The Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO compiled salary data for 170,000 state employees in 2025.
Read moreVirginia’s highest public earners come with a whistle or a corner office
Tony Elliott displays the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl trophy after UVA’s 13-7 win over Missouri on Dec. 27 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. The victory capped the Cavaliers’ 2025 season with an 11-3 record, the most victories ever for a UVA football team. Photo Couresty // Grace Landini/Virginia Athletics
A comprehensive analysis by VCIJ at WHRO of Virginia’s public salaries data shows who earns the most – and who lags behind.
Read moreWeapon offenses rise on Virginia university campuses
First responders block access to Old Dominion University's campus following an on-campus shooting on March 12, 2026. Photo by Yiqing Wang // WHRO
Weapon law violations at Virginia's colleges and universities have climbed since 2020, driven by cases at Old Dominion University and Virginia Commonwealth University, according to Virginia State Police data.
Read moreVirginia Beach School Board bans the use of seclusion rooms
Virginia Beach School Board Member Alveta Green listens to Julie Xirau speak Tuesday during a school board meeting. Xirau is the mother of Joshua Sikes, an 11-year-old student with autism who died in November 2024 days after being placed in a makeshift seclusion area. The board voted on a new policy to limit seclusion but didn’t outright ban the practice. Photo by John-Henry Doucette // VCIJ
Virginia Beach reported the highest use of student seclusions in the state. A new policy limits the controversial practice for children in crisis.
Read moreVirginia Beach poised to change seclusion policy
Virginia Beach School Board Chairperson Kathleen Brown said the proposed policy could address concerns of parents and be reviewed if there are unintended consequences. Photo by John-Henry Doucette // VCIJ
The Virginia Beach School Board may ban the use of seclusion rooms in city school buildings, a step to curtail the controversial practice of isolating troubled students in emergencies.
Read moreAt Longwood, a journey toward racial reckoning
Official map of Farmville, Virginia in 1934. The outlined area shows the Longwood College campus on the north section and the predominantly Black neighborhood, known as the triangle, to the south. Longwood planned expansions beginning in the 1960s that would diminish, then capture, the neighborhood.
A Virginia university wanted property for dormitories and classrooms. It targeted a Black neighborhood at the center of the Civil Rights Movement.
Read moreSuit filed in death of Virginia Beach special education student
Julie Xirau, in her Newport News, VA apartment, holds her phone showing a picture of her son Josh Sikes. Photo taken in March 2025. File photo by William Tiernan.
The mother of Joshua Sikes, 11, claims her son was injured in a classroom run by Southeastern Cooperative Educational Programs days before his death. A wrongful death suit seeks $150 million
Read moreKey panel endorses ban on secluding Virginia Beach students
Meghan Ashburn, chairperson of the Virginia Beach Special Education Advisory Committee, is seen during a committee meeting on May 12. The committee spoke with city schools officials and the executive director of Southeastern Cooperative Educational Programs about seclusion and restraint policy during the meeting. File Photo by John-Henry Doucette.
A special education advisory committee wants Beach Schools to stop a controversial practice typically used on children with special needs
Read moreVirginia Beach schools, special education leaders re-examining student seclusion policies
A photo of Josh Sikes sits in his mother, Julie Sikes, apartment in her Newport News, VA apartment, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. 11-year-old Josh Sikes died last November days after he was restrained in his SECEP classroom at Pembroke Elementary School in Virginia Beach. Photo by William Tiernan.
The treatment of a fourth grader in a special education classroom prompts administrators to question tactics, policies following VCIJ at WHRO investigation.
Read moreReturn of the measles virus to Virginia brings new risks for children
A map shows kindergarten measles vaccination rate across Virginia’s counties and cities according to the vaccination data reported by schools at the start of the school year. Map by Kunle Falayi // VCIJ at WHRO
Just half of Virginia’s public and private kindergarten classes reported a 95% vaccination rate – the key threshold for herd immunity – at the start of the 2024-25 school year, according to an analysis of state health data by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO.
