Latest news with #GlennYoungkin
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Youngkin signs Virginia law limiting 'bell-to-bell' cellphone use in public schools
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill into law Friday limiting cellphone use for all Virginia public elementary, middle and high school students. Youngkin, who built his political career championing parents' rights in education, ceremoniously signed two versions of the bill, HB1961 and SB738, at the Carter G. Woodson Middle School in Hopewell, Virginia. Youngkin said it was a fitting location for a day filled with such "hope." "When we come together — elected officials, administrators, teachers, parents and all of you — we can move mountains, and we can change something that needs to be changed, and that is to find freedom, freedom from cellphones," said Youngkin, who was flanked by his wife, Virginia first lady Suzanne S. Youngkin; public school students; education advocates; and local politicians. "We come together in order to move a mountain," Youngkin said, as he highlighted the negative effect of cellphones in schools on mental illness, conduct in class, academic performance and interpersonal relationships. Teens Spend More Than A Quarter Of Their Time At School On Phones, New Study Finds The bill strictly limits the use of phones in classrooms to reduce distractions and disruptions, codifying Youngkin's executive order signed last year "to protect the health and safety of students in Virginia's K-12 public schools by issuing guidance on the establishment of cellphone-free education policies and procedures." Read On The Fox News App Dc Council Proposes Bill To Ban Cellphones In District's Public Schools "We are building on the foundation laid by Executive Order 33 to make Virginia the national leader in restoring focus, academic excellence in the classroom and restoring health and safety in our schools. This legislation ensures that every school division adopts a full bell-to-bell policy and removes cellphones from classrooms, creating a distraction-free learning environment," Youngkin said as he signed the bill into law. Research indicates using cellphones in the classroom can have a negative effect on students' grades, social skills, emotional development and mental health. In a 2024 Pew Research Center study, more than 70% of high school teachers said cellphones distracting students in the classroom is a major problem. "This wasn't just an issue. It's a crisis. And when we have a crisis, we have a unified call for action, and that's what this gathering is all about, this unified call for action," Youngkin said Friday. Hopewell City Public Schools adopted a "pouch system" in its secondary schools at the start of the 2022-2023 school year, which has been used as a case study and potential model for the Virginia Department of Education's cellphone-free education rollout. "I want to add my appreciation for Hopewell's leadership because it was your leadership that inspired the executive order that I wrote last summer," Youngkin said. The statewide legislation requires school boards to develop and public schools to enact policies to restrict student cellphone use during the school day. The law includes exceptions for students with individualized education plans, Section 504 plans or health conditions, so cellphones can be used when medically necessary. The law also prohibits schools from suspending, expelling or removing students from class for violating cellphone policies. Florida became the first state to pass a law regulating cellphone use in schools in 2023. More than half of all states now have similar laws in article source: Youngkin signs Virginia law limiting 'bell-to-bell' cellphone use in public schools
Fox News
a day ago
- Health
- Fox News
Youngkin signs Virginia law limiting 'bell-to-bell' cellphone use in public schools
Print Close By Deirdre Heavey Published May 30, 2025 Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill into law Friday limiting cellphone use for all Virginia public elementary, middle and high school students. Youngkin, who built his political career championing parents' rights in education, ceremoniously signed two versions of the bill, HB1961 and SB738, at the Carter G. Woodson Middle School in Hopewell, Virginia. Youngkin said it was a fitting location for a day filled with such "hope." "When we come together — elected officials, administrators, teachers, parents and all of you — we can move mountains, and we can change something that needs to be changed, and that is to find freedom, freedom from cellphones," said Youngkin, who was flanked by his wife, Virginia first lady Suzanne S. Youngkin; public school students; education advocates; and local politicians. "We come together in order to move a mountain," Youngkin said, as he highlighted the negative effect of cellphones in schools on mental illness, conduct in class, academic performance and interpersonal relationships. TEENS SPEND MORE THAN A QUARTER OF THEIR TIME AT SCHOOL ON PHONES, NEW STUDY FINDS The bill strictly limits the use of phones in classrooms to reduce distractions and disruptions, codifying Youngkin's executive order signed last year "to protect the health and safety of students in Virginia's K-12 public schools by issuing guidance on the establishment of cellphone-free education policies and procedures." DC COUNCIL PROPOSES BILL TO