Scientists are asking the public’s help in stemming the spread of a blight on the Boxwood bush.  The plant is often used in holiday wreaths and garlands this time of year. Robbie Harris has more.

Last year, the White House issued an executive order barring the deportation of high school students whose parents came to this country illegally.  They were encouraged to apply for a special immigration status that could, ultimately, lead to citizenship.  Now, seven of those students are suing to qualify for in-state tuition at Virginia’s public colleges and universities as Sandy Hausman reports. 

Birds do it.  Bees do it.  No…we’re not talking about ‘falling in love,’ we’re talking about sex.  Biologists have long known it plays a vital role in passing new gene combinations on to the next generation, but what’s been less clear, is exactly how that works.   Now, a Virginia Tech Biologist has a new theory that challenges long held notions about natural selection and survival of the fittest.  Robbie Harris has more.

Red bricks covered with ivy have long been seen as a part of Virginia’s charm, but scientists in Richmond warn the vines are taking over – posing a threat to other plants in the state, and they want citizens to do their part in getting ivy under control. Sandy Hausman reports.

Feast in the Ober/Alexander Reading Room

Digitally restored daguerreotype of Emily Dickinson, 1847
Image: Wikimedia Commons

This week, we celebrate Emily Dickinson’s 183rd birthday.  What better way to celebrate the poet than by baking her famous Black Cake?   A group of Charlottesville poets-turned-bakers let us join them for their “Fourth Annual Emily Dickinson Birthday Party.”

Lilia Fuquen takes us to the party.

Image: womensmonumentcom.virginia.gov/

After scouring four centuries of Virginia history—a dozen women have been selected to be memorialized with a bronze monument on Richmond’s Capitol Square. Connie Stevens has the list in this report on the Women of Virginia Commemorative Commission.

Both state lawmakers and Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe say ethics reform will be a priority in January when McAuliffe takes office and the General Assembly convenes. But as Virginia Public Radio’s Tommie McNeil reports, at least one lawmaker is warning that his colleagues should tread lightly and put a great deal of thought into their proposals … because the issue is more of a minefield than people realize.

Timothy Sands

After a unanimous vote, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors has named the university’s next president.   55-year-old Timothy Sands, the provost of Purdue University will be the 16th president of Virginia Tech.

Sands holds an endowed chair in engineering at Purdue—and specializes in the growing field of nanotechnology, with applications for many high-tech uses.  He’s published more than 250 refereed papers, and has been granted 16 patents in electronic materials. Last year he  served as Purdue’s acting president.

Sands begins work on June 1st, when President Charles Steger steps down.  Steger announced his retirement last spring—he’s been president of Virginia Tech since 2000.

Some 238 candidates were considered in the 6-month search to head the one-point-two billion dollar academic enterprise.  Virginia Tech now offers 215 degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $450 million.

Virginia Organizing is out with its annual Job Gap report.  The report compares the number of job seekers to the number of jobs that pay a living wage.  Beverly Amsler has the details.

Virginia needs 30 new judges to keep up with the current caseload.  Beverly Amsler reports on a new study, ordered by the General Assembly.

Alan Wang, Pamplin College of Business

These days, there’s no shortage of information available on the Internet. Everybody and anybody can offer an opinion. But how do you determine what’s valuable and what isn’t?  Robbie Harris tells us about a research team at Virginia Tech, that’s come up with a way to cut through the clutter out there.

Stock Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images via NPR

Some members of the State Board of Elections have again raised the issue of potential vote-counting irregularities in Fairfax County, but this time a major focus was on which provisional ballots should have been counted.  While the entire Fairfax Electoral Board was unable to attend today’s state meeting to explain, one member traveled to Richmond to begin a discussion about what happened.  And as Virginia Public Radio’s Anne Marie Morgan reports, their differences could all boil down to how the state law is interpreted.

Proponents of coal are warning the shifting energy economy in the southwestern part of Virginia could ripple across the rest of the commonwealth. Matt Laslo reports opponents say they’re ringing false alarm bells.

