Five years after the Chesapeake Bay blue crab fishery was declared a federal disaster an annual scientific survey shows the population is far below the previous year, but scientist’s are not too worried. Pamela D’Angelo reports.

Virginia’s senators say they aren’t giving up on efforts to pass stricter federal gun laws even as they were dealt a major setback last week. Matt Laslo has the details from Washington.

Governor Bob McDonnell issued a letter earlier this month urging college presidents and boards to hold the line on in-state tuition – a plea repeated Thursday by the University of Virginia’s Rector Helen Dragas, but the board of visitors voted 14 to 2 to increase tuition and fees by 3.8%  or about $450 for in-staters and 4.8% — just over $1,800 for students from other states.  The board approved even bigger tuition and fee hikes for students in the law, business, engineering and medical schools.  The meeting was disrupted twice by students demanding a living wage for housekeepers, cooks, maintenance workers and other staff, as Sandy Hausman reports.

Many Virginians are heaving a sigh of relief after getting tax returns done and in the mail, but for some the challenge of paying taxes as just begun.  They’re the ones who get notices from the IRS.  At the very least, that’s an annoyance, and for some it’s a nightmare, but free help could be a phone call away as Sandy Hausman reports.

Virginia’s rural Eastern Shore community is getting back to normal after Charles Smith confessed to a majority of the 77 arsons set there since November. The area has an abundance of renovated manors and crumbling structures, some more than 200 years old. At first residents were glad when arsonists targeted derelict houses. But as the crimes went on, they began to wear on the tiny community. Pamela D’Angelo reports.

It has been six years since the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech, when the words, “We are all Hokies” echoed around the world. Recent events suggest these horrific acts show no sign of abating.  But the Director of the Center for Applied Behavior Systems at Virginia Tech believes there may be a solution to this trend of tragedy, which seems to have society in its grip.  Robbie Harris prepared this report.

President Obama’s  new budget has of course sparked a battle on Capitol Hill. Matt Laslo reports on how Virginia lawmakers are reacting to the president’s blueprint for the nation.

It’s that time of year again, when The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in Charlottesville issues its annual Muzzle Awards – also known as the Muzzies.  As always – there are some incredible accounts of free speech repressed, as Sandy Hausman reports.

April may be known for more than showers this year.  As Beverly Amsler reports, some insects will make a return this spring after nearly two decades underground.

This Friday, Virginia’s Board of Health meets again to vote on controversial new rules that would force women’s health clinics that provide abortions to meet standards written for hospitals – or to close.  Now, a candidate for lieutenant governor says guidelines issued by the governor himself dictate another course of action for the so-called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers – or TRAP.  Sandy Hausman has that story.

National Republican leaders are doing some soul searching after suffering losses in November. But Matt Laslo reports that some Virginia Republicans are wary of a new re-branding effort being conducted by the national party.

The skills that veterans acquire in the military could be aligned with formal credentials for civilian jobs under the first bill that Senator Tim Kaine has introduced in the U.S. Senate.

Kaine unveiled his legislation at the American Legion Headquarters in Richmond yesterday.  He said that as of February this year, the unemployment rate among “Gulf War 2” veterans was 9.5%—up from 7.6 % since early last year.

Under the “Troop Talent Act,” service members would be given information throughout their military careers about earning civilian certifications that match their military occupational training. The Department of Defense would also provide more information to organizations that award credentials and licenses so that they can match the skill sets.  The bill would also seek to prevent fraud by establishing strict standards for courses or programs that guarantee a credential after successful completion.  Additionally, it would add Information Technology to a DOD pilot program that aims to increase access to high-demand career fields.

With the arrival of spring, flu season comes to an end.  Officials say 2013 was an especially bad year, with much of the country reporting high rates of disease.  The Centers for Disease Control recommended anyone over the age of six months be vaccinated, but many took a pass.  A new report from Virginia Tech sheds some light on why parents might choose to ignore medical advice when it comes to vaccines.  Sandy Hausman reports.

Opposition has continued to legislation that requires a new statewide school division to take over under-performing schools until they turnaround—even after Governor McDonnell proposed amendments last week.

