Data centers — proposed beside town centers, on generational farmlands, in view of cemeteries and next to Civil War battlegrounds across Virginia — are testing local governments’ ability to regulate industrial land use. Concurrently, the digital facilities are tripling energy demands in Dominion Energy’s portion of the grid, resulting in the transformation of large swaths of land not only for the construction of data centers, but also for the massive infrastructure overhaul that is required to supply them with enough power and water to operate. … The town of Culpeper also has its own Civil War history that local residents have fought to protect, representing a “very personal issue” to those who question “putting big, noisy warehouse buildings so closeby” to a national cemetery, said Andrew Dowdy, a member of the Coalition to Save Culpeper. Those concerns have been largely ignored by town officials, said Dowdy, who has resorted to submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to find more details about the developments. Dowdy said emails between town planners uncovered private coordination with data center developers outside of usual public forums. The chairman of the town planning commission even questioned this “unprecedented access” in an email obtained by FOIA requests. Research by University of Mary Washington professor Eric Bonds and his students found evidence that non-disclosure agreements are commonly signed between localities in Virginia and data center developers, allowing projects to move forward with little to no public participation.

Blackstone Councilman Chris Page at presstime was giving the Town until 5:00 p.m. Tuesday to settle litigation he filed Friday afternoon in General District Court. Page claims the Town and Downtown Blackstone, Inc. have “knowingly and willfully” violated Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The Councilman’s 59-page filing against the Town, Councilman Jake Allman, and DBI Executive Director Sallie Manson Glenn seeks a Writ of Mandamus ordering those respondents to provide a “complete and unredacted copy” of DBI’s 2025-26 budget. Because DBI receives most of its funding from the Town, Page insists that DBI is a public body that must comply with state public notification and FOIA laws. … Page said he filed a FOIA request for DBI’s budget and received, instead, several days of what he describes as a “calculated pattern of creating ‘word salad’ and feigning confusion over simple, reasonably specific requests. Those tactics were used to justify ‘resetting’ FOIA’s five-day statutory clock — a practice I am asking the Court to permanently enjoin as a bad-faith obstruction of public access.”

After four days of witness testimony, a civil trial to determine whether Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett should be removed from office is continuing into the fifth day in Loudoun County Circuit Court on April 24. Three more witnesses are expected to take the stand on Friday morning before the attorneys give their closing arguments. The case is expected to be in the hands of the seven-member jury Friday afternoon. Throughout the week, special prosecutor and Stafford County Commonwealth Attorney Eric Olsen presented more than 50 exhibits of evidence and witness testimony, outlining the past year of Nett’s service on town council and how he has allegedly violated the town’s policies and procedures. … Nett took the stand on April 23, describing his professional experience including a nearly two-decade career working for the United States Secret Service and as a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency. When his family moved to Purcellville in the summer of 2021, he said he realized that he wanted a position where he could spend more time with his family and work closer to home. … He described how the situation has destroyed his family and his career. Ultimately, he said, he feels he is a victim of local politics.

Three days into a trial to determine whether Purcellville Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett should be removed from office, state legislators adopted legislation that immediately suspends him from office, pending resolution of the criminal and civil cases against him. … The bills establish that members of governing bodies who have been employed by the locality would be deemed to have a personal interest related to their employment for two years following the termination of such employment.

The city of Richmond spent $25,500 in 1994 to acquire a small tract of land along Strath Road in Henrico County with the intention of building a gas transmission facility. That project was scrapped a few years later, and city officials were left with a Varina parcel for which they had no clear use. Now, that parcel is at the heart of a controversy over how the city should dispose of property it no longer needs. In 2024, Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Henrico, offered to buy the land for $6,500. Officials in Mayor Danny Avula’s administration attempted to authorize the sale in 2025 — without separately declaring the land to be surplus, as required by city code. In response to questions, officials insisted their process was legal despite the fact that it does not align with city code’s language. But emails obtained by The Times-Dispatch show officials dragging their feet on a much larger offer for the same parcel, citing a need to review and overhaul the same protocol they previously defended.

A former candidate for Roanoke City Council pleaded no contest Wednesday to election fraud, resolving a case of suspicious signatures on voter petitions. … In the spring of 2024, Jackson was one of four candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for three council seats in the November election. To get their names placed on the ballot for a June 18 primary, candidates were required to obtain the signatures of at least 125 qualified voters and submit them to election officials. … After Jackson, 42, filed his petitions, then-voter Registrar Andrew Cochran received a tip about irregularities with some of the signatures, Commonwealth’s Attorney John McNeil said in a summary of the evidence. Cochran found that some of the signatures appeared to be in the same handwriting from the same ink pen. In a letter referring the matter to law enforcement, Cochran wrote that there were “serious allegations about the integrity of some of the signatures on Mr. Jackson’s petitions.” Jackson denied having anything to do with the suspicious signatures, telling a Virginia State Police investigator that the petitions were circulated by members of his church. Jackson is pastor of ReFreshing Church in northwest Roanoke. However, he admitted that he signed four of the petitions — which attested that he had witnessed each person sign the document.

Two Norfolk city employees are facing embezzlement charges in separate cases involving the alleged misuse of taxpayer money and city resources. Vontina Laws, 59, a Microcomputer Systems Analyst for the City of Norfolk’s IT Department, is accused of ordering 59 cell phones using $12,500 in taxpayer funds, according to court records. It states the phones were intended for Norfolk police officers but were never delivered to the department. Court records show the investigation began after the city noticed a higher-than-normal cell phone bill. Authorities said the phones were turned on by unknown individuals.