VPM Daily Newscast Nov. 25, 2024
The VPM Daily Newscast contains all your Central Virginia news in just 5 to 10 minutes. Episodes are recorded the night before.
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Here’s a recap of the top stories on the morning of Nov. 25, 2024:
Broadband expansion project breaks ground in eastern Hanover
Reported by VPM News’ Lyndon German
Work has begun to lay the last miles of fiber cabling that will connect about 8,000 Hanover County residences and businesses to new broadband internet service.
The county launched the Connect Hanover initiative in 2021 to bring internet access to underserved parts of rural Hanover. The project began with a $14 million grant from the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative under former Gov. Ralph Northam.
That grant was supplemented by nearly $15 million in county funds from the American Rescue Plan Act and over $26 million in private investment from partners like All Points Broadband, which is set to install about 550 miles of fiber optic cable in eastern Hanover.
“This has been a project that has been long in the works, and as we wrap, it is now time to deliver on … the commitment to our residents to provide high speed internet throughout Hanover County,” County Administrator John Budesky said last week at a groundbreaking in Mechanicsville.
Virginia’s top court declines to hear Albemarle anti-racism curriculum case
Reported by Emmy Freedman for VPM News
An anti-racism policy in Albemarle County Public Schools will remain in place after the Virginia Supreme Court refused to hear families’ arguments challenging the initiative.
The decision puts an end to a lawsuit filed in December 2021 by five families who wanted to nix a new curriculum encouraging students to challenge values that perpetuate systemic racism. Despite the county’s goal to combat discrimination, the parents alleged the policy created a racially hostile educational environment and violated students’ free-speech rights.
“Instead, the policy defined students by their race, sought to ‘expose whiteness,’ and taught students that endorsing a concept like ‘colorblindness’ or taking the wrong position on school funding is racist and leads to lynching and genocide,” the lawsuit read.
A three-judge panel on the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled in February that the families had not shown that they were actually harmed by the anti-racism policy. Though the families alleged the school district taught that different racial groups have different experiences, they failed to show that students were treated differently because of their backgrounds, the panel said.
In other news:
- Sen. Warner calls Salt Typhoon ‘worst telecom hack in our nation’s history’ (The Washington Post)*
- 260-home project on Swift Creek Reservoir clears first zoning hurdle (Richmond BizSense)
In case you missed it:
- Virginia education department hands out $12 million in school security grants (Richmond Times-Dispatch)*
*This outlet utilizes a paywall.