BAN CELLPHONES IN DISTRICT'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS "We are building on the foundation laid by Executive Order 33 to make Virginia the national leader in restoring focus, academic excellence in the classroom and restoring health and safety in our schools. This legislation ensures that every school division adopts a full bell-to-bell policy and removes cellphones from classrooms, creating a distraction-free learning environment," Youngkin said as he signed the bill into law. Research indicates using cellphones in the classroom can have a negative effect on students' grades, social skills, emotional development and mental health. In a 2024 Pew Research Center study, more than 70% of high school teachers said cellphones distracting students in the classroom is a major problem. "This wasn't just an issue. It's a crisis. And when we have a crisis, we have a unified call for action, and that's what this gathering is all about, this unified call for action," Youngkin said Friday. Hopewell City Public Schools adopted a "pouch system" in its secondary schools at the start of the 2022-2023 school year, which has been used as a case study and potential model for the Virginia Department of Education's cellphone-free education rollout. "I want to add my appreciation for Hopewell's leadership because it was your leadership that inspired the executive order that I wrote last summer," Youngkin said. The statewide legislation requires school boards to develop and public schools to enact policies to restrict student cellphone use during the school day. The law includes exceptions for students with individualized education plans, Section 504 plans or health conditions, so cellphones can be used when medically necessary. The law also prohibits schools from suspending, expelling or removing students from class for violating cellphone policies. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Florida became the first state to pass a law regulating cellphone use in schools in 2023. More than half of all states now have similar laws in place. Print Close URL
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Love for VB: Community invited to ceremony honoring lives lost in May 31, 2019 mass shooting
Above is WAVY coverage from 2019 remembering the victims of the Virginia Beach mass shooting. VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The City of Virginia Beach is inviting the community to show ' in remembrance of the lives lost in a mass shooting at the Municipal Center Complex on May 31, 2019. The city is hosting a six-year remembrance ceremony on Saturday, May 31, 2025 in honor of those killed and the survivors still healing from the unthinkable tragedy. The gathering will begin at 4 p.m. at the Mary C. Russo Volunteer Recognition Gazebo behind City Hall. The address is 2401 Courthouse Drive. Saturday's ceremony is open to the public and will take place rain or shine, the city said. The community is invited to wear blue, the color of remembrance, on Saturday and to participate in a moment of silence at 4:06 p.m., which is the time the first 911 call was received. 12 people were killed and four others were seriously injured in the Municipal Center Complex on May 31, 2019. A 5/31 memorial is currently under construction. It is being built at the corner of Princess Anne Road and Nimmo Parkway and is expected to be finished next year. Complete Coverage: Virginia Beach Mass Shooting For more information, visit . On May 30, 2025, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin ordered that all U.S. and Commonwealth of Virginia flags be flown at half-staff on all state and local buildings in memory of the victims of May 31 shooting. I hereby order that the flags shall be lowered at sunrise on Saturday, May 31, 2025, and remain at half-staff until sunset. Gov. Glenn Youngkin Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
GOP nominee for Virginia governor tries to distance herself from anti-abortion past
The Republican nominee for governor of Virginia has recently tried to distance herself from her long-standing, hardline anti-abortion record, declining recently to state whether she would support any restrictions on abortion access if she is elected to lead the state this fall. But her record reveals a candidate staunchly opposed to the procedure. Winsome Earle-Sears, now the state's lieutenant governor, supported a 15-week abortion ban and has previously said she wants to make abortion illegal in almost all cases. In audio obtained by the Guardian, Earle-Sears also suggested an equivalence between consenting to sex and consenting to pregnancy. Virginia is the only state in the US south without a strict abortion ban, and abortion is legal in the state through the end of the second trimester of pregnancy. The state's current Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, previously failed to build support for a 15-week abortion ban, a framework Earle-Sears endorsed. While campaigning for lieutenant governor in January 2021, before Roe v Wade was overturned and support for abortion rights rose among the US public, Earle-Sears told a reporter that she considered abortion to be 'genocide' and that she wanted to make abortion illegal in all cases unless the mother's life was at risk. But she has recently struck a different tone. In a local news interview last week, a reporter with WRIC 8News asked