Lawmakers negotiating the budget have come to an agreement that would establish a retail cannabis market in the state. That could mean Virginians would be able to legally buy and sell recreational cannabis beginning in July 2027.

Previously, Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed the legislation creating a retail cannabis market after the General Assembly rejected her substantial amendments to the bill that included harsher penalties for some cannabis offenses and eliminated language about how revenue generated from cannabis sales tax would be allocated. But negotiations continued after the veto.

Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility Dominion Energy has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Fortune 200 Florida energy company NextEra Energy in an all-stock transaction worth approximately $66.8 billion.

NextEra bills itself as the largest electric power and energy infrastructure company in North America. According to a Monday announcement from the two companies, the merged company would be the world’s largest regulated electric utility business. It would serve about 10 million utility customer accounts across Florida, Virginia and the Carolinas and own 110 gigawatts of generation from a mix of energy sources, and it would be more than 80% regulated. As of late 2024, Dominion provided electricity to 2.7 million customers in Virginia.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger traveled to Northern Virginia on Wednesday to sign a slate of bills aimed at reducing healthcare costs, ranging from insurance claims reform to targeted prescription drug affordability.

The governor approved Senate Bill 161 and House Bill 625 by Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, and Del. Rozia Henson, D-Woodbridge. The bills, endorsed by the American Cancer Society Action Network, will allow Virginians to choose insurance plans with flat rates on copays for prescription drugs.

SB 164 by Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, and HB 484 by Del. Irene Shin, D-Fairfax, will prohibit downcoding insurance claims without a healthcare provider stating why.

HB 328 by Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax, requires the state’s Bureau of Insurance to select a new essential health benefits benchmark plan for 2028 and outlines different treatments and services covered in state-offered plans. The bill came as a recommendation from the Health Insurance Reform Commission.

HB 736 by outgoing Del. Michelle Maldonado, D-Manassas, amends requirements for health carrier contracts that relate to prior authorizations for prescription drugs.

HB 1214 by Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, will lower insulin costs and set caps on costs for diabetes equipment, like glucose monitoring devices.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger is vetoing legislation that would allow public employees to bargain collectively for wages and benefits, according to the bill's patron, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax.

Surovell said the governor, who called him about her actions, is also vetoing his bill to allow class-action lawsuits to be filed in state courts.

He said the Democratic governor vetoed the bills because the Democratic-controlled General Assembly did not accept her proposed amendments to the legislation, instead passing by all of the gubernatorial amendments during the legislature’s veto session on April 22.

In case you’re unaware, yesterday the VA Supreme Court voted 4-3 to overturn the results of the April 21st referendum to redistrict Virginia as a counter to Republican gerrymandering across the country. The 4 votes to block were all from Republican nominated judges.

This is a nakedly political and partisan decision by the court that overrides the votes of 3 million Virginians. Unlike Texas, Florida, and Tennessee, the people of Virginia voted for this. We did democracy by the rules and the court changed the rules (quite literally if you read their decision).

VA Democrat’s response has been mixed at best but weak. Gov Spanberger says she’s “disappointed” in the court, and Speaker of the House Don Scott says he “respects the courts decision”. AG Jones says he is “pursuing all legal options” to overturn the decision. Even fucking Hakeem Jeffries wants to overturn the decision.

The answer to this authoritarianism is simple. The Democratic state trifecta passes the maps with legislation anyway and ignores the court’s decision. Stop playing by the rules if they’re going to be made up on the fly. Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida all have already done this for Republicans and ignored their state supreme courts to do so.

If you have a Democratic representative in Virginia you should be blowing up their phones and email demanding they use the new maps anyway.

(If you have a Republican rep you can also write them and tell them to fuck themselves.)

Anyone who opposes Donald Trump, the GOP, and fascism has a moral imperative to do everything in their power to stop them. The Republican Party sees themselves already at war with anyone who doesn’t agree with them, it’s time we start responding to their hostility. This flagrant authoritarianism by the court cannot go unpunished. If left unchallenged what’s to stop them from invalidating every other election that doesn’t go their way? What’s to stop SCOTUS from pulling the same shit?

VA Representative lookup: https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/

(This will also find your state senator)

Wineries across much of Virginia lost significant portions of their grape crops last week after a destructive freeze, setting back an already struggling industry and resulting in gaps in the availability of some local wines from 2026 starting next spring.

