July 7, 2025
Virginia Has Become a Hotbed for Immigration Arrests
The pace of immigration arrests has shot up across the country under the second Trump term, but few places have seen a spike quite as sharp as in Virginia. Arrests in the state by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are up more than 350 percent since 2024, one of the steepest increases in the country. This outpaces the growth in ICE arrests in Democratic-run states like California and New York and Republican-controlled states like Florida and Texas.
Virginia’s top prosecutor targets drugs, crime — and Northern Va. schools
In the three years since taking office, Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares set his sights on what he sees as problems in the state’s public schools. Miyares has revisited the issues of diversity and gender identity in schools in recent months, grabbing the attention of the Trump administration and resulting in two federal investigations. His focus on the way the state’s school systems operate has rankled school officials in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, two of the state’s largest districts.
AG Miyares backs veteran’s fight for disability benefits
Fairfax County resident and veteran John P. Sopko, 83, retired with a disability that began in 1972. However, when he requested reimbursement of real estate taxes, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors denied him. Now, Sopko has a high-level ally: Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who filed an amicus brief last week in a lawsuit, Sopko v. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, that the veteran filed against the Board of Supervisors. . . . In a statement, Miyares said he filed the brief to “defend the constitutional rights of disabled veterans in Virginia after Fairfax County refused to honor property tax exemptions promised to them under the Virginia Constitution.” “Fairfax County is trying to rewrite the rules, citing failed legislation and exploiting legal loopholes to deny a disabled veteran what the Constitution guarantees,” Miyares said.
Virginia emerges as key bellwether ahead of midterms
Virginia’s off-year elections are being viewed by both parties as a key bellwether heading into next year’s midterms, as well as a potential indicator for how voters view President Trump. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) will face off to become the first female governor of the state, while Democrats will seek to maintain and grow their majority in the House of Delegates.
Democrats and Republicans were out on the Virginia campaign trail
With four months until Election Day in Virginia, the campaigns for statewide office are heating up. Both parties are projecting a message of unity, but the ways they’ve sought to demonstrate unity amongst themselves has varied. Immediately after June’s primaries, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger embarked on an eight-day bus tour across the state, where she was joined at stops by Ghazala Hashmi and Jay Jones, the nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney general. Meanwhile, Republican candidates Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Attorney General Jason Miyares and conservative radio host John Reid — who have been the presumptive nominees for months — appeared together for the first time Tuesday night.
Virginia Democrats are eyeing 13 potential seats that could flip blue this year
Democrats are targeting more than a dozen Republican-held seats in the Virginia House of Delegates this year. Lucky 13 is the target number of seats this year for Democrats, who are hoping to flip the districts from red to blue. Stephen Farnsworth at the University of Mary Washington says the battleground is suburban. "They're often in outer ring suburban communities, particularly in the Richmond and Hampton Roads area where elections are won and lost in Virginia. These are contested spaces, these outer ring suburban counties," Farnsworth says.
Porn sites still accessible in Virginia despite age verification law
Many porn sites are still unrestricted years after Virginia passed a law limiting access to them. Why it matters: Virginia was among the first states to require age verification for adult sites, but an Axios review found progress has been slow. By the numbers: Of the top 57 active "porn tube" sites listed on toppornsites.com, as of Tuesday: Only four asked Virginians for age verification with a government-issued ID, as the 2023 law mandates. 16 were blocked entirely, and 3 just required a click of a button to access.
A dozen grants totaling more than $1.86 million for flood preparedness projects will go to 10 localities in far Southwest Virginia, a region that has been hit by four major flooding events since the summer of 2021. Most recently, flooding from the inland effects of Hurricane Helene slammed the area in late September, decimating the Damascus area and the Virginia Creeper Trail. Over the Feb. 15-16 weekend, Buchanan, Dickenson and Tazewell counties sustained major flooding after days of rain dumped more than 7 inches of precipitation across the region.
Warner, Kaine say Trump admin 'illegally' withholding $108 million from Virginia schools
U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine are demanding the Trump Administration release $108 million in federal funding earmarked for Virginia’s K-12 schools, accusing the administration of deliberately withholding money that Congress approved to support teacher training, after-school programs, mental health resources and more. The Trump administration has accused states and schools of using federal education grants earmarked for immigrants’ children and low-income students to help fund “a radical leftwing agenda.”
