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opinion
Get the Flock Out
The Harrisonburg City Council voted unanimously this week to end the city’s contract with Flock Safety. It will bag the company’s surveillance cameras with trash bags until they are removed and will consider an ordinance that prohibits other similar mass-surveillance entities from entering into contracts with any entities in the city. Earlier this year, the… -
news
Loudoun County Board Makes a Leadership Change
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will reconvene in September after its August recess. When it meets next, one key panel will be under new leadership: Supervisor Juli Briskman was replaced as chairwoman of the finance committee by Supervisor Koran Saines. The move came near the end of the board’s final July meeting. County Chairwoman… -
opinion
Great Seal of Virginia Turns 250
Virginians were busy 250 years ago this month. In Philadelphia, of course, Virginians were leading the 13 Colonies into the war that would free them from the British Empire. But others remained in Williamsburg, where the Virginia Convention was hard at work shaping what an independent state would look like. It ratified the Virginia Declaration… -
opinion
News Networks Challenge Mark Warner on Voter ID, President’s Speech
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner told a gathering of supporters in Staunton this past weekend that “this is it” for him. It is his last run for the U.S. Senate seat he first won in 2008 after serving as Virginia’s governor. Funny, you don’t have to look hard in the archives to find a famous video… -
news
Virginia’s Abortion Amendment Would Strike Down Statutory Rape Laws, Warns Lawsuit Seeking to Invalidate It for Deceptive Language
Virginia Democrats have supported a “Reproductive Freedom” constitutional amendment, but critics warn that it would vacate laws against statutory rape, and a lawsuit seeks to invalidate it. “Virginia’s so-called reproductive freedom amendment goes far beyond the issue of abortion,” Josh Hetzler, executive director of the Founding Freedoms Law Center and an attorney for the nonprofits challenging… -
opinion
Look Who’s Back! Winsome Earle-Sears
Winsome Earle-Sears is back. As the news that former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin had returned to the private sector, aka joining technology capital firm Red Cell Partners as a partner, chairman, and board member, his lieutenant governor returned to the world of three-speeches-a-day campaigning. Why? “Babies and Families,” Winsome Earle-Sears told the crowd at the… -
news
Mixed Messages From Virginia’s Economy
When it comes to Virginia’s economy, the glass may be half full, or it may be half empty. First, some bad news: In the year that ended May 31, Virginia lost 51,400 jobs. That is the most jobs lost by any state. A good share of those jobs, about 40%, were caused by federal government… -
opinion
School Daze
A Virginia elementary school teacher was tasked with also providing counseling to students who wanted to discuss their sexuality as part of a public-school division’s efforts to be “inclusive” of LGBTQ+ feelings. He had the title “Social Emotional Learning coach.” Did we mention this was at an elementary school? But wait, there’s more. Absurd as… -
news
Virginia’s State of Surveillance
If you sense that somebody’s watching you, you’re not paranoid; you’re a Virginian. The website Deflock.org allows readers to zoom in on a map of Virginia. It currently shows more than 5,500 surveillance cameras operating in the state. Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Hampton Roads are so thoroughly surveilled that they disappear under a blob of… -
opinion
Smoking Out Virginia’s Pot Law
If you are unclear about Virginia’s marijuana laws, rest assured you are not alone these days. Even police officers seem confused (if not necessarily dazed). “As of July 1, 2026, there are no Code of Virginia violations related to marijuana,” a state police lieutenant wrote in what the Virginia Scope (which obtained the communication) described… -
opinion
Spanberger’s Backfiring Gun Stance
Who is the best gun salesperson in Virginia? Gov. Abigail Spanberger—that’s who. According to the FBI background check registry—more about that in a moment—there were 124,319 firearm background checks conducted just in the month of June. Wrap your head around that. That’s more privately owned firearms sold just in June than exist in the entire… -
news
Virginia Town Became Home to Roadside Islamic Rally
The town of Woodbridge, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., was recently home to a public roadside march of Islamic supporters who chanted sayings in a foreign language, beat their chests, and flew flags written in Arabic. The scene was captured in a video posted on X. Amy Mek, founder of the Rise, Align, Ignite,… -
news
DOJ Sues California, Virginia Over Gun Restrictions After Supreme Court Ruling
The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against both California and Virginia over the states’ gun restrictions. On Wednesday, the Justice Department sued to stop California’s newly enacted ban on Glocks, a popular handgun. The California law that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in June would ban the retail purchase of common handguns manufactured by Glock and… -
opinion
Nothing in Commonwealth
As July begins, Virginians brace for higher gas taxes, hoping that the $68 price of a barrel of crude oil will start to bring the price at the pump back down. However, they will very soon be hit with a 7% increase in their electric bills. Iran? No. Trump tariffs? No. This is because, as… -
news
For the Love of DEI, Virginia Democrats Inject Race Into Tourism
The Virginia House of Delegates just released its final draft of the 2026 budget. Buried in a civil war on data centers, lifting marijuana restrictions, and giving themselves a 150% pay raise, Democrats are also seeking to spend millions on DEI tourism. Virginia legislators are busy working out the 2026 budget. After months of back… -
Yes, Virginia, There Won’t Be a Shutdown
In the end, as the Virginia General Assembly returned Monday for a perfunctory vote on the one-sided $212 billion tax plan, it appears that the Senate president pro tempore was holding up the process not on the principle of clawing tax dollars from data center operators—they were the most eye-catching hostages to take—but for getting… -
opinion
Virginia and the Color Purple
Virginians are facing some tough battles this year, and it didn’t have to be that way. Republican leaders are getting heat for two votes taken on June 13 at the Republican Party of Virginia State Central Committee meeting. That’s not fair. They should take heat for the fact that neither of them should have been… -
opinion
Spanberger’s Slow Start
Imagine for a moment that you’re at a Donald Trump rally. As you approach the event, you come across a Republican protester wearing an anti-Trump mask and carrying a “No more wars” sign. Perhaps the person is also accusing the president of being too cozy with corporations. Does that sound unlikely? Well, outside a Democratic… -
news
Data Center Policy Divides State Democrats
The fate of Virginia’s two-year state budget, which is scheduled to take effect on July 1, is in the hands of Democrats who control both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s mansion, even as the party remains divided over the tax treatment of data centers. State Sen. L. Louise Lucas vowed that “there is… -
opinion
The Art of the Deal
Like they all had read President Donald Trump’s seminal tome “Art of the Deal,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, state Sen. Louise Lucas, and Speaker of the House Don Scott had us all believing that the Virginia Democrats were in disarray. Then, as Lee Corso used to say on ESPN “College GameDay,” “Not so fast, my…
