Virginia
Virginia lawmakers send bipartisan budget deal to Youngkin – Virginia Mercury
The massive buzz on the Virginia Capitol Wednesday wasn’t pleasure over the brand new state funds.
It was the development work on the tunnel being dug beneath the complicated, which rattled the historic constructing all through the day as lawmakers accepted a long-overdue two-year spending plan.
In contrast to Capitol Sq., the funds didn’t have any huge holes in it this yr after an inflow of income and federal pandemic aid {dollars} gave policymakers loads of spending leeway.
The funds now heading to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk consists of huge pay raises for state workers, academics and first responders, vital new investments in training, psychological well being care and gun violence prevention and roughly $4 billion in tax aid, a high precedence for Youngkin.
Mixed, the tax cuts may imply an additional $1,108 for a median household of 4, in accordance with a funds workers calculation, together with direct rebate funds of as much as $250 per individual or $500 per married couple.
The funds was alleged to be completed earlier than legislators ended their common session in mid-March. However the Democratic Senate and Republican Home of Delegates didn’t attain an settlement swiftly, resulting in a uncommon June workday for state legislators, lots of whom simply realized the parameters of the funds deal just a few days in the past.
“It was an extended haul,” mentioned Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Seaside, who negotiated the cope with Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, including the ultimate result’s a “fiscally sound, bipartisan funds we will all be happy with.”
After months of wrangling, Virginia has a funds deal. What’s in it?
A number of lawmakers gave speeches Wednesday about gadgets they weren’t pleased with or areas the place they felt more cash was wanted. However the bipartisan funds deal overwhelmingly handed each chambers, with solely a handful of dissenting votes from each Republicans and Democrats.
Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax, who voted towards the funds, referred to as it “most likely probably the most opaque funds negotiation we may have imagined,” including that almost all lawmakers realized in regards to the particulars in media studies after months of personal talks between the negotiators.
Simon additionally inveighed towards legislating by way of the funds on points — like marijuana coverage, sports activities betting and transportation tasks — that would not be resolved by means of the traditional legislative course of. “That’s not how we should be doing issues going ahead,” Simon mentioned.
The Senate vote was 32-4. The Home vote was 88-7.
Leaders in each chambers hailed the two-year funds compromise, the product of a number of months’ value of personal negotiations, as delivering on core priorities.
“We put our cash the place our mouth is and labored collectively to do what’s greatest within the post-pandemic restoration,” Senate Majority Chief Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, mentioned in a information launch. “This biennial funds is a win/win for Virginians throughout the Commonwealth.”
Home Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, mentioned the funds “accomplishes quite a lot of what Home Republicans instructed Virginians we’d work towards after we requested for his or her votes in November.”
“This funds exhibits our dedication to enhancing Virginians’ lives, serving to our financial system throughout unsure occasions, all whereas defending the taxpayers,” Gilbert mentioned in a information launch. “It is a funds each Virginian will be happy with.”
Youngkin, who has line-item veto powers over funds payments, now will get to take his personal swing on the deal. On Wednesday, some Democrats mentioned they hoped he gained’t attempt to change an excessive amount of earlier than lawmakers meet once more later this month forward of a June 30 deadline to finalize the funds for the fiscal yr that begins July 1.
“There’s been lots of work put into this and I hope he simply leaves it alone,” mentioned Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax.
Sen David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, disagreed, saying Youngkin ought to take part totally and he shouldn’t be requested to face down as a result of the Basic Meeting is delivering it late.
“We’d mainly be encouraging our future selves to proceed this kind of apply and preserve us right here in June again and again,” Suetterlein mentioned.
As soon as the funds is formally despatched to Youngkin within the subsequent few days, the governor could have seven days to evaluate it and make his personal suggestions.
“The governor is happy that the Basic Meeting has moved ahead on the funds and adopted an awesome framework which delivers on his key priorities to offer Virginians tax aid, cross the biggest training funds and make investments extra in legislation enforcement and behavioral well being,” mentioned Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter. “The governor and his crew proceed to evaluate the language of the funds and talk about potential amendments.”
Highlights of the funds embrace:
- Tax cuts that double the state’s normal earnings tax deduction, make the state’s earned-income tax credit score partially refundable to assist low-income staff and get rid of the state-level tax on groceries and private hygiene merchandise like diapers, wipes and tampons.
- $13 million in gun violence prevention funding, which will likely be distributed to native governments, legislation enforcement and neighborhood organizations for initiatives meant to scale back shootings.
- $1.25 billion for college development and renovation, $100 million for Okay-12 “lab colleges” in partnership with faculties and universities, greater than $270 million to extend help positions in public colleges and $104 million to maintain faculty tuition decrease for in-state college students.
- No less than $320 million to widen Interstate 64 to 3 lanes between Richmond and Williamsburg.
- A ten % elevate for state workers and academics unfold throughout the 2 funds years, in addition to a $1,000 one-time bonus within the first yr.
- 37 % raises for direct care workers at Virginia’s struggling psychological well being amenities.
- $1.4 billion in extra funding for well being care.
Virginia Mercury intern Rahul Sharma contributed reporting.
