After Richmond voters rejected an actual casino, the city’s casino-esque Rosie’s location got bigger. The Richmond Rosie’s was originally limited to 700 slots-like gambling machines under a state-imposed cap. Today, the location has nearly 1,200 machines, an expansion state regulators allowed with virtually no public process. … According to state documents, the Virginia Racing Commission approved the 500 additional historical horse racing machines — which strongly resemble traditional slots but are powered by a digital archive of past horse races — without putting the topic on a meeting agenda for a public discussion and vote. Instead, the records from early 2024 show, a former Commission staffer authorized the Richmond expansion via email a little more than 24 hours after the Colonial Downs Group and its parent company, Churchill Downs, asked for it. … The Richmonder obtained the Racing Commission documents through a Freedom of Information Act request that sought the letter from the General Assembly members, any response to it and any records documenting the approval for the Richmond Rosie’s expansion. The Commission refused to comment on the records it released, declining to answer follow-up questions about how the Richmond expansion was approved and whether the Commission ever asked the city to weigh in.

Gordonsville’s mayor has apologized for using Facebook as his primary means of communication to the public, but he still hasn’t apologized for using the social media platform to spread misinformation in recent weeks. Ron Brooks III has spent weeks posting on Facebook, specifically about the Rapidan Service Authority and the town’s water and sewer infrastructure that it supports. But documents provided to The Daily Progress directly contradict Brooks’ published statements that the authority was unwilling to negotiate a sewer contract, fix a leak and respond to the town’s concerns over its struggling infrastructure. … “I want to take a moment to apologize for engaging in back-and-forth exchanges on Facebook over the past several days,” Brooks posted, once again to Facebook, on Feb. 13. “While these issues are important, social media is not the best place to have productive or constructive dialogue.” Brooks said he had gotten caught up in the moment. What he didn’t say was that the information he was sharing in the moment was factually inaccurate.

Winchester City Council has decided to investigate the circumstances that led to a member of the Winchester Planning Commission receiving threats last week after she opposed a proposal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the commission’s business meetings. The announcement of council’s intent, however, made an already convoluted situation even murkier. The situation began with Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of the Planning Commission. During the second half of the two-hour meeting, commissioners were tasked with reviewing a series of bylaw changes that had been proposed by the panel’s chairman, Beau Correll. While most of the changes were administrative in nature, Correll also proposed having the commissioners recite the Pledge of Allegiance at their monthly business meetings. Commissioner Leesa Mayfield made a motion opposing the pledge’s inclusion on business meeting agendas, stating that the Planning Commission had never previously recited the pledge and that it seemed unnecessary to start doing so. … The following day, a one-minute video clip from the commission meeting was posted on social media by a conservative Mississippi-based media outlet called Off the Press. The clip, which was culled from the city’s full-length, publicly accessible video of the meeting at winchesterva.civicweb.net, accurately showed how the Pledge of Allegiance proposal was handled by commission members but was presented in a manner that made it appear that the panel had been reciting the Pledge of Allegiance all along and suddenly decided to stop doing so.

Arlington Public Schools is warning families to beware of fraudulent emails that use the school system’s branding to collect people’s personal information. The emails ask recipients to click a link and provide usernames, passwords and other information, APS said in a message to families yesterday (Thursday). They are not real APS communications, but they use the APS logo and may appear to come from the school system. “APS will never ask families to share passwords or sensitive account information through email,” the school system wrote.

Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett and Town Manger Kwasi Fraser will be tried as co-defendants on charges of bid rigging and conspiracy, a Loudoun County Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday afternoon. The four-day trial is set begin Dec. 7. Nett and Fraser were arrested in July on the charges, following indictment from a special grand jury. Nett faces an additional four charges of misusing a law enforcement database. The charges against Nett and Fraser stem from the hiring of consultant Mike Jones to conduct an independent assessment of the police department. Court filings allege that Nett and Fraser conspired to hire Jones for the purpose of benefiting Nett’s career with the department. … Fraser’s attorney John Boneta said trying both men together would be prejudicial against Fraser because of ongoing press coverage and issues involving Nett that do not include Fraser. Those include Nett’s additional felony charges, a voter recall effort against him, an internal affairs investigation during his time at the police department, and his ultimate firing from the department.