State lawmakers are heading home after wrapping up a special session yesterday; Hopewell Public Schools is making plans to expand virtual learning in response to over three dozen confirmed COVID-19 cases among students and staff; Governor Ralph Northam is asserting local school districts must adopt mask mandates; and other local news stories.

Yesterday, the Virginia General Assembly approved the final budget for American Rescue Plan funds; Virginia lawmakers selected eight candidates yesterday to sit on the Virginia Court of Appeals; Richmond Public Schools kicked off a series of trainings for educators yesterday; and other local news stories.

State employees in Virginia must get vaccinated against COVID-19 by September 1st under a new directive issued by Gov. Ralph Northam; The Virginia Department of Health announced yesterday the first death of a child in the eastern region of the state due to COVID-19 complications; Democrats will fill eight judicial vacancies on the Virginia Court of Appeals in the coming days; and other local news stories.

Democrats in Virginia want to set aside federal stimulus funds to give bonuses to law enforcement officers, but Republicans are pressing them to move faster; Virginia DMVs may have to open up their doors to customers without appointments under a proposal passed by the state Senate; Richmond city employees are now required to get the COVID-19 vaccine; and other local news stories.

As eviction filings rise, lawmakers in Virginia are looking at extending state-level programs to keep people in their homes; RRHA has updated its policy about how it bars certain visitors from its housing developments; The Richmond and Henrico Health Departments are hosting walk-up events today so students can get their required physicals and vaccinations; and other local news stories.

Lawmakers returned to Richmond yesterday for a special session of the General Assembly; A new Marcus Alert system is one of the measures being discussed in the special session; US Representative Abigail Spanberger is seeking $1 million in federal funds to help build a detox center in Henrico County; and other local news stories.

Governor Ralph Northam announced funding priorities for behavioral health care this week; Republican candidate for governor Glenn Youngkin proposed using more than half of the estimated budget surplus on a tax rebate for Virginians; A federal eviction ban ends Saturday. It comes as more than 60,000 Virginians say they could lose their homes soon because they’re struggling to make rent; and other local news stories.

A circuit court judge in Lynchburg tossed out a legal challenge to policies designed to protect transgender students on Tuesday; The City of Richmond is asking residents for input on how it should spend $77 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan; Rural Virginians tend to be older than their urban counterparts. The median age in densely populated localities is about a decade younger than in sparsely populated ones, and that gap continues to grow; and other local news stories.

State Republican lawmakers say they’re being excluded from discussions on how the federal money should be spent; For the last month, advocates and lawmakers have visited schools throughout Virginia as part of the Crumbling Schools tour. On Tuesday, the group stopped by Petersburg; Governor Ralph Northam announced plans on Monday to use federal funds to improve school ventilation systems, but experts and advocates say they want more flexibility with how that money is spent; and other local news stories.

Yesterday was the first day of school for all K-12 students in Hopewell Public Schools. Hopewell is the first in Virginia to resume classes district-wide for the next school year; Governor Ralph Northam was in Hopewell to take part in the back-to-school activities. He used the opportunity to announce his intention to invest in public school ventilation systems; Education advocates are heading to Petersburg today as part of the Crumbling Schools tour; and other local news stories.

A prisoner suing the Virginia Department of Corrections for refusing to allow him to take medication for his opioid dependency is asking a federal appeals court to hear his case. He claims the department’s policy violates the Americans with Disabilities Act; The Virginia State Board for Community Colleges approved changing the name of John Tyler Community College to Brightpoint Community College; As the fall semester approaches, universities in the area are mixed on whether they should require their students to get the COVID-19 vaccine; and other local news stories.

The Virginia Department of Health, along with the department of education, released new guidance for preK-12 schools yesterday as students prepare to resume in-person instruction; Virginia Commonwealth University is requiring all students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to return to the classroom in the fall; A State Inspector General report released last month found flaws in the state agency overseeing drinking water quality; and other local news stories.