Temperatures dropped to as low as 24 degrees in Charlottesville overnight Monday and Tuesday, resulting in a “hard freeze,” according to Annette Boyd, director of marketing for the Virginia Wine Board, which advocates for the state’s wine industry. In addition to the Northern Virginia and Shenandoah Valley areas, wineries as far south as New Kent County were impacted, with the New Kent Winery reporting a loss of about 90% of its crop.

The grapes affected by last week’s freeze were due to be harvested from August to October and would’ve started to be available commercially about six months later, depending on the type of grape and the winery’s respective aging schedule, Boyd said.

As long as the vines themselves weren’t damaged, they may bud again in time for harvest but these will be smaller and in far fewer number, according to Curt Hartman, part-owner and president of Bluestone Vineyard in Bridgewater, west of Shenandoah National Park.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, last week enacted a new law that voids community-wide prohibitions on solar fields and establishes new siting guidelines for the facilities. Starting July 1, when the law takes effect, local governments can still deny permits to solar developers but must submit their rationale for doing so to state regulators.

“Localities still are in the driver’s seat here. They can still deny every project from now until the end of time if they want,” said Evan Vaughan, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, a nonprofit that represents over 50 large-scale solar, storage, and wind developers and manufacturers.

But, he added, given rising prices and pressures on farmers from tariffs and fertilizer shortages, ​“there may be more interest in rural communities to see solar projects and to at least hear them out about the benefits that they can provide.”

Yes, just provisionally. But a great sign.

A Virginia Beach judge Thursday halted the city’s enforcement of its all ages curfew at the Oceanfront on its final night.

After seven hours of argument and testimony, Judge Tanya Felton agreed with an attorney representing three businesses that the city’s curfew, as written, was too vague and surpassed the authority given by state law to local officials to restrict freedoms for the public’s safety.

Attorney Kevin Martingayle filed the motion on Monday to stop the curfew on behalf of business owners, who claimed the curfew’s first nights this past weekend caused them severe and irreparable harm that went beyond economic losses, violating their constitutional rights.

The Virginia General Assembly convened for a special session Thursday to finalize the state’s $212 billion budget, but recessed after just a few hours without a deal, underscoring deep divisions within the Democratic majorities and leaving the spending plan unresolved.

After a brief floor session, lawmakers left Richmond and returned to their districts, with no clear timeline for when negotiations might produce a compromise on the two-year spending plan.

At the center of the impasse is a dispute within the Democratic majority over whether to scale back a lucrative tax incentive that has helped fuel Virginia’s rise as the world’s largest data center hub.

A Virginia referendum to redraw the state’s congressional districts is set to upend House races, turning some contests newly competitive and endangering four Republican incumbents.

The redistricting plan approved by voters Tuesday was drawn by Democratic state legislators to help their party secure 10 out of Virginia’s 11 House seats, instead of the six they now hold. Those lawmakers said it was necessary as a temporary measure until 2030 to counter President Donald Trump’s push to protect the GOP House majority by redrawing districts in Texas and other red states to favor Republicans.

A Virginia referendum to redraw the state’s congressional districts is set to upend House races, turning some contests newly competitive and endangering four Republican incumbents.

The redistricting plan approved by voters Tuesday was drawn by Democratic state legislators to help their party secure 10 out of Virginia’s 11 House seats, instead of the six they now hold. Those lawmakers said it was necessary as a temporary measure until 2030 to counter President Donald Trump’s push to protect the GOP House majority by redrawing districts in Texas and other red states to favor Republicans.

Archive link: https://archive.ph/0tnci

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach delivered its first power to the grid Monday, a Dominion Energy spokesperson said.

“This marks another major milestone for the project, adding much-needed electricity to help serve the fastest-growing power demand in the country,” said Dominion Energy spokesperson Jeremy Slayton.

Access options:

• gift link — registration required
• archive.is — sometimes modifies archived pages

https://archive.ph/Lm8gW

[T]he new Intelligent Speed Assistance Program will apply to drivers speeding above 100 mph. A convicted driver will have the option of enrolling in the program instead of having their license suspended.

Once the device is installed on the car, the driver won’t be allowed to drive another vehicle while they’re in the program. Tampering with the device or trying to get around it would be a Class 1 misdemeanor. The simple message, according to State Police: just don’t speed.

Virginia lawmakers passed legislation to let people 21 and over buy cannabis recreationally starting Jan. 1, 2027, moving the state closer to ending its yearslong stay in marijuana purgatory.

If it is signed into law by Gov. Abigail Spanberger as expected, the legislation would mark the end of a six-year wait for people who have been allowed to carry small amounts of marijuana without a way to buy it for recreational use.