Virginia voters will head to the polls this spring to decide the future of the state’s redistricting process after the Supreme Court of Virginia confirmed that the April 21 referendum election will move forward as scheduled. The court rejected efforts to block the...
Gun rights advocates fear a new merchant code for firearm purchases is an unnecessary attack on their civil liberties, while gun safety advocates say the code just levels the playing field. The International Standards Organization approved last month a petition from New York-based Amalgamated Bank for a new merchant code. The ISO is Geneva-based...
Virginia voters can cast their ballots for the November election starting Friday, Sept. 23. Voters can submit absentee ballots by mail or in person at their local registrar’s office, commonly referred to as early voting. No application or reason is necessary to vote early. Some jurisdictions may have additional satellite locations, according to a...
Around the country, a great many people got a very rude awakening last Monday, May 2, when Politico published a draft opinion by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, which appeared to indicate that the court would rule in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow individual states within the United...
Klay Porter, 32, recalls overdosing alone at his aunt's house five years ago from heroin laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. He remembers slipping away and thinking “this is it.” Porter isn’t alone. Opioid overdoses led to more than 9,900 emergency room visits in Virginia in 2020, a roughly 30% increase from 2019, according to the Virginia...
Many small cannabis entrepreneurs say large companies are jockeying to lock them out of the industry and have funding that gives them more access to lawmakers. “Small businesses are the backbone of the country,” said Sarah Grant, general manager of The Dispensary in Richmond. The shop opened last year and sells Delta-8-THC flower and vape...
Virginia schools still rely heavily on law enforcement to discipline students and years of efforts to lessen the practice could be halted with recent legislation, according to juvenile justice advocates and some state lawmakers. “Sometimes the heavy hand of the law is not what’s needed,” said James Fedderman, president of the Virginia...
Krysti Albus taught multiple subjects for 20 years and now teaches early childhood special education. She saw many colleagues leave the classroom in the middle of the year for better-paying corporate jobs. “What we have had to go through to have a net income of 30-some thousand dollars a year, but to also have the increased expectations...
Yvonne Rife was in the attic holding her dog Lucy as her Buchanan County home was swept off its foundation and carried a quarter of a mile by the water. A large oak tree lodged in a trestle bridge eventually halted the home, she said. She lost everything, Rife said, including two cats, the house she lived in for over 40 years and the...
Chirping ducklings at the Restoring Ivy Collective center, a refuge for human trafficking victims, aren’t just cute -- they’re calming. Sex trafficking survivors can drop in at the Washington, D.C.-area center to hang out with animals, bake bread and create art. “Therapy animals can be helpful; finding volunteering passions that aren’t...
