Credit: John Brighenti / Flickr

When Congress gets back into session, one bill members will consider was introduced by a freshman House Democrat hoping to protect transgender people who are homeless.

Michael Pope reports.

A new Virginia law limiting cell phone use by drivers is getting an early test. And a Northern Virginia Boy Scout is leading an effort to restore a neglected cemetery for African Americans.

Those have been among the most read stories on the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link.

More now from Fred Echols.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Marijuana possession is still against the law in Virginia.

But one Northern Virginia prosecutor is taking action to sidestep prosecution for low-level offenders.

Michael Pope reports.

Virginia has a well-known reputation as being a state that’s good for business. But what about workers?

Michael Pope reports.

Gov. Ralph Northam

Polling from Roanoke College shows approval for Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is on the rise.

He’s up to a 37% approval rating. That’s a five point uptick since February when a racist photo was discovered on his medical school yearbook page.

Mallory Noe-Payne has this look at where Virginia’s Governor stands now, six months later.

  Air pollution or haze hurts scenic views in Shenandoah National Park. The National Park Service has documented the effect on the park’s views back into the 1990’s.
(Credit” Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments)

When you think about a national park, you probably think about fresh air, but the fact is that pollution blows through many of our parks, including the Shenandoah.

The Environmental Protection Agency came up with a rule to address air quality, but park advocates complain that the Trump administration is getting in the way of improvements.

Sandy Hausman explains.

Credit: MBandman / Creative Commons

Do local governments across Virginia have zoning authority to tell gun stores where they can be located and, maybe more importantly, where they can’t be located?

Michael Pope reports.

Creative Commons via flickr.com

A judge in Oklahoma ruled yesterday/Monday the company Johnson and Johnson is partially responsible for the opioid epidemic there. The drug-maker has been ordered to pay half a billion dollars.

Virginia wasn’t a party in that case, but as Mallory Noe-Payne reports the ruling could still have implications for the Commonwealth.

Next week is Labor Day and the traditional beginning of the campaign season in Virginia.

As Michael Pope reports, a new poll shows Democrats are poised to do very well.

US Census Bureau Data

Virginia marked Women’s Equality Day Monday.

But as Michael Pope reports, there’s still no equality between the genders in Virginia when it comes to pay.

Charles Jameson looks on as fellow reenactors Charles Belfield, George Beckett and fire muskets in a salute to black patriots of the Revolutionary War.
(Credit: Pamela D’Angelo)

It’s been nearly two-and-a-half centuries since the Revolutionary War and still very little is known about Virginia’s black patriots.

Some were promised freedom and went into battle. Others produced weapons, clothing and food.

In the Tidewater Region, the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society is recognizing the role of black patriots in winning the war.

Pamela D’Angelo reports.

(Credit: 401(K) 2012 via Flickr.com / CC)

Is the federal government doing enough to protect people with student loans?

Michael Pope reports that one Virginia Congressman is seeking action on the issue.

  Shalin Desai celebrates completing his AT hike from Georgia to Maine. Now he’s organizing groups to enjoy and maintain the trail.
(Credit: Shalin Desai)

The Appalachian Trail stretches nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine, and it depends on volunteers to keep the path clear.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is now trying to interest more people in the job – especially those who have not, historically, been part of the hiking community.

Sandy Hausman has details.

(Credit: Mallory Noe-Payne)

400 years ago, the first enslaved Africans arrived to English North America. That moment would set the trajectory of a nation.

The story begins in 1619. In western Africa, a village is raided and the people that lived there are put on a ship and forced to go to the New World. Through piracy and storms, about twenty land eventually in Point Comfort, Virginia.

Today the site is called Fort Monroe and it’s a National Monument.

Mallory Noe-Payne spoke about the history and future with Superintendent Terry Brown.

  Robert Morris, commissioner for RVA League for Safer Streets. Many of the young men he works with have been stopped by police. (Credit Mallory Noe-Payne)

Earlier this year Richmond Police released a trove of data. It revealed who in the city is stopped by law enforcement, and why.

The numbers show large racial disparities in stops for things like suspicious activity, and disorderly conduct.

Mallory Noe-Payne takes a look at the most drastic disparity– curfew violations.

Appalachia is known for its abundance of water. But a new study finds that climate change could have a strange effect here, causing both more floods and more droughts.

Robbie Harris reports.

  Pythium Pathogen grown from Chincoteage water samples. (Credit Erica Goss)

At Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore, a herd of wild ponies is under attack by a deadly infection.

So far, eight female ponies have died, and the volunteer fire department that owns the herd is fighting to prevent additional deaths.

Pamela D’Angelo reports the region’s changing climate is creating an ideal environment for the disease.