The Supreme Court is now weighing a case that could put an end to limits on individual campaign contributions.  Backers of the idea argue that as long as the donation is disclosed, the risk of corruption is minimal, but another view has emerged from the University of Virginia Law School, as Sandy Hausman reports. 

A debut novel by a Virginia Tech alum is getting praise for its take on the complexities of love and change in the wake of war.  “The Fallen Snow” is an early 20^th century story set –both in a close knit, Appalachian Town– and war time France.  Robbie Harris spoke with John Kelly, who lives in Washington D.C.  He says he first  began thinking about the idea for the book when he was in college  thirty years ago.

Photo: Washington & Lee University
Executive Chef J. Young prepares a historically accurate Thanksgiving meal.

As you plan this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, you might want to consider what the Pilgrims really ate.  Sandy Hausman went to Washington & Lee University for a taste of the original feast and found eel and beer were likely part of the meal, but turkey – maybe not.

Photo: Virginia Tech
University Honors students, from left, Kwamina Orleans-Pobee, Nicholas Montgomery, and Wes Williams want to make their tool, AboliShop, available for public use for Black Friday shoppers.

It’s estimated some thirty million people around the world are forced into slave labor. And while there’s been an international outcry, it was hard to know what labor conditions are behind the products you buy. Now a team of students at Virginia Tech has come up with an easy way for online shoppers to see how their purchases stack up on the human rights scale, before they buy.   Robbie Harris reports.

What does global warming have to do with coffee?  One Virginia business owner says “a lot.” So much that your morning cup of “joe” is going to get costlier. And he’s not alone. As Virginia Public Radio’s Tommie McNeil reports, dozens of the Commonwealth’s businesses are pressuring the General Assembly and Congress to seriously confront the challenge of climate change before there is an economic crisis.

A community mental health organization is in the spotlight, after this week’s attack on State Senator Creigh Deeds and the apparent suicide of his son.  The Richmond Times-Dispatch said Gus Deeds had undergone a psychiatric evaluation Monday, but he was not admitted for in-patient care, because no hospitals in the area had psychiatric beds available.  Now, Sandy Hausman reports that several facilities in the region could have admitted Gus Deeds.

Some experts in the mental health field say it is not uncommon for a person suffering from mental illness to be turned away from treatment.  Tommie McNeil has that story, along with more on the Inspector General’s report on access to care.

State Senator Creigh Deeds is recovering after being stabbed at his Bath County home yesterday, evidently by his 24-year-old son.  The attack and subsequent apparent suicide by Gus Deeds have raised new concerns about whether Virginia provides adequate mental health services.  Sandy Hausman has  more on what experts hope will happen next.

State Senator Creigh Deeds is now listed in fair condition at UVA Medical Center after being stabbed multiple times in the head and torso  at his Bath County home this morning.

Police were called to the home just before 7:30.  The Senator’s 24-year-old son, Gus, is dead of a gunshot wound.

Authorities say at this stage in the investigation, they’re looking at the altercation as an attempted murder and suicide.

Deeds, who is 55, has served the 25th district since 2001.

You can hear the complete 3:30 p.m. State Police briefing in Charlottesville.

Hospitals here in Virginia are sounding the alarm – warning state lawmakers that they’ll be in big financial trouble if the legislature does not expand Medicaid. Sandy Hausman tells why that’s such an important issue for medical centers statewide.

Some Democrats are now asking the White House to delay the signup period on Healthcare dot Gov for uninsured individuals. Matt Laslo reports Virginia Democrats disagree…even as the website continues to suffer major glitches.

File Photo

While Democrats trimmed the Republican majority by at least one seat in the elections, the GOP still retains a solid majority in the House of Delegates.House Speaker William Howell says the Republican party hopes it can find common ground with Governor-Elect Terry McAuliffe.

