Curated News from The Virginia Council 5/31/26

Legislative updates:

Spanberger vetoes mandatory bargaining bill, defying Virginia unions By C. Jarrett Dieterle

Kratom product sales to be regulated in Virginia • Virginia Mercury By Charlotte Rene Woods

Virginia eyes toll revenue for transit as express lane debate grows • Virginia Mercury By Nathaniel Cline

Virginia Gov. Sends Legalized Weed Dreams Up in Smoke By Joe Thomas

Virginia Government updates:

We Need Mass Deportations In Virginia Immediately By Samuel Kimzey

State police announce private firearm sale background checks have resumed - Cardinal News By Elizabeth Beyer

Virginia return to universal background checks for private gun sales challenged | Courthouse News Service By Joe Dodson

Some prosecutors in Virginia say they won't enforce new ban on assault weapons | Just The News By Kevin Killough

Virginia overpaid unemployed workers by more than $470 million, hasn’t gotten almost any of it back: audit | WRIC ABC 8News By Ryan Nadeau

Virginia Beach unveils its 5/31 Memorial on Sunday By John-Henry Doucette

Virginia State Police implementing speed cameras in highway work zones | WVTF By Craig Wright

SELC appeals to state supreme court over SCC approval of Dominion’s Chesterfield gas plant • Virginia Mercury By Shannon Heckt

‘Preventable disaster’: Toxic wastewater crisis in Chesterfield could cost taxpayers $173 million, senator says | WRIC ABC 8News By Clare Gehlich

Chesapeake City Council approves federal grant application for undersea cable plant By Natalia Nelson

Huge oyster project in Virginia signals marked shifts in strategy | Fisheries | bayjournal.com By Jeremy Cox

Article, News, & Quotes:

(1) Lies, Damned Lies, and VPAP: The Myth of Nonpartisan Institutions By Shaun Kenney

Virginia Bishop Urges Catholics to Reject Abortion Referendums By Douglas Blair

5 dead, including 2 kids, 44 hurt after bus hits multiple vehicles on I-95 in Virginia By Ida Domingo

Richmond physician: Griffith is right to demand greater transparency in little-known federal program - Cardinal News By Harry Gewanter

Residents wrangle over transmission line proposal for rural Virginia • Virginia Mercury By Charles Paullin

Private equity companies buy more apartment units, including in Virginia • Virginia Mercury By Robbie Sequeira

Navy projects Newport News Shipbuilding to be final assembler for Trump-class battleship By Sandra J. Pennecke

Virginia’s Old-Fashioned Cat Fight — Kerry: By Kerry Dougherty

Restoring Virginia’s lost longleaf pine trees, one seed at a time By Katherine Hafner

History, Tradition, & the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:

(6) Freedom 250 on X: "Twenty-four notes should be the stronghold of Memorial Day of our country. Every time we hear the 24 notes, it reminds us that the freedom we have today to be here, the freedom that we have to go home at night, the freedom we have to worship, the freedom we have to speak freely https://t.co/rzq67vTQBo" / X Taps was composed at Berkeley Plantation in Virginia during the Civil War in 1862.

Hundreds honor fallen at Memorial Day ceremony at National D-Day Memorial in Bedford By Rachel Branning

Coming to Theaters Soon: Revolutionary America | Trailer In Theaters Now! Experience the untold story of the American Revolution uncovered by Hillsdale Studios, in theaters May 31- June 2.

Thomas Jefferson and the American Mind Edward Short reviews Michael Auslin's book on the Declaration of Independence

Monticello | Pen to Paper: The Civic Gospel of the Declaration of… Celebrate 250 years of Jefferson’s Declaration at Pen to Paper, an afternoon of conversation, music, poetry, and theater, honoring our most shared piece of history.

The Men Who Wrote the Declaration of Independence | The Epoch Times By Rob Natelson

Battle for Independence Park | National Review By Jeffrey H. Anderson

(7) @amuse on X: "MEMORIAL: Opposition to the Arlington Memorial Bridge Triumphal Arch is pure TDS. The plan, approved by Congress 100 years ago, has simply been updated by including an arch connecting the columns and replacing the genies with Lady Liberty and two eagles. Our nation and our heroes https://t.co/1lxb6P57no" / X

Museums | Fredericksburg, VA | Washington Heritage Museums

2026 LIST OF VIRGINIA’S MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES ANNOUNCED - Preservation Virginia

What Historians Make of America’s 250th Anniversary By Edward Short

The Constitution, Bill of Rights, & Liberty:

Ressa at Dartmouth : Anti-Free Speech Figure Calls the State of Free Speech in the U.S. “Horrific” – JONATHAN TURLEY

Virginia’s redistricting failure – a symptom of a larger problem? By Philip Shucet

Road To Liberty: The Articles of Confederation | PragerU

States could purge voter rolls close to elections if Supreme Court takes Trump's side in Arizona case • Virginia Mercury By Jonathan Shorman

VIRGINIA: Democrats Show They Don’t Really Believe in a Constitutional Republic | Restoration News By Jacob Grandstaff