  Veterinarian Richard Hansen inspects ponies. (Credit Pamela D’Angelo)

For the past three years, a mysterious micro-organism has been infecting the famous wild ponies of Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

The infection is known as swamp cancer and it has killed eight female ponies so far.

The volunteer fire department that owns the herd and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the refuge, have brought in scientists and veterinarians to try to eliminate the culprit and cure the disease.

Pamela D’Angelo reports.

Private war games in Hanover County have some neighbors upset. And the toll road industry in the Hampton Roads area is now bigger than some of the region’s better known economic mainstays.

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link. 

More now from Fred Echols.

Rental scooters provide a new transportation alternative but if riders get careless they could finish their trip in an ambulance.

And the University of Virginia is working to memorialize the contributions of enslaved people.

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link.

More from Fred Echols.

Governor Ralph Northam greets workers at a mobile DMV office in Roanoke. (Credit David Seidel)

Just under 35,000 people in Virginia have gotten their driver’s license back. That’s since July 1st, when a new policy stopped the practice of suspending licenses as a punishment for not paying court fines.

As Mallory Noe-Payne reports, the next push is reaching the hundreds of thousands who are eligible, but just need to apply.

New campaign finance disclosures are revealing the contours of Election 2019.

Michael Pope explains how.

Organic chicken farming and industrial chicken production have been polar opposites up until now. But a Virginia man is looking to change that.

And newly released numbers show how some Virginia communities have been inundated by opioids. 

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link. 

More now from Fred Echols.

  Experts say new crash dummies and computer models may help design safer cars for women and people over 65.  (Credit UVA)

A team of engineers at the University of Virginia reviewed data from nearly 23,000 crashes and concluded there are some big problems with car safety systems.

Sandy Hausman reports that women and people over 65 are at extra risk.

Gov. Ralph Northam

It’s been five months since Democratic Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal upended Virginia politics.

Now, as Michael Pope reports, new campaign finance disclosures show the governor’s political action committee is up and running.

Grande Dixence is the tallest gravity dam in the world. (Credit: Sandy Hausman)

Faced with worrisome warnings of climate change, Virginia is weighing green options for producing energy.

Solar and wind are sources favored by this state’s two largest utilities, but what about water power?  Virginia is blessed with mountains and rivers.

Sandy Hausman traveled to a place where dams provide 60-percent of the power to report on the prospects for hydro in Virginia.

  Alex Wehring and educational outreach possum Posey enjoy an eclectic lunch at the Wildlife Center of Virginia. (Credit Sandy Hausman)

This month the Wildlife Center of Virginia marked a milestone: Caring for its 800,000 patient – a possum.

In years past, rabbits have been the most common animals cared for at the clinic in Waynesboro, but today it’s possums that claims the title.

Sandy Hausman reports on why those animals are vulnerable to injury and why you might want to protect them.

Virginia students who might not be all that interested in traditional sports now have a chance to represent their high schools in a new kind of competition. And a storm has taken down much of what remained of a 1930’s “segregation wall.”

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link.

More now from Fred Echols.

The number of shark attacks on the east coast has increased, but experts say we shouldn’t blame them.

The problem, they claim, is the human population keeps growing, and more people are going to the beach.

And sharks are themselves under attack.  Sandy Hausman reports on why, and on what Virginia scientists are doing to protect them.

Credit: Chris Dlugosz via Flickr/CC

Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott is using his position as chairman of the Education and Labor Committee to push for a 15-dollar an hour minimum wage.

Michael Pope reports a new analysis is a mixed bag for that effort.

House Democratic Leader Eileen Filler-Corn asks Republican Speaker Kirk Cox to bring all eight of the governor’s gun-control bills to the House floor for an up or down vote. (Credit: Michael Pope)

Lawmakers are leaving the Capitol empty handed after a brief special session on gun control.

Michael Pope has this report from the Capitol.

Virginia is growing. But a new report says it may not be growing at the rate that was expected.

Michael Pope reports.

Spilled coal in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. (Credit: Chris Lowie/Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge)

Last week, 36 Norfolk-Southern train cars derailed, spilling thousands of tons of sand-like coal into a section of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

Pamela D’Angelo spoke with the Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the cleanup.

  Governor Ralph Northam greets workers and customers at a mobile DMV office in Roanoke Tuesday. (Credit David Seidel)

Thousands of Virginians have already applied to have their drivers licenses reinstated.  And the program’s only days-old.

David Seidel explains.

After a mass shooting in Virginia Beach last month, Governor Ralph Northam said he would call state lawmakers back to Richmond to discuss gun violence and common sense ways to prevent it.

