced alongside the reproductive rights one. Legal experts aren’t certain if those measures would be impacted if the high court grants a favorable ruling for Bansley in the reproductive rights amendment case appeal. 

Even if voters approve the amendment this fall, a favorable Bansley appeal might make it struck down by the state’s supreme court, which ruled retroactively to block the state’s voter-approved congressional redistricting amendment earlier this year. 

The 2026 general election is Nov. 3.

For nearly a quarter of a century, Virginia Republicans have been chasing a Capitol Hill victory they haven’t been able to recapture. 

The last Republican from Virginia elected to the U.S. Senate was Sen. John Warner — no relation to the state’s current senior senator — when he won a fifth term in 2002. Since then, Democrats have swept every Senate contest in the commonwealth, and Republicans now face another uphill battle in a state where President Donald Trump remains highly unpopular. 

Republican voters will take the first step in the Aug. 4 primary election when they will choose a nominee to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, who is seeking a fourth six-year term after more than two decades in statewide office. 

The Republicans who remain in the race are businesswoman Kim Farington, retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa and businessman David Williams. Four other GOP candidates, including state Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, dropped out before the primary, leaving a smaller field competing for the chance to take on one the Senate’s best-funded candidates. 

Whoever wins the nomination will enter the fall campaign facing Warner’s statewide name recognition, long political resume and sizable fundraising advantage.

Warner files for reelection, launching bid for fourth U.S. Senate term

Different paths to the nomination

Although the candidates agree on many core Republican positions, each has emphasized a different message on the campaign trail. 

Farington, a Northern Virginia business owner and public accountant at the U.S. Departments of Defense and Agriculture, the Office of Personnel Management and the White House, has built her campaign around the economy, arguing that inflation and the rising cost of living remain voters’ biggest concerns. She has also called for lower federal spending, tighter border security, expanded domestic energy production and a smaller federal government. 

Mizusawa, a retired high-ranking Army officer and former Pentagon official, has leaned heavily on his national security background. His campaign has focused on military readiness, foreign policy, energy and government spending while highlighting decades of military and public service. 

Williams, a businessman, U.S. Navy veteran and former federal employee, has campaigned on reducing the size of the federal government, cutting taxes and defending constitutional rights, presenting himself as a political outsider. 

Despite those varying campaign themes, David Richards, a political science professor at the University of Lynchburg, noted the three candidates have something in common other than their party affiliation. 

“One other interesting point is that Williams, Farington and Mizusawa are all people who have worked for the federal government at some point in their careers, with Williams and Mizusawa both serving in the military,” Richards said. 

“Clearly, whoever wins the GOP nomination will be running as an experienced government insider.”

Richards said he sees the primary race as narrowing.

“I predict either Farington or Mizusawa winning the nomination, both are polling about even if you look at the margin of error,” he said. “Behind them is Williams, who is putting up a fight, but has raised the smallest amount of money, and his platform seems fairly vague to be honest.”

Warner’s fundraising edge

Campaign finance reports underscore the challenge awaiting the eventual Republican nominee. 

As of March 31, Mizusawa has raised about $192,000 and reported more than $55,000 cash on hand. Farington has raised more than $125,000 and reported about $22,700 remaining. Williams has raised more than $55,000 and has roughly $6,600 in his campaign account. 

In contrast, Warner has raised nearly $22 million for his reelection bid and reported more than $14 million cash on hand. 

Richards said money has already helped separate the Republican field, but even the eventual nominee will begin the general election at a significant financial disadvantage. 

“Farington and Mizusawa have each raised well over $100k, which is great, except Warner already has many millions of dollars in his war chest,” Richard said. 

Richards also said he has noticed how the leading Republicans have approached the statewide race. 

“I find it interesting that Farington and Mizusawa both take pretty traditional GOP positions on most issues, albeit with a MAGA-tint, but nothing all that radical,” he said. “And neither one mentions Trump.”

