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Here’s a recap of the top stories on the morning of Aug. 18, 2025:
Chesterfield schools implement new security system
Reported by VPM News’ Billy Shields
The metal detectors will be present at nearly 30 middle and high schools when school starts on either Monday or Tuesday, depending on the grade.
“It’s hopefully not a shock to anyone at the school,” said Midlothian High Principal Shawn Abel. “But if it is, we walk them through and help them feel at ease and feel more safe and secure coming to school every day.”
School district officials emphasized that the detectors manufactured by OpenGate aren’t actually simple metal detectors being installed.
“Traditional metal detectors use similar technology to our wands,” said John Phillips, CCPS’ executive director of constituent services. “These systems allow bypass to ‘school-appropriate’ items,” like three-ring binders, keys and eyeglass cases.
Uncertainty remains in Virginia’s spending priorities
Reported by VPM News’ Dean Mirshahi
Spending reductions, mass layoffs and other federal changes from President Donald Trump’s administration have already cut into Virginia’s economy — but the true impact on the state’s finances and programs like Medicaid remains unknown.
With so much still up in the air, staff with the Virginia House of Delegates’ Appropriations Committee on Thursday urged a legislative panel tasked with reviewing the federal government’s changes to be cautious on the spending priorities in the next biennial budget.
The emergency committee — a bipartisan group of 12 delegates formed by House Speaker Don Scott (D–Portsmouth) — heard presentations on both the immediate impacts of actions like federal layoffs and grant cancellations, as well as upcoming changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid.
It met after Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his administration touted the state’s finances as strong to the General Assembly’s money committees, highlighting a $1.7 billion “cash cushion” for the state’s fiscal year 2026. (Virginia’s fiscal year runs July 1–June 30; the federal fiscal year is from Oct. 1–Sept. 30.)
“I think the big difference that we need to be cognizant of is not mistaking that we do have some unappropriated balances and we do have a little bit of a temporary cushion for small bumps in the road,” Committee Chair David Bulova, a Fairfax Democrat who also sits on the House Appropriations Committee, told VPM News.
News you might have missed from around the commonwealth:
- Hurricane Erin downgraded to Category 3 storm (The Associated Press)
- UVA shutters college prep program for first-generation college students in Charlottesville (Charlottesville Tomorrow)
- In Chesterfield, Earle-Sears slams Spanberger, revives Youngkin’s winning campaign slogans (Virginia Mercury)
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