Virginia Politics & News

Virginia farmer Martha Boneta’s desire to have an environmental conservation group replaced as overseer of her property has moved a step closer to reality. Officials of the Piedmont Environmental Council have agreed to a meeting Friday to talk about ending a bitter standoff with Boneta by handing off enforcement duties for a conservation easement on…

More than a year after it was reported the IRS sent thousands of refunds to the tiny town of Parksley, Va., a woman has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and mail fraud. Linda Avila admitted to obtaining more than $7.2 million in refunds by exploiting the federal government’s child tax credit program. Avila filed more than…

A Virginia Republican’s forthcoming retirement after three-and-a-half decades in the General Assembly could give Democrats a better shot at regaining control of the state Senate next year. Earlier this year, Republicans took control of the Virginia Senate and halted hopes of Medicaid expansion when Democratic state Sen. Phil Puckett abruptly resigned. Now, moderate Republican state Sen. John Watkins has announced…

A Virginia woman has been arrested for allegedly attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group ISIS. Heather Coffman, 29, began exchanging messages with an undercover FBI official in July. Coffman allegedly believed the undercover agent was a fellow ISIS sympathizer and offered to put him in touch with her contacts, according to an affidavit…

On Tuesday, Saira Blair of West Virginia became the youngest state lawmaker-elect in the nation. Blair is an 18-year-old freshman at West Virginia University. According to the Wall Street Journal, she is an economics major and “hopes to become a financial planner.” She ran as a Republican on what she calls a “fiscally conservative platform,”…

The failed launch and fiery explosion at the Wallops Island spaceport could blow up Virginia’s projected financial windfall at the commercial site. The state invested $26 million in 2009 to bring privately operated space flights to the Eastern Shore. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport was estimated to generate $4.25 billion for Virginia’s economy through 2020. After the…

RICHMOND, Va.— Virginia classrooms this school year will include as many as 2,800 new undocumented children, who will cost state taxpayers $54 million. The cost for school-eligible children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and have been released in Virginia—often to extended family members—is among the highest per-capita in the nation, according to the Federation for…

BRISTOW, Va. — Corey Stewart, who made his name in politics by implementing what he calls the nation’s “toughest” crackdown on illegal immigration, lives in a house steeped in history. The top elected official in Virginia’s second-largest locality, Stewart resides in the oldest house in Prince William County, located abruptly off a road lined with…

Just when you thought you couldn’t despise the Department of Motor Vehicles any more, Virginia’s DMV decided to wage war against popular passenger carrier companies Uber and Lyft, sending cease and desist letters urging them to stop doing business in the commonwealth. The Virginia DMV, which has already fined Uber and Lyft $26,000 and $9,000,…