Can this tiny Appalachian town be a blueprint for the region’s rebirth?

June 16, 2025 Guest User

All-terrain-vehicle trail enthusiasts line up outside a popular restaurant and a renovated boutique hotel St. Paul on an afternoon in late February. Turning trails and the once-neglected Clinch River into centerpieces has allowed this small town near the Wise-Russell County border to shine as a hub for eco-tourism.

St. Paul , Virginia– a hamlet of 830 people in coal country - remade itself into a bustling spot for ecotourism and off-road trails.

Big bet: Can a $130M conservation deal in Virginia’s coal country curb climate change and lift Appalachia?

June 12, 2025 Guest User

Contracted workers from Williams Forestry & Associates plant tiny hardwood trees in late March atop a former coal mine in Russell County, part of The Nature Conservancy’s Cumberland Forest Project. It marked the TNC’s first forest restoration effort in Virginia, part of a tri-state conservation initiative that began more than five years ago.

Big bet: Can a $130M conservation deal in Virginia’s coal country curb climate change and lift Appalachia?

The Nature Conservancy is halfway through its ambitious 10-year plan to preserve 253,000 acres and boost local economies across three Appalachian states. Backed by a loan from Virginia and private investors, it’s faced challenges and critics. The experiment could be the future of large-scale conservation – or not.

Virginia’s international trade already disrupted by U.S. trade war

June 5, 2025 Kunle Falayi

Photo by Mariusz Bugno via Shutterstock. Shipping containers at the Port of Virginia in 2021.

During the first three months of President Donald Trump’s administration, exports took their biggest first-quarter dip in at least a decade, while imports rose in anticipation of tariffs. Virginia’s trade deficit grew by about $2 billion.

Virginia renters make modest gains from lawmakers in the General Assembly

May 21, 2025 Guest User

Friendship Court, a low-income housing development in Charlottesville, Virginia. *File Photo.*

As rental housing costs continue to rise, Virginia lawmakers passed a few modest measures this year to reduce fees, offer tenants more protections and boost housing for Navy sailors. More ambitious proposals, including potential rent controls, failed to win broad approval.

Ante up: $8 million casino referendum in Richmond breaks state record

September 22, 2023 Guest User

*Illustration by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO.*

Out-of-state developers have poured a record $8.1 million into a referendum campaign to allow the construction of a resort casino in Richmond, far-and-away the highest sum for a local election in Virginia.

Norfolk leaders, losing patience, consider new options for stalled casino project

July 10, 2023 Chris Tyree

Original proposal for the Pamunkey casino on the left and the revised first phase version on the right. Renderings of the HeadWaters Resort & Casino. (Courtesy of HeadWaters Resort & Casino provided to the City of Norfolk)

A scaled-down Norfolk waterfront casino proposal is facing choppy waters from city leaders who have lost patience with the much-delayed project.

Norfolk City Council members in a recent closed session discussed options for scuttling the city’s agreement with the Pamunkey tribe, which submitted an application for a phased development with a $150 million initial investment, far shy of the upscale $500 million resort hotel, marina, entertainment space, and casino showcased to voters during a 2020 referendum.

Scrimp, scroll, square off: First-time homebuyers in Virginia face rising prices and fierce competition

October 23, 2022 Louis Hansen

Ellie Jernigan, 27, and her dog Gracie at a home for sale in Henrico County. She and her husband, Zach, are first-time homebuyers and have been looking for months to purchase a home so they might start a family.

The hopes and dreams of young first-time buyers often crash into the waking horror of today’s real estate market. Driven by an influx of millennials, low interest rates and the scarcity of “for sale” signs planted in the suburbs and cities, Virginia housing prices rocketed during the pandemic. Supply has scraped record lows, driving bidding wars on properties even as interest rates have more than doubled in the past year.

Housing in Hampton Roads is less affordable than Northern Virginia - and many other pricey areas

October 19, 2022 Guest User

Hampton Roads has long had a reputation as an affordable alternative to Richmond or Northern Virginia. A WHRO data analysis shows the region is one of the most unaffordable in the state. *Photo by Cameron Houck.*

In a comparison of housing prices and local wages, Hampton Roads is less affordable than other major Virginia metros, similarly sized metro areas on the East Coast and even the Washington, D.C. area.

What the end of rent relief means for Virginia tenants

August 26, 2022 Guest User

Pandemic-era protections aimed to slow down the eviction process have expired and could displace thousands of struggling, low-income Virginians in the coming months. Photo taken at Friendship Court, a low-income housing development in Charlottesville, Virginia, August 25, 2022. Photo by Christopher Tyree // VCIJ

While still about half the pre-pandemic levels, the number of eviction filings across the state shot up by 88% between January and June, according to civil court data compiled and analyzed by the Legal Services Corporation. And now, pandemic-era protections aimed to slow down the eviction process have expired, as thousands across the state face the possibility of missing their next rent payment and sliding into homelessness.

The resurgence of evictions will displace thousands of struggling, low-income Virginians in the coming months, straining local governments and safety net providers who aid people experiencing homelessness at a time when rental housing is getting more and more costly, particularly for families, advocates say.

Few Virginia Employers Pay Fines for COVID-19 Violations

August 30, 2021 Chris Tyree

Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round gold particles) emerging from the surface of a cell cultured in the lab. SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV, is the virus that causes COVID-19. Image captured and colorized at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Credit: NIAID — **Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2**
This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round gold particles) emerging from the surface of a cell cultured in the lab. SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV, is the virus that causes COVID-19. Image captured and colorized at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. *Credit: NIAID*

An analysis of federal and Virginia worker safety records by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism found a dramatic increase in workforce complaints, coupled with a steep decline in inspections since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020.

Workers and a federal watchdog say the lack of adequate oversight has left employees in front-line jobs at a higher risk for infection. The virus has taken the lives of more than 11,600 Virginians.

For some Virginia frontline workers, a struggle for Covid-19 compensation

May 6, 2021 Chris Tyree

Arlington Public Schools (APS) provides Grab-and-Go Meals during the COVID-19 closure at Kenmore Middle School. Frontline workers who contracted Covid at work may struggle for compensation. USDA photo by Tom Witham

Gov. Ralph Northam last month signed two bills into law that will make it easier for some frontline workers who become sick with the coronavirus to collect workers’ compensation benefits. The new laws create a presumption that medical personnel, law enforcement officers and firefighters sickened with Covid-19 acquired the disease at work, making them more likely to be covered for lost wages and health care costs.

But these measures leave tens of thousands of low-paid frontline workers without favorable recourse: Cleaners, grocery workers, home health aides, meat and poultry workers.

In rural Virginia, the paradox of a pandemic

July 2, 2020 Chris Tyree

Main Street in Hot Springs, Virginia, sits nearly empty on a Friday afternoon in late June—ordinarily the town's busy season.

The coronavirus paradox of rural Virginia — Bath County has no confirmed COVID-19 cases, yet the unemployment rate soared to a state-high 20.5% in April, before dropping back to 15.8% in May. State-ordered pandemic restrictions have stirred community tensions in a region already burdened with decades of job losses and population decline.