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Navy wants to test drinking water for synthetic chemicals near Chesapeake’s Northwest Annex
The Navy is asking Chesapeake residents who live within a mile of the Northwest Annex to reach out and have their drinking water wells sampled for certain long-lasting synthetic chemicals. The testing is for for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — a combination of thousands of different chemicals that have been commonly used in household and industrial products for decades, particularly due to stain- and water-repellent qualities.
Eddie Radden Jr., Richmond activist and longtime Capitol doorkeeper, dies at 96
From city streets to church sanctuaries to the corridors of the Virginia State Capitol, Eddie L. Radden Jr. spent his life serving and uplifting the Richmond community. A lifelong advocate for civil rights and community progress, he died peacefully last Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at 96, leaving behind a lasting impact on Richmond. “Through every trial, he remained a pillar of strength, faith, and unwavering love,” Radden’s family said in a statement. “His legacy of faith, kindness, and devotion will forever guide us.”
Protesters Line Up at Trump National as President Meets Crypto Buyers
The sidewalks and lawn at the entrance to Trump National Golf Course were filled with protesters Thursday night as the president attended a private dinner at the venue with buyers of his $TRUMP meme coin. Lawmakers and citizens booed gala attendees as they entered the golf course and while chanting “our democracy is not for sale” and “Trump must go.” The protesters specifically referenced the gift this week of plane from Qatar to President Donald J. Trump and the recently passed Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins or GENIUS Act, which establishes a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
Reps. Kiggans and Wittman sold out their constituents
As the sweeping Republican spending bill lurched its way through the U.S. House in recent weeks, members of Virginia’s congressional delegation promised they would oppose those sections that made life more difficult for commonwealth residents or which imperiled our economic future. Yet when push came to shove — when residents of Hampton Roads really needed the elected representatives to defend their interests — U.S. Reps. Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman folded. On Thursday morning, they voted with their party and with the president instead of with the people they swore to serve.
Cobb and Peace: Cuts to anti-tobacco programs will cost lives
Virginia’s Tobacco Control Program, funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), has been effectively defunded and dismantled as a result of recent federal action to reduce government programs and workforce. A conglomerate of nicotine and tobacco research scientists and physicians in Virginia have grave concerns about the impact of these closures and are urging Congress and Virginia’s congressional delegation to continue supporting programs that eliminate and prevent tobacco use.
Langley: Virginia took an important step to regulate license plate readers
License plate reader (LPR) cameras, which capture images of license plates and other vehicle characteristics to solve crime, have been a longstanding tool for Virginia law enforcement agencies — helping police solve murder cases, locate and rescue missing persons and apprehend violent suspects attacking government workers. Virginia law enforcement have used best practices to implement these tools in a responsible way; however, LPR use remained unregulated. As the founder and CEO of a company that has deployed LPRs in communities across the commonwealth, I have supported codifying legislation that would ensure LPRs can be used for the substantial benefits they provide, while establishing guardrails so the technology is used responsibly.
NOAA predicts ‘above normal’ hurricane season
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting another “above normal” hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean for 2025. Ken Graham, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, said there’s a 60% chance of an above-average season and a 30% chance of a “near-normal” season. There could be 13 to 19 tropical storms, with six to 10 hurricanes, according to NOAA’s forecast. Of those hurricanes, three to five could be “major” storms — Category 3 or above. In recent weeks, other weather entities such as Accuweather and Colorado State University released similar season forecasts.
Friday Read James River cruise takes passengers back in time on the boat that made Virginia rich
Will Smith and Will Cash have been friends since middle school, college roommates at Radford and now they’re business partners, offering the public a chance to celebrate one pivotal part of Virginia’s history. Four days a week, they welcome guests to their boats— 7.5 feet wide, 44 feet long— furnished with simple wood tables and benches. They are replicas of watercraft dating back 250 years. “April 29, 1775, Jefferson writes in his journal. He’s just witnessed the launch of the very first batteau," Smith tells passengers on a sunset cruise. To understand why the batteau was a big deal, Smith says, you have to go back to a time when English settlers were growing and getting rich from the sale of tobacco. Their crop was hard on the land, sucking nutrients from the soil, and every few years they’d have to move west — farther away from the market.
Democratic leadership signals willingness to reexamine Virginia Clean Economy Act
Passed during a Democratic trifecta in 2020, the Virginia Clean Economy Act was viewed as a monumental step toward modernizing the state’s dirty power generation. But in the face of President Donald Trump’s alternative energy funding cuts and data center-fueled power demand, the most powerful Democrats in Virginia’s legislature appear open to reviewing the law. “We went a long while with more supply than we had demand, now it's flipped upside down. We have much more demand than we have supply,” the top Democrat in the House of Delegates, Speaker Don Scott, told Radio IQ after a meeting of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, or CEUR, held at the General Assembly building Thursday. “And so, we have to respond. And I think sometimes you have policies we have to examine and make sure we meet demand and keep costs low.”
Yancey: Is Spanberger up by 4 percentage points or 17? Why two new polls have very different results.
Two new polls came out Thursday. Both show the same thing: Virginians don’t like President Donald Trump and want Democrat Abigail Spanberger to be their next governor. They do that in very different ways, though: A poll for the pro-business group Virginia FREE shows Spanberger leading Republican Winsome Earle-Sears by 4 percentage points. The Roanoke College poll, though, finds Spanberger leading by a staggering 17 percentage points. The polls also differ in one key way: The Virginia FREE poll finds that most Virginians approve of the job that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is doing. The Roanoke College poll finds, for the first time, that most Virginians now disapprove of Youngkin’s governorship.