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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.
Truitt: How Va. Democrats can reclaim the education issue
In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin was able to flip the K-12 education issue to pull off a victory by focusing on parents. This year, Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger should learn from 2021 by embracing higher educational standards to reclaim the education issue. As has been shown nationally, typical Democratic proposals for higher teacher pay and increased funding alone are not sufficient. In fact, those were major planks of Terry McAuliffe’s 2021 education platform.
From VPAP Now Live: Candidates’ Pre-Primary Campaign Finance Reports
VPAP has posted all pre-primary campaign finance disclosures filed by candidates whose office is on the November 2025 ballot. Use our overview page to find what interests you — including candidates for statewide office, the House of Delegates, and local offices on the ballot in November. We rank each group of committees by amount raised and cash on hand. If you are interested in a specific committee, you can drill down for a sortable list of donors and expenditures reported through June 5 for candidates.
VPAP Visual Statewide Candidate Fundraising: June 2025
See a ranked list of the amount raised by candidates and their cash reserves for Virginia's statewide offices through June 5.
Local judge indicted on bribery charge in Spotsylvania
The chief general district court judge for the judicial circuit that includes the Fredericksburg area was indicted last week on a felony bribery charge, court records show. Richard Tyler McGrath, who sits primarily in Spotsylvania General Court in the 15th Judicial Circuit, is charged with bribery of a public official. A special grand jury brought the charge June 2 in Spotsylvania Circuit Court. McGrath had not been arrested as of Friday, and court records show he will be released on a $5,000 unsecured bond once a capias for his arrest is served.
Norfolk’s top FBI deputy ousted
The F.B.I. has targeted another round of employees who ran afoul of conservatives, forcing out two veteran agents in Virginia — one of whom is friends with a critic of President Trump — and punishing another in Las Vegas, according to several people familiar with the matter. Two of the men, Spencer Evans and Stanley Meador, are senior agents who ran F.B.I. field offices in Las Vegas and Richmond, Va. The third, Michael Feinberg, a top deputy in the Norfolk, Va., office, had ties to a former agent whom Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, identified in his book as part of the so-called deep state.
As expansion continues, summer drivers to see new looks at Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel
As the summer travel season picks up, visitors will have a much different view — and some different routes — at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel as a result of the ongoing expansion project. Traffic counts at the primary route between the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads have grown steadily ever since it opened in the 1950s. In 2011, for example, the state transportation department reported that on a daily basis, more than 44,000 vehicles used the artery each way, and projected that number to rise to about 56,000 by 2040. Last year, according to the department, roughly 100,000 vehicles used it daily during the tourism season, which begins on Memorial Day weekend.