With Arizona becoming a battleground state in recent elections, Sinema’s decision might have been a smart play to appeal to both sides of the aisle, said J. Miles Coleman with Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “This could be something that, looking to 2024, ends up kind of brandishing her credentials to some of those swing voters and even potentially some voters who may be normally conservative,” Coleman said.  

“Biden, on the polling average, is at 42-43%, with a solid majority. About 53% disapproval. There is no way Democrats are going to hold onto Congress if those numbers hold,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.  

The Baton Rouge Police Department and other city officials took an embarrassing loss last Friday when a federal judge stopped their efforts to jail a UVA law professor who shared video of police misconduct, ruling that it was a bad-faith attempt to harass and retaliate.  

Dr. Peter Kasson, a professor at the University of Virginia, said, “The omicron variant is interesting in that it appears to swap preferences for entry pathway compared to delta and prior variants. As a result, it is less efficient at infecting lung cells but more efficient at infecting many upper respiratory tract cells. This correlates with the pattern of disease observed in omicron — while lower lung pathology is observed, upper airway disease is often more common.”  

While new coronavirus cases have continued to increase this week in Virginia, the rate of growth has started to plunge. “There’s hope, as a region, that we’re nearing the apex of this wave,” said University of Virginia professor Costi Sifri, who serves as UVA’s director of hospital epidemiology. … At the UVA Medical Center’s intensive care unit, there are no indications as yet that the pressures from omicron are starting to slow, said medical director Kyle Enfield. “Even when new hospitalizations do start to go down, people who are critically ill … are going to be here for many, m...

(By Sebastian Tello-Trillo, assistant professor of public policy and economics at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy) Immigration policy and health policy are often seen as completely separate, with one rarely coming up when we talk about the other. But we have numerous studies showing how the threat of deportation or job loss from immigration enforcement can negatively impact people’s physical and mental health, including their likelihood of accessing coverage and COVID-19 vaccination. What we haven’t had — until now — is research on the consequences for babies bor...

(Commentary By Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman, UVA Center for Politics) The last two times the Republicans flipped the House from blue to red — 1994 and 2010 — they did so on the power of huge numerical gains. Republicans won 54 more seats in the ’94 wave than they had won in the previous election and then 64 more in 2010’s wave. These were the two largest net gains for either party in any House election cycles since the late 1940s. With a favorable political environment and encouraging results in last November’s New Jersey and Virginia elections, Republicans are dreaming of rep...

Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong will return for his senior season, he announced in a video on social media Thursday. Armstrong led the Cavaliers to a 6-6 season but threw for 4,444 yards in 11 games. His 404.5 yards per contest ranked No. 2 nationally. The decision is a major boost for new head coach Tony Elliott, who came to Charlottesville after three seasons as Clemson’s offensive coordinator.  

John Rudzinski is UVA’s new defensive coordinator, the school announced on Thursday. Rudzinski spent 14 seasons working at Air Force, which included the last four as the Falcons’ DC.  

(Commentary) A University of Virginia study sought to quantify the correlation between individualism and adherence to COVID-19-restrictions in the U.S., finding that in counties with greater individualism, as measured by time spent on the American frontier, statewide lockdown compliance was reduced by 41% and pandemic fundraising efforts by 48%.  

(Press release) Airport congestion and bottlenecks have long been a thorn in the sides of travelers and the airline industry alike. But a recent study has produced a method for airport operations managers to help solve such challenges. Xiaojia Guo, assistant professor of decision, operations and information technologies at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, working alongside Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Bert De Reyck from the University of Virginia and Singapore Management University, is helping improve decision making within airport operations by produc...

Policymakers’ retirement reform efforts over 25 years that have primarily aimed to encourage retirement savings among low- and moderate-income individuals have been ineffective by disproportionately benefiting the wealthy and high-earners, according to a recent academic paper. The retirement-reform road map undertaken by Congress, beginning in 1996, has failed, University of Virginia Law Professor Michael Doran argues in the paper, “The Great American Retirement Fraud.”  

Long-term use of common blood pressure and heart failure drugs may contribute to kidney failure, according to a concerning new report by a team at the University of Virginia.  

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia Health System explored how taking blood pressure medication may cause health problems. According to their findings, some of these medications can cause kidney damage to consumers if they are taken long-term.  

One common drug prescribed mainly to those under the age of 55 is ACE inhibitor. Now, new research from the University of Virginia School (UVA) of Medicine found that this “commonly prescribed” drug for treating high blood pressure could be contributing to kidney damage.  

Students at the University of Virginia can now opt for climate-friendly foods. UVA Dine is launching the Cool Food Meals this month as part of an ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability.  

After serving as University of Virginia provost, Stanford Law School dean, and a law clerk to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, M. Elizabeth Magill is set to become Penn’s ninth president. In a wide-ranging interview — covering topics spanning from Penn Medicine and University fundraising to fly fishing — Magill spoke exclusively to The Daily Pennsylvanian and a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer via Zoom after the announcement.  

Meet M. Elizabeth “Liz” Magill, the legal expert and longtime academic who will serve as the University’s ninth president. Magill, who currently works as the University of Virginia’s Provost and Executive Vice President and previously served as dean of Stanford Law School, is known for her extensive experience and commitment to the field of law and leadership in higher education.  

The University of Pennsylvania has selected a lawyer who once clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and now serves as the provost of the University of Virginia to succeed Dr. Amy Gutman. M. Elizabeth Magill will begin her tenure as the university’s ninth president, the third consecutive woman to hold the position, on July 1, Penn announced Thursday.  

University of Virginia Provost Liz Magill will leave the University to take the reins of the University of Pennsylvania as that school’s president, officials announced Thursday. Magill has served as UVA’s chief academic officer and executive vice president and since August 2019, the first woman to hold the position.