Bob Leweke

A judge agrees with a conservative group and strikes down some new voting rules in Virginia…  One of the final presidential polls show Biden widening his lead over Trump in the commonwealth…  The pandemic is throwing a wrench into the holidays, but we have some tips on making this a safe Halloween for your family…

A judge rules the giant Lee statue in Richmond may come down, but not just yet…  Meanwhile, the Virginia GOP and a conservative advocacy group challenge a new voting rule involving mail-in ballots…  We check into some claims about the minimum wage being made in the 7th District congressional race….

The head of VMI resigns after blistering charges of a long history of racism at the state-supported school…  JMU students won’t get a spring break next semester, as the school continues to adjust its schedule to the pandemic…  What can Virginians expect on election night, and the days after?

Some employees at Wintergreen Resort are quarantined after a wedding there may have exposed them to COVID-19…  Calling 911 on someone because they are Black is about to become a felony in Virginia, and we’ll have details about the so-called CAREN Act…  Oasis Fine Art and Craft celebrates 20 years of cooperative art exhibits in Harrisonburg….

UVa announces its spring plans, and they look a lot like this fall semester, with COVID restrictions continuing…  Governor Northam refuses to sign a bill that would have ended so-called pretextual traffic stops by police, which critics say allow racial profiling…  Less than two weeks away from Election Day, we review the week in Virginia politics….

The General Assembly finally nears agreement on a state budget, and new law enforcement reforms…  Our Community Place in Harrisonburg combines its big fundraisers in this year of the pandemic…  We take a haunted tour of Staunton, with masks and safely physically-distanced, of course….

A judge extends voter registration in Virginia, and you now have until midnight tonight…  Bridgewater College will likely lay off 13% of its employees…  We profile GOP candidate for the 7th District, Nick Freitas….

Advocacy groups are suing Virginia to allow two more days of voter registration, after a utility accident shut down the state’s elections portal on the last day to register to vote…  The same members of anti-government domestic terror groups arrested for a plot against Michigan's governor discussed kidnapping Governor Northam, and he points the finger at Trump…  We profile Democrat Abigail Spanberger, running for reelection in Virginia’s 7th District….

At least one death at a nursing home in Staunton is a result of COVID-19…  Meanwhile, a new VCU study suggests the death rate from the coronavirus is much higher than reported...  We learn how the trauma of losing a business, such as from the August floods in Staunton, can lead to an opportunity for personal growth….

James Madison University begins more widespread testing of students for COVID-19, but still won’t come anywhere close to reaching all students…  We take a deeper look at who would serve on a new commission to draw political boundaries in Virginia, should that constitutional amendment pass voters’ muster in November…  We talk with leaders and staff at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Free Clinic, which is closing after more than three decades of service….

Business owners in Staunton will not get any state or federal money to help pay for the damage from severe flooding in early August…  Public schools, however, will be getting more money from the state’s federal COVID relief fund…  Pollsters in Virginia got 2016’s presidential race right, but what about this year?

After more than three decades, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Free Clinic will close its doors for good, another casualty of the pandemic…  As lawmakers in Richmond near agreement on a revised state budget, Governor Northam warns he won’t sign it without flexibility to respond to the pandemic crisis in the coming months…  Meanwhile, Virginia Republicans threaten legal action against Virginia’s inspector general….

The General Assembly’s special session is winding down, and we’ve got an update on what they’re up to…  Two formerly segregated state parks near Farmville are among 12 new sites added this fall to Virginia’s civil rights trail…  Yesterday, we met Democrat Cameron Webb – today, we meet his Republican opponent in the Fifth District, Bob Good….

Harrisonburg animal officials respond to bear sightings in one upscale neighborhood…  The General Assembly’s special session may soon be wrapping up, and we have the latest…  We begin our profile of the Fifth District congressional candidates, and today we’ll meet Democrat Cameron Webb….

The General Assembly now must reconcile its two different versions of the state budget, and moves forward with a sweeping package of laws reforming policing…  Meanwhile, the state’s health department says Farmville’s immigration detention facility is COVID- free, for now…  Virginia politicians are treading carefully around the big case before the Supreme Court over Obamacare….

