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House primaries in Roanoke area signal arrival of 2025 election season
Election season blooms anew Tuesday in Virginia, as voters prepare for primary contests before deciding on a slate of state and local candidates this fall. ... In House District 40, which includes all of Salem and parts of Roanoke city and county, voters will decide between two Democratic candidates who seek to challenge the incumbent Republican. ... And in sprawling House District 37 — ... incumbent Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, faces a primary election challenger in Austen Schwend.
Virginia AG Hopeful Was Outraising His Rival — Then Dominion Energy Tipped the Scale
Both candidates for Virginia attorney general in Tuesday’s Democratic primary have much in common. They’ve both promised, for instance, to fight against Donald Trump and DOGE, and to protect abortion rights. When it comes to who is funding their campaigns, though, there’s one source of cash that marks a striking difference between the candidates: Dominion Energy, the Fortune 500 utility company that has long thrown around huge sums to shape politics in Virginia. In the attorney general primary this year, local prosecutor Shannon Taylor has accepted $650,000 in donations from Dominion, while former state delegate Jay Jones has not taken any from the company.
Organ transplant network chooses new board, drawing more criticism
The nation’s organ transplant network has elected a new board of directors in the federal government’s latest effort to reform a flawed system. For now, the Richmond-based United Network for Organ Sharing acts as the contractor that administers the network, which includes more than 300 transplant hospitals and organ procurement organizations that recover hearts, livers and kidneys from dead donors. The federal government has solicited bids from outsiders and has said it will divvy up UNOS’s work among other companies.
No Chesterfield, no Richmond, no water authority
Kudos to Henrico and Hanover counties, whose boards met on Wednesday to discuss a path forward after recent meltdowns at the Richmond Water Treatment Plant left residents in parts of both counties — not to mention all of Richmond — without potable water for six days in January, and then again in late May. That two of RVA’s largest jurisdictions are on board with some kind of regional approach to address the root causes — city mismanagement of a century-old water treatment plant that’s in desperate need of modernization and repair — is significant. ... The problem? Richmond, which owns and controls the asset Henrico and Hanover want to oversee, wasn’t part of the meeting. And central Virginia’s largest jurisdiction, Chesterfield County, which has actual experience with a regional authority and more water capacity than either Henrico or Hanover, was MIA.
Williams: Heavy on country, light on Black artists: Richmond’s new venue needs DEI
Sly Stone modeled a brand of diversity, equity and inclusion that would serve well as a template for Richmond’s new musical venue, Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront. Sly and the Family Stone as a band was an early model of integration — Black, white, male and female — when it arrived on the music scene in the late 1960s. One of its biggest hits, “Everyday People,” celebrated difference at a time of intense racial strife, urban unrest and political polarization ... But looking at the lineup of artists, I detected the harsh note of exclusion, and the sense that this $30 million venue was not built for folks like me.
‘No Kings’ Protest Draws Estimated 1,700 in Loudoun
The Loudoun County courthouse lawn on Saturday afternoon was overflowing with people taking part in a ‘No Kings’ protest organized by Indivisible NOVA as part of a nationwide initiative to protest actions taken by President Donald J. Trump and his administration. Event organizers estimated the turnout to be between 1,700 and 2,200 people. That included several local elected officials including Sen. Russet Perry (D-31), Del. Marty Martinez (D-29), Del. Atoosa Reaser (D-27), County Chair Phyllis Randall (D-At Large), Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk and other Loudoun supervisors and Town Councilmembers and former 10th District Rep. Jennifer Wexton.
Big turnout for Democrats in Virginia’s early primary voting gives party hope
Early voting was strong across Virginia this year in the 45 days leading up to Tuesday’s primary elections, in which voters will choose Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney general and, in a handful of districts, candidates from both parties for the House of Delegates and local offices. Nearly 158,000 people had cast votes in Democratic primaries as of Thursday — up from 124,000 at the same point in Democratic primaries four years ago, when the party had a hotly contested, five-way primary for governor, according to analysis of the latest available data by the Virginia Public Access Project
As Trump’s military parade takes to the street, so do thousands of ‘No Kings’ protesters in Hampton Roads
To Heidi Dragneff, the “No Kings” protests across Hampton Roads and the nation on Saturday weren’t really about politics. “It’s about honor,” the Navy veteran said as she was about to march through Norfolk. “It’s about what we still believe in that oath, in that flag, in that promise we made to each other and future generations.” For Angela Taylor, it was about patriotism. The 66-year-old cancer patient was one of many holding American flags at the protest in Chesapeake — she said she bought the last one in stock at a nearby Walgreens. “Because I live here and I’m going to be here,” Taylor said of why she was holding the flag. “And if anybody needs to leave, it’s him.”
Roanoke rallygoers say no to Trump, kings
Roanoke joined the nationwide “No Kings” movement with two separate rallies Saturday protesting President Donald Trump’s policies. Roanoke Indivisible rallied in the morning at McCadden Park in northwest Roanoke, and a second protest organized by Roanoke resident Steve Davidson was held at Elmwood Park downtown in the afternoon. Speakers at both events urged attendees to take a stand against what they saw as overreach by Trump and his administration.
Protesters march in ‘No Kings’ demonstration in Richmond: ‘This is what democracy looks like’
Demonstrators crowded into streets, parks and plazas across the U.S., including Richmond's Capitol Square on Saturday, to protest President Donald Trump, marching through downtowns and small towns, blaring anti-authoritarian chants mixed with support for protecting democracy and immigrant rights. Thousands turned out for Richmond's rally, which began at the Bell Tower and then moved onto Broad Street before ending at Kanawha Plaza. Protesters expressed concerns about what they described as constitutional overreach.