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Virginia
State Fair of Virginia boss confident the event is safe for all: ‘We're secured’
CAROLINE COUNTY, Va. — The State Fair of Virginia returns for 10 days at The Meadow Event Park in Doswell.
The fair opens Friday at 10 a.m.
Fair executive director Marlene Jolliffe told CBS 6 this is her 35th career state fair.
“We have a legacy. We have generational fairgoers who this is a tradition, and they keep coming,” Jolliffe recalled. “My grandchildren and my children have grown up in the fair industry because of me.”
The State Fair of Virginia has been in operation since 1854 and Jolliffe said they’ve learned a lot since it moved to The Meadow Event Park in 2009.
Last year, she invited contractors to visit the fairgrounds to study their procedures finding virtually no issues, but showed areas for improvement.
Crews installed metal detectors and upgraded cameras.
A security team holds meetings year-round before the fair and safety briefings every morning the fair is in operation.
The fair partners with the Virginia State Police for security. VSP declined an interview about this topic.
Jolliffe said attendees can expect to see troopers across the park in addition to RMC Events employees in yellow shirts.
Those safety plans come on the heels of 300 people who were banned from nearby King’s Dominion due to fighting. Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Chesterfield County’s fair also saw groups fighting over the summer.
Community shares voices after large altercations mar community events, gatherings
“Certainly I follow that and pay attention to it, but we don’t start changing what has worked so well for us just because an incident happens at another location,” Jolliffe explained.
The fair has not changed any policies since then and there is no chaperone policy, either.
Jolliffe described the 10 fun days as family-friendly, with dozens of school groups visiting during the day.
“We’re secured and partner with Virginia State Police. They are one of our most critical partners, and they’re here. They’re in the operation. They’re all over the grounds. They park, they get people off of the roadway from a parking standpoint, but they’re all over the main footprint of the property, securing,” Jolliffe said.
Among the highlights this year include new bathrooms built near the entrance.
After two years of dealing with soaking tropical storms, crews have installed a 17,000-square-foot tent with seating over their main stage.
New foods include the “Big Fatty” cinnamon roll rolled in bacon and “Hurricane Fries” topped with mac and cheese, fried chicken, and Yum Yum sauce.
The fair offers a new “Fast Lane” wristband to skip the lines at the rides, farm animal showcases for adults and youth, baking competitions, musical acts, a roving piano, a magician, and more.
“The beauty of what we do with the fair is we’re not all about entertainment. We’re also about the agriculture of things, the garden, the competitions, and having that nice mix of things makes it a little easier to be able to figure out how you program it,” Jolliffe said.
The event has an overall regional economic impact of $41.5 million with 200,000 attendees over 10 days.
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Virginia
Chesterfield first responders deployed to southwest Virginia
CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) -Chesterfield first responders made their way to southwest Virginia Thursday to help areas forecasted to be the most affected by Hurricane Helene.
19 firefighters and EMS workers left Fire Station 17 in the morning to Wythe County.
The county expects several inches of rain, gusty winds and potentially downed trees and power lines.
The Chesterfield crews will be on standby to perform water rescues.
They are also ready to deploy to neighboring states if necessary.
Another group of Chesterfield firefighters flew out to the Roanoke area earlier Thursday afternoon.
Copyright 2024 WWBT. All rights reserved.
Virginia
Mapping Out Virginia Tech’s Road to The ACC Championship Game Ahead of Matchup Against Miami
With the division system being demolished in the ACC, Virginia Tech no longer has to battle all of the Coastal teams for a shot at the Championship game, all that the Hokies would need to do is finish top two in the conference based on their conference record, which basically means that Virginia Tech should consider how they played in their first four games, but throw that out of the window for now because a new season will start on Friday for the Hokies.
The woes for the Virginia Tech team have been apparent and unchanged, but they’d only need to sneak an upset win or two and take all of the toss-up games on the schedule.
Now, I’m not saying that Virginia Tech needs to or will upset Miami, but I will consider paths to the Championship Game, with and without a loss to Miami.
Starting with the most realistic scenario, which would be Virginia Tech losing to Miami. In that situation, Miami would likely be a lock to be the highest ranked team in the conference, but it would be between SMU, Clemson, Louisville, and Virginia Tech to all vie for the last spot. With that, Virginia Tech would simply have to win out, with the number of teams now in the ACC a two-loss team just wont make the Championship Game, that’s why programs like Georgia Tech are essentially out of the race.
That schedule looks daunting, but outside of Clemson most of those games are toss-ups. They play Stanford, Boston College, Syracuse, and Georgia Tech after the Miami game, all of which could go either way. Against Clemson they could be double-digit underdogs, but still a game they need to win, so anything can happen. Then, the Hokies will end the season against Duke and Virginia, two teams I think they will be favored against.
Now the other path for Virginia Tech depends entirely on a win against Miami this Friday. The Hokies would have to pull off likely one of the bigger upsets in the history of the ACC. If they can do that though, the path gets much easier. Because the Hokies knocked off Miami, there’s no undebatable number one team in the conference, so the Hokies could lose one or even two games considering that they would have a tie-breaker over Miami.
This is the lesser likely of the two scenarios, but who knows? It’s Friday Night Football, and we’ve seen that be a problem for favorites this season.
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