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Vote keeps 2 LGBTQ books in Northern Virginia district’s elementary schools

ASHBURN, Va. — Officials in a Northern Virginia school district are pushing back against a campaign by conservative parents to withdraw books with LGBTQ characters from elementary schools.

The Washington Post reports that a subcommittee of the Loudoun school board voted Wednesday to prevent the removal of two books. They are “Prince & Knight” and “Heather Has Two Mommies.”

The subcommittee’s decision will stand for at least a year.

The vote follows the removal of at least five other books after conservative parents launched an effort against LGBTQ literature in elementary schools.

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies.  With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track.  As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates.  The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH. 
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