Virginia Mercury | FFXnow

Published September 5, 2024 at 11:45AM

An absentee ballot drop box (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Commissioner of Elections Susan Beals on Wednesday expressed concerns with the operational performance of the U.S. Postal Service ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Virginia, warning that mail-in ballots may not be processed in time to be counted.

“Election officials depend on the U.S. mail service to deliver ballots to voters and to return ballots to election officials,” Beals told members of the Virginia House of Delegates Privileges and Elections Committee at a meeting in Richmond. “What I am hoping to change is the expectation of voters, that if I put my ballot in the mail five days before election day that it is going to get there. You need to plan further out than that.”

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Virginia Board of Education approves changes to accreditation, accountability systems

By Nathaniel Cline / Virginia Mercury

Published August 29, 2024 at 11:30AM

Virginia Board of Education voted on a new accountability framework for schools at a special meeting on Aug. 28, 2024 (via Virginia Board of Education/YouTube)

The Virginia Board of Education on Wednesday approved the final touches on the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act plan, designed to address concerns with how schools were rated and student performance was measured to determine better how to direct state resources.

During the special meeting in Richmond, the board approved Virginia’s ESSA plan, readiness weighting for different grade levels, and the overall school performance and support framework proposal as part of its package of accountability system changes.

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Virginia students make some gains on annual test scores; schools see less absenteeism

By Nathaniel Cline / Virginia Mercury

Published August 21, 2024 at 10:30AM

A student takes a school test (via Ben Mullins on Unsplash)

Virginia students’ reading and math assessments for the 2023-24 school year saw some improvement over last year after months of recovery efforts, according to data released by the Department of Education Tuesday. However, pass rates in other subjects are still behind results from the 2022-23 school year.

Pass rates for grades 3 through 8 in reading, math, and science Standards of Learning tests all showed increases statewide by at least 1%. Writing showed the highest increase — 17 percentage points — while history and social science saw little gain, less than a percentage point.

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Costs for electricity during extreme weather rising; Dominion says nothing to worry about — yet

By Charlie Paullin / Virginia Mercury

Published August 7, 2024 at 3:00PM

An electrical tower adjacent to the Dulles Toll Road in Reston (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The regional electric grid that supplies power to Virginia during times of extreme weather announced a 1,400% increase in some electric costs after its most recent capacity auction. But Dominion officials were quick to assure customers that they would not see an increase in their bills before the end of next year.

PJM Interconnection, which oversees the electric grid serving several mid-Atlantic states, including Virginia, announced the increase for its capacity market. Dominion buys electricity off of capacity markets during peak, or emergency, demands.

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Are Virginia toll roads costly and confusing? A state study shows many drivers think so.

By Nathaniel Cline / Virginia Mercury

Published June 25, 2024 at 11:45AM

A sign displays the toll for taking the I-66 West Express Lanes from Oakton to Route 50 (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Researchers found that some complex toll roads in Northern Virginia are “less understandable” for people who drive high occupancy vehicles and that inconsistent toll signage in Virginia may also cause driver confusion. The findings come after a months-long study into easing vehicle traffic congestion, specifically on popular Interstates 81 and 95, and possible ways to stop rising toll costs.

Cost concerns

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Regulators approve request from Dominion to drop RGGI fee on customer bills

By Charlie Paullin / Virginia Mercury

Published June 7, 2024 at 2:30PM

Dominion Energy's Fairfax office (staff photo by James Jarvis)

The average Dominion Energy Virginia residential customer will soon see a charge of about $4.50 dropped from their bills. The fee was being collected to recover costs through the state’s participation in the regional carbon market.

On Monday, the State Corporation Commission, which regulates Virginia’s utilities, approved a request from Dominion to stop tacking the fee on customer’s bills to recoup the costs the utility racked up through participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which Virginia is no longer a part of.

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Youngkin says Virginia won’t follow California’s clean car standards anymore

By Graham Moomaw / Virginia Mercury

Published June 5, 2024 at 3:30PM

Electric vehicle chargers (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Wednesday that the state will no longer follow car emissions standards set by California, despite his party’s failure to repeal or roll back a 2021 Democratic law that tied Virginia to those regulations.

The move tees up what could be another legal fight over Republican leaders’ efforts to undo climate change-related measures Democrats passed when they had full control of state government a few years ago.

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Virginia child care rating system aims to improve kids’ school readiness

By Nathaniel Cline / Virginia Mercury

Published May 14, 2024 at 3:30PM | Updated May 14, 2024 at 4:49PM

Bethbap kids cars toys road carpet (via Bethlehem Baptist Church/Unsplash)

Virginia has implemented new guidelines to establish a unified rating and improvement system to assess the commonwealth’s publicly funded early childhood care providers.

Approximately 75% of child care programs that received public funding previously did not participate in the state’s voluntary quality measures, according to Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax, who co-patroned 2020 legislation that led to all publicly funded providers being required to participate.

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Va. governor signs bills to combat hate crimes, vetoes civil penalties for invasive plant sellers

By Nathaniel Cline / Virginia Mercury

Published April 4, 2024 at 9:30AM | Updated April 5, 2024 at 1:23PM

English ivy seen at McLean Central Park (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

In the latest round of action on bills, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed 100 bills passed by the Virginia General Assembly, including one to protect Virginians from unlawful discrimination, hate crimes and antisemitism. The governor vetoed four others, including one to create civil penalties for shop owners who fail to advertise they are selling invasive plants that could harm other species.

Among the 100 bills signed is a measure that will codify a recommendation by the Commission to Combat Antisemitism that Virginia revise its laws to better protect Jewish citizens from hate crimes, along with Muslims, Sikhs and other ethnic-religious groups.

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Youngkin administration considers bill to expand local authority to lower speed limits

By Nathaniel Cline / Virginia Mercury

Published March 19, 2024 at 3:45PM

A 25 mph speed limit sign on a residential road in Vienna (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The Virginia General Assembly passed a measure three years ago allowing local governments to decrease roadway speed limits in their localities to as low as 15 mph. But recently, lawmakers found that the Virginia Department of Transportation denied seven of eight speed limit decrease requests, because, by state law, only the Commissioner of Highways can authorize changes on state-maintained roads.

Earlier this month, legislation advanced that would expand a locality’s speed-reducing authority to roadways within a business or residence district, including state-owned highways.