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Appalachian Power cancels Southwest Virginia battery energy storage system
Appalachian Power has canceled its plans to build a battery energy storage system in Southwest Virginia, citing factors including storm damage brought by Hurricane Helene last year. State regulators last year approved Appalachian’s plan to build the system on two sites in Grayson and Smyth counties to serve around 2,790 customers on the utility’s Glade-Whitetop circuit. It would have stored electricity drawn from the grid and deployed it during high-demand periods and outages.
From VPAP New Episode: The Virginia Press Room Podcast
In the latest episode of the podcast from VaNews and VPM, Michael Pope is joined by Anna Bryson of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Brandon Jarvis of Virginia Scope, and Brad Kutner of Radio IQ. They discuss the week's top headlines: the Virginia GOP ticket's first joint appearance, Sears and Spanberger on immigration, and ICE arrests at Chesterfield County courthouse. Tune in for insights and analysis on Virginia politics. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Will protecting abortion access get Democratic voters to the polls? Spanberger thinks so.
Once again, maintaining abortion access has become the hallmark of Democratic campaigns in Virginia this election cycle. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Virginia is now the only state in the South with abortion access beyond 12 weeks. The Democrats running for statewide office want to keep it that way. It dominated the conversation when the candidates visited Charlottesville Tuesday on their eight-day, 40-plus-stop bus tour across the commonwealth.
With a big British backer, a Southside Virginia mine reopens
A $3.6 billion London-based investment firm has brought a Southside Virginia mine back to life — and with it, a processing plant that will secure a U.S.-based supply chain of critical minerals. The Atlantic Strategic Minerals mine straddling the Dinwiddie-Sussex county line has resumed producing ilmenite and zircon, from what the company believes is the richest deposit of zircon around. Both minerals are mainly imported now, but a new focus on ensuring that supplies of such critical minerals aren’t interrupted by political conflict makes what Dominic Raab, the former deputy prime minister of Great Britain and head of global affairs at Appian Capital Advisory LLP, calls “a strong business case.”
Dem Walkinshaw, GOP's Whitson to vie for Connolly's congressional seat
Democrat James Walkinshaw, who spent a decade as Rep. Gerry Connolly's chief of staff, will face Republican Stewart Whitson, a U.S. Army veteran and former FBI special agent, in a Sept. 9 special election to fill the seat of the late Northern Virginia congressman. Walkinshaw, a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors since 2020, prevailed in a 10-candidate field in Saturday's Democratic nomination contest that included state Sen. Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax, and Del. Irene Shin, D-Fairfax. ... In the GOP nominating contest, Whitson prevailed in a field of seven candidates that included Mike Van Meter, who lost to Connolly by about 34 percentage points in 2024.
Walkinshaw wins Democratic nomination for Virginia’s Eleventh Congressional District
Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw beat out nine other candidates in a contentious firehouse primary on Saturday to become the Democratic nominee for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District in Northern Virginia. His opponent in the general election will be the Republican nominee, Stewart Whitson. “I’m honored and humbled to have earned the Democratic nomination for the district I’ve spent my career serving,” Walkinshaw said in a statement Saturday night.
James Walkinshaw wins Democratic nod in Congressional special election
Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw is now one election away from succeeding his political mentor in Congress. Walkinshaw bested nine other candidates in a firehouse primary to secure the Democratic nomination for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, local party officials announced Saturday shortly before midnight. He advances to face Republican nominee Stewart Whitson in September’s general election.
Republicans nominate former FBI agent in race to succeed Gerry Connolly
A former FBI staffer who said at a forum last Sunday (June 22) that he supports President Donald Trump “a hundred percent” will be the GOP’s nominee for a Fairfax-area Congressional seat this fall. Stewart Whitson will advance to face the Democratic nominee in a Sept. 9 special election for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, local Republican officials announced this Saturday.
Big crowds turn out to vote in Fairfax County
Voters across Fairfax County showed up in large numbers Saturday to cast ballots in party primaries that will decide who advances to a special election this September for Virginia's 11th Congressional District seat. The seat was left open by longtime Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, who passed away May 21 after a battle with esophageal cancer. . . . Voters on both sides expressed enthusiasm and a sense of civic duty. "It's exciting," said Dan Clark, a Republican from Laurel Hill. "I've never missed a vote since I turned 18, and I'm not about to miss one now."
Univ. of Virginia president resigns amid Trump administration inquiry into diversity initiatives
The president of the University of Virginia is resigning following pressure from the Trump administration to step aside amid a Justice Department investigation into the school’s diversity practices. James E. Ryan convened a meeting with his senior leadership Friday and announced that he would be stepping down, according to a source who attended the UVA Board of Visitors meeting.