“What we’re seeing is economic factors around competitiveness that are putting us at a disadvantage,” Martin Johnson with Virginia Realtors said after a meeting of the Virginia Housing Commission.

People love to celebrate, and there are holidays for just about every imaginable reason. This month alone there were days to honor caviar, UFOs, video games, corn fritters and vanilla ice cream. Today, the world salutes snakes.

Legislation introduced during the 2024 General Assembly session created an ombudsman position to oversee the Virginia Department of Corrections.Andrea Sapone took the role in September, and later promised to prioritize an investigation into Red Onion State Prison.

A group of volunteers in Southwest Virginia celebrated the dedication of a new home for one of the survivors of Hurricane Helene. It’s the final of 91 homes that the group has rebuilt in the Damascus area in the past nine months.

The Mitchell’s satyr butterfly is the only butterfly in Virginia that’s federally listed as endangered, and scientists are working to preserve the few meadows where these elusive butterflies still exist.

Members of the General Assembly are clearing their calendars for a potential special session the second week of September.

About two-thirds of the over 90 Virginia school divisions that responded to the survey did not remove any books from their school libraries.

Unemployment claims are up 33% compared to this time last year.

House Speaker Don Scott has a list of 13 Republican-held seats he wants to flip from red to blue. But the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is spotlighting only eight of those 13 races.

Trump administration policies are playing out on the other side of the Potomac and across Virginia. Radio IQ politics analyst Jeff Schapiro and Michael Pope recap the week in politics and state government.