No Rulings Yet In Lawsuits Over Youngkin's Mask Order, More Virginia Headlines

Staff Report, Virginia Mercury

February 3, 2022

• An Arlington judge says she plans to issue a ruling soon on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order overturning mask mandates. Cases on the issue are also pending in Loudoun County and the Supreme Court of Virginia. “I haven’t decided,” the judge said.—Washington Post

• The 27-year-old former student accused of a double shooting at Bridgewater College was arraigned on murder charges. In an interview, the man’s mom said, “My son is mentally ill and he did something that I could not control and no one could come to help him. I’m sorry for what has happened. I could not prevent it.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

• “An education subcommittee in the House of Delegates approved a bill Tuesday night that would remove protections for transgender students.”—Virginian-Pilot

• An archeologist working on a new interpretive tour of the Executive Mansion says she’s no longer sure she has a job after Youngkin’s administration emptied her office. The work was aimed at incorporating the experience of enslaved workers at the mansion.—VPM

• The Virginia Senate punted on a proposal to repeal the grocery tax amid concerns about how to replace lost school funding.—Richmond Times-Dispatch

• Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, said a casino developer pushed for a re-do of a referendum in Richmond after officials in Petersburg declined to offer assurances the company would be the city’s “preferred vendor” were it to get state approval for a new gambling license.—WRIC

• Officials in Bristol, Tenn., say they’ve had no luck getting a response from neighboring Bristol, Va., to a Freedom of Information Act request about landfill odors. “In the meantime, we know that we have residents that are suffering physically. … We know that there are people who can’t sleep, we know there are people that are throwing up, we know that there are people with nosebleeds.”—Bristol Herald Courier

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