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Activate Virginia

@activateva

activatevirginia.org activateva.substack.com

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Latest posts by Activate Virginia @activateva

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Don't leave faculty out of Virginia's collective bargaining bill | Guest column Virginia must include faculty in any higher‑education collective bargaining bill to ensure fair pay, job protections and due‑process rights for the instructors who teach most of the state’s college st...

"They need only recognize one basic fact: faculty members are workers, too. People who can be fired without due process, denied benefits or strung along on semester-to-semester contracts should not be carved out of legislation..."

07.03.2026 15:58 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Amazon data center unit acquires George Washington University Virginia campus Amazon unit Amazon Data Services is acquiring ​George Washington University's Virginia Science and Technology campus for $427 ‌million, the university said on Monday, part of a rapid expansion of infr...

"Amazon Data Services is acquiring ​George Washington University's Virginia Science and Technology campus for $427 ‌million, the university said on Monday, part of a rapid expansion of infrastructure to support artificial intelligence."

07.03.2026 15:53 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Judge: Richmond failed to preserve evidence in FOIA lawsuit The ruling means jurors can assume the missing evidence would have hurt the city.

"In it, Cardwell said the lengthy dispute over the phone reflected "a general lack of respect for the Court's orders" that forced a nine-month trial delay and drove up costs."

07.03.2026 15:52 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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FOIA Bill with Local Tie Passed Over for the Year in the General Assembly The bill would have clarified that service of process is not required when citizens seek to enforce their rights under the Freedom of Information Act.

"A bill seeking to clarify what is already in Virginia Code regarding how citizens can enforce their rights under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been continued to next General Assembly session."

07.03.2026 15:46 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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‘Tried to kill us twice’: Two Virginia men who were found not guilty, yet sentenced to life speak for first time For the first time, we are hearing directly from the two men who were found not guilty of a Sussex County police officer’s 1998 murder, yet still sentenced to life in prison.

"For the first time, we are hearing directly from the two men who were found not guilty of a Sussex County police officer’s 1998 murder, yet still sentenced to life in prison."

06.03.2026 03:09 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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King George Board of Supervisors adopts resolutions opposing changes to VMI - Fredericksburg Free Press Supervisors also adopted a resolution reaffirming the county's commitment as a "Second Amendment Sanctuary," but declined to enter redistricting battle.

"With minimal political power at the state level, Stuart is using his platform as the King George County Attorney to influence the way local officials and residents view partisan divides in Richmond."

06.03.2026 03:05 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

not enough folks talking about this kinda thing!

05.03.2026 18:27 👍 5 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
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In Southwest Va., Scott County parents search for answers amid children's cancer diagnoses • Virginia Mercury State health department’s study ruled out pediatric cancer clusters in the area, but doesn’t include data from 2024 and 2025, when parents say several children were diagnosed with cancer.

“My thought is whatever they are exposed to, it’s not just causing cancers,” Smith said. “Its acting just like cancer. Whatever these kids are being exposed to, it’s causing autoimmune diseases as well.”

05.03.2026 14:13 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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As conflict with Iran widens, Virginia lawmakers navigate political fallout • Virginia Mercury President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a sweeping military offensive against Iran over the weekend is reverberating far beyond the Middle East, injecting new uncertainty into Virginia’s congressi...

"U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Alexandria, called the war “not smart, it is not legal, it is not morally right, and it is not in our national interest,” urging House leaders to reconvene and vote on a bipartisan War Powers Resolution."

05.03.2026 13:23 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Is Harrisonburg prepared for climate in-migration? Why more people may end up moving to the Shenandoah Valley as climate destabilization accelerates, and what that could mean for the future of Harrisonburg.

Is Harrisonburg prepared for climate in-migration?

05.03.2026 13:22 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
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The Block Is Hot: Surveillance Teach-In · Harriet’s Wildest Dreams Join Harriet's Wildest Dreams, the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, and No Tech for Apartheid for a comprehensive teach-in and conversation on surveillance technologies, national legislat...

The Block Is Hot: Surveillance Teach-In:

04.03.2026 20:00 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Workers, Speaker Scott criticize plan to axe data center tax exemption as budgets advance • Virginia Mercury The Senate proposal to end the sales and use tax exemption that’s saved data centers over $1 billion passes with bipartisan support.

"Sen. Danica Roem... identified data centers as a top priority for her constituents who live in Northern Virginia, where most of the facilities are concentrated.

“We’ve got to do something about this,” Roem said. “This is the do-something moment.”"

01.03.2026 16:39 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Virginia Gov. Spanberger's top staffer sues prominent political consultant for defamation Va. Gov. Abigail Spanberger's chief of staff filed an $18 million defamation lawsuit against prominent political consultant Ben Tribbett.

"A spokesperson for the governor declined to comment on the lawsuit but noted that the governor fully supports the steps Krenz-Schnurman has taken in filing the lawsuit."

01.03.2026 16:21 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Green groups challenge Virginia permit for Mountain Valley pipeline extension The lawsuit is the latest headache for the 31-mile expansion of the Southeast gas pipeline.

"Environmental groups are challenging Virginia’s water permit for a natural gas pipeline, asserting in a new lawsuit that the decision puts the state’s waterways at risk."

01.03.2026 16:17 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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New legislation would protect Virginia workers from extreme heat More than 4,000 Virginians visited emergency rooms for heat-related illness last year.

"A proposal moving through the General Assembly would prompt the state’s first regulations on protecting workers from heat stress."

01.03.2026 16:14 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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On the site of the Potomac sewage line rupture that drew Trump's ire • Virginia Mercury At the site of one of the worst sewage leaks in the nation’s recent history, a spill President Donald Trump called "a massive Ecological Disaster," things were relatively calm on a recent morning, as ...

