Towing companies have become a major player in Virginia’s General Assembly, where lawmakers set the maximum fee towers can charge drivers. Now they’re looking to increase those rates, but it’s a tough sell from an unloved industry.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine wants to end two wars that are still technically ongoing; Virginia’s economic development agency says it has about 1,700 emails and documents related to the scuttled Ford battery plant proposed for a Danville-area megasite, but it won’t share any of them under the state’s public records law; Advocates for legal recreational marijuana sales in Virginia are losing hope that lawmakers will take action this year; and other local news stories.

A House bill that would allow small breweries to sell their beer directly to restaurants and local retailers without going through distributors is headed to the Senate; Deadlines are approaching for voters in the 4th U.S. House District; Legislation aiming to create separate pathways to an advanced studies diploma — with and without a world language requirement — has cleared one chamber of the General Assembly; and other local news stories.

Sunday, committees in the House and Senate approved very different budgets. Those budgets hit legislators’ desks yesterday; The commonwealth’s 20.6% recidivism rate is the second lowest in the country, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections; Virginia’s General Assembly hit the half-way point in its regular session Tuesday with a flurry of votes on hundreds of bills; and other local news stories.

GOP lawmakers in GA kill bill regarding insurrectionists; Democrat lawmakers propose funding for state programs with no tax cuts; VSU offers free tax help; and other local news stories

Have Virginia tax revenues risen by 50 percent over the last four years, as Governor Glenn Youngkin says? PolitiFact Virginia Editor Warren Fiske spoke with VPM News reporter and editor Whittney Evans about his fact checks of the governor’s claim.

The General Assembly is considering a bill that would keep localities from banning natural gas connections in new buildings; The Virginia Board of Education voted to advance its latest history standards draft Thursday afternoon; Virginia law enforcement officers would no longer be able to make false statements while interrogating children under a bill from Democratic Delegate Jackie Glass; and other local news stories.

At least a thousand anti-abortion protesters marched in Richmond’s Capitol Square Wednesday; The U.S. Department of Transportation announced recipients of its $5-billion dollar Safe Streets and Roads grant program; Mayor Levar Stoney gave his state of the city speech; and other local news stories.

Virginia’s Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would ban the sale or possession of AR-15-style weapons manufactured after July 1st; An error by the Virginia Department of Education will result in local school districts receiving less funding than anticipated; As some school districts struggle to hire teachers, former and retired military personnel are being pointed to as potential recruits; and other local news stories.

As Virginia deals with the opioid addiction crisis, some state lawmakers want to increase penalties for distributing any controlled substance that contains fentanyl ; Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is set to give the State of the City address tonight; The Virginia Board of Education will consider a new draft of state history standards on Wednesday; and other local news stories.

For one Henrico County woman, the recent attempt to ban abortion in Virginia after 15 weeks is personal. Martha terminated a pregnancy she desperately wanted, at 23 weeks. VPM News is only using her first name because she fears retaliation from her employer for speaking about her abortion.

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives is demanding cuts to federal spending amid the debt ceiling debate; The James Beard Awards announced its 2023 semifinalists for best chef in the mid-Atlantic, and 2 Virginia chefs are competing for the title; A Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate committee struck down three GOP bills Thursday that would have restricted access to abortion; and other local news stories.

Republicans in the House of Delegates advanced legislation today that would undo Virginia’s connection to California’s vehicle emission standards; A Republican-sponsored bill that would remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was voted down Tuesday in a Senate committee; The nonprofit Homeward is recording the number of people in the Richmond area who are experiencing homelessnes; and other local news stories.

Earlier this week, City Council asked Richmond’s planning commission to consider significant changes to the city’s master plan; The next issue of the Chesterfield Observer will be its last; The Library of Virginia is opening a new exhibit, and other local news stories.

A school shooting involving a 6 year-old and his teacher earlier this month is reverberating in Virginia’s General Assembly; The Greyhound Bus Station along Arthur Ashe Boulevard, which was sold in January, is back on the market; Legislation to extend eligibility of the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship to include the descendants of those locked out of school during Massive Resistance advanced Monday; and other local news stories.

PolitiFact Editor Warrne Fiske looks at claims that President Biden is planning to send the IRS after middle-class Americans; US Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke to VPM about plans to reduce traffic fatalities; Senator Tim Kaine finally announced his plans to run for a third term; and other local news stories.

A House of Delegates subcommittee has advanced a bill that would study how to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in Virginia; Richmond Public Schools has released its proposed budget for the year; The family of a 6-year-old boy accused of shooting his teacher at Richneck Elementary in Newport News says the gun he used had been secured; and other local news stories.

The state stopped collecting taxes on groceries on January 1st, after lawmakers eliminated part of their collection during 2022, but taxes on groceries at the city and county level still exist; Monticello has begun the search for new leadership; the Virginia Senate swore in its newest member on Wednesday; and other local news stories.

A jury ruled Tuesday that one Windsor Police Officer used excessive force, and another illegally searched the car of a Black Army Lieutenant when he was pulled over in 2020; The cost of plans on Virginia’s health insurance marketplace dropped 17 percent since last year; In November, a hand full of Gen Z candidates ran for federal office; and other local news stories.

General Assembly's Lobby Day; Henrico County School Board has its first Black woman in leadership; Results of Survey for GRTC's Pulse Line to Short Pump Released; and other local stories.

Former directors of Richmond’s Office of Community Wealth Building spoke Sunday at the Institute of Contemporary Art; A lawsuit claims voters have been disenfranchised by the quick-turnaround special election to fill the seat of the late Congressman Donald McEachin; A new roof is slated to be installed on Fox Elementary starting next month, after a fire partially destroyed the building about a year ago; The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach is about 40 years old. And both plans to renovate the city-owned space come with a significant price tag; The Great Dismal Swamp could become a National Heritage Area.

Virginia State Police have begun using a new service that allows them to access cellphone location data without a warrant; The YMCA of Greater Richmond president and CEO will soon be part of the organization’s national leadership; Governor Glenn Youngkin wants to ban Chinese companies connected to the Communist Party from purchasing farmland in Virginia; and other local news stories.

Governor Glenn Youngkin outlined his agenda for the year in the State of the Commonwealth Address Wednesday; The Richmond City Sheriff’s Office has announced a death at the city jail; National plane travel ground to a halt early Wednesday for hours due to a safety system being down; and other local news stories.

New legislation could return electrical ratemaking power to state regulators; Four swastikas were spray painted on a Waynesboro mural depicting a Black father and daughter this past weekend; Virginia’s politically divided legislature enters its session today deeply divided on issues like abortion and gun control; and other local news stories.

There were almost a thousand traffic fatalities in the state during 2022, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation, and some are looking to the General Assembly for a solution; The city of Richmond is surveying child-care providers to figure out what next steps might look like in implementing universal preschool; Newport News police haven’t said what kind of charges, if any, will be filed against the 6-year-old student who’s suspected in the Friday shooting of a teacher; and other local news stories.