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National Park Service Shutters Mount Vernon Trail Amid Budget Crisis
Parts of trail are barricaded;; parking lots closed/ Park Service Police issue parking tickets.
Woody Guthrie observed "This Land is Your Land." But that apparently does not apply to federal land during a government shutdown.
Alexandria City Council Poised to Rezone Waterfront
City manager declines to talk about developers interested in the waterfront.
Can City Manager Rashad Young name any developer who is interested in the waterfront?
Northern Virginia Democrats Finally Get Traction on Voting Rights for Nonviolent Felons
But House Democrats stand in the way of bipartisan effort.
The plight of the nonviolent felon has been a losing cause in Northern Virginia for decades. Year after year, Democrats introduce a bill that would restore voting rights for nonviolent felons. And year after year, the effort fizzles in Richmond.
Struggling Nonprofit Fights Against Cuts to At-Risk Children
City Council members consider elimination of Urban League program for troubled youth.
Since 1981, the city of Alexandria has been funding an Urban League program to help at-risk youth.
May 7: Week in Alexandria
The week of May 7 in brief.
Week in Alexandria
October Surprise Virginia election officials are asking the attorney general's office to investigate the son of U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8) discussing a plan to cast fraudulent ballots and the person who made the recording of the incident.
Governor Approves Conditional Budget for Medicaid Expansion
Vote-swapping operation traded transportation votes for Medicaid money.
Half a million uninsured Virginians may be eligible for Medicaid under an agreement now being worked out in Richmond — a deal in which Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell agreed to include Medicaid expansion as part of the budget if Senate Democrats supported a transportation package.
Body of Law
The history of abortion in Virginia has many twists and turns.
The United States Supreme Court's decision to dismantle the right to abortion has upended the discussion over reproductive freedom.
The Hidden History of Del Ray
Uncovering the secret past in the Town of Potomac.
Gambling. Corruption, Racism. Greed. These are all part of a little-known narrative from the Del Ray's long-ago past, a time when progressive leaders closed a corrupt racetrack and formed the Town of Potomac, only to see an unwanted attempt by Alexandria City Hall to steal the land in a controversial annexation.
Up in Smoke
Black market to remain underground for now as lawmakers reject licensing scheme.
Cannabis
Empire Strikes Back: Establishment Beats Tea Party at Republican Convention
Party insider Ed Gillespie seizes nomination at convention in Roanoke.
When conservative preacher E.W. Jackson took the stage at the Roanoke Civic Center to introduce Tea Party favorite Shak Hill at the Republican convention last weekend, hundreds of conservatives from across Virginia took to their feet. They waved placards.
Alexandria City Council Election Returns: Precinct By Precinct
How the candidates ranked in all of the city's voting precincts.
A listing of which candidates won which precincts.
Ebbin to Face Challenger in Alexandria
Senate race will be the lone contested election in Alexandria this November.
election
Privacy Advocates Urge Veto
Opponents of facial recognition technology call on governor to reject social-media dragnet.
Police departments across Virginia may soon have the ability to use billions of images scraped from social-media sites like Facebook and Instagram to track down suspects, a development that is concerning to critics who say the technology is invasive and a violation of privacy. The governor is now considering the bill, and critics are urging him to veto it or amend it to require a warrant.
The Median Has No Message
Political signs banished from roadsides as campaign season heats up.
Some people call them flowers of democracy. Others call them weeds of political pollution. Whatever one thinks of the campaign signs and placards that appear along the roads of Fairfax County, expect to see a lot fewer of them. Last month, county officials launched a new program in which nonviolent inmates at the county jail hit the streets four days a week to remove illegal signs. With apologies to Marshall McLuhan, the message is no longer in the median. Anger and resentment has been rising over the issue of roadside political signs for years, and campaigns frequently go to war with each other to see which side can plant or steal or deface the largest number of placards. Unlike Prince William County, which had an agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation that allows the local government to collect the signs and fine violators, Fairfax was caught in a bind. Part of the Virginia code made it illegal for the county to remove the signs in Fairfax County until after an election.
Taking on Beyer
Five Republican candidates seek nomination in convention to challenge incumbent congressman.
Usually Republicans have to recruit candidates to run against four-term U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8). Not this year. Five Republicans are seeking the Republican nomination for the 8th Congressional District in a convention later this month.
City Election: Yo Yo Road Diet
Four Democrats support four lanes on Seminary Road.
The lingering resentment over Seminary Road bike lanes comes with a price tag, somewhere between $300,000 and $700,000 — a cost four City Council candidates say they’re willing to pay for returning four lanes of traffic to the street.
Four Northern Virginia Senators Targeted
Redistricting effort puts Fairfax County seats in the spotlight.
Four Northern Virginia state Senators are targets of a Republican-led effort to draw new districts — Sen. George Barker (D-39), Sen. Dave Marsden (D-37), Sen. Toddy Puller (D-36) and Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34). Democrats say the redistricting effort is a cynical attempt to take advantage of the absence of Sen. Henry Marsh (D-16), a prominent civil rights veteran, who was in Washington, D.C. for the inauguration on Monday. But state Sen. John Watkins (R-10) of Powhatan defended the effort as a way to create a sixth majority black Senate district in Southside. It passed the Senate on a 20-to-19 vote.