Legislators call for revisiting Clean Economy Act as rural Virginia rejects large solar farms

By STEPHEN FALESKI, Smithfield Times (Paywall)

Five years after the General Assembly enacted the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which mandates Dominion Energy transition to 100% carbon-free power sources by 2045, two Republican legislators who represent Isle of Wight and Surry counties say the goal is easier said than done. It’s a position two of the state’s top Democrats, who voted to enact the 2020 law when their party held both legislative chambers and the governor’s office, say they’ve come to share.

Spanberger, Hashmi advocate in Charlottesville for abortion access

By HANNAH DAVIS-REID, VPM

Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a crowd of about 300 people gathered Tuesday in Charlottesville to hear Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger discuss the future of reproductive health care in Virginia. Spanberger was joined on her “Span Virginia Bus Tour” by her running mates, state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D–Chesterfield) and former Del. Jay Jones, to say that a potential Democratic trifecta in state government would work to codify reproductive rights in Virginia’s Constitution.

Candidates for Virginia governor respond to the words of an immigrant mother with U.S.-born children

By BRAD KUTNER, WVTF-FM

President Donald Trump is removing people without legal status from the United States, and Virginia, at a breakneck pace. It’s brought federal agents into communities across the Commonwealth, including Chesterfield County where more than a dozen people have been removed in recent days. They’re targeting folks like the one mother of three U.S. born children who lives outside of D.C. We’re only referring to her as “the mother” because she fears deportation. Her husband, and the father of two of her children, who we’re not naming for similar reasons, was deported in front of those kids last month.

National Democrats pour $1M into Jay Jones’ bid to flip Virginia AG seat

By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Virginia Mercury

The Democratic Attorneys General Association is putting big money behind Jay Jones, announcing Thursday a $1 million investment in his campaign to flip Virginia’s attorney general seat and restore Democratic control of the office. “Jones is a committed public servant who has always put his constituents and their rights first, which is why DAGA is excited to make this early investment to flip the seat back to blue,” the group said in a statement.

Jones, Miyares trade blows in Virginia attorney general race

By JANET ROACH, WVEC-TV

As November's election draws closer, the race for Virginia's attorney general is heating up, with incumbent Republican Jason Miyares and Democratic challenger Jay Jones, a former State House Delegate, engaged in a tough race. Both candidates are holding little back, exchanging critiques on qualifications, public safety, and political loyalties. "Look at his record in the General Assembly; he's one of the most left-wing legislators ever in the history of the Virginia legislature," Miyares said of his opponent.

GOP ticket to hold rally amid differences

By KATE SELTZER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

After two months of running separate campaigns, all three members of the Republican statewide ticket are scheduled to appear together next week. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Attorney General Jason Miyares and conservative radio host John Reid will appear alongside Gov. Glenn Youngkin at a July 1 rally in Vienna. “We are ready to win this in November — up and down the ballot,” Earle-Sears, the party’s nominee for governor, wrote on social media in a post announcing the event. In another post, Reid, the nominee for lieutenant governor, said he was eager to campaign with Earle-Sears and Miyares, but alluded to at least some conflict among the candidates.

Democratic congressional candidates make their pitch to succeed the late Gerry Connolly

By JARED SERRE, FFXnow

Local Democrats seeking to succeed the late Rep. Gerry Connolly sought to distinguish themselves from a crowded field yesterday (Wednesday), outlining how they would represent Virginia’s 11th Congressional District if elected. Nine of the 10 candidates vying for the Democratic nomination attended the party’s lone forum at the Reston Community Center in Hunters Woods ahead of a primary election on Saturday (June 28).

Republicans announce campaigns against Vindman in 7th District

By ALLISON BROPHY CHAMPION, Culpeper Star Exponent (Metered Paywall - 20 articles a month)

Politicking is already gearing up for the 2026 midterm election. A self-proclaimed “proud MAGA Republican” from Prince William County announced Tuesday his candidacy for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District. John Gray of Woodbridge is the second Republican candidate in less than a week to announce they were running against Vindman next year. Republican Virginia State Sen. Tara Durant, of Fredericksburg, announced her campaign for the U.S. House seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman on June 18, according to article in Daily Caller.