Southside farmers don’t think new solar farm rules will stop farmland loss
New solar farm regulations require developers in Virginia to mitigate the impact of their projects on prime farmland in certain cases. Effective in June, the rules apply to new solar projects that produce less than 150 megawatts of electricity and disturb more than 10 acres of prime soil. Those projects will have to provide a perpetual conservation easement equal in size to the area of disturbed farmland. Some Hampton Roads farmers, though, question whether the rules will have the intended outcomes.
What we know about Youngkin's latest and last appointments to UVa's board
On June 27, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced four new appointments to the University of Virginia’s governing Board of Visitors. Should his latest nominees receive approval from the General Assembly, the Republican governor will have appointed all members of the 17-person body. The board is responsible for the school’s long-term planning, budgets, policies and, most pertinent today, selecting the president of the university — a post that will soon be vacant. Under pressure from the Trump administration Department of Justice, Jim Ryan tendered his resignation as ninth president of the state’s flagship university on the same day Youngkin announced his new board appointments.
A dive into the Board of Visitors’ political donations
The Board of Visitors will soon begin the process of selecting an interim president and conducting a national search for a new president in the wake of former University President Jim Ryan’s resignation which came under pressure from the Department of Justice. As the Board searches for a new president, viewpoint diversity is likely to be a topic on their mind. As the University’s corporate governing body, the Board is composed of 17 voting members, most of which are alumni of the University, appointed by the governor of Virginia for four-year terms. As of July 1, all voting Board members were appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).
Trump Appointee and Ex-Prosecutor to Hear DOJ’s Judges Lawsuit
A President Donald Trump appointee who prosecuted white supremacists over a deadly Charlottesville rally and had the backing of Democratic senators will preside over a Justice Department lawsuit against all the federal district judges in Maryland. US District Judge Thomas Cullen in Roanoke was assigned on Wednesday the high-profile litigation against the US trial judges over their standing order that blocked the immediate deportation of detained persons who file a habeas petition. . . . The assignment gives Cullen the task of mediating an unprecedented court fight between his current colleagues on the judiciary and his former ones at the Justice Department.
Geologists uncover new evidence from ancient asteroid that hit the Chesapeake Bay
About 35 million years ago, Hampton Roads was underwater, with the coastline dozens of miles west toward Richmond. Dinosaurs were long gone, but the ocean teemed with marine creatures such as ancient whales, sharks and sea stars. That is until one unfortunate day, when life across what’s now southeastern Virginia was obliterated within seconds.
We don’t know much yet about how either candidate for governor would run the state if she were elected, although we’re learning more about what Democrat Abigail Spanberger would do than we are about Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. Once the candidates were confirmed as their party nominees in early April, I contacted both campaigns to seek an interview on various aspects of policy, starting with energy. Spanberger’s campaign called the next day; an interview was set up for later that month and my interview with her about energy policy published May 5. More than a dozen requests for interviews with Earle-Sears have yet to net an interview.
Lerdau: Jefferson would recoil at Jim Ryan's ouster
When I arrived at the University of Virginia in 2007, I knew that I was joining a university that uniquely blended cutting-edge scholarship with a deep appreciation of tradition and history. In my own area of research, UVa was a pioneer — home to one of the first environmental science departments in the country. My own research, on how plant physiology could affect air quality, was difficult to pigeonhole. On one hand, it was clearly environmental science, and on the other it also demonstrated that Ronald Reagan was not completely wrong when he said that trees cause pollution.
Skeen: Lab schools show the future of Virginia public education
I have spent 15 years in Virginia’s public schools, from the coalfields to the coast. I have taught, built programs and watched students soar when given the right opportunities. Now, across Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore, we are about to see something extraordinary take shape. This fall, four new lab schools in Chesapeake, Suffolk, Newport News and on the Eastern Shore will open their doors. These schools will immerse students in aerospace engineering, maritime systems, computer science, STEM integration and more. These are exactly the industries driving our region’s economy and future.
