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Top: 2nd Congressional District candidates Elaine Luria (D) and Jen Kiggans (R). Below: Senator Mark Warner and District Representative Rob Wittman. Illustration: Kunle Falayi/VCIJ
Political campaigns and interest groups have spent at least $80 million in the closing months to advertise on TV, radio and online
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Norfolk pastor Brandon Praileau was selected to join Virginia’s Solar for All advisory group before Republicans axed the federal program helping low income communities offset electric bills with solar energy. Handout photo.
Republicans axed a $7 billion federal program to bring renewable energy projects into low-income communities. Virginia had already begun planning for the grants.
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2nd Congressional District candidates Elaine Luria (D) and Jen Kiggans (R) on a donor map background. Elaine Luria photo: Luria’s campaign office | Jen Kiggans photo by Cianna Morales. Illustration: Kunle Falayi/VCIJ
Hampton Roads’ competitive House races have drawn millions from outside the Commonwealth, according to a VCIJ at WHRO analysis
Read moreThe Constitution’s framers battled over the structure of the U.S. Senate and how its members would be chosen
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Winchester City Council President Corey Sullivan, a Republican, at a council meeting on October 13, 2026. Photo by Jaysun Silver // VCIJ
An investigation by VCIJ at WHRO revealed the obscure ownership of a divisive Winchester local news website. A leading city Republican official has called for his resignation.
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The Trump administration’s cuts to SNAP are sending an estimated 130,000 vulnerable Virginians off the food subsidy program. A network of nearly 100 food pharmacies in Virginia is struggling to fill the gap – and provide families with healthy produce and food.
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A former seclusion area is seen earlier this year within Windsor Woods Elementary School after doors were replaced with plywood because Virginia Beach ended the use of dedicated seclusion rooms. The image was part of a document describing plans to redesign the area that were provided by the city schools in response to a records request.
Parents and advocates of special education students pushed for new rules to curb the use of seclusion during behavior outbursts
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A car drives past an automatic license plate reader on Route 29 in Charlottesville on June 27, 2025. Photo by Christopher Tyree//VCIJ
One of the largest automatic license plate reader networks in the state is shut down
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The Winchester Gazette launched its website in August 2023. Questions about its owners and journalism have persisted ever since. Photo illustration
As the hometown newspaper cut staff and TV stations left one small Virginia town, a website appeared touting a new, trusted source of local news. But the who, what, when, where and why of it have baffled residents.
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An Iranian soldier stands amidst the wreckage of a U.S. aircraft that crashed in area near Isfahan, Iran on Monday, April 6, 2026.Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a US aircraft that had been searching for the crew member of a missing US fighter jet had been destroyed, Iranian media reported. US President Donald Trump said earlier that the second crew member from the American fighter jet that crashed inside Iran was "SAFE" following a search and rescue operation. Photo by Behnam Tofighi/UPI
The U.S. conflict in the Middle East has sent more than 50,000 service members into combat since February.
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Adam Jennison, 13, of NW DC, middle, and Madeleine Joseph, 13, of Northwest Washington, take their first peek at the actual Bill of Rights document at the National Archives. File Photo/Alamy
Two November ballot issues for Virginia voters have deep roots in human rights
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Credit: Embold Research
As regulators consider a proposed NextEra and Dominion merger, a new poll shows growing anxiety among voters
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Federal cuts and policy changes have pushed more than 113,000 patients out of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program in Virginia. The changes have cut reimbursements that sustain clinics in communities like Franklin, a city in the middle of Virginia's diabetes belt.
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Two of Bridgewater's Flock cameras show bags on them on Wednesday, September 9, the morning after the town council passed a resolution to cancel its contract with Flock Safety. Photo: David Manson
A VCIJ at WHRO analysis of Flock Safety logs found that data from Bridgewater’s commuters was searched millions of times by law enforcement across the country. A year later, town leaders voted to dump the AI-powered surveillance network.
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Ice from Winter Storm Fern clings to power lines in Tennessee on January 25, 2026. The storm brought extended subzero temperatures and ice to the Mid-Atlantic for more than a week, causing energy consumption to spike. Photo by Reuters Connect
Virginia’s largest utility is asking regulators to OK a long-term plan to recoup costs for high fuel prices. The new charges could wipe out a proposed customer rebate from a NextEra acquisition.
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Onions planted near and under 42 solar panels at Piedmont Environmental Council’s Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows in Aldie, VA, are ready to harvest. The site is a pilot project by PEC to integrate solar energy and crop farming.
A new Virginia law encourages farmers to mix solar generation with crops and cattle. A rural pilot program shows promise.
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Protesters hold up “BLOCK FLOCK” signs at a Richmond City Council meeting on July 27, 2026, as part of continuing demonstrations against the 99 Flock cameras installed across the city. Photo by Jaysun Silver // VCIJ
A new Virginia law encourages farmers to mix solar generation with crops and cattle. A rural pilot program shows promise.
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A restoration of rights form that Richard Walker used to check a former convict’s voting rights status during a fish fry in Richmond. File Photo by Cianna Morales/WHRO
A constitutional amendment on November’s ballot could enshrine the right to vote for ex-felons. It’s the latest chapter in the Commonwealth’s centuries-old fight over a foundational question.
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A protester outside Richmond City Hall during a demonstration against Flock cameras before a City Council meeting on July 27, 2026. Photo by Jaysun Silver // VCIJ
A VCIJ review of thousands of public records shows widespread misunderstanding and mistrust of Flock Safety – even inside city halls and police headquarters.
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A view of Vinegar Hill in the early 1960s — before Charlottesville city leaders uprooted the thriving Black community — looking north at the intersection of Main and Ridge streets. (Charlottesville Housing Authority)
A General Assembly commission is probing public universities' disruption of Black communities across the Commonwealth
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