Virginia

Education tops priorities during 2026 Virginia General Assembly

Published

3 months ago

January 16, 2026

Education tops priorities during 2026 Virginia General Assembly

RICHMOND, Va. (WCYB) — With Virginia lawmakers returning to Richmond this week, education has remained a big topic for both parties.

According to recent projections from the Virginia Department of Education, state schools will need about $1.2 billion over the next two years to simply operate.

With this hurdle to overcome, lawmakers are also planning an improved public school funding formula.

A step in the right direction according to Lieutenant Governor-elect Ghazala Hashmi.

“This is an opportunity to do it in a very thoughtful way, to make sure that we are positioning Virginia to support those localities that have students with the highest needs. Those include our students with special needs, students that are English language learners and students coming from lower economic situations,” Hashmi said.

On the topic of school funding there is also the School Construction and Modernization Fund.

Developed by Delegate Israel O’Quinn back in 2022, the fund is set aside for localities to invest in school construction projects putting a portion of funding in, while the state matches the rest.

Bristol, Virginia Public Schools were the first to utilize these funds, building the Virginia Intermediate School in 2024.

“Being able to have a school building with the latest technology and students not having to sit beside a rain barrel in the middle of their classroom really changes the student experience. There’s been a lot of really good upgrades done around Southwest Virginia and really across the whole Commonwealth,” O’Quinn said.

With the expense of some major projects, O’Quinn says some localities have found it difficult to match their portion of the funding. This paved the way for bill O’Quinn filed this year which would allow counties and school districts to finance these projects by borrowing from the state, receiving the state’s low interest rate.

“This would allow localities to be able to build up on those efforts and hopefully get to the point where they can fix those problems faster,” O’Quinn said.

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Virginia

Southwest, Central Virginia Weather | 6:30 p.m. – April 5, 2026

Published

33 minutes ago

April 5, 2026

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Virginia

Virginia fires women’s basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton after making 1st Sweet 16 since 2000ated hour-by-hour look at storm chances on Easter Sunday

Published

13 hours ago

April 5, 2026

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Virginia fires women’s basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton after making 1st Sweet 16 since 2000ated hour-by-hour look at storm chances on Easter Sunday

Virginia has fired Amaka Agugua-Hamilton as head coach of the women’s basketball program. Agugua-Hamilton led the Cavaliers to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000. She went 70-58, including a 29-42 mark in ACC play. Virginia became the first double-digit seed to reach the regional semifinals since 2022 and pulled off the upset of the tournament, knocking off No. 2 seed Iowa on the road in double overtime in the second round. They became the first First Four team to advance this far before falling to TCU.

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Virginia

LIVE Updates: Virginia Tech Hokies vs Miami Hurricanes Baseball, Game Two Score

Published

1 day ago

April 4, 2026

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LIVE Updates: Virginia Tech Hokies vs Miami Hurricanes Baseball, Game Two Score

Top of the 6th

Bottom of the 5th

Miami adds a run via sac fly and leads 7-1 heading to the 6th

Top of the 5th

Scoreless 1-2-3 inning for VT. Miami leads 6-1 heading to the bottom of the 5th

Bottom of the 4th

A pair of one out singles put two runners on and after VT got the second out, Miami got the lead on an RBI single. The Hurricanes were not done either, with a 2-RBI triple made it 4-1 and then a two-run home run made it a five run lead for the Hurricanes. Miami got a double after that, but VT got the final out. Hurricanes lead 6-1 heading to the 5th

Top of the 4th

Scoreless 1-2-3 inning for VT. Game is tied 1-1 heading to the bottom of the 4th

Bottom of the 3rd

A one out triple led to a sac fly from Miami that tied the game 1-1. Hokies got the final out, but no longer have the lead going to the 4th

Top of the 3rd

Cooke gets a two out double, but nothing else for the Hokies. VT leads 1-0 heading to the bottom of the 3rd

Bottom of the 2nd

Miami gets a one out single, but no runs. VT leads 1-0 heading to the 3rd

Top of the 2nd

A one out double from Daniel led to an RBI double from Gates to make it 1-0 in favor of the Hokies. They could not add on to it and VT leads 1-0 heading to the bottom of the 2nd

Bottom of the 1st

A leadoff triple and and two out walk put two on for Miami, but Virginia Tech keeps them off the board. Game is tied 0-0 heading to the 2nd

Top of the 1st

A single and two walks loaded the bases, but VT produced zero runs. Game is tied 0-0 heading to the bottom of the 1st

Pregame

Brett Renfrow is on the mound for the Hokies and here is how Virginia Tech is lining up for today’s game:

1. LF Nick Locurto

2. Ethan Ball – 2B

3. Sam Grube – RF

4. Henry Cooke – C

5. DH Hudson Lutterman

6. 3B Willie Hurt

7. SS Pete Daniel

8. CF Sam Gates

9. 1B Ethan Gates

After an embarrassing first game, Virginia Tech is hoping to bounce back and get the victory tonight against the Hurricanes. Miami was able to put up 19 runs on Virginia Tech last night in what ended up being as lopsided of a baseball game that you will ever see.

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