Richards said he believes that is a deliberate choice. 

“I think Farington and Mizusawa realize they are running a statewide race in a state where Trump has never won and where Democrats have done very well in the past couple of elections,” he said. 

“Right now, a Trump endorsement might help their primary chances but not their general election campaign.”

Richards said that Farington’s emphasis on affordability could foreshadow one of the central Republican arguments this fall.

“Farington’s attempt to paint Warner as part of the affordability problem likely is a preview of what the eventual GOP nominee will say during the campaign,” he said. “In my mind Farington has the best way forward, not just to win the GOP nomination, but to try and narrow the GOP for the general election by running on this affordability issue.”

Warner enters race with experience — and advantages

While Republicans are focused on settling their primary, Warner enters the campaign as one of Virginia’s most established political figures. 

A native of Indiana who built a successful telecommunications business before entering politics, Warner moved to Virginia in the 1980s and became active in Democratic fundraising before winning the governorship in 2001. 

After his four-year tenure in Richmond, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008 and has since won reelection twice, by less than 1 percentage point in 2014 and by more than 12 points in 2020. 

Now the Senate’s vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, Warner has built a reputation as a pragmatic Democrat willing to work across the aisle on issues ranging from national security and technology to infrastructure and economic development. 

He has also maintained a high profile in Virginia, regularly touting federal investments in transportation, broadband expansion, military communities and manufacturing. He has also drawn attention to the effect recent federal healthcare shifts had on state hospitals and services. 

Warner’s significant fundraising haul gives him resources that far exceed those of any potential Republican challenger. Combined with the Democratic party’s recent success in statewide elections, they leave the eventual GOP nominee facing a challenging political landscape. 

Richards said those political realities will make it difficult for the Republican candidate to gain traction, regardless of who emerges from the primary. 

“I don’t see the 2026 Virginia Senate election as Mark Warner’s to lose,” he said. “He won in 2020 by about 12%, Tim Kaine won in 2024 by roughly 10%, both of those with Trump on the ballot.”

With the president’s approval ratings under water and voters continuing to express concerns about the economy, Richards said Warner appears well-positioned heading into the general election.

Read the Mercury’s Voter Guide to learn more about the Aug. 4 primary for Virginia’s key congressional races. 

Consumer advocates have joined Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration to argue that high-load customers like data centers should pay for the high-voltage lines that solely serve them, a stance now playing out as part of Dominion Energy’s case with state regulators to determine how power line costs should impact customers’ utility rates. 

Transmission lines serve as a power highway that enable more power to be carried further between power sources and substations. Smaller distribution lines may split off of them, like exit ramps. 

In Virginia, the cost to build transmission lines appears on ratepayers’ monthly utility bills as the Rider T-1 portion of the bill. 

Dominion wants to recover about $1.5 billion in costs from customers to build out the transmission grid. The utility first told the State Corporation Commission that this would lead to an estimated increase of $2.90 per month for the typical household that uses 1000 kilowatt hours over the same period.

In its rebuttal testimony filed June 30th, Dominion refined that number to .94 cents per month, based on new calculations of returning customers that purchase their power through retail choice and the SCC’s newly-established 85% transmission demand charge for high-load customers via a GS5 rate that kicks in next year.  

The governor’s office, through testimony Chief Energy Officer Josephus Allmond filed on July 9, pushed for data centers to pay for all transmission lines that would otherwise not be built “but for” the existence of new data centers.

It is up to the commission to determine if that cost allocation calculation method should be implemented.

“Any network or substation upgrades that would not have been triggered but for a large load customer should be assigned directly to that customer, shielding regular Virginia families from subsidizing commercial extension,” Deputy Chief Energy Officer Louise White also testified on Tuesday.

The data center industry opposes this plan, and representatives have repeatedly said they already pay transmission infrastructure costs legally allocated to them by the commission. 