He had offered several bills them during the last legislative session, but none was approved.

Now, however, Sandy Hausman reports that Northam might actually succeed.

Lawmakers are about to return to Richmond for a special session focused on guns, a move prompted by the recent mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

Michael Pope has this preview of some of the options they’ll be considering.

And a note to listeners, this story contains the sound of gunfire.

The view from Fones Cliffs
(Credit: Pamela D’Angelo)

Environmentalists have been fighting for more than a decade to preserve Fones Cliffs, a pristine, historic, miles-long section of orange-yellow bluffs towering nearly 100 feet over the Rappahannock River in the eastern part of Virginia.

On Saturday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife celebrated their new ownership of a section of the cliffs that will now be part of the Rappahannock River Valley Wildlife Refuge.

Pamela D’Angelo reports.

One of Virginia’s oldest family-owned companies is being sold… and another statue is causing a stir in Charlottesville. 

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link. 

More now from Fred Echols.

  A cloud of royal terns over South Island and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel in 2018.
(Credit Chelsea Weithman)

In 1957 a regional transit authority finished an ambitious project – a roadway, bridge and tunnel connecting Hampton to Norfolk.

It’s an important route for locals and for anyone heading to the Eastern Shore or the Outer Banks.

It’s also a bottle neck the region hopes to open with the Commonwealth’s largest construction project ever.

Sandy Hausman has details.

As a regional transportation authority prepares to expand the Hampton Roads Bridge and Tunnel complex, scientists are warning that failing to deal with thousands of sea birds in the area could be disastrous.

Sandy Hausman has that story:

Fentanyl is a deadly part of the opioid crisis.  The synthetic drug can be up to 100 times more potent than morphine.

Now researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond have not only tested a promising vaccine.

But as Mallory Noe-Payne reports, they’ve also developed a method to test other new treatments.

  A black bear
(Credit Al Stanford via flickr.com / CC)

There are an estimated 18-thousand black bears roaming around Virginia, and at this time of year there are lots of mothers and cubs.

Most are healthy, but wildlife watchers report a growing number have mange.

Sandy Hausman reports on what causes that disease, and how research here could revolutionize treatment.

A Virginia Indian tribe that’s been without a cultural base for three centuries will soon have one. And a small town on the Eastern Shore is wondering how to deal with a plaque that memorializes both World War One soldiers and segregation. 

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link. 

More now from Fred Echols.

Ken Cuccinelli (Credit USCIS Photo)

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is now the acting director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and that’s riling even some Republicans in the Senate.

Matt Laslo has the story from the Capitol.

  Kehinde Wiley’s “Napolean Leading the Army over the Alps” at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in 2016. (Credit Mallory Noe-Payne)

Artist Kehinde Wiley, best known for painting President Obama’s official portrait, has announced his first large-scale public sculpture. And Virginia will ultimately be its home.

As Mallory Noe-Payne reports, the piece is modeled after one of the Richmond’s Confederate monuments.

  Arthur Ashe won three Grand Slam titles, Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open.
(Credit Wikimedia Commons)

This weekend the Boulevard — a historic road through Virginia’s capitol city — will be renamed.

The new name? Arthur Ashe Boulevard.

That’s in honor of the tennis great and humanitarian who was born in Richmond. Ashe died in 1993. And, as Mallory Noe-Payne reports, attempts to honor his legacy have been long in the making.

  Many roads in the Northern Neck were damaged like this one in Westmoreland County after Hurricane Michael last October.
(Credit Izaak Hagy)

An organization seeking to hold big oil accountable for global warming estimates it will cost more than $31 billion for Virginia to protect coastal communities from sea-level rise.

Pamela D’Angelo reports.

  A deer tick (left), one of the species of tick that transmits the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. High resolution fluorescently tagged image of the bacteria B. burgdorferi that causes Lyme disease (right).  (Credit Brandon Jutras)

With temperatures in the U.S. on an upward trend, so is Lyme Disease. The ticks that carry it thrive in warm, wet environments and it’s expected that some 300-thousand people will contract it this year.

As Robbie Harris reports, new research out of Virginia Tech is showing promise for better diagnosis and treatment of Lyme Disease.  

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is calling for decriminalization of marijuana, adding that the enforcement often unfairly targets African Americans.

Michael Pope has the story.

Credit Matt Wade via flickr.com / CC

Justices on the United States Supreme Court rejected a Republican effort to throw out newly drawn maps of legislative districts.

Michael Pope reports.

Credit: Creative Commons / Flickr

State Democratic leaders are touring Virginia, getting feedback from community members on addressing gun violence.

As Mallory Noe-Payne reports, it’s in preparation for the July 9th special session.