Cardinal News: Then & Now takes a look back at the stories we brought you over the last 12 months. Through the end of the year, we’re sharing updates on some of the people and issues that made news in 2025. This installment: short takes on several stories from the realm of politics.
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Virginia Tech research jobs spared despite USAID shutdown
Then: The Trump administration froze funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development in February, calling the agency’s humanitarian and development projects a waste and abuse of federal funds. The ensuing legal battle over the fate of USAID left some Virginia Tech workers hanging in the balance.
Now: USAID officially shut down on July 1.
Two Virginia Tech grants for USAID projects had already been terminated on Feb. 26, 2025: one to work with higher education institutions in India to foster infrastructure improvements and climate change resiliency, and a long-running project most recently based in Bangladesh to develop pest management methods for farmers.
Three other USAID projects at Tech were also terminated, though one was later reinstated under the U.S. Department of State. The funding for the four terminated programs was approximately $7 million, said university spokesman Mark Owczarski.
Nine contracted staff members in Bangladesh lost their jobs on the Feed the Future Innovation Lab grant when the project was terminated, he said. Those workers were not direct Virginia Tech employees, he said.
No Virginia Tech employees have lost their job due to USAID’s funding cuts, Owczarski said, but one Tech employee in Blacksburg was reassigned after the research project in India was terminated.
Across the university’s research endeavors, Virginia Tech has seen grants with value totaling $54.5 million canceled as of June, with those cuts affecting about 30 offices and departments.
— Lisa Rowan
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The Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke draws tens of thousands of rail fans each year. Courtesy of Virginia Museum of Transportation.
Study about converting transportation museum to state agency still in limbo
Then: Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2025 budget amendment proposal included a one-year delay of a study that would set the wheels in motion to shift ownership of the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke to a state agency. The study, which was included in the 2024-26 biennial budget, was initially due Nov. 1, 2024.
Now: A spokesperson for Youngkin said in late November that the outgoing governor’s office is “continuing to review the draft report,” when asked about its status. Peter Finocchio, Youngkin’s spokesperson, did not respond to additional clarifying questions. Youngkin’s term will end in January when Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger is sworn into office.
The offices of the secretary of education and the secretary of finance, which report to the governor, did not respond to a request for an update regarding the report, nor did staff at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
— Elizabeth Beyer
Appomattox closes 1 voting precinct, takes no action on second
Then: In March, the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors weighed a proposal to close at least one of the county’s smallest voting precincts. The Virginia chapter of the NAACP noted in a statement that the closure of either of the county’s smallest voting locations, Chap or Agee, would negatively affect Black voters, many of whom would be forced to travel up to an additional 30 minutes driving or four hours walking to cast their ballot.
The county electoral board decided to recommend the closure of the Agee precinct to the board of supervisors but recommended a pause on closing the Chap location.
Now: John Hinkle, chairman of the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors, said that no action was taken regarding the Chap voting precinct.
The Agee precinct was absent from the Appomattox County website under “voting precinct locations,” however, and it was absent from the Virginia Board of Elections results page for the November 2025 elections as well.
— Elizabeth Beyer
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Martinsville Uptown Ministries Pastor Faith Weedling, food bank co-director Lina Adams and associate pastor Steve Weedling fill up a box in their storeroom. Photo by Dean-Paul Stephens.
Martinsville-area food pantries continue to weather federal storms
Then: This spring, the Martinsville-area food pantries that rely on federal funding were preparing for federal funding cuts suggested by the Trump administration. Cuts to U.S. Department of Agriculture programs meant less food for regional distributors; during the funding freeze, organizations like Feeding Southwest Virginia held their own fundraisers to supplement diminished USDA aid.
Almost six months later, food banks faced another crisis as the federal government shut down Oct. 1. Agencies and food banks were once again faced with the prospect of not receiving federal aid.
Now: The six-week government shutdown capped off a year of uncertainty for local food banks that serve as intermediaries between the government and residents. Organizations like Feeding Southwest Virginia, which serves a wide swath of the state, and Martinsville’s Uptown Ministries said the shutdown echoed concerns they had at the top of the year, when newly elected President Donald Trump’s office experimented with pulling funding from local agencies.
Feeding Southwest Virginia’s Pamela Irvine explained that the beginning of year crisis and the one surrounding the government shutdown were different in nature. While the former caused a reduction in funding and resources for food banks, the latter had to do with increased reliance on food banks by residents due to the temporary elimination of SNAP benefits.
Irvine said a lot of the concerns were alleviated after the state decided to step up.
“I’ll tell you, Feeding Southwest Virginia was planning on how we were going to provide food to 177,000 people in our service area, just like foodbanks across the country,” she said.
One of those food banks is Uptown Ministries, a Martinsville-based organization that serves between 140 and 210 families per week.
“We had more people come during that month,” said Pastor Faith Weedling of Uptown Ministries.
Weedling said the number of families served rose to 661 people during the shutdown.
“This was an increase from the previous month of … 160 families,” Weedling said.
— Dean-Paul Stephens
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