Bob Leweke

The top Republican in the House of Delegates, who represents part of the Shenandoah Valley, defends his GOP colleagues who supported President Trump’s lies about the election, and in doing so repeats the false information that there were widespread discrepancies in the voting…  Meanwhile, the state Senate moves to censure Senator Amanda Chase for her role…  Marijuana is on a path to legalization in Virginia, but there are lots of details to work out first….

Senior citizens, teachers, and police and fire fighters in the Shenandoah Valley are among those who can now start getting COVID-19 vaccines, as the Central Shenandoah Health District moves into the next phase of distribution...  Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and several hundred people in Lexington marked the day by honoring the lives, especially Black and brown lives, lost to COVID-19 and racial violence…  We have a review of activity in the General Assembly….

Virginia sets a new record, nearly 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 in one day, as we wait for the next phase of vaccines…  Meanwhile, the outbreak at the Middle River Regional Jail is slowing, but not yet under control…  For the first time on a traditional day for Virginians to have access to their legislators, roads in the city of Richmond are closed today for security reasons….

Every single resident at one nursing home in Staunton has contracted COVID-19, and more than a dozen there have died, as a new report highlights how the virus is raging at nursing homes across Virginia…  Meanwhile, Governor Northam says the state is speeding up vaccine distribution… And the General Assembly, in its first week, starts working on the problem of illegal evictions, and the censure of a radical right-wing Republican state senator….

Virginia’s Democrats and Republicans split on impeachment in the U.S. House…  Meanwhile, in Richmond, the General Assembly is back in session…  House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn strips committee assignments from three Republicans, including two from the WMRA area, for their vocal support for overturning November's election results, and one of those delegates was part of the mob on January 6th….

UVa’s Medical Center bans most visitors due to the threat of COVID-19…  As the General Assembly convenes, one measure might tighten oversight of Dominion Energy, but dealing with the pandemic will likely dominate much of the session…  Meanwhile, officials will close Capitol Square in Richmond to the public on Monday, that’s traditionally a day for constituents to lobby lawmakers, known as “lobby day”….

Richmond is now under an indefinite state of emergency, as the General Assembly gets ready to convene, and we have a preview of the session…  Meanwhile, all of the Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation back Trump’s impeachment…  Leaders encourage Americans to stay away from the nation’s capital on Inauguration Day….

As health districts elsewhere plan to begin the next phase of vaccinations, we had a record high in new COVID-19 cases in Virginia over the weekend, and the Shenandoah Valley continues to be a hotspot for the virus…  State Democratic lawmakers call for Amanda Chase’s resignation after she attended the run-up to last week’s insurrection at the Capitol, and some in the state’s congressional delegation are considering several paths to removing President Trump from office…  High school basketball teams in our area started playing games last week in a season shortened and restricted by the pandemic….

Senator Mark Warner calls for a full investigation into the failure of police and federal officials to protect the U.S. Capitol from Wednesday’s pro-Trump mob…  Although Representative Ben Cline has declined to talk with us, Virginia Public Radio managed to get two other Virginia Republicans to talk on the record, defending their votes opposing certification of Joe Biden’s win…  We review the week in Virginia politics with Jeff Shapiro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch….

Virginia lawmakers, Democratic and Republican, condemn the Trump-incited mob that invaded the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, but hours after the violence Representative Ben Cline still voted to oppose Joe Biden’s win in two states…  Governor Northam lays out a roadmap for next steps in Virginia’s slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines…  A panel of judges selects eight citizen members of the redistricting commission, and none of them are from the WMRA region….

Sixth district Representative Ben Cline says he will join the group of far right Republicans opposing certification of Joe Biden's presidential win during a joint session of Congress…  When the General Assembly meets next week, lawmakers will resume an ongoing debate over paid sick days…  This year’s session is supposed to be just 30 days long, but can legislators end it on time?

As coronavirus shots get dispensed to healthcare workers and nursing residents, Virginia ranks near last in the nation in getting available vaccines out…  The General Assembly convenes for its 2021 session next week, and Republicans aren’t happy that Delegates will be meeting virtually…  Even before last year’s omnibus police reform bill passed in Richmond, Charlottesville had already begun to form a police civilian review board…  So how’s that going now?

Virginia passes a grim milestone to begin the new year – more than 5,000 Virginians have died from COVID-19…  A state senator is the first lawmaker in Virginia to die from the disease…  State lawmakers narrow down the pool of applicants for the citizen spots on the new redistricting commission from more than 1,200 to 62….

As nursing home vaccinations begin, the governor says all long-term care residents and staff could get at least the first dose this month…  The General Assembly meets again this month, and we have a preview…  New Virginia laws in effect in the new year include no driving with a cellphone in your hand, and new training requirements when you apply for a concealed handgun….