The bill would establish a new Opportunity Educational Institution Board to assume management of schools that have been denied accreditation, but the Virginia Education Association, organizations representing school boards and superintendents, and the PTA are among the groups calling on lawmakers to reject them.

As Virginia Public Radio’s Anne Marie Morgan reports, they didn’t like the bill before—and say they like it even less with the amendments.

The public comment period is now underway on the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ proposed new regulations for Fox Hound training preserves.  Robbie Harris has more on the story.

State lawmakers are again taking sides in the battle over abortion.  Governor McDonnell is now asking legislators to impose a limit on insurance policies to be sold here through a federal exchange – a place where Virginians who don’t have coverage through work or school can buy it.  Sandy Hausman has more on that story.

The U.S. attorney’s office is investigating a Richmond area company that makes face cream and nutritional supplements.  It’s called Star Scientific, and a complaint was filed in federal district court alleging the firm made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose potentially illegal transactions.  The company says it has done nothing wrong.  Meanwhile, reporters are finding links between Star Scientific and two of Virginia’s top political leaders – Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.  Sandy Hausman has details.

A day after presumptive Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe made a statement about his desire to implement Medicaid expansion, Governor McDonnell and McAuliffe’s GOP opponent have responded.  McDonnell says he’s not caving in to the pressure to implement the expansion without reforms… and has submitted budget amendments to require those changes.  As Virginia Public Radio’s Tommie McNeil reports, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says the Governor is doing the right thing.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government has pledged to pay the full cost for additional Medicaid recipients and will scale back to paying no less than 90% after that.

There are still eight long months before Virginians head to the polls to choose a new governor, but Quinnipiac University’s Peter Brown expects the race to about as tight then as it is now. And as Virginia Public Radio’s  Tommie McNeil reports, that may have a lot to do with candidate identity—or the lack thereof—when it comes to Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

If you’ve been saving photos, notes and videos to your favorite social media sites and are counting on them to be there indefinitely, think again.  As Sondra Woodward explains, the Web may not the best place for storing the record of your life.

In the rural beach community of Accomack County on the Eastern Shore, state and federal investigators are searching for clues in the ashes of what is now the 73rd arson since last November.

Many of the old farmhouses being targeted are used only during the summer by visitors or migrant workers who harvest and pack produce.

State Police spokeswoman Sgt. Michelle Anaya said the arsons happen at night and neighbors live a mile or more away from each other making it difficult to see anyone suspicious.

Much of the evidence is either burned or washed away by fire hoses. But investigators do have the beginnings of a profile.
Sgt. Anaya says this person or persons are very familiar with the territory; they are very familiar with the abandoned buildings.

The youngest and the oldest people in our communities sometimes find themselves marginalized.  Often they are seen in terms of what they take from society, because of what they cannot yet do, or what they can no longer do.  Robbie Harris has this report on what these book end generations are doing together.

Safaris in Africa remain a popular choice for travelers in search of adventure, but they’re expensive and often require vaccinations and medications to guard against life-threatening disease.  Now, a British company is offering something it believes will sell just as well – setting up headquarters in Virginia and selling trans-Atlantic travelers on an American Safari.  Sandy Hausman has more.

Several northern Virginia communities are the healthiest in the state.

The annual County Health Rankings & Roadmaps lists Fairfax County as number 1, followed by Loudoun, Arlington, Albemarle, and York Counties.  Meanwhile, Henry, Dickenson, Buchanan, and Tazewell Counties were at the bottom followed by the city of Petersburg, which had the least healthy residents.

All 133 Virginia localities listed in the report were measured on the length and quality of life as well as health factors.  Bob Hicks from the Virginia Department of Health, says the rankings haven’t changed much over the four years the study has been conducted.

“Between the social and economic factors and the access, I think we keep seeing the same sort of problems in Southwest and Southside Virginia that we need to get more facilities out there that people have access to.”

But money for more clinics can be a challenge, no matter where in the Commonwealth they would be located.

“Some of our poor areas want to attract more economic development.  And they find the corporations, the companies that want to come to these areas are looking for a healthy workforce.  So there’s a willingness to maybe sometimes invest in some of these changes that can be made to try to change and improve the health of the workforce.”

Hicks says the report is a tool to spur dialog in the communities and to create or continue programs for promoting good health.

–Beverly Amsler