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Yancey: Two Natural Bridge Zoo giraffes are missing, and the AG’s office contends they belong to the state
In late September 2023, one of the giraffes at the Natural Bridge Zoo gave birth. In the wild, baby giraffes stay with their mothers for more than a year. The males typically leave at 15 months, but the females usually stay and become part of a matriarchal herd, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. However, the Natural Bridge Zoo shipped that infant giraffe to a roadside zoo in North Carolina when it was 2 weeks old, according to records from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. By November, the mother giraffe was pregnant again, according to court records.
Appeals court upholds dismissal of councilman’s lawsuit against Lynchburg
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought by At-large Lynchburg Councilman Martin Misjuns, who argued his termination from the city’s fire department violated his rights to free speech and religion. The opinion, written by Judge Roger Gregory, affirmed the rulings by Judges Norman Moon and Robert Ballou, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, to dismiss the councilman’s lawsuit.
Spanberger: Va. can make housing affordable. Here’s how
Virginians deserve a governor who is focused on responding to the most pressing issues that impact our communities and our commonwealth’s growth. And across Virginia, high costs at the pharmacy counter, in our energy bills and in the housing market are impacting families, business owners and Virginia’s long-term strength. As a candidate for governor, I’ve been laying out my plans to make Virginia more affordable. Last month, I announced my priorities to lower health care and prescription drug costs. And last week, I announced a straightforward agenda to increase the supply of housing Virginians can actually afford. This plan is a blueprint for how my administration will get to work on day one to put Virginians first.
Rozell: For Va. GOP, Richmond’s woes are low-hanging fruit
Being unable to open your faucet and get water that’s fit for drinking — or for bathing or doing the laundry or the dishes — sticks with a voter. In Virginia’s capital city of Richmond, it has happened twice in the first half of 2025. That doesn’t count chronic malfunctions that have dogged the city for years that include real estate and restaurant meals tax billing snafus, keeping its sewer system from spewing human waste into the James River and homicide rates perennially among Virginia’s highest. If those problems are big enough — or, from media reports, appear big enough — they can exert gravity on statewide elections.
‘I will punch back’ against Trump administration, Stoney says in Alexandria as Dem primary nears
With only 10 days left until the June 17 Democratic primary, former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney stopped in Alexandria Saturday afternoon for a meet-and-greet with some of his most influential Northern Virginia supporters. Facing five opponents in what’s expected to be a low turnout primary election, Stoney said that, if elected, he’d focus on housing affordability.
Levar Stoney says he’s ‘ready to go on day one’ as lieutenant governor
Levar Stoney was Richmond’s mayor from 2017 to 2024, after serving as secretary of the commonwealth during Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration. Now, Stoney is hoping to serve at the state level again. He’s one of six candidates in the June 17 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor; the winner will face Republican John Reid for the office currently occupied by Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears. VPM News state politics reporter Jahd Khalil recently spoke to Stoney about his campaign, as part of a series of conversations with all six Democratic candidates for the state’s No. 2 job.
Spanberger pushes housing policy at new development in Henrico County
Virginia’s average home price has increased 6% over the last year, bringing it up to nearly $400,000 dollars. Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Abigail Spanberger offered ideas to address the problem at an event in Henrico County Friday morning. “We have people that are gainfully employed that now cannot afford to live in the localities in which they work because of a lack of supply,” said Martin Johnson with the Virginia Realtors association, discussing the state’s housing woes.
Fifteen years after shuttering its tax-prep app, Va. may be ready to compete with TurboTax again
The Virginia Department of Taxation’s website parts company with the web presences of other agencies in the commonwealth: It doesn’t offer its own tools to help you complete your primary task there — taxes. While you can renew a car registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles site and register an LLC at the State Corporation Commission’s site, Virginia Tax doesn’t let you file your state income taxes online and instead points you to commercial tax-prep services. That’s not because Virginia Tax hasn’t developed its own filing app. It’s because 15 years ago, the department shelved the iFile app that had already drawn more than 278,000 users in 2009.
Virginia Beach man awaits governor’s decision on absolute pardon: ‘It would make me whole’
The months following Darnell Phillips’ 2018 release from prison were a whirlwind. Most notably was the standing ovation Phillips received from Virginia lawmakers after he was introduced on the Senate floor several months after being set free. Afterward, senators shook his hand. Some even offered their apologies for the more than 27 years Phillips spent behind bars for the rape and beating of a 10-year-old girl that he’d always maintained he didn’t commit — and that now even the victim was saying he was innocent of.
Judge and lawmakers question Trump administration’s plan to gut Job Corps centers
Members of Congress and a federal judge are questioning the Trump administration’s plan to shut down Job Corps centers nationwide, including the Old Dominion Job Corps in Amherst County, and halt a residential career training program for low-income youth that was established more than 50 years ago. ... Lawmakers asked Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about the decision when she appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Thursday. “Job Corps, which you know has bipartisan support in Congress, trains young, low-income people, and helps them find good-paying jobs and provides housing for a population that might otherwise be without a home,” U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott said.