Suhas Subramanyam on his path to Congress (and a road trip not taken)

By JACKIE WANG, Roll Call

When Suhas Subramanyam was a teenager, he got competing invitations. One group of friends wanted to drive to Florida to volunteer for John Kerry’s campaign. The other wanted to drive there to volunteer for George W. Bush. “They both asked me if I wanted to come, and I said no to both,” he says. He didn’t vote in that election at all, he says. As a student at Tulane University in New Orleans, “I didn’t care about politics as much at the time. It really wasn’t until Hurricane Katrina hit the city and I got involved in community activism that I realized politics is important.”

Virginia’s unemployment rate is continuing to slowly climb

By MICHAEL POPE, WVTF-FM

Virginia's unemployment rate has been steadily increasing for the last five months. That's the first time Virginia has seen rising unemployment numbers for that long since the Great Recession almost 20 years ago. John Provo at Virginia Tech says some of that is tied to manufacturing losses in rural areas. "Layoffs at Volvo Trucks in Pulaski, a closure of Georgia Pacific lumber supply facility in Emporia, and there are a couple of others," Provo says. "But I think these are companies that are anticipating a slowdown, and they’re tied to consumer markets ultimately."

Virginia hospitals bracing for Medicaid changes

By EMILY SCHABACKER, Cardinal News

A budget and tax bill moving through Congress could devastate rural hospitals across Southwest Virginia, potentially forcing closures, major job losses and cuts to essential services, health care leaders are warning. “The reconciliation bill currently before congress, as written, will lead to the closure of rural hospitals and will have a disproportionate impact on Red States. Not sure there is any other way to put it,” Alan Levine, CEO of Ballad Health, wrote on X on June 17. Ballad, the dominant health care provider in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee, serves some of the region’s most rural and medically underserved communities, where its hospitals are often the only source of inpatient care for miles.

Wet spring keeps Virginia crops growing despite early summer’s blazing heat

By SHANNON HECKT, Virginia Mercury

This week Virginia has set new heat records and come close to beating old ones for this time of year. The Richmond airport recorded a temperature of 99 degrees at the hottest part of the day on Tuesday, Roanoke reached 99, and Alexandria reached 98. Those high temperatures come at a crucial time for many crops growing across the commonwealth. “We are at a critical point for certain crops like corn that are either about to pollinate or our pollinating and so it will have an impact,” said Wilmer Stoneman, vice president of agriculture development and innovation for the Virginia Farm Bureau.

HUD plans move to Alexandria, booting National Science Foundation from headquarters

By JESSICA KRONZER, WTOP

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will move its employees out of D.C. to Alexandria, Virginia, booting the National Science Foundation from its headquarters, officials announced Wednesday. Government officials said it’s the first major agency to relocate its headquarters as part of the Trump administration’s effort to reduce federal real estate.

HUD announces relocation to National Science Foundation building in Alexandria

By RYAN BELMORE, Alx Now

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will relocate its headquarters to the National Science Foundation (NSF) building in Alexandria, displacing approximately 1,800 NSF employees over the next two years, officials announced Wednesday. HUD Secretary Scott Turner, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and General Services Administration (GSA) Commissioner Michael Peters made the announcement at the NSF headquarters at 2415 Eisenhower Ave. on Wednesday (June 25), emphasizing taxpayer savings and improved working conditions for HUD employees.

Housing Department to Move Headquarters to Virginia, Booting National Science Foundation

By MADELEINE NGO AND EILEEN SULLIVAN, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced on Wednesday that it was moving its headquarters out of Washington and into a building in Alexandria, Va., already occupied by the National Science Foundation, with no clear plan in place for the foundation’s employees. It is the first major shift of a federal agency’s operations out of the capital under President Trump’s plans to relocate parts of the government. But the science foundation will need to move out before the housing agency moves in. Union representatives for the foundation’s employees said that more than 1,833 people with the agency work in the building, and that they did not know where those employees would go.