COVID-19 vaccine distribution is slower than promised around the country, and that includes Virginia, but officials say that will improve…  Meanwhile, more people in the state are hospitalized with the virus than at any time since the pandemic began…  The pool of applicants for eight citizen spots on the redistricting commission is huge – about 1200 people, but that pool doesn’t represent Virginia’s diversity very well….

A local hemp company will invest millions for a new plant in Elkton, and that’s expected to create two dozen jobs…  The sister of a man killed by Richmond police says she’ll run for governor as a third-party candidate…  Virginia has changed a lot in the last decade, and we have a preview of what the 2020 census might tell us….

Louisa County High School gets a big check from the government to start a cybersecurity academy…  When Virginia’s minimum wage begins going up next year, farm workers will get left out…  In a follow-up report, we explore what UVa researchers think political leaders need to do to heal America’s political divide….

The surge of coronavirus cases in December continues, and Harrisonburg still ranks as one of the most intense areas of infection…  Starting Saturday, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants in Virginia will be able to start signing up for the chance to drive legally…  A new UVa study explores the depth of America’s political divide….

We meet the doctor who got the first COVID-19 vaccine at Sentara RMH in Harrisonburg…  A statue of civil rights hero Barbara Johns, the Farmville teenager who became part of the case that outlawed segregated schools in 1954, will replace Robert E. Lee at the U.S. Capitol…  Been working from home this year?  Some tips on how to help your dog adjust when you go back to work at the office….

Thousands of households and businesses in Charlottesville and around the Piedmont were without power overnight after Wednesday’s snow and ice storm…  Governor Northam proposes a budget blueprint with $1.2 billion in investments, including a 2 percent raise for teachers…  We go behind the scenes for a glimpse at a classic holiday stage production, in a form that your grandparents might well recognize….

Five Virginians of color from our history are the finalists to replace the statue of Robert E. Lee at the U.S. Capitol…  Even after the pandemic, unemployment may still be a problem in rural areas of the state…  We meet one of the 13 electors who certified Joe Biden’s win in Virginia on Monday….

Front-line health care workers at hospitals in the Valley and Charlottesville begin receiving Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine…  Meanwhile, the rate of the virus's spread in Virginia is increasing…  As Virginia casts its 13 electoral votes for President-Elect Joe Biden, Virginia Republicans try to navigate the transition….

Virginia steps up issuing unemployment assistance for some whose benefits had been put on hold…  In addition to killing thousands of Virginians, and sickening many others, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened already existing shortages of housing and food in Virginia…  When the General Assembly meets again in January, lawmakers are expected to address the way that school districts are funded….

Governor Northam announces a new stay-at-home order amidst a coronavirus surge in Virginia…  Meanwhile, inmates and their advocates appeal to state corrections officials to do more to fight outbreaks at local facilities…  How can senior citizens best navigate the holidays during a pandemic?

The state’s higher education council chooses a national law firm to conduct the state-ordered investigation of VMI…  Meanwhile, Virginia reported the highest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases Wednesday, and Governor Northam is expected to announce new restrictions today…  It’s official, former governor Terry McAuliffe wants his old job back, but the political landscape in Virginia has changed….

Virginia reports its two highest daily cases of COVID-19 this week, and as a result health officials say they’ll likely have to scale back on contact tracing…  Meanwhile, the National Guard steps in to respond to a severe outbreak at Middle River Regional Jail…  Virginia’s circuit courts are understaffed, and their workers underpaid, and advocates are pushing for lawmakers to find more money for them….

VMI removes its controversial statue of Stonewall Jackson, now headed to its new home at the New Market Battlefield…  Meanwhile, two of Breonna Taylor’s aunts attended the governor’s ceremonial signing of Breonna’s Law, a statewide ban on the use of no-knock search warrants…  The eight legislators who will serve on the new redistricting commission include two senior members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus….

If you’re a health care worker on the front lines, you could get a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year…  The 6th District’s Ben Cline joins most other Republicans in Congress in refusing to acknowledge that Joe Biden won last month’s election…  Meanwhile, far-right Republican state senator Amanda Chase says she’ll run for governor as an independent, after the state GOP decides to go with a convention next year instead of a primary….

Even before we know the effect of Thanksgiving gatherings, COVID-19 cases continue to surge in our area, particularly in Harrisonburg…  Email records show that the governor's office worked closely behind the scenes with Virginia's parole board to withhold or censor information about alleged misconduct on the board…  After sweeping police reform passes in Virginia, how much will actually change for local residents and officers, and where should we go from here?