A lawyer for Microsoft, which has over a dozen data centers in Virginia, argued Tuesday before the SCC that the commission specially ordered this Rider T-1 case following the biennial rate case for Dominion. The request for the special case did not include language to examine changing the methodologies for assigning costs, they said. 

The lawyer also argued that the three-month process would not be enough time to examine those potential changes.

During the General Assembly’s regular legislative session, Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, sponsored a bill directing the SCC to examine how the plan for data centers to pay for transmission lines that serve only the industry. 

While the bill ultimately did not make it out of the House, the senator testified on Tuesday in Dominion’s current case in support of the “but for” method.

“When the need for new transmission infrastructure is driven by the extraordinary electric demand of data centers, the costs of that infrastructure should be assigned to the customers creating that need,” Perry said.

In Dominion’s 2024 integrated resource plan, the company outlined 203 transmission projects. SCC staff reported in that plan that “data centers are the single highest driver of the company’s load forecast and the single highest driver of transmission projects and their associated costs” according to testimony from Andrew T. Boehnlein, a manager in the State Corporation Commission’s Division of Public Utility Regulation. 

The governor’s office also recommended that data centers have the option to pay upfront for transmission project costs as another means to shield ratepayers. They also requested a dedicated technical conference to address underlying transmission planning and operations challenges.

“This would allow stakeholders and the Commission to thoroughly examine current transmission planning processes, evaluate holistic cluster study approaches, and explore ways to integrate cost-effective technologies like grid-enhancing technologies and advanced conductors into transmission planning,” White said.

The commission will consider Dominion’s proposed recovery costs and the potential change to cost allocation methodology over the coming weeks. So far, commission staff has not argued against it in the utility’s filings. 

The SCC has until Aug. 1 to make a decision.

• “Virginia among states hit by cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to fresh produce.” — WTVR

• “Spanberger: $7.3 million to be disbursed to rebuild housing damaged by Helene.”  — Cardinal News

• “Virginia joins federal lawsuit against HUD over housing funds.” — WRIC

• “Busch Gardens Williamsburg owes nearly $22M in taxes, James City County says.” — WAVY

• “After extended search, Chesapeake selects new superintendent with 5-4 vote.”  — WHRO

Even after being ousted as the Virginia Military Institute’s first Black superintendent last summer, retired Major General Cedric Wins said Monday at a higher education-focused conference in Washington D.C. that by helping to examine and improve governing boards for Virginia’s public colleges and universities on a state commission, he is committing another act of service.

That decision at VMI galvanized legislators’ focus over the past year and a half on protecting Virginia’s public institutions from partisan influence in appointing members to governing boards. 

The state’s college board scrutiny also follows federal investigations at two of its institutions. The University of Virginia and George Mason University faced probes from the Department of Education and Department of Justice, largely because of conflicts with President Donald Trump’s administration over diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

“Through discussions with my peers — other college presidents over the last four years — and through my experience as superintendent of VMI, I’d seen how poor board governance was causing institutional harm and the increasing politicization of boards,” Wins said in an interview at the National Press Club, where the conference was hosted. 

Va. governors make board appointments; legislators confirm them. How’s the process work?

Wins said that when he was asked to apply to be appointed to the Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments, Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration signaled a goal to “reinvigorate” the underused commission and gather diverse perspectives on qualified candidates.

“So I knew there was a correction that needed to be made in how we understand and recognize poor governance. The question became, ‘What do we need to do to restore good governance at Virginia’s colleges and institutions?’”

Wins, who was VMI’s 15th superintendent, spoke on the role of governing boards in protecting institutional missions and strengthening higher education governance at the event hosted by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

He was joined by Geoff Landward, commissioner of higher education for the Utah System of Higher Education, and Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon King, who spoke about how the commonwealth is addressing board vacancies by appointing high-quality appointees.

Representatives from both states said their colleges have faced similar challenges, including political pressure on campus issues, board composition and behavior problems and a lack of professionalization and training among board members.

