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Virginia ABC adopts more randomized system for rare liquor sales
The changes will leave customers more reliant on blind luck to discover sought-after bottles at liquor stores across Virginia,
Virginia man charged with threatening Kamala Harris
A Virginia man is being prosecuted in federal court after he allegedly made a series of online posts threatening to kill or harm Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia announced Monday. Frank Carillo, a 66-year-old from Winchester, was arrested last week at his home after authorities said […]
Miyares takes aim at Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Friday that he’s going after the online Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue for potentially improper activity, without offering detailed evidence of what he believes the organization has done wrong. ActBlue rejected the attorney general’s allegations as “false” and politically motivated. In a letter posted to X, Miyares made broad accusations […]
Virginia ER data points to shift in tobacco use
Emergency room visits in Virginia by people who reported vaping more than doubled between 2020 and 2023, according to a data analysis released this week by the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. In 2020, there were 23,630 emergency room visits by patients who vaped, according to the organization. By 2023, that number had risen to […]
What should Virginia’s FOIA council prioritize? Depends who you ask.
At a meeting of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act Advisory Council last month, the panel’s chairman held a brainstorming session on pressing FOIA issues. Two dramatically different viewpoints emerged in the responses, highlighting the challenges of changing Virginia’s spotty transparency laws to better balance the public’s right to know with governments’ ability to function. […]
Virginia appeals court rules judge wrongly dismissed asset forfeiture challenge
A Virginia court erroneously ruled authorities could keep $35,293 seized from a Chesterfield County auto repair shop by setting the bar too high for the owner to prove the cash wasn’t connected to a crime, according to a state Court of Appeals opinion released this week. The case dealing with asset forfeiture laws centers on […]
Virginia’s DNC delegation votes to back Harris at convention
Nearly all of Virginia’s 119 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the party’s presidential ticket in November, after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid. Harris was already well on her way to locking down the nomination, but the Monday night vote added Virginia’s delegates to […]
Virginia Democrats rapidly coalesce behind Harris after Biden steps aside
Even before the presidential debate, according to U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrats were concerned about a perceived lack of energy in their party. But whatever uncertainty came with President Joe Biden’s decision Sunday to end his campaign and back Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the Democratic ticket, Kaine said the elevation of Harris has […]
Skill games remain illegal in Virginia, but some businesses are evading the ban
Virginia lawmakers banned skill games years ago after rejecting the argument that slot machine lookalikes don’t count as gambling because they involve more skill than luck. An industry push to convince the General Assembly to repeal that ban failed earlier this year. Despite that failure, a new type of machine is showing up in Virginia […]
What Virginia’s election rules say about parties swapping nominees
As Democrats around the country debate whether the party can still win with President Joe Biden leading the ticket, they have roughly two months left to make a change on Virginia’s presidential ballot, according to state election law. In Virginia, the last day for political parties to get a nominee on the ballot is Sept. […]
Youngkin administration denies FOIA request from member of own task force
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has called for more transparency as the state looks for new ways to handle the growing costs of a program that provides tuition-free college to spouses and children of military veterans killed or disabled as a result of their service. However, Youngkin’s administration isn’t practicing full transparency itself. Kayla Owen — a […]
Virginia officials defend ‘free and fair’ elections as primary results are certified
Virginia officials on Tuesday certified the results of last month’s congressional primaries and defended the integrity of the state’s voting systems after a contentious election season. “I think we can comfortably say we’ve had free and fair elections in this primary,” said former Republican delegate John O’Bannon, who now chairs the Virginia State Board of […]