State Leaders Weigh in on Trump Changes

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to change the size and scope of the federal government. However, political leaders in the Commonwealth aren’t expressing much concern.  

Trump’s election “may result in some job losses in federal government,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said, but he sees that as an opportunity because there are some 300,000 jobs available in the state.

Last year, Trump said that as many as 100,000 federal employees could be immediately moved out of the D.C. area, including Northern Virginia.

However, recently reelected Sen. Tim Kaine said that Trump alone can’t fire federal employees. “Congress has got the power of the purse,” the Democrat added.

Democratic House Speaker Don Scott doesn’t expect to interact with Trump. “All politics are local, and I think we’ve begun to see that here in Virginia,” he said.

Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, who has announced he is running for reelection next year, told Fox News that he looks for “a lot more common sense to come out of Washington.” He expects to see a reduction in regulations such as Title IX implementation and vaccine mandates.

Ranked Choice Voting Gains Steam

Some localities in the Commonwealth have implemented a ranked-choice voting system for city- and county-level elections.

Instead of voting for just one candidate, voters are expected to rank their choices as first choice, second choice, third choice, and so forth.

If no candidate gets half the vote on the first ballot, the worst-performing candidate is eliminated, and the second-choice candidates are counted. 

The system was used for county elections in Arlington this year, and it will be used for the 2025 local primaries in Charlottesville.

Under a traditional system, “Richmond, Roanoke, Winchester, and Virginia Beach all elected mayors this year in wide-field races with a winner who earned less than half the votes,” Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones wrote. 

However, some voters are confused by ranked-choice. Some may put their favored candidate’s name down on all three lines, meaning their vote will not count in later rounds once that person is eliminated.

Go Skating in Virginia

It has been a warm and dry fall, but plenty of frozen water is available for you to go out and ice skate on!

Alexandria, Arlington, and Reston have outdoor rinks in Northern Virginia, while indoor facilities are in Ballston, Fairfax, and Ashburn. You can even skate on the same ice the Washington Capitals practice on.

Central Virginia has ice sheets in Richmond, Charlottesville, Powhatan, and a mammoth 22,000 square-foot rink at Kings Dominion in Doswell.

Elsewhere, the Liberty Ice Pavilion in Colonial Williamsburg opens Friday, while the Winter Bliss Ice-Skating Rink in Pembroke opens Saturday and includes glow-in-the-dark skating.

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➤ Cumberland County: The 1,117-acre Cobbs Creek reservoir is now being operated by Henrico County. It cost more than $300 million, is 45 miles outside Henrico’s border, and is the largest municipal reservoir in Virginia. (Details)

➤ Sterling: Customs and Border Protection officers at Dulles airport seized $900,000 worth of cocaine that smugglers had hidden amid packages of hot chocolate. (More) 

➤ Fredericksburg: Spotsylvania County’s School Board voted to allow a Massachusetts-based company to install a high-tech weapon detection apparatus in schools. The system will cost $1.2 million and uses AI to detect potential weapons. (Details)

➤ Arlington: The county board passed an adaptive reuse policy to allow empty office buildings to be turned into multi-use spaces such as residences. (Details)

➤ King and Queen County: The Rappahannock Tribe signed a Tribal Historic Preservation agreement with the National Park Service to move “certain historic preservation responsibilities that would otherwise be the responsibility of the state in which the tribe is located” to the tribal nation. (Details)  

➤ Statewide: Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order to launch the Workforce Housing Investment Program to cut red tape to help Virginians afford homes. (More)

➤ A U.S. Senate committee will consider a measure today that would give D.C. a 99-year lease on the site of Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, which might allow a new facility for the Commanders to be built there. (More)

➤ William & Mary sophomore Carson Jenkins was Special Teams Player of the Week in the CAA after returning two Bryant punts for 109 yards, including a 90-yarder for a TD. The Tribe visits Richmond this weekend. (Details) 

➤ The Washington Nationals have unveiled their 20th-anniversary logo, expected to be worn as a patch on the sleeves of the team’s jerseys throughout the 2025 MLB season. (More)

➤ Yesterday’s Results: NFL | NBA | NHL | NCAAM | NCAAW

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➤ Gas prices edged up more than 2 cents per gallon in Virginia last week to an average of $2.99, according to GasBuddy, a site that tracks more than 4,000 stations in the Commonwealth. (Details) 

➤ Appalachian Power plans to build a small modular nuclear reactor alongside the James River in Campbell County. The company will host a public discussion in Lynchburg on Dec. 5. (Details)

➤ Virginia-based Smithfield Foods will pay $2 million to authorities in Minnesota to resolve allegations that it paid at least 11 children to work at its plant in St. James. (More)

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➤ The sounds of Christmas were especially poignant in Midlothian this month when hundreds of carolers turned out to sing for a woman who is dying from ALS. (More) 

➤ The Model Railroad Show will return to the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond on Thanksgiving weekend. (Details) 

➤ Virginia Tech plans to expand its presence in Northern Virginia. In January, the Blacksburg-based university will open the first building on its “Innovation Campus” in Alexandria. (More)

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Do you plan to go ice skating this winter?

1. Yes
2. No
3. I can’t afford the insurance premium!

Monday’s Results:

Did you go apple picking this year? 

1. Yes: 38.1%
2. No: 61.9%

How many nuclear plants operate in Virginia?

Show me the answer