Fall of Freedom bills itself as “an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation.” The organizers aren’t pulling punches: they argue that democracy is under attack, threats to free expression are rising, dissent is...
With cannabis decriminalization, cultivation, and legalization at the forefront of political conversations in Virginia, farmers and legislators are grappling with a changing legal and cultural landscape. “We do grams, eighths, quarters, half ounces, pounds, wholesale pounds -- however you want it,” Jacob Stretch said, standing between crates of...
From 2006 to 2012, pharmacies and physicians in Colonial Heights received 93 opioid pills per person per year — the highest amount in the Richmond metro area. Between 2006 and 2012, more than 71 million opioid pills flowed into Henrico County. For the county’s 320,000 residents, that represented about 32 pills per person per year. During the same...
According to US Census data, over 16 percent of Virginians now speak a language other than English in the home -- including a growing number of Arabic families. Nahlaa Alsilfih Alahmari and her husband, Abdullah Alahmari, are graduate students from Saudi Arabia. She is pursuing a doctorate in education at Virginia State University, and he is...
Roanoke’s Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center fights to stay open and save animals' lives in the midst of lawsuits from a local Bojangles’ owner who claims the center “increases noise” and “increases traffic.” The Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center has been helping the animals of Roanoke, Virginia for nearly two decades: anyone who finds an...
This may be the #MeToo era, but here in Virginia, the vast majority of rape cases are still unsolved, and the perpetrators remain unpunished. In the #MeToo era, survivors of sexual assault are feeling more empowered to come forward with their stories. Despite the social movement, though, sexual assaults and rapes have the lowest clearance rates...
2018 saw the highest number of pedestrian deaths on Virginia roads in ten years. Two major Richmond-area roads were among the deadliest in the state. On a Friday night in October, Katelyn Tilts was walking to a convenience store with a group of friends when she saw headlights coming at her. “A car came around the corner really quickly and was...
Richmond's First District City Councilman, Andreas Addison, spent all of November commuting throughout the city by foot and bus. What he learned has fueled a slate of new, pedestrian-friendly ordinances he wants City Council to pass. If there’s one thing 1st District Councilman Andreas Addison noticed during his one month without a car, it’s that...
The requirement that Medicaid recipients work was a Republican condition of the program's expansion. But with the new Democrat-controlled General Assembly soon to be seated, Governor Northam no longer plans to enforce it. Virginia residents with Medicaid will not be required to work in order to keep their policies since Gov. Ralph Northam halted...
As we approach the start of the 2020 General Assembly session, here's an up-to-date look into an ongoing fight over guns that has the whole Commonwealth concerned. It has been a truly tumultuous month since Virginia’s November elections. Specifically, the conversation around the Second Amendment, gun ownership and potential gun control...
