Who combed Virginia’s Flock surveillance data for immigration enforcement? Search here.

September 24, 2025 Kunle Falayi

A Flock automatic license plate reading camera overlooks Colley Avenue in Norfolk, Va. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. A federal lawsuit argues the city's 172 Flock cameras are an unconstitutional violation of privacy. *File Photo:* *Cianna Morales/WHRO News*

Surveillance network data obtained by the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO shows how widely outside law enforcement agencies searched Flock Safety systems in Virginia for immigration-related offenses.

VCIJ at WHRO’s analysis of network data from Flock Safety’s Automatic License Plate Reader systems in Virginia was queried by more than 4,000 agencies across the U.S. About 3,000 of the searches conducted by those agencies appear related to immigration enforcement. – despite local agencies promising not to share or use the data for that purpose.

One sleepy Virginia town. Nearly 7 million hits on its surveillance network.

September 16, 2025 Kunle Falayi

A Flock camera on South Main Street in Bridgwater, Virginia, captures the comings and goings of traffic. The town has five strategically placed Flock cameras. They capture images of nearly 60,000 vehicles every month. *Photo by Christopher Tyree // VCIJ*

Thousands of Flock Safety surveillance cameras captured Virginia travelers in a small Shenandoah Valley town with an unblinking eye. Their data was shared and searched around the country millions of times.

Trump policies threaten Virginia’s clean energy gains

September 10, 2025 Guest User

Greg Meade, who directs TNC’s overarching Cumberland Forest Project, visits the Knott Hollow site in Dickenson County, Virginia, last December. TerraForm Power has the solar lease option, but the development timeline is uncertain because of permitting issues. *Photo by Elizabeth McGowan // VCIJ*

The state’s milestone Clean Economy Act spurred impressive growth in renewable power. Now, that future is at risk.

ICE arrests in Virginia soar under Trump crackdowns

September 8, 2025 Kunle Falayi

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assisted by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, apprehended three illegally present aliens during a routine enforcement operation in Arlington, Feb. 11, 2025. *Source// US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.*

The Trump administration's enforcement has targeted thousands of foreign nationals - most from Central and South America and without criminal records.

In Virginia’s coalfields, renewable projects hit a new roadblock – Trump

September 3, 2025 Guest User

The Nature Conservancy is partnering with Charlottesville-based TerraForm Power to build a 10-megawatt solar array on a reclaimed surface mine near Pound in Wise County, Va. Wildcats Solar, scheduled to go online within two years, would be the first solar project to rise on TNC’s 253,000-acre, tri-state Cumberland Forest Project.

Renewable energy developers planned dozens of projects on property owned by The Nature Conservancy. Then President Donald Trump signed H.R. 1, upending an unprecedented effort to revitalize Appalachia.

As international threats mount, Norfolk’s NATO commands play a key role

July 14, 2025 Louis Hansen

Vice Admiral James Morley, Deputy Commander Joint Force Command Norfolk, speaking to NATO personnel during NATO’s exercise Formidable Shield in Andoya, Norway May 22, 2025. *Photos supplied by NATO JFC Norfolk.*

NATO’s footprint in Hampton Roads is expected to expand in the coming years, despite President Donald Trump’s criticism of member nations' military spending levels.

Fed’s hidden immigration weapon – Virginia’s surveillance network

July 2, 2025 Kunle Falayi

A car drives past an automatic license plate reader on Route 29 in Charlottesville on June 27, 2025. Photos by Christopher Tyree//VCIJ

Hundreds of Flock Safety cameras capturing images of motorists across Virginia weren’t supposed to be used for immigration enforcement. But they were.

Key panel endorses ban on secluding Virginia Beach students

June 17, 2025 Guest User

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

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 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.

As Virginia police reforms take hold, decertifications jump

May 29, 2025 Chris Tyree

Photo Illustration by MuckRock. Adobe Stock image.

After decades when few law enforcement officers in Virginia lost the right to serve in sworn positions, recent reforms have brought dramatic increases in decertifications.

Virginia Beach schools, special education leaders re-examining student seclusion policies

May 27, 2025 Guest User

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.

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.

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.

Death of Autistic Boy Renews Questions About the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Schools

May 7, 2025 Guest User

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.

Potential federal property sales, workforce cuts hit hard in Virginia

March 13, 2025 Louis Hansen

The General Services Administration (GSA) listed 28 properties in Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads as “excess real property” that could be put up for sale. The agency said removing the properties from the federal rolls would reduce maintenance costs, although it did not break down the accounting for the proposed savings.

As Virginia housing costs rise, the General Assembly offers little relief

February 20, 2025 Guest User

The backyard of a home for sale in Henrico County. *File photo by CHRISTOPHER TYREE // VCIJ*

The median price of a single-family home in Virginia rose almost 40% between 2019 and 2024, pushing home ownership out of reach for many working-class families.

This year, Virginia legislators have introduced various measures to make home buying more attainable, both by helping buyers and incentivizing more home building. Progress has been slow.

This year, Virginia legislators have introduced various measures to make home buying more attainable, both by helping buyers and incentivizing more home building.

Progress has been slow.

Virginia has an estimated housing shortage of about 105,000 homes, according to a 2022 study by Up for Growth, a housing advocacy group. The scarcity of housing has driven up home prices and rents to record levels in recent years, according to Pew researchers.