State regulators refuse to extend the moratorium on utilities cutting off residential service due to the pandemic…  UVa researchers explore ways to make telemedicine more accessible for people in rural areas…  As UVa continues in-person classes, and JMU plans to bring students back next week, we have a report on how Charlottesville and Harrisonburg are trying to balance the need for student money with public safety during a pandemic….

A conservative legal group challenges Virginia’s new law against LGBTQ discrimination…  Virginia’s Senate considers limiting police power to stop and search someone based on a pretext such as the smell of marijuana...  We explore conditions at one federal prison in Virginia, where there’s been a massive COVID-19 outbreak….

A Harrisonburg landlord will pay more than $300,000 to resolve allegations of sexual harassment and racial bias…  Lawmakers are still struggling over whether Virginia can afford sentencing reform…  We meet some young local artists, creating music for, and about, the Black Lives Matter movement….

Some teachers in Virginia are resigning or retiring early, in part due to concerns over the upheaval of education caused by the pandemic…  State health officials roll out more tools to help fight COVID-19…  On the ballot this election season, two amendments to the Virginia constitution, and we’ll explore what they would do….

The Army Corps of Engineers reissues permits for construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline...  While some Democrats have called for expanding the Supreme Court, Senator Tim Kaine says he prefers that Democrats take the White House and the Senate in November…  More than a month after the special session began, the House of Delegates and the Senate release their budget proposals….

Harrisonburg officials close the high school temporarily after two cases of COVID-19 are confirmed…  A new poll shows Joe Biden with a five-point lead over President Trump in Virginia…  We have a round-up of the week in Virginia politics….

UVa announces new COVID-related restrictions…  Senator Mark Warner and challenger Daniel Gade hold their first debate…  In the final installment of our series about whether armed militias were coordinating with the police at local Black Lives Matter protests, we hear from one retired cop and criminal justice expert….

Just a few days into early voting, tens of thousands of Virginians have already cast their ballots…  Criminal justice reform takes shape in the General Assembly…  A local militia member defends his presence at peaceful Black Lives Matter rallies in Broadway and Elkton….

The only GOP candidate for city council in Harrisonburg goes private on Facebook after sharing material related to conspiracy group QAnon…  Democrats in Richmond are united about civilian oversight of police departments, but divided over similar oversight for sheriff’s offices...  Some Valley residents express concerns about relationships between local militias and the police….

JMU plans to re-open campus to in-person classes on October 5th…  In contrast, Virginia’s community colleges will remain mostly online through the spring…  At least three dozen Virginians have been prohibited from having or buying firearms based on the state’s new “red flag” law….

Early voting begins today in Virginia…  A CDC report says people being held at Farmville’s immigrant detention center are still at risk from COVID-19…  The family of a Charlottesville woman is speaking out about her tragic death and the need to change how we view our doctors and nurses….

UVa finds a cluster of coronavirus cases in a residence hall…  Augusta County’s sheriff investigates an apparent suicide at Middle River Regional Jail…  Lawmakers in the General Assembly reject an effort to require businesses to offer paid quarantine leave….

Governor Northam says voting by mail is safe, as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg offers money for local registrars…  Housing advocates push for an extended eviction freeze…  Census figures show that Virginia is leading the way in health insurance enrollment….

A Charlottesville judge orders the arrest of a white supremacist in Texas involved in the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally…  More than half a million people have downloaded Virginia’s COVID tracking app…  Who should respond, say, to a trespassing complaint when the offender is mentally ill or injured, and how should the criminal justice system handle that person?  We explore the case of one man in Lexington….

Three years after the deadly Unite the Right rally, Charlottesville residents finally get to cheer the removal of a Confederate statue…  For a while in early September, Harrisonburg was near tops in the nation, but not in a good way, it was in concentrations of new COVID-19 cases…  State lawmakers are wrestling with how to get state access to federal facilities such as the immigration detention center in Farmville, after a huge outbreak there….