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Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, (center) poses on Jan. 16 with two members of Edu-Futuro, a nonprofit that seeks to empower immigrant youth and their families. Photo courtesy of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights. Photo by Capital News Service
Feb 20, 2020

Virginia students could get in-state tuition despite citizenship status

RICHMOND, Va. — The state Senate and the House have advanced bills to make students living in the U.S. without documentation eligible for in-state tuition. SB 935, introduced by Democratic Sens. Jennifer Boysko and Ghazala Hashmi, would require a student to provide proof of filed taxes to be eligible for in-state tuition. [...]

person looking at smartphone while driving
Feb 19, 2020

Bill banning holding cellphones while driving clears House, Senate

RICHMOND, Va. — The state Senate voted Tuesday in favor of a bill that would prohibit holding a phone while driving a motor vehicle on Virginia roadways and which implements a penalty for the traffic violation. House Bill 874 will head to the desk of Gov. Ralph Northam, who has voiced support for prohibiting the […]

Feb 18, 2020

City of Richmond moves up in general obligation debt rating

Moody’s Investors Services upgraded the city of Richmond’s general obligation debt rating to Aa1, its second-to-highest creditworthiness rating, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced Tuesday. A city’s credit rating determines the amount that a locality may borrow for capital projects, including schools. The city has not received an upgrade since 2014. With this change in rating, […][...]

Carahsoft Technologies President Craig P. Abod receives V3 certification from Gov. Ralph Northam.
Feb 18, 2020

Virginia Values Veterans program certifies 1,000th employer

Reston-based computer software company Carahsoft Technology is the 1,000th employer to earn certification from the state government’s Virginia Values Veterans (V3) program, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday. Administered by the Department of Veterans Services, the V3 program is designed to connect Virginia veterans to t[...]

Feb 18, 2020

Bill seeks to clarify workers’ rights for pregnant, lactating employees

For employees who are pregnant or lactating, their workers’ rights are sometimes viewed as vague and can be difficult to discern for them and business owners alike. In Virginia, Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, hopes to clear things up once and for all. Her bill, SB712, is designed to expand upon the federal law that protects […]

Feb 17, 2020

BWX Technologies awarded $1B nuclear propulsion contract

A subsidiary of Lynchburg-based nuclear fuel supplier BWX Technologies Inc. (BWXT) was awarded approximately $1 billion in contracts from the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program for the manufacturing of naval nuclear reactor components, the company announced Monday, bringing the company’s naval nuclear propulsion contracts up to nearly $4 billion.  BWXT Nuclear Operations Group Inc. will […][...]

Gov. Ralph Northam
Feb 16, 2020

Northam announces $292.5M revenue windfall

A mid-session revised revenue forecast has resulted in the state government projecting a windfall of $292.5 million in additional revenues for fiscal year 2020, which ends on June 30, Gov. Ralph Northam said in a letter on Friday to the General Assembly Money Committees. According to state statute, $112.3 million of that $292.5 [...]

Feb 16, 2020

Warner, Kaine announce nearly $95 million for Va. affordable housing

Nearly $95 million in federal funding has been earmarked for affordable housing in Virginia, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner, D-Virginia, and Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, announced Friday. The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through four grant programs, including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) […]

Advocates at the press conference support the legalization of marijuana in the commonwealth. Photo by Emma Gauthier, Capital News Service
Feb 15, 2020

General Assembly snuffs marijuana legalization hopes for now

RICHMOND, Va. — Going into the 2020 legislative session, advocates say Democratic leaders had an ambitious marijuana reform agenda. By crossover day, several decriminalization bills passed their respective chambers, but hopes of legalization went up in smoke. Lawmakers, who say that the state isn’t ready for legaliza[...]

Feb 13, 2020

State commissions firm to conduct disparity study in procurement

The state will commission a Denver-based firm to conduct the first disparity study on procurement opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses since 2011, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday. The report is expected to be completed in December. The Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SBSD) selected market research company BBC Research and Consulting to […]

A licensed lender in Richmond which issues consumer lending, such as payday loans. Photo by Emma Gauthier, Capital News Service.
Feb 11, 2020

Lawmakers advance bills regulating consumer lending

RICHMOND, Va. — Del. Mark Levine recalls receiving a $1,000 loan offer from a company with a 299% interest rate buried deep in the fine print. “As the company compounds daily at this interest rate, this loan would cost anyone desperate enough to accept this offer more than $20,000 in interest and fees if they […]

Virginia Values Act supporters
Feb 7, 2020

LGBTQ Groups Celebrate Passage of ‘Historic’ Virginia Values Act

RICHMOND, Va. — Legislators wore rainbow, heart-shaped stickers Thursday as the House and Senate passed the Virginia Values Act. LGBTQ advocacy groups and lawmakers held a press conference in anticipation of what they called, “a historic moment after a years-long battle.” Senate Bill 868, patroned by Sen. Adam Ebbin, D[...]

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