Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Friday unveiled a package of legislative proposals to rein in the data center industry in Virginia, with goals to tighten environmental regulations, increase cost allocation for the industry, and make the proposal process more transparent by barring non-disclosure agreements between localities and data center developers. … Perhaps the most concrete of the directives is a measure to ban nondisclosure agreements between data centers and executive branch agencies, departments, state boards and commissions. It also bars these agencies from requiring such agreements for data center projects. The order does not impact the use of nondisclosure agreements by localities, but the governor said she plans to work with the General Assembly to pass a law banning the agreements at the local level.

The search committee tasked with finding Virginia Tech’s next president will conduct interviews for the position sometime in the next 15 days, committee chair Nancy Dye announced Friday. When and where those interviews will occur and who might participate in them was not disclosed during the committee’s minute-long virtual meeting Friday. Though most meetings where public university board members are in attendance must be open to the public, state law allows broad exemptions when it comes to conducting interviews for the university’s top position. The only requirement for these closed meetings is for the board to publicly announce them and then hold them within 15 days.

The Loudoun County School Board during its retreat Tuesday debated whether to limit the public comment periods at bimonthly meetings but opted to keep the rules unchanged. Board Chair April Chandler (Algonkian) said she is in favor of restricting public comments to only items on meeting’s board agenda. Vice Chair Anne Donohue (At Large) said she was concerned that topics the board is unaware of would not be able to be brought up if that change was made and said she would rather have one night per month devoted to public comment, rather than having public comment at every regular board meeting. Jon Pepper (Dulles) said he had similar concerns about limiting comments to agenda items but said he would be in favor of considering discontinuing virtual public comment because of the time it takes to set it up. He also said he would like to see cameras for the recorded broadcast turned back on to show the speakers during the comment period. … After the discussion, Chandler said she did not think the board had established enough agreement to make any change at this time.

A member of the Goochland County Board of Supervisors did not commit an ethics violation in connection to a shooting range that sought a permit from the county, the board said in a statement late Thursday. Tom Winfree, a member of the board, is also president of the Virginia Sports Park and Training Center at Goochland, which applied for a permit to build a shooting range in the county’s northwest corner. The board also cleared from any wrongdoing Jess McLaughlin, a former member of the Goochland planning commission, and Tom Cocke, the county’s director of parks and recreation. The county brought on an independent body to review the allegations and found “no evidence of an ethics violation or of a conflict of interest,” the board said.

The mayor of Haysi was arrested after being indicted this week on eight credit card fraud and embezzlement charges, according to the Virginia State Police. Larry D. Yates, 72, faces felony charges of embezzlement, use of public assets for personal benefit, credit card fraud, receiving goods obtained through credit card fraud and two counts of credit card theft, according to a statement from the Virginia State Police. He was also indicted on two misdemeanor charges of credit card fraud and receiving goods obtained through credit card fraud, both under $1,000, according to online records. … Matthew Demlein, a state police spokesperson, said that the investigation is ongoing and that he could not comment on whether the charges are connected to town business. Virginia code states that any investigation of an elected official must go through the governor, attorney general or a grand jury.

Illinois Senate Republicans are calling on Attorney General Kwame Raoul to investigate concerns that the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) may be systematically misused in some cases to generate litigation and settlement demands for financial gain. In a letter signed by the Senate Republican Caucus, lawmakers emphasized that their concerns are not directed at legitimate public records requests or the public’s right to access government information. Instead, they are asking the Attorney General to determine whether an alleged pattern of FOIA requests, litigation, and settlement demands constitutes misuse of the law and whether any of the conduct could rise to the level of fraudulent activity.

The Trump administration’s confidential deals with pharmaceutical companies to lower U.S. drug prices include inducements to raise drug prices overseas and promise protection from President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to documents shared with The Washington Post. The documents, obtained through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, detail negotiations between the administration and the pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Eli Lilly. Both companies agreed to voluntarily cut some U.S. prices last year after negotiating with Department of Health and Human Services officials, and Trump celebrated the deals at the White House.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico said Monday they’ve notified President Donald Trump’s administration that they’re filing a lawsuit over being denied White House access. Reporters from the three major news organizations were blocked from the White House on Saturday, a day after Trump said he was barring them because of reporting he found to be “fake news.” … “Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the outlets said in a joint statement posted on X. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”