Return of the measles virus to Virginia brings new risks for children

May 13, 2025 Kunle Falayi

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.

Search the VCIJ database to see vaccination rates for Virginia’s schools

May 13, 2025 Kunle Falayi

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.

Election 2024

November 12, 2024 Guest User

Detailed data on the 2024 general election in Virginia.

Lawmaker Seeks Study, Relief for Black Communities Uprooted by Virginia Universities

January 17, 2024 Guest User

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

Virginia campaigns set fundraising records

November 6, 2023 Guest User

Sun sets on Virginia Capitol in Richmond, Va., Nov. 3, 2023. All 140 seats in the General Assembly are on the ballot this year. *Photo by Jimmy Clutier*

Virginia’s high-stakes General Assembly elections on Nov. 7 are the commonwealth’s most expensive on record — and could prove to be among the costliest legislative elections in U.S. history.

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.

Candidates in Hampton Roads, Richmond, raked in more than $1 million in final primary sprint

July 27, 2023 Guest User

Virginia legislative candidates across Greater Richmond and Hampton Roads raised nearly $3.8 million in the last three weeks of June — mostly from big donors giving more than $10,000 to their campaigns.

Who was the Big Winner in Virginia’s Primaries?

July 6, 2023 Guest User

Dominion Energy headquarters, as seen in Richmond, Va., on June 22, 2023. *(Jimmy Cloutier/OpenSecrets)*

The overwhelming share of campaign funding in the low-turnout, yet expensive, primaries in Greater Richmond and the Hampton Roads came from political organizations, business interests and corporate-aligned political action committees, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of campaign finance reports. Most candidates who raised big-donor money won.

Veteran Democratic powerbrokers face off in Hampton Roads Senate primary

June 14, 2023 Louis Hansen

Sen. Louise Lucas is photographed with members of the Moms Demand Action booth at Pride in the ‘Peake in Chesapeake, Va., on Sunday, June 11, 2023. *Photo by Kristen Zeis*

It’s been decades since two Hampton Roads Democratic state senators, Louise Lucas and Lionell Spruill, were out of the public eye.

Lucas launched her political career in Virginia by winning a Portsmouth City Council seat in 1984. Spruill, a Chesapeake native, first won a seat in the Virginia General Assembly in 1994.

Both legislative stalwarts rose from poor backgrounds to become ambitious, long-standing powerbrokers in southeastern Virginia. On June 20, one will be out of a job.

In Coal Country, a Political Journey from Blue to Deep Red

November 1, 2020 Chris Tyree

Empty coal cars sit on the tracks outside of Grundy, Virginia. Photo by Mason Adams

Southwest Virginia once voted reliably Democratic, and its transition to clean-sweep Republican within a generation demonstrates the partisan realignment that Trump accelerated, and which the 2020 election looks set to entrench for another generation.