Earle-Sears about her past support for limiting abortion access. She replied: 'I never said limiting access.' Sears, who is Black, then referenced abortion rates among Black women and asked: 'Who doesn't want us to have babies?' When asked if she would sign a law banning abortion at 15 weeks or less, Earle-Sears said: 'We're not limiting access at all. That's not what we're saying. As a matter of fact, what we really need to do is get together and try to figure out, where is the limit?' Virginians broadly support abortion rights, with 71% saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases per a 2023 Public Religion Research Institute survey. The interview comes as some GOP strategists told Politico that Earle-Sears is struggling to make traction, citing slow fundraising and controversial comments connecting slavery to diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Her campaign wrote in a fundraising email: 'Slaves did not die in the fields so that we could call ourselves victims now in 2025.' Polling shows Earle-Sears trailing the Democratic nominee, former representative Abigail Spanberger, by nearly seven points according to polling averages. Virginia gubernatorial races often swing in the opposite direction of the presidency. Earle-Sears may be attempting to strike a softer tone on abortion in advance of the November election, but she has made hardline anti-abortion statements for years. In a little-noticed radio interview from June 2022, Earle-Sears suggested to then conservative radio host John Reid, now the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, that women consenting to sex are consenting to pregnancy. 'We need to make our choices before we're pregnant, not, you know, after,' she said, just days after the supreme court overturned Roe. 'You already made a choice.' That comment was of a piece with other past statements. In September 2021, Earle-Sears said on Newsmax that she supported a six-week abortion ban like the one that had just taken effect in Texas. Her campaign website's 'issues' page previously included an anti-abortion section where she referred to 'late-term abortion' as murder. (Abortion opponents use that term to refer to abortions later in pregnancy; in obstetrics, 'late term' refers to a pregnancy after 40 weeks.) She scrubbed the site of that section in 2021. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Most recently, Earle-Sears, who is required as the state's senate president to add her signature to bills that pass the legislature, added a note to a constitutional amendment to codify abortion rights that the legislature passed in May. The Virginia Mercury reported that she wrote above her signature: 'I am morally opposed to this bill; no protection for the child.' The amendment must pass the legislature again next year before it can go to voters. The Earle-Sears campaign declined to comment on the record on her recent interview as well as the 2022 interview. Reid, the lieutenant governor nominee, has been mired in his own scandal for allegedly maintaining a social media account featuring photos of nude men. Governor Youngkin asked him to drop out of the race, but Reid, Virginia's first openly gay candidate for statewide office, has denied connection to the photos and claimed that attempts to push him constitute discrimination against his sexual orientation. Following news of the photos, Earle-Sears cancelled events with Reid. News also broke that, last year, she wrote a note on a marriage equality bill saying that she was 'morally opposed' to same-sex marriage. Politico described the relationship between the two nominees at the Republican ticket as 'frosty'.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Kyndryl Chosen by Virginia DMV for Major Cloud IT Overhaul
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Kyndryl Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:KD) announced on May 28 that they will be collaborating to update their IT systems, with the goal of enhancing customer service for processing over 200,000 transactions a day. Through this collaboration, a cloud-native architecture called MAX will replace the Virginia DMV's Citizen Services Solution (CSS). Crucial apps will be updated and moved from an antiquated mainframe to a flexible cloud architecture housed on Microsoft Azure as part of this transition. Speaking on this partnership, Virginia Secretary of Transportation W. Sheppard Miller III stated the following: "With Governor Glenn Youngkin's commitment to a best-in-class DMV, we now have a winning plan and a winning partner in Kyndryl, and the citizens of Virginia will be the real winners." Kyndryl U.S. President James Rutledge also emphasized that the renovation is in accordance with Virginia's mission to provide efficient, technologically advanced, cost-effective, and results-driven services. With operations in more than 60 countries, Kyndryl Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:KD) is known for its consultation, implementation, and managed service skills. Its areas of expertise include the design, construction, management, and modernization of sophisticated information systems. While we acknowledge the potential of KD to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than KD and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. Read Next: and Disclosure: None. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
