Bob Leweke

For the first time in two decades, black legislators will lead powerful committees in the General Assembly…  Meanwhile, Virginia’s Republican representatives in the U.S. House are mostly mum on impeachment…  We return to the tiny town of Saxis on Virginia’s eastern shore, struggling to be more resilient in the face of rising water….

Louisa County officials have charged a 16-year-old boy with first-degree murder in the gunshot slaying of an elderly man, and with wounding the man’s wife…  The owner of a zoo in Winchester where more than 100 animals were seized earlier this year has been charged with animal cruelty…  We visit a tiny community in the Chesapeake Bay in danger from rising waters due to climate change….

The State Crime Commission releases a highly anticipated report on gun violence, but the findings are inconclusive…  Confederate statues in Charlottesville and elsewhere could begin coming down now that Democrats have won control of state government…  We do some historical fact-checking on presidential candidate Joe Biden’s claim that Democratic wins in Virginia last week also means that Democrats would win nationwide in 2020…

Advocates in Harrisonburg hold a vigil in support of DACA…  Charlottesville police remove unauthorized equipment apparently set up to catch vandals near a controversial Confederate statue…  Some Shenandoah Valley opponents of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline lend support to tree-sitters blocking the Mountain Valley Pipeline near Roanoke….

Virginia’s next speaker of the House of Delegates will be a woman for the first time ever…  A new UVa study finds that children raised in a city with better sidewalks and pedestrian crosswalks – a “walkable” city -- will have a better chance of success…  Insights from this month’s Books & Brews author into dealing with depression and mental health, from her own experience….

Governor Northam announces a big new program for Virginia universities to churn out thousands of new tech grads…  This week’s election results in a record-high number of women in the legislature…  One of those women, a Muslim of Indian heritage elected to the state Senate, has sparked a hateful, racist backlash on social media….

Now that Democrats have unified power in Virginia, they look ahead to a legislative agenda that includes gun control, environmental protection, and allowing cities to remove Confederate statues…  For the first time, a woman may soon lead the House of Delegates…  The bad news for the GOP was particularly bad in northern Virginia, where Republicans were removed from all their seats in Tuesday’s election….

In January, Democrats will take control of both houses of the General Assembly for the first time in more than a quarter-century, and we have reaction to Tuesday’s elections from both sides of the aisle…  Meanwhile, the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge area remain friendly territory for Republicans, as GOP incumbents again beat back Democratic challengers in much of the WMRA area…  And, we meet a change agent coming to speak at this week’s TedXCharlottesville….

Virginians vote, and we have a look at the city-county divide, the power of millennials, and the effects of redistricting on your ballot…  CBS says Lieutenant Governor Fairfax's defamation suit is an attempt to silence his accusers…  Virginia’s Wallops Island Flight Facility sends more supplies to the International Space Station….

Two men die in separate Interstate highway incidents…  The current Republican vice president, and a former Democratic vice president now running for president, make campaign stops in Virginia, and Democrats say both visits will help them in Tuesday’s elections…  Meanwhile, opponents of abortion rights are working overtime for Republican candidates….

Virginia's Congressional representatives vote along party lines to pass new rules for the House's impeachment inquiry into President Trump…  Virginia's attorney general files another lawsuit over the opioid crisis…  Meanwhile, just days before Virginia’s elections, last minute money streams into campaigns across the commonwealth….

The Louisa County Sheriff’s Office says a missing girl has been found safe…  The latest campaign finance reports show that lots of money is coming into Virginia from outside the Commonwealth…  We trudge through the wet woods near Crozet, as a wheel from a 60-year-old plane crash is returned to rest at the crash site….

Former Governor Gerald Baliles dies at his home in Charlottesville…  The former nurse at the regional jail in Lexington gets a year in prison for falsifying the record of an inmate’s beating…  Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger wants more transparency in drug prices….

A defamation lawsuit against a Charlottesville activist, a reporter, and a newspaper is thrown out of court...  Dominion Energy warns customers about a phone scam fishing for money...  With just a week to go in November’s elections, we take a look at ads on social media, who’s campaigning in Virginia, the surge of absentee ballots, and, remember that election from a couple years back that ended in a tie?

A new poll shows an advantage for Democrats in some state Senate races…  Meanwhile, presidential candidates are flocking to Virginia to campaign…  Studies show that just a couple of minutes talking to your doctor can make a big difference if you abuse or are addicted to alcohol….

Contract employees at UVa will also get a pay raise, along with full-time staff…  Former Governor Doug Wilder says a review panel has cleared him of nonconsensual sexual contact with a VCU student, but the student’s lawyer and VCU say that’s not the whole story…  Kid Pan Alley celebrates its 20th anniversary with a new album….

New plans to turn manure into electrical energy…  The FBI is now helping with the search for a missing Louisa County girl, who is believed to be in danger…  Governor Ralph Northam is back in the political fray, months after a blackface scandal almost ended his career….

The Governor and the First Lady help launch economic and education initiatives in Charlottesville...  A preview of what to watch for in next month’s General Assembly elections…  Meanwhile, Democrats get a celebrity boost from Alec Baldwin….

The expansion of a mental health hospital in Staunton is being delayed and costs are going up…  We take a look at one House of Delegates race in the Lexington area, where Democrats are fighting hard to turn the deep red 24th district blue this year…  We check with an expert at Shenandoah National Park to explore why the fall colors are a little late this year….

The first residential drone package delivery service in the U.S. is off the ground in Virginia…  Governor Northam says Virginia has made what he calls the largest renewable energy contract ever negotiated for state government…  The University of Virginia pioneers a less invasive treatment for thyroid patients….

Strasburg's controversial mayor turns himself in over charges that he misused town and state funds…  Virginia education officials endorse a new way to more fairly allocate money for schools…  We hear from one expert on the link between poverty and eviction….

The man accused of making racist threats against a black activist in Charlottesville pleads not guilty…  For many crops in Virginia, Wednesday's rain was too little, too late…  The battle for control of Virginia’s legislature is breaking records in political fundraising, and some of that money is paying for ads on your TV….

State officials warn this could be one of the most severe fall wildfire seasons in years…  A majority of Virginians favor the House’s impeachment inquiry, according to one poll…  We meet one couple bringing magic and mystery, including Quidditch, to Staunton….

The newsroom at the Daily Progress in Charlottesville forms a union, and they have a list of demands for the corporate owner...  Statues of seven influential women are revealed in Richmond…  In Virginia, every year is election year, and we explore the costs and benefits of that….

Richmond joins Charlottesville and a handful of other Virginia cities in marking today as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, supplanting the federal Columbus Day holiday…  A federal judge strikes down Virginia’s law requiring people to state their race when applying for a marriage license…  Voter registration is way up in Virginia, and that could be good news for Democrats….

Harrisonburg and Winchester report the lowest rates of violent and property crimes in Virginia…  Dominion releases its latest plan to cut carbon emissions and deal with climate change…  In his new book, a UVa researcher explains how science works, and why so many people, from Flat Earthers to climate change deniers, don’t trust it….

Charlottesville will appeal its defeat in a lawsuit over Confederate statues…  The U-S Supreme Court refuses to hear an eminent domain appeal challenging the Mountain Valley Pipeline…  For the first time, a majority of Democrats running for office in Virginia say they oppose Virginia’s right-to-work law….

7th District Representative Abigail Spanberger says Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria is “catastrophic”…  Governor Northam dedicates a new state forest in Rockingham County…  State forestry officials warn of a potentially dangerous fire season….