The Senate is split with 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats.But the Lieutenant Governor’s tie-breaking authority may not help in forming a Democratic majority in the Senate–depending on which party wins Northam’s Senate seat, which he will resign as the Lieutenant-Governor elect.  If the Republicans win, they will hold an outright 21-19 majority.  If Democrats win, Northam would help form a majority.  But that is not final either, because the Senator who wins the Attorney General’s election–which is currently too close to call–will have to resign his Senate seat.  Mark Obenshain’s district is considered reliably Republican, while Mark Herring’s district is thought to be more of a toss-up.

Xavier Medina Vidal, Virginia Tech

Campaign communication about immigration reform has an effect on voters from a variety of backgrounds.  That’s part of the analysis of an exit poll conducted statewide after this week’s vote in Virginia. Robbie Harris has more.

John Flood, assistant director of the University of Virginia’s Office of Emergency Preparedness. Photo: Dan Addison

Tom Hanks’ latest film, Captain Phillips, opened last month – taking in $26 million in its first weekend at the box office.  Here in Virginia, some people take a special interest in the tale of a U.S. cargo ship from Norfolk captured by pirates off the Somali Coast in 2009 – its captain held hostage.  Sandy Hausman reports that negotiations were led by a Virginia man with advice from UVA.

The Virginia Supreme Court has reversed a wrongful death verdict stemming from the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, which killed 32 people.  Robbie Harris reports.

In an off-year election, when there are no presidential candidates, voter turnout is usually low.
Polls may give the race to one candidate, but victory could go to another if he or she can get supporters to actually show up and cast a ballot.
That’s why both Ken Cuccinelli and Terry McAuliffe are campaigning this week with their party’s biggest stars.  Sandy Hausman has that story.

Swing counties in Virginia that were key to President Obama’s victory aren’t showing many signs of life in this year’s governor’s race.  Matt Laslo stopped in Loudon County in Northern Virginia and has this glimpse of a lackluster ground game.

Photo Cole Geddy/UVA

In western culture, the afterlife is often depicted as a place where angels rest on clouds and harps play soothing music.  Here in Virginia, some people hear that music even before death.  Sandy Hausman reports on a program called Music by the Bedside.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill just ended one battle that cost Virginia countless millions of dollars, but the deal merely kicks the can down the road. Matt Laslo reports that the state isn’t out of troubled waters yet…  

UVA/Sanjay Suchak

There was a surprising event at the University of Virginia this week. About 500 people gathered to hear from one of the world’s great spiritual leaders and one of the nation’s new media moguls.  Sandy Hausman reports on why they led a mass meditation on The Lawn.

Photo: Green Forests Work

For more than a century, coal companies here in Virginia have been transforming wooded hillsides — strip mining more than a million acres of land in Central Appalachia. They’re required to restore those sites, but environmentalists aren’t always happy with the results, and area residents find no economic use for the land. Now, however, there’s something new happening on old mining sites.  Jonna McKone reports.

Democrats in Virginia are laying blame for the government shutdown at the feet of Virginia Republican Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has the story.

Releasing clusters of balloons into the sky has become a common way to mark a special occasion or call attention to an issue, but the balloons are creating an issue of their own.  Robbie Harris has more.

While House Republican leaders are working to avoid defaulting on U-S debt, they’re still not offering legislation to reopen the entire federal government. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has this story on how some Virginia Republicans disagree with the tactics of their party leaders.

As thousands of federal workers in Virginia are locked out of their offices, lawmakers in the commonwealth are pointing fingers across the aisle. Matt Laslo has the story from Washington.

With regular reports these days about school shootings, you might expect kids to be somewhat nervous, but a new survey shows students in 453 middle schools around the state feel safe – and most like school, as we hear from reporter Sandy Hausman.

Field production for this story was provided by Ted Keefe.  

The United States has been called a ‘land of immigrants” and some say the debate about immigration reflects the very core of our identity as Americans. The immigration reform bill, passed by the US Senate in June, appears stalled in Congress.  As Robbie Harris reports, Virginia has played a role in the saga of community conflict over immigration.

Some Republicans in Virginia are willing to risk a government shutdown in order to defund so-called Obamacare, while others say the strategy will backfire. Matt Laslo has the story on a divided Republican Party.

Following this week’s shooting at the Washington Navy Yard some Virginia lawmakers are renewing their push for new gun control measures. While that effort is unlikely to go anywhere, Matt Laslo is finding there seems to be bipartisan agreement the Pentagon needs to review the access it grants contractors.

There are about 30,000 Virginians in state prisons, and Virginia spends more than $25,000 a year to house each of them, making the Department of Corrections the most expensive agency in Richmond, with a billion dollar annual budget.

It spends $160 million on healthcare, but critics say that care is inadequate, and some inmates could be dying for lack of medical attention.  Another 30,000 people are locked up in city or county jails, and as we’ll hear throughout this series, their care is also questionable.

The state of Virginia spends an average of $5,300 a year per inmate for medical care in prisons, and that cost has been rising 5-7 percent per year, taxpayers may not be getting their money’s worth, and people locked up for minor crimes could be paying with their lives.   Here’s Part 2 of Sandy Hausman’s 5 part series:

Fifty years ago, this country began closing mental hospitals where people with psychiatric disorders were often warehoused.  The idea was to send patients back to their communities, where they would live better lives with help from local mental health programs.  Unfortunately, those services were limited, and many people ended up on the streets or behind bars.  Today, up to 18% of inmates in Virginia prisons are taking drugs for psychiatric conditions, and critics say some are being punished because they can’t comply with prison rules.  Sandy Hausman has Part 3 of her series.

Photo: Family Caregiver Alliance

The United States has more people in prisons and jails than any other country in the world — 2.2 million inmates — a 500% increase over the past thirty years.  We’re also a graying society, with millions of baby boomers claiming the title of senior citizen.  Those two trends spell trouble for Virginia’s prisons.  Sandy Hausman reports that caring for a single senior behind bars can cost more than $65,000 a year.

By the end of this year, California must release 9,600 prisoners from the nation’s largest correctional system, because the Supreme Court says overcrowding makes it impossible to provide adequate healthcare for inmates. Failing to do so constitutes cruel and unusual punishment – a violation of the U.S. Constitution.  Virginia’s prisons are also crowded and facing a lawsuit over medical care that will be heard this spring, but as Sandy Hausman reports, on other reasons for change in the Commonwealth’s correctional centers.

Virginia was once a big producer of bay scallops, but around 1930 a disease hit the sea grass beds that were home to those shellfish, and in 1933, two big storms wiped them out.  Today, scientists report early success in bringing the grass beds back – and with them, the scallops as Sandy Hausman reports.

Police are waiting for results of an autopsy before closing the case of a 19-year-old University of Virginia student who died over the Labor Day weekend after taking a dose of the street drug known as Molly.  Sandy Hausman reports on what it is, and why police are warning the public against it.

Thousands of property owners in southwestern Virginia say they were cheated out of royalties for methane gas extracted from their land. A federal judge will consider a recommendation this week on whether their cases can move forward as a class action lawsuit.  Robbie Harris has more.

As Congress resumes this week after its month long break there are a lot of pressing issues facing lawmakers that have a big impact on the economy in Virginia. Matt Laslo has this preview…

Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine has cast a vote supporting President Obama’s request to use military force in Syria. Matt Laslo has the story from Washington.

Alan Jones, Mark Bernardo, and Kelly McPhee pled guilty to manufacturing fake IDs.

Federal investigators have closed the book on what could be the nation’s largest maker of fake identification – a Virginia company that made millions without advertising or even creating a website.   Three people plead guilty to supplying up to 25,000 high-quality drivers’ licenses to customers around the world who learned about their services by word of mouth.  Sandy Hausman has details.

A new program is rolling out that provides tax credits for scholarship donations to private schools in Virginia. Passed by the 2012 Virginia General Assembly Session, The Education Improvements Scholarships Tax Credit Program has significant support from non-public, faith-based schools. Tab O’Neal reports.

More information about the tax credit program is available here.