The Richmond school board approved a plan Monday to move forward with rebuilding George Wythe High School; The Virginians for Affordable Medicine is a brand new coalition of advocates, patients, and physicians advocating for affordable medications; Virginians have till the end of today to add artifacts to a new time capsule; and other local news stories.

John Tyler Community College could become Brightpoint Community College; The commission tasked with redrawing Virginia’s Congressional districts will hold a public hearing today for Hampton Roads; Federal data show a rise in drug overdose deaths inside prisons and jails across the country in recent years. Virginia falls near the middle of the pack; and other local news stories.

U.S. congressional races are more than a year away, but Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger is already facing a challenge from the right; Virginia ended its fiscal year with $2.6 billion dollars more in tax revenue than it had forecasted; Students, scientists, citizens and more across Virginia took part yesterday in the country’s largest-ever heat mapping project; and other local news stories.

A federal appeals court in Richmond struck down the federal government’s long-standing ban on selling handguns to people under the age of 21; Virginia Military Institute is implementing changes following an investigation ordered by Governor Ralph Northam into allegations of racism at the university; The Richmond community is expressing frustration about delays in construction of a new George Wythe High School; and other local news stories.

Virginia is temporarily halting admissions to five of its eight state-run psychiatric hospitals, including one in Petersburg, because of staffing shortages; Republican Glenn Youngkin still hasn’t released specific policy proposals on most major issues since he announced his campaign for governor; Richmond is considering extending the target date for construction of a new casino by 9 months; and other local news stories.

Yesterday, Governor Ralph Northam announced his latest plan for how he wants to spend some of the more than $4 billion in federal funds headed to the commonwealth; Virginia school districts are required to adopt policies about harassment-free treatment of transgender students ahead of the upcoming school year; The City of Charlottesville removed four statues over the weekend, including two Confederate statues that became a flashpoint for the deadly Unite the Right rally in 2017; and other local news stories..

Twenty-four states, including Virginia, reached a resolution in legal fights against the makers of Oxycontin; Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin is defending comments he made about abortion in a video taken by a liberal activist; Since pandemic restrictions were lifted, many people are returning to doing things they missed out on last summer, like blueberry picking; and a look at delay in the construction of a new George Wythe High School amid tensions between the City of Richmond and Mayor Levar Stoney.

A statue of former governor and segregationist Harry Byrd, Senior was removed from capitol square in Richmond yesterday; Homicides in Richmond and across the state are rising after hitting a low about a decade ago; The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board met yesterday amid controversy over its lack of public engagement regarding a Mountain Valley Pipeline permit application; and other local news stories.

Candidates for Virginia’s House of Delegates could face the ballot box three years in a row under a lawsuit filed against Governor Ralph Northam and the Board of Elections last week; Virginia has seen a large increase in Medicaid enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic; The American Lung Association is offering new fact-based guides about COVID-19 in an effort to raise vaccination rates in Virginia; and other local news stories.

While the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an eviction moratorium for non-payment of rent through the end of this month, it does not apply to tenants with expired leases who want to stay, but whose landlords want them out; The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board has postponed consideration of a permit for a Mountain Valley Pipeline compressor station in Chatham; President Joe Biden has nominated Virginia’s top trial lawyer to the federal bench; and other local news stories.

Virginia Representative Elaine Luria was selected as a member of the committee investigating the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; Senator Mark Warner visited The Diamond today to discuss new legislation to provide financial relief to minor league teams; Federal officials are launching a review of a new wind farm project off Virginia's coast; and other local news stories.

Starting today, Virginians can legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana. But advocates fear confusion over the new law could result in Black people being disproportionately targeted by law enforcement; Another new law taking effect today requires Virginia schools to grant all middle and high school students one excused absence a year to participate in a civic event; and Whittney Evans explains the new marijuana and other laws taking effect today.

The Virginia Department of Transportation announced it has completed cleanup efforts following February's ice storm; The city of Richmond held a press conference yesterday to provide a pandemic update; Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are pushing for more financial support to implement the Ashanti Alert system; and other local news stories.