In Virginia, board and commission candidates can be considered through two methods: self-application or nomination by someone else. The roles are traditionally nonpartisan, although both Republican and Democratic gubernatorial administrations may recommend appointees join a board. 

But last year, the process was called into question when Democratic lawmakers rejected several of former Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointees to Virginia’s colleges and universities, citing ideological conflicts over DEI initiatives.

Wins said he witnessed his institution’s board shift from one with “experienced, fiduciary-minded board leadership” to a body where new appointees came in with “fixed agendas” and tried to “operationalize” themselves and focus on political projects.

This overshadowed his administration’s work during the pandemic and the results of a legislatively-mandated investigation, including the implementation of the “One Corps One VMI” reform plan to modernize VMI’s culture and policies, reverse enrollment decline and ensure cadet welfare and financial stability.

King said the Spanberger administration aims to professionalize and depoliticize board appointments through its selection process, while keeping higher education anchored to its purpose as an economic engine for the state and a pathway for first‑generation and underrepresented students.

How Spanberger’s admin intends to remake college boards

When Spanberger’s term began in January, her administration had to fill 27 vacancies on governing boards at Virginia’s colleges and universities.

King, who estimated on Monday the administration has filled at least 100 appointments on boards and commissions in total, said its approach has focused on skills-based, diverse, and non-litmus-test appointments.

“It was important for us to put the right people in those positions, regardless of politics … And so we don’t have a test of who you voted for or what you believe on this particular issue. Our question is simple: Do you understand the difference between governance and operations?”

King also argued that every board member should receive required governance training within the first 60 days, with extra training for rectors and board presidents on authority and limits. Virginia does have a statutory training requirement for board members, but within the first two years of service.

Framing higher education as a unifying economic issue, King urged legislators to view universities as economic engines. She added that Virginia’s rise from fourth to third in CNBC’s Top States for Business rankings, and the state’s broader economic success, is directly tied to the strength of its higher education system.

King also said higher education decisions and governance should center on students, especially those who are about to start college and first‑generation learners.

“This is all about 17-year-olds who are making decisions to select a college or university that will impact the trajectory of their entire lives,” King said. “And if they’re a kid like me, it will impact the trajectory of their entire family’s life, because in my family now, college is an expectation.”

Commitment to strengthening higher ed governance

Lawmakers proposed measures this year that would have revised membership and governance requirements for governing boards of public higher education institutions. Spanberger tried to tweak them before ultimately rejecting them.

On May 19, the governor vetoed one of the most notable bills, Senate Bill 494 carried by Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville. It would have removed certain provisions that could “further politicize our institutions of higher education” and “undermine the current efforts of my administration and boards to stabilize governance of the commonwealth’s universities.”

If successful, the legislation would have also changed public higher education governing board appointments from four-year to six-year terms, limited gubernatorial appointees to a single six-year term with a two-year waiting period before returning to the same board and required nonvoting advisory representatives from faculty, staff, and student bodies.

The proposal added provisions defining governing board authorities and responsibilities, including “quorum” requirements, executive committee responsibilities and board duties and restrictions.

It also would have required governing boards to adopt shared governance policies, based on model policies developed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, with the goal of establishing clearer processes for participation in institutional decision-making.

Spanberger suggested removing provisions of the bill that had “no clear connection to addressing the challenges our boards have experienced in recent years” and clarified various timelines and processes for appointments to affirm the General Assembly’s role.

“Strengthening these institutions requires strong, effective governance across our colleges and universities,” Spanberger said, and recent challenges have “demonstrated the importance of reinforcing governance structures and processes so that our institutions remain resilient and successfully advance their missions.”

Lawmakers rejected the governor’s changes and she vetoed the bill. 

In January, Spanberger issued an executive order directing members of her cabinet to submit a report on the nomination process for Virginia’s boards and commissions. 

The governor’s office did not respond to questions about the status of the report.