General Assembly

Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey reports on priorities as Virginia’s General Assembly convenes.

Virginia lawmakers have all but wrapped up a special legislative session by approving a new state budget that gives bonuses to police, pays for new criminal justice reforms, and extends moratoriums on evictions and utility shutoffs during the coronavirus pandemic

Virginia Sen. Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) said he has tested positive for COVID-19. Reeves posted on Facebook that he was tested Monday after experiencing “mild cold symptoms.” After getting a positive result, he immediately started to self-quarantine, he wrote. The news came less than a week after the Virginia General Assembly convened for a special session. The special session involves both…

Northern Virginia Bureau Reporter Drew Wilder reports on the opening day of Virginia’s General Assembly special session.

The coronavirus pandemic is upending a Virginia legislative session as lawmakers in surgical masks sat far apart to abide by social distancing restrictions at separate spots in Richmond

An unprecedented General Assembly session in Richmond Wednesday where the House met outdoors to social distance while the Senate met at a museum. Protesters jammed the streets calling for lawmakers to reopen Virginia. Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey reports.

Gov. Ralph Northam plans to push back decisions on whether to give teachers and state workers raises, freeze in-state college tuition, and other new spending items in a proposed state budget in response to the coronavirus

Americans have