Category: Virginia Mercury

• “Congressional Democrats launch probe into ICE enforcement in Northern Virginia.” — WTOP News • “Virginia hospitals keep closing labor-and-delivery units, stranding rural mothers.” — WSLS • “Texas has now surpassed Virginia for data center construction.” — KXAN • “Even with upcoming raises, Virginia teacher salaries still lag the national

After the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality released a 117-page report indicating that available groundwater east of Interstate-95 is “declining (in) availability in the near future,” the agency pitched recommendations on how to tackle the issue to lawmakers Thursday in Richmond.  The report detailed the groundwater needs for the Eastern

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has not slowed his pursuit of central policy goals and personal passions, even after major setbacks at the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts. The high court in its 2026 term delivered blows to Trump’s core campaign promises to upend a constitutional provision governing

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies.  With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the

Amanda Daugherty, a mother from Nottoway County, valued the Head Start program in Virginia because it closely reflected her values and experience before she was hired by the program in October 2021. Less than six months later, the program came to her aid after her husband died, stepping in to

Despite winning a lawsuit earlier this year that found that certain Virginians with felony convictions should not have lost their voting rights, some Virginians missed their chance to vote in congressional primary elections earlier this month.  But a new ruling from U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney means that they

• “Virginia Beach pauses new hyperscale data centers for one year.” — 13 News Now • “Spanberger administration revokes Virginia youth psych facility’s license, calls system ‘broken.’” — WTVR • “Assistant state medical examiner fired over false certification letter; murder cases she testified in being questioned.” — The Virginian-Pilot •

Violent crime in the United States fell by an estimated 9.3% in 2025, marking the largest year-to-year decline in the national violent crime rate since the FBI began estimating crime in 1936, according to new national data. The estimated murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate also fell 18.1%, to 4.1 killings

A 2021 tour of the construction of the new Highland Springs High School in Henrico, which was estimated to cost about $80 million. (Photo courtesy of Henrico County Public Schools)

The United States Department of Agriculture is nearing a full repeal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects millions of acres of virgin forestland nationwide. In Virginia, if the rule is repealed it would open up an estimated 400,000 acres of forest, largely across the Shenandoah Valley region,