Read moreSearch the VCIJ database to see vaccination rates for Virginia’s schools
Nearly half of the commonwealth’s public and private kindergarten classes fail to meet an important vaccination threshold, an analysis of state health data by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO shows.
Read moreDeath of Autistic Boy Renews Questions About the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Schools
Julie Sikes, in her Newport News, VA apartment, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, holding her phone with a picture of her son Josh Sikes. Photo by William Tiernan.
No one knows what caused 11-year-old Josh Sikes to die last November. But his final moments in a Virginia Beach classroom have led to investigations and renewed questioning over techniques used by Southeastern Cooperative Educational Programs.
Read moreVirginia panel begins to grapple with racial history of state colleges, universities
Meeting of the Commission to Study the History of the Uprooting of Black Communities by Public Institutions of Higher Education in the Commonwealth on Monday, December 2, 2024. The commission was spurred by reporting by VCIJ and ProPublica in 2023. Photo from Virginia House of Delegates.
A new state commission will seek documentation on campus expansions from dozens of Virginia public colleges and universities.
Read moreVirginia Establishes Commission to Study Black Communities Uprooted by Public Universities
Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, for decades expanded into and disrupted a neighboring, predominantly Black community, sometimes acquiring property by eminent domain. Virginia lawmakers on May 13 approved a two-year study commission to probe the uprooting of Black communities by the state’s public colleges and universities. Photo by Christopher Tyree. // VCIJ at WHRO
Spurred by a VCIJ at WHRO and ProPublica investigation, the recently approved Virginia budget includes nearly $60,000 over the next two years for a commission to study the disruption public college and university expansions have had on Black communities.
Read moreVirginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities
Christopher Newport University’s campus displaced a Black neighborhood in Newport News, Virginia. Photo by Christopher Tyree/VCIJ at WHRO
The groundbreaking commission, which was proposed in response to our “Uprooted” series, would consider compensation for dislodged property owners and their descendants. Whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin will sign the bill is unclear.
Read moreTask Force to Consider “Restorative Justice” for Black Families Uprooted by Virginia University’s Expansion
Christopher Newport University's campus stands on the site of a once-thriving Black community. Photo by Christopher Tyree // VCIJ
Spurred by our “Uprooted” series, a task force created by the city of Newport News and Christopher Newport University will reexamine decades of city and university records shedding light on a Black neighborhood’s destruction.
Read moreLawmaker Seeks Study, Relief for Black Communities Uprooted by Virginia Universities
Following an investigation by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO and ProPublica, Del. Delores McQuinn introduces bill for a commission to investigate the displacement of Black neighborhoods by Virginia’s public colleges and universities
Read moreThe University Uprooted a Black Neighborhood. Then Its Policies Reduced the Black Presence on Campus.
A portrait of Trible and his wife hangs in the library named after them. Photo by Christopher Tyree // VCIJ at WHRO
Black enrollment at Virginia’s Christopher Newport University fell by more than half under longtime president Paul Trible, a former Republican senator who wanted to “offer a private school experience.” By 2021, only 2.4% of full-time professors were Black.
Read moreVirginia Lawmaker Calls for Commission to Study State Universities’ History of Uprooting Black Communities
A Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority map from the 1960s shows how Old Dominion University (then called Old Dominion College) planned to expand into the Lamberts Point neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia. (Old Dominion University Special Collections & University Archives)
In response to our reporting, state Delegate Delores McQuinn said a task force could shed light on the impact of college expansion in Virginia. Officials are also calling for displaced families to receive redress, from scholarships to reparations.
Read moreVirginia Law Allows the Papers of University Presidents to Stay Secret, Limiting Public Oversight
Illustration by Christopher Tyree // VCIJ
A provision in state law exempts college presidents’ “working papers and correspondence” from disclosure even after they step down — as we found out when we asked about one ex-president’s role in campus expansions that uprooted a Black neighborhood.
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