Virginia appeals court says Arlington can end single-family-only zoning

By TEO ARMUS, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

An Arlington policy eliminating single-family-only zoning was effectively reinstated Tuesday by a Virginia panel of judges, who ruled that homeowners challenging the county over that effort in court should have also sued real estate developers who built projects under the zoning change. The ruling marks another development in a dizzying legal saga over the Northern Virginia county’s push for more “missing middle” housing, which is aimed at bringing more homes into a tight real estate market and eventually lowering costs in the expensive D.C. suburb.

Appeals Court puts Missing Middle back on the books in Arlington

By DAN EGITTO, ArlNow

Arlington’s Missing Middle zoning ordinance is back on the books, at least for the time being, following a ruling in the Virginia Court of Appeals. In the latest development in the dramatic legal battle over the county’s Expanded Housing Options (EHO), three appeals court judges issued a ruling yesterday (Tuesday) that reverses a circuit court decision declaring the zoning change void. The move sends the case back to the lower court for further review, according to court documents reviewed by ARLnow. The disposition doesn’t touch on the legal arguments at the heart of the lawsuit, which seeks to overturn an ordinance allowing for the development of multi-unit buildings in previously single-family neighborhoods.

Charles City County defers data center decision amid public outcry

By JACKIE DIBARTOLOMEO, Richmond BizSense

Charles City County has again deferred a decision on a planned 500-acre data center campus. The county Board of Supervisors unanimously decided Tuesday to delay voting on the proposed Roxbury Technology Park, after previously postponing the decision in May. Kansas-based Diode Ventures first submitted plans for the park last November and is seeking to rezone around 515 acres about 20 miles due east of Richmond to allow for the campus.

Preliminary plan unveiled for Norfolk schools to be closed, repurposed, rebuilt

WTKR-TV

Ten Norfolk schools are set to consolidate, and after a series of meetings, a preliminary plan — that still needs to be voted on by the school board — has been provided to the committee spearheading the effort. In March, Norfolk City Council tasked the school district with developing a plan to consolidate and close 10 schools, while opting to renovate or repurpose others. The resolution, passed unanimously by the city council, asks the school board to come up with a plan by Aug. 1. The district would then close two schools a year starting before the 2026-2027 school year.

Yancey: Earle-Sears and Spanberger ditch a Virginia tradition. Will they even debate at all?

By DWAYNE YANCEY, Cardinal News

Virginia, like the seasons, once had four great political traditions. All now seem to be discarded, trampled over by changing times. The great springtime rite of passage once was the Shad Planking, a fish roast (shad cooked on wooden planks over an open fire) in Sussex County that was more remembered for the political speeches than the cuisine.

Williams: Trump’s phony Confederate name game is child’s play

By MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

In 1964, singer-songwriter Shirley Ellis penned a hit song of nonsensical rhymes called “The Name Game,” whose second verse went like this: Lincoln! Lincoln, Lincoln, bo-bin-coln Bo-na-na fanna, fo-fin-coln ... Her song came to mind as the Trump administration does its bit to restore Confederate surnames to Army bases, with a puerile twist. In the process, it’s reversing changes made several years ago through an act of Congress.

Wagner: Stop the PREVAIL Act from raising drug prices

By YVONNE WAGNER, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Recently, the Virginia General Assembly took a big step in lowering prescription drug prices. A bipartisan bill passed both the House and the Senate that would create a board to oversee prescription drug prices, identify excessively priced medications, and recommend strategies to lower costs, including potential price caps. This bill represented a long-overdue recognition that the status quo is unsustainable and unfair to working families.

Wagner of Norfolk is a retired educator, a former member of the Norfolk School Board and a former vice president of Edward Waters University in Jacksonville, Florida.