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Spanberger widens lead as Virginia voters prioritize cost of living, personal freedoms
With fewer than four months to go before Virginians elect a new slate of statewide leaders, a new poll from Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs finds Democrats holding early leads in all three top races — and voters sharply focused on economic pressures and personal freedoms. The latest Commonwealth Poll, conducted June 19–July 3, captures evolving voter sentiment in advance of the 2025 election and suggests momentum has shifted further toward Democratic candidates, particularly among independents.
‘Somebody needs to be fired’: Petersburg vice mayor sharply critical of vape-shop opening
Petersburg’s vice mayor, Darrin Hill, is not known for public outbursts of anger or frustration. So, when he dressed down the city staff during City Council’s July 15 meeting, many ears in the room pricked up. A high concentration of vape and tobacco shops in Petersburg prompted the planning department last year to recommend restricting them to neighborhood business, commercial and industrial districts. Council voted in July 2024 to limit them to industrial-zoned districts. Hill, who represents Ward 2, took planners to the mat after a vape shop opened on South Crater Road after he and his colleagues voted last April to deny a rezoning request that would have allowed it.
Pay raise, shipbuilding, better TRICARE: Kiggans says House defense budget would benefit Hampton Roads
After a marathon markup session in the House Armed Services Committee, the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act includes money for pay raises, shipbuilding and other proposals that would benefit Hampton Roads. “We finished at one o’clock this morning,” said committee member Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02) of Virginia Beach in a Wednesday morning interview with WAVY. The Pentagon spending plan now goes to the full House.
Virginia’s housing shortage looks grim, but builders and developers say incremental change will help
Anyone who’s tried to buy a house in Virginia in recent years will tell you it's not easy. There aren’t many houses available, and that leads to inflated prices and bidding wars. But changes from state agencies and the legislature are giving some hope. “We’re at a shortage on single-family homes," Delegate Carrie Coyner told Radio IQ after a meeting of the Virginia Housing Commission Tuesday morning. "It’s really hard to attract and keep young people and stay top for business.” The meeting included a presentation by Virginia Association of Realtors and it painted a grim picture of the Commonwealth’s housing market now and into the future.
Appalachian files $135M plan to improve grid reliability, service
Appalachian Power Company has filed a plan aimed at improving power grid reliability and resiliency with the Virginia State Corporation Commission. APCo is not requesting rate increases at this stage, according to a written statement. The first phase of includes improvements to the local distribution system that delivers energy to homes and businesses including building new substations, upgrading equipment ...
Appalachian Power has $135M plan to improve reliability
Appalachian Power plans to spend $135 million over three years on electric-grid upgrades to improve service reliability, which the utility said represents the first phase of a larger grid transformation process. The company, which has about 540,000 customers in Western Virginia, said Wednesday it is asking state regulators for permission to carry out the plan. Appalachian said it will submit a separate request late next year to charge customers for costs related to the project.
Finkelstein: If the attorney general won’t defend Virginia, who will?
It’s not every day that George Mason University lands on the front page of The Washington Post, in an op-ed by Virginia’s U.S. senators and in a joint investigation by The Chronicle of Higher Education and ProPublica. In 2006, when Mason stunned the nation as the “Cinderella” team in the NCAA Final Four, the attention was exhilarating. Today, the spotlight feels far more threatening. Since July 1, Mason has been notified of two federal civil rights investigations by the U.S. Department of Education — one concerning allegations of antisemitism and the other focused on diversity-related hiring practices.
VA slows planned staff cuts, but concerns about services remain
Expected cuts to staff of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ultimately may not be as extensive as the agency first announced. While that’s some welcome news, downsizing at the federal agency serving millions of American veterans continues to be a pressing concern, especially in a military-centered region such as Hampton Roads. VA leaders insist that the ongoing reduction in force will not affect the care and services available to veterans. But the VA has a history of problems, including lengthy wait times at facilities across the country, and with a dramatic increase in the number of people utilizing its resources, it remains to be seen if the agency can deliver on its lofty promises.
How a parasitic worm could help revive the Chesapeake Bay blue crab population
If you catch a female blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay — and know where to look — there’s a good chance you might find a tiny, parasitic worm embedded in its spongelike egg mass. The worm, scientifically known as Carcinonemertes carcinophila, relies on crab eggs to grow and survive. “They have a really interesting symbiotic relationship, where the worm cannot reach sexual maturity without consuming the eggs of its host, which is the blue crab,” said Alex Schneider, who recently earned a doctoral degree in marine science from William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
Roanoke seeks share of Botetourt County’s Google data center tax revenues
Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb has asked Botetourt County to give the city 15% of the annual tax revenue generated by the future Google data center and to replace the water that will be used by the project, citing Roanoke’s “historic contribution” to the regional water authority and fears that the data center’s water demands could have a negative impact on recreation at Carvins Cove. Botetourt County says it already planned to do all those things. The board of supervisors this month approved a plan for water replacement, and the county has paid $450,000 to the Western Virginia Water Authority to start that process.