“When the rupture happened, it went onto the ground first and then ran into the river. All that muck is still on the ground, because it was covered in ice"

01.03.2026 16:04 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Are We There Yet? Streetcars, suburban growth and Richmond’s revival — what’s next for RVA?

"For a century, the waterfront served primarily as a site for industry and workers’ housing. The owners and managers dwelt on the hills above, in what became Church Hill and Monroe Ward, often in big houses with veranda views of both the river..."

01.03.2026 16:02 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Eastern Shore farm workers receive funds from settlement involving alleged labor abuses In a settlement reached in December, Las Princesas Corporation, its owner Martha Zeferino Jose and The Tankard Nurseries Inc. agreed to pay damages to hundreds of migrant workers for alleged labor …

"Workers described having passports confiscated, being served food that made them sick and having no heating or air conditioning or sheets on beds. One worker fled a worksite after being denied access to proper medical care."

01.03.2026 15:51 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Students walk out of local high schools protesting ICE School administrators set behavioral guidelines for protests, schools say.

"Students at Williamsburg-James City County’s high schools walked out of class for a 15-minute protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement today."

01.03.2026 15:49 👍 11 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Environmental, Community Groups to Challenge Regulators’ Approval of Dominion’s Gas Plant - Inside Climate News An appeal to be filed on their behalf by the Southern Environmental Law Center will argue that the new plant in Chesterfield County would not comply with either the state’s environmental justice or cl...

"An appeal to be filed on their behalf by the Southern Environmental Law Center will argue that the new plant in Chesterfield County would not comply with either the state’s environmental justice or clean economy acts."

01.03.2026 15:48 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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DCCC faces pushback from Democratic candidates for tipping the primary scales The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is facing pushback from Democratic candidates who accuse the group, which is the campaign arm for congressional Democrats, of tipping the scales in prim...

"Several candidates, who were not listed by the DCCC but are running in the same districts called out the group for its role in advancing candidates in primary races."

01.03.2026 15:45 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Virginia State University faces questions after firing six agriculture research experts • Virginia Mercury Virginia State University's Agricultural Research Station fired six professors in December, sparking outrage among farmers.

"The five tenured faculty and one tenure-track assistant professor say they were abruptly removed from the station without notice, in violation of procedural protections provided by tenure, VSU’s Severance Policy, and the Faculty Handbook."

01.03.2026 15:43 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Water Authority Releases Google Data Center Records Ahead of Scheduled Contempt Hearing The case could have far-reaching implications in Virginia over the disclosure of information that governments once deemed proprietary.

"Roanoke Circuit Court Judge Leisa Ciaffone in November ordered the water authority to release the records after The Rambler's founder sued, arguing that the numbers are not proprietary."

01.03.2026 15:40 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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RPS emails show which positions will be eliminated in budget cuts The 84 emails, which included 74 employee layoffs, had the names of the employees redacted but not their positions.

"The 84 emails, which included 74 employee layoffs, had the names of the employees redacted but not their positions, which had not yet been publicly revealed."

28.02.2026 03:40 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Lawmakers question how Rosie’s was approved to add more gambling machines in Richmond The Richmond location went from 700 machines to 1,200 without a public hearing.

“This expansion appears to have occurred without transparent public Commission action, clear statutory authorization or reconciliation with existing regulatory limits,” Krizek and Aird wrote in their Dec. 4 letter.

28.02.2026 00:36 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Richmond FOIA lawsuit fuels mistrust concerns, costs city $671K Here's your "catch up quick" guide to what's going on with the Connie Clay lawsuit against the city.

"The city has spent over $671,000 defending the suit, nearly triple the $250,000 Clay initially sought, according to figures Richmond officials provided Axios."

26.02.2026 00:08 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Lynchburg City Council is asking a judge for guidance on the redistricting referendum The City of Lynchburg filed a lawsuit in Lynchburg Circuit Court on Wednesday seeking clarification on whether it may move forward with the redistricting referendum.

"The City of Lynchburg filed a lawsuit in Lynchburg Circuit Court on Wednesday seeking clarification on whether it may move forward with the redistricting referendum, or whether the latest ruling from Tazewell Circuit Court prevents it."

26.02.2026 00:07 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Data center complex with gas power plant planned for Wise County " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/cardinalnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/161633_Courtesy_20260216_Wise-County-Lonesome-Pine-park-aerial-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C240&quality=89&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/cardinalnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/161633_Courtesy_20260216_Wise-County-Lonesome-Pine-park-aerial-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C624&quality=89&ssl=1" /> Officials say the project would involve nine buildings totaling approximately 2 million square feet, plus on-site natural gas generation. The post Data center complex with gas power plant planned for Wise County appeared first on Cardinal News.

Data center complex with gas power plant planned for Wise County

25.02.2026 11:45 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Senators propose phasing out data center tax credit, House budget keeps it • Virginia Mercury Data center industry opposes rolling back tax credit that costs the state a billion dollars annually.

"When reporters asked Sunday if she was concerned about data centers either leaving or choosing not to come to Virginia if the exemption were scrapped...Sen. L. Louise Lucas, said she thinks it is the best move to make life more affordable for Virginians."

25.02.2026 03:28 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Collective bargaining, iGaming and cannabis bills differ in Virginia House, Senate With crossover in the rearview mirror, Virginia’s House and Senate will now work to pass bills that have already advanced out of the opposite chamber. But that means differences in companion …

"The Virginia Senate and House of Delegates passed competing versions of legislation to repeal a ban on collective bargaining for public employees. But the bills each exclude different types of public workers."

25.02.2026 03:24 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0