Early voting has already started in Virginia. For those who have not voted yet, there are three proposed Amendments to the Virginia State Constitution on the ballot:

• https://www.elections.virginia.gov/election-law/proposed-constitutional-amendment-question-1/
• https://www.elections.virginia.gov/election-law/proposed-constitutional-amendment-question-2/
• https://www.elections.virginia.gov/election-law/proposed-constitutional-amendment-question-3/

I'd highly recommend reading these and knowing how you plan to vote before casting your ballot. There may also be Local Referendums on your ballot and there are obviously House and Senate races which have been dominating the airwaves.

If you are unsure of where to vote, or what issues will be on your ballot, the Virginia Department of Elections has a helpful tool to look that up:

• https://www.elections.virginia.gov/casting-a-ballot/polling-place-lookup/

Go Vote Virginia!

Virginia is moving closer to regulating self-driving vehicles, with lawmakers and experts recently agreeing on a plan ahead of the next legislative session as the technology expands and safety concerns grow.

Last year, the General Assembly directed a workgroup to consider rules for autonomous vehicles, or AVs, which have been tested in states including Arizona and Texas and restricted in California. Meanwhile, the federal government announced a national strategy plan to accelerate the development and deployment of self-driving vehicles across the country.

Leaders in the commonwealth are drafting proposals to establish a framework for implementing AV policy and create an ongoing advisory committee after the group concludes its work. The panel held its most recent meeting on Aug. 28.

Virginia’s proposed framework would focus on commercial use rather than personal vehicles, including ride-sharing and delivery services, buses and Class 7 and 8 heavy-duty vehicles.

The Brief

• Subramanyam pushes new federal rules to rein in data center growth.
• Proposal requires tech facilities to pay full cost of power‑grid upgrades.
• Loudoun officials consider a pause on new data center development.

How old is old enough to walk alone?

For Virginia mother Karyann Parkinson, the answer was 5.

On June 5, she let her 5-year-old son, Samuel, walk half a mile to a pond in their gated community to collect goose feathers, a route she says he knows well and that they had just done together. The outing ultimately led to a criminal conviction and her placement on the state’s child-abuse and neglect registry.

Parkinson has become the latest inadvertent symbol of a growing movement that believes children need more independence. Her conviction has reignited a debate over how much freedom kids should have and how much government oversight is appropriate in parenting. It’s also placed a spotlight on free range parenting, a philosophy that emphasizes free play, increased independence and limited parental intervention.

A federal rule that has limited road construction and timber harvesting in some of the least-developed parts of national forests for 25 years could soon be eliminated. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is moving to repeal the Roadless Rule — a decision that could have significant consequences for Virginia’s George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

Nearly 400,000 acres across the forests are currently considered roadless — the largest share of any Eastern state — making Virginia the most impacted state on the East Coast if the rule is repealed.

One Richmond-area locality has ditched Flock's controversial license plate readers, but its biggest neighbors aren't following — at least not yet.

Why it matters: Hundreds of Flock cameras remain active across the region as mounting privacy and surveillance concerns push lawmakers from both parties to consider banning the technology.

State of play: Goochland recently stopped using its 11 cameras after Sheriff Steven Creasey cited residents' concerns over privacy and the technology's evolving legal landscape.

It's one of at least 20 Virginia localities that have pulled away from Flock since July, reports Cardinal News.

The first of the key dimensions was work environment, in which Virginia took the 31st spot. The dimension was based on a multitude of factors, including work hours, commute time, unemployment rate and economic security.

The next key dimension was community and environment, where Virginia took the 32nd spot. This dimension was based on metrics like volunteer rate, ideal weather, average leisure time per day, divorce rate and safety.

The final dimension, and the one where Virginia placed the highest, was emotional and physical well-being. Virginia placed 10th in the dimension, which was based on factors like physical health index, share of adult depression, suicide rate and life expectancy.

Weighing all of these dimensions together landed Virginia as the 16th happiest state in the U.S. this year.

Article is from Hampton Roads POV but construction is in DC…

The project, called “Pause for Progress,” is scheduled for Oct. 16 through Oct. 26 and will affect Northeast Regional train service between Hampton Roads and Washington, D.C. It is estimated to cost $8.65 million.

[…]

The project will replace a “critical track and control point within the First Street Tunnel”, known as “A-Interlocking,” that’s responsible for routing Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express trains between Union Station and Virginia, according to Amtrak’s press release.

Karina Romero, Virginia Passenger Rail Authority communications manager, said they chose these dates because they were between the summer holidays and the winter holidays.

Six years ago, the City of Richmond removed a statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson on Monument Avenue. Crowds gathered, the sky opened and cheers erupted in the rain. Over the next two years, dozens of statues came down.

But three statues still remained in Richmonders’ frequent public view, since they were on state property, as they were the responsibility of the General Assembly.

In addition to Jackson’s statue, which was unveiled in 1875, contractors removed two others: Gov. William “Extra Billy” Smith, who served before and during the Civil War, and Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire, Jackson’s surgeon.

State regulators have approved Appalachian Power’s plan to move tons of coal ash created by its now-retired Glen Lyn power plant to a future landfill on the property.

Coal ash, also known as coal combustion residuals, is a byproduct of burning coal and a potentially harmful industrial waste. Appalachian Power has nearly 6.8 million cubic yards of it in an existing landfill and several ponds on the plant property.

The 335-megawatt power plant, in Giles County near the border between Virginia and West Virginia, stopped producing electricity in 2015 after federal regulators enacted stricter emissions standards. A 2020 Virginia law required the company to either recycle the coal ash or put it in a newer, more modern landfill.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger is stepping directly into the regulatory fight over the proposed $67 billion sale of Dominion Energy to Florida-based NextEra Energy, becoming the first Virginia governor to formally intervene in a case before the State Corporation Commission.

Spanberger announced Thursday that she will seek intervenor status in the case, giving her administration the ability to question both companies, review documents and argue for conditions related to customer electric bills, Virginia jobs and the state’s energy future.

The move does not give the governor the authority to approve, reject or rewrite the merger. Those decisions remain with the SCC, the independent regulatory body responsible for determining whether the transaction serves public interest.

Archive link: https://archive.ph/fzQPR

Courts are splintered over whether and how states can censor the messages the plates convey.

The latest decision landed Friday. It involved Curtis Whateley, who paid Virginia $10 in 2023 for a personalized license plate. He had seven characters to work with, and he sought to convey a statement “expressing my opinion on the current state of policing in this country,” as he would later put it in a lawsuit.

He settled on FTP & ATF. No one disputes what those letters stand for. “TP” is the police. “ATF” is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “F” is what you think it is.

The state issued the plate, and he used it for about a year, until authorities received an anonymous complaint that caused them to cancel it. Representing himself, Whateley sued, saying the cancellation violated the First Amendment.

With a deadline looming, a group of hemp businesses have filed a lawsuit to stop new restrictions on CBD products from taking effect in Virginia.

Currently, legal hemp products are those with a total THC concentration of no more than 0.3%. They must also have no more than 2 milligrams of total THC per package, but they can go over that limit if they feature a 25:1 ratio of CBD to THC.

At issue is the pending elimination of the 25:1 ratio rule on Aug. 15.

Hemp business owners say the new restriction would make many hemp-derived CBD products that are being sold today illegal. The Cannabis Small Business Association said the move would upend the industry without a transitional period to adapt to new regulations, which were included in the state budget approved in late June alongside provisions to launch a recreational marijuana retail market beginning next summer.

Loudoun County Supervisor is calling for new laws after an emergency at the Vantage VA2 campus, amid debate over public health impacts of data center pollution.

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.