Virginia lawmakers have approved changes to the state’s long-standing food-to-alcohol sales requirement for restaurants, easing restrictions that many operators have said no longer reflect how the industry works. The legislation, HB975, passed during the 2026 General...
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...
The medical cannabis market is thriving in Virginia, while the future of recreational cannabis, including hemp, is hazier. Cannabis advocates and smokers are disappointed after a 2022 General Assembly session which saw lawmakers fail to expedite recreational cannabis sales and propose penalties for possessing amounts over two pounds --...
Virginia legislators tabled a bill during the regular General Assembly session that pledged to end roadway fatalities. The move disappointed road safety advocates, but supporters say they’re still committed to advancing policies to protect pedestrians and drivers. House Joint Resolution 100 was a commitment to the Vision Zero initiative, which...
Jacob Williamson grows, makes and sells hemp-based CBD products through his family’s Hens and Hemp farm. He went through the permitting process to be a hemp farmer when it became legal in 2019, but now he is leaving the industry. “We can't keep up with the multimillion-dollar cannabis industry coming into the state,” Williamson said. “So,...
A new state fund could give the Patawomeck Tribe a chance to reacquire tribal land and help protect battlefield sites throughout the state where Black soldiers fought and died. “If there were any way that we could ever get anything back, we would want to see about getting a piece of that tract of land… where our main village was,” said Minnie...
Incarcerated people and their loved ones will continue to pay fees that advocates and some lawmakers say are too stiff. Senate Bill 581, introduced by Sen. Joseph Morrissey, D-Richmond, initially proposed to eliminate jail fees related to the costs of an inmate's keep, work release, or participation in educational or rehabilitative programs....
