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From VPAP Now Live: PACs’ Pre-Primary Campaign Finance Reports
VPAP has posted pre-primary disclosures from Virginia PACs. See which state PACs have raised the most money and have the most cash on hand for the covered time period. If you are interested in a specific committee, you can drill down for a sortable list of donations reported from April 1 to May 25.
DMV doesn’t rule out move but looks to renovate in Richmond
Is the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles on the move, or does the state agency plan instead to renovate its headquarters in Richmond for the first time since its construction in 1979 and rent out available space to other state agencies? The agency received permission in the revised state budget to spend $16 million that it raises in fees to renovate its headquarters on West Broad Street to consolidate its operations and lease unused space to other state agencies to generate revenue.
In strangulation cases, assailants can leave DNA behind. It can later be used against them in court.
When someone is sexually assaulted and goes to a hospital for treatment, a forensic nurse examiner offers what’s called a “physical evidence recovery kit.” The nurse will attempt to collect any biological material left on the victim’s body. That can be tested for DNA and later used in court. Such testing programs have been utilized for more than 30 years in Virginia. But there’s a new kind of state evidence kit — to be used in strangulation cases. The Virginia Department of Forensic Science has purchased 1,000 such kits — designed to collect evidence from a victim’s neck and fingernails — to be sent to forensic nursing teams at hospitals across the state.
Jay Jones wants to take on the Trump administration as Virginia attorney general
Former Norfolk Del. Jay Jones, one of two Democratic candidates to become Virginia’s next attorney general, says he's running to protect Virginia families in the age of Donald Trump — something he says Virginia's current AG, Republican Jason Miyares, is not doing. VPM News reporter Jahd Khalil recently spoke with Jones, who faces Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor in a Democratic primary on June 17, about a potential general election showdown with Miyares and his stances on the key issues facing Virginians.
An after-school program in Trump’s backyard struggles to survive DOGE cuts
It would have been hard to see much of a crisis brewing at the Arlington Mill Community Center, given the joyful stream of middle-schoolers bolting inside last month. But it was there in the way 11-year-old Mason Soto greeted his teacher, Andrew Gelsinger. “Mr. Andrew!” yelled Mason, running into the classroom. “You’re still here!” Less than a week had passed since Gelsinger abruptly lost his position at the free after-school program in Northern Virginia — one of tens of thousands of roles funded by AmeriCorps that were slashed in cuts to that federal agency. Gelsinger sat in the classroom with his students, some of them weeping, as they were told they would not be able to come back to Aspire Afterschool Learning to start their homework, grab a snack or play volleyball.
New plan to stop ABC store shoplifters in Richmond
Richmond prosecutors have a plan for tackling the city’s repeat liquor store shoplifters. The city has struggled with liquor thefts, and nowhere more so than at Virginia ABC’s location on West Broad Street in the city’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood. The store was the most looted in 2024 and is frequently hit multiple times a day by casual thieves wearing facemasks. Virginia ABC stores in the Richmond region lost around $170,000 to theft in 2024, according to a May report from The Richmonder.
Wall Street Is All In on A.I. Data Centers. But Are They the Next Bubble?
Artificial intelligence still seemed the stuff of science fiction when a real estate developer named Chad Williams bought a plot of land, roughly half the size of a football field, in Overland Park, Kan. Mr. Williams, who had taken over his family’s business of car lots and office furniture suppliers, used the land in 2003 to build his first data center, a big, boxy warehouse housing powerful computers. More than two decades later, the company Mr. Williams built, Quality Technology Services, is at the heart of one of Wall Street’s biggest gambits: the race to profit from artificial intelligence.
Dice and Bray: Student teachers in Virginia need more paid internships
As we navigate the challenges of ensuring high-quality education for our children, a critical aspect that remains overlooked is the financial burden on students preparing to become teachers. Completing a licensure-required internship is mandatory for students seeking a teaching degree at higher education institutions. However, these internships are typically unpaid, creating a significant financial barrier for many. Virginia has the opportunity to join the growing number of states that compensate student teachers for their undergraduate internship experiences. Supporting future teachers during their internships provides an opportunity for Virginia to address its alarming teacher shortage.
Virginia probe into Black communities’ displacement surges forward with infusion of funds
As more states reckon with the history of Black land loss, the Virginia General Assembly has been taking a rare, state-sanctioned approach: formally examining how the creation or expansion of public university campuses has displaced Black communities. A 19-member legislative commission met last month, its first convening since a mandatory hiatus during the 2025 legislative session was lifted. Enacted last year, the commission received an additional $200,000 in the state budget signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in May, a major bump from the $28,760 it was initially allocated. As it prepares to enter its second year, the group is poised to deliver Virginia’s only known comprehensive statewide examination to date of how public universities displaced Black communities — and what forms of redress may be appropriate.
FBI shows up at Charlottesville public defender’s home unannounced after ICE raid
It was before 7 a.m. on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend when the wife of Charlottesville public defender Donald Bellah, asleep inside the couple's rural Albemarle County residence, was awakened by two FBI agents. They told her they wanted to speak with her husband. Around that same time, other agents were arriving at other lawyers' homes. "There was no attempt to contact any one of us other than just showing up at our houses at the same time," Bellah told The Daily Progress. "I'm angry; it was intending to intimidate us."