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Lawmakers in the region are divided over how to deal with the president’s request for emergency money to deal with the flood of unaccompanied minors. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has the story.

Photo Credit: Hawes Spencer

Police in Albemarle County are waiting for results from the state’s crime lab – hoping to learn whether remains found over the weekend are those of missing UVA student Hannah Graham. Sandy Hausman reports on the discovery and what it may mean for the only suspect in the case – Jesse Matthew, Jr.

House Republicans are trying to slash the size of the EPA while also limiting its ability to regulate, which they argue will help the economy in places like Virginia. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has the story.

The Virginia Education Association got its starts in the middle of the Civil War.  The story of the VEA’s last 150 years is told in a book set for release next month. Joe Staniunas reports.  

Most Virginia Democrats are pushing legislation to overturn last week’s Supreme Court decision allowing some companies to deny contraception to employees. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has the story.

Now that immigration reform has essentially been pulled from the docket during this legislative session Virginia lawmakers are bracing for the impact on the state’s economy – as some lawmakers brace for what executive actions President Obama prepares to take. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has the details.

A small, colonial-era town in Appalachia may not seem the most likely venue to watch cutting-edge contemporary theater. But every summer, since 1991, Shepherdstown, West Virginia has been a hot-bed of new American plays.  Rebecca Sheir checked in on rehearsals for the Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University, which opens July 11th.

Some laws are now in effect that impact Virginia motorists—and they’re not necessarily punitive. In fact, some were passed because drivers asked for them. In Part 4 of our series on new state laws, we have more from Virginia Public Radio’s Tommie McNeil.

The message from Virginia lawmakers to “patent trolls” is:  If they plan to make a claim of patent infringement, they had better be able to prove it—and answer to the Attorney General’s office if their claim is bogus. It’s one of the new state laws that Governor McAuliffe ceremonially signed.  And as Virginia Public Radio’s Tommie McNeil reports, the Governor believes such laws will inspire MORE innovation—and not suppress it.

National business correspondent Roben Farzad has launched a new radio podcast recorded in Richmond. The program is called Full Disclosure, and in the months ahead you’ll hear some content from the program, as we share his weekly effort to translate the language of finance and investing. The theme of this week’s program?  Bending, Not Breaking.

Farzad talks with Richmond entrepreneur Matt Paxton.  He’s best known for his business Clutter Cleaner, featured on the reality TV show Hoarders.  But it was a long climb to success for Paxton.  While working at the Federal Reserve after college, he fell into gambling.  In 1999 he was $40,000 dollars in debt to a bookie.  He was beaten up, and left in the ditch outside a casino.  He headed home to Virginia.

Paxton also cleaned out crime scenes and foreclosed homes for a decade to pay off maxed-out credit cards at a 22-percent interest rate… he considers it a form of indentured servitude.  But it all led to a successful national business and television show.

You can hear the full story of Paxton’s failure and redemption, on Roben Farzad’s Full Disclosure.

In just over a year, North America has seen a dozen serious accidents involving trains that derailed while carrying flammable crude oil.  One of those accidents, in Lynchburg, caused a massive fire and oil spill.  In most cases, fire departments didn’t know what they were dealing with, since railroads have kept that information secret, but the federal government is now requiring them to inform states when trains of 35 cars or more, carrying  oil from North Dakota or Montana, are coming through.  The public, however, is not entitled to know, and fire departments say they’re still in the dark, as Sandy Hausman reports.

Photo: City of Lynchburg

Within hours of a rail crash in Lynchburg on April 30, inspectors for the state and federal governments and CSX were on the scene – trying to figure out why 17 cars derailed and one ruptured – producing flames, smoke and a significant oil spill. Getting official answers could take 18 months, but there are clues that suggest a cause for the accident and a future course of action to improve rail safety. Sandy Hausman has that story.

Norfolk, VA
Photo: Wetlands Watch

Two Virginia Democrats are teaming up with two Virginia Republicans in a rare bipartisan hearing into how to combat sea level rise along the eastern shore. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has the details on the field hearing.

For decades Americans have worried about our dependence on foreign oil and gas. By 2005 we were importing 60% of our energy, but in 2008 a new technology called horizontal hydrologic fracturing or “fracking” raised the promise of energy independence. U.S. crude production is up 50% and imports have fallen 35%. But getting oil from a massive shale deposit in North Dakota to refineries is raising serious concerns about public safety. Sandy Hausman has more on that story.

Each year officials investigate an average of ten derailments in Virginia alone. Most involve coal or grain – cargoes unlikely to cause trouble for nearby communities, but a growing number of trains now carry oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota. Because it contains high levels of gas, it’s more volatile than some other forms of crude, and transporting it by rail could be putting whole communities at risk. Sandy Hausman reports on one proposed solution to the problem.

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUANN HUNT, CITY OF LYNCHBURG VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

It’s been nearly two months since a train derailed in Lynchburg, sending a fireball into the sky above that city’s downtown and spilling oil into the James River. Experts said the accident could have been far worse, and many communities along the state’s 3,200 miles of railroad face similar dangers. This week, Sandy Hausman begins a series on rail safety and why the risks have risen dramatically.

Credit: Virginia Cavaliers

It will be a winner-take-all at the College World Series tonight in Omaha. The Virginia Cavaliers forced the deciding game last night with a 7-2 victory over Vanderbilt.  Tonight’s game starts at 8PM and will be shown on ESPN. A Virginia victory tonight would be historic for the university and the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Austin Young, 6/23/14
Photo: UVA Cavaliers Baseball

The University of Virginia baseball team has its back against the wall at the College World Series in Omaha.  Vanderbilt took Game One in the best-of-3 championship series, 9-8.  But as Greg Echlin reports, UVA’s trips to Omaha are drawing repeat visitors with hopes of seeing  the Cavaliers go all the way.

Virginia guns laws are despised by officials up and down the east coast who say the lo0se laws bleed guns onto their crime-ridden streets. But Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has this story on how a recent Supreme Court case could stop the bleeding a tad.

The federal pot of money that’s supposed to keep local roads, highways and bridges intact may soon be empty, yet lawmakers on Capitol Hill are miles apart from each other – and it remains unclear if they’ll be able to bridge the gulf. Reporter Matt Laslo has the details.

The recent trend toward e-cigarettes as a way to avoid the dangers of smoking may not be as safe as previously thought.  Scientists at Virginia Tech now say nicotine; even in non-smoke-able forms can,  cause cancer. We get details from Robbie Harris.

Photo: NPR/WBUR

Police routinely use certain techniques to get confessions from suspects, but a new study from the University of Virginia suggests those tactics should not be used with juveniles. Because their brains are not fully developed, social scientists say they will respond differently than adults, and as Sandy Hausman reports, confess to crimes they didn’t commit.

Some conservatives are asking for a delay in the race to replace Eric Cantor as House Majority Leader over disagreements on immigration reform. Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo has the story.