Bob Leweke

Governor Northam sets April 11th for the General Assembly to return to session and settle on a budget… a former State Department official sues right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over attacks stemming from the violence of August 12th in Charlottesville… and, is the small city of Buena Vista poised for a comeback?

Governor Northam gets to work on what the General Assembly has sent him so far, and he has a lot of decisions to make… U-V-A’s next president will start his job earlier than expected… and, we check in with local schools participating in Wednesday’s national school walkout, in their own way….

Marchers in Harrisonburg mark International Women’s Day… the General Assembly adjourns its regular session, and now the clock is ticking to agree on a budget before July 1st… One point of agreement – a new law that could actually raise your electric bill….

The General Assembly adjourns on Saturday, without agreement on a budget, with a wide gulf remaining over expansion of Medicaid… In the wake of the Parkland mass shooting, the House Speaker forms a committee on school safety, but no legislation until next year… And, what it means for six native tribes in Virginia, finally recognized by the federal government….

The lead organizer for last August’s violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville is suing the city for not letting him do it again… Lawmakers get ready to leave Richmond, with the state’s budget and Medicaid expansion still unresolved… And, the state will soon require parents to strap their small children into rear-facing car seats….

Harrisonburg and Winchester’s daily newspapers are changing hands in a sale announced Tuesday…  The state Senate passes a bill against so-called “sanctuary cities”… And we have some guidelines for how to approach, and best help, panhandlers….

Charges are dropped against a Charlottesville woman for confronting the Ku Klux Klan during their rally on July 8th… while Congress fiddles on DACA, Virginia state legislators are also refusing to act on the Dreamers’ access to in-state tuition… and, we follow the production of biomedical inventions, from idea to the marketplace, and how UVa helps the whole process along….

Tim Kaine is favored by Virginians to retain his Senate seat this year over any Republican challengers, and a majority strongly disapproves of President Trump, in a poll released Monday… The taint of Harvey Weinstein has reached the University of Virginia… and, Virginia Democrats are renaming their annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner….

One Virginia Republican congressman says he’s not responsible for controversial Twitter activity… the Virginia General Assembly begins to wrap up work for its official session, as the state’s Supreme Court issues several rulings… And, this weekend the city of Charlottesville and UVa will mark the 153rd anniversary of Liberation Day in Charlottesville, when Union troops ended the war there….

Charlottesville suffers defeats in the wake of last August’s violence, including the failure of all the resulting bills the city advocated for in the General Assembly regarding guns and crowd control, and the city has been forced to remove the black shrouds covering two Jim Crow-era monuments… Meanwhile, a bill barring so-called “sanctuary cities” in Virginia advances….

A judge orders the tarps covering two Civil War statues in Charlottesville be removed, even as the city tries to get rid of the statues… a prominent local leader of the movement to protect the Dreamers discusses DACA, and what it’s meant for her, at JMU… and, even as West Virginia teachers continue their strike, Virginia’s lawmakers are still divided over a teacher pay raise….

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke fights a subpoena related to last August’s violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville… State lawmakers pass a big utility re-regulation bill that critics say could hike your electric bill in the future… And, Virginia’s distillers may get a break with a bill written by someone who also happens to own a distillery….

Charlottesville residents explore how a different form of government might work – reverting to being a town instead of a city, creating a ward system, that sort of thing – in the second of two public sessions… A utility regulation bill that could soon affect your electric bill continues to make progress in the General Assembly… As does another measure to keep schools from shaming students if they can’t pay for lunch…

The General Assembly votes down one option for improving Interstate 81… Meanwhile, both chambers must agree on budget numbers, but they’re still half a billion dollars apart… And Medicaid expansion is still uncertain….

UVa says hundreds of patients’ medical records were hacked in 2015 and 2016… Lawmakers in Richmond are trying to balance the books, but the numbers aren’t adding up, not yet… And, just when you think you’ve gotten used to stink bugs, there’s a new invasive insect species in town….

Police charge a 13-year-old boy in Harrisonburg with making threats to two city middle schools, one day after a similar incident in Norfolk, one week after the Parkland, Florida mass shooting… In the General Assembly, utility rates, tax law and menstrual equity are debated… And, a new study raises the alarm about road salt used in the winter….

Hearings continue over the taking of land for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline… In the wake of the mass school shooting in Florida, police investigate social media threats to public schools in Harrisonburg and Augusta County… And, the second annual “Memories Matter” fair in Charlottesville revives some very personal African-American histories….

Both houses in the General Assembly released their proposed budgets Sunday, and the House budget includes two things the Senate’s version does not – a pay increase for teachers, and funding for Medicaid expansion… meanwhile, in Charlottesville, leaders wrestle with the worsening affordable housing shortage….

Only one of the many gun control bills proposed in the General Assembly has survived… but some form of Medicaid expansion looks more likely… and, we profile a Woodstock World War II vet who is still flying, and saving lives….

Two state Senate bills target the traffic problem on I-81, and just make it under the Crossover Day deadline… a fifth Republican throws his hat into the ring to challenge Senator Tim Kaine this November… and, current and former employees at the Cargill plant in Dayton allege abuse by the company….

Virginia state legislators pass Crossover Day with some big issues, including Medicaid expansion and oversight of electric monopolies, remaining unresolved… other bills are passed addressing sanctuary cities and suspensions of grade-school children…. Meanwhile, city officials in Charlottesville deal with too many deer….

The company behind the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is suing a property owners association in Nelson County over land for the pipeline… a new law may save you money on your electric bill after all… and, former New Jersey governor and Trump supporter Chris Christie visits the Miller Center in Charlottesville….

Charlottesville residents learn how their local government works, and its limits… the state Supreme Court denies an elderly Staunton man’s appeal of his first-degree murder conviction… and, why are some rural residents stringing up coyote carcasses?

Poultry workers in Dayton protest Cargill’s labor practices… A coalition of conservation groups has gone to court to challenge federal regulators' decision to approve the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline … and, a bill to expand Medicaid advances in the General Assembly, but it contains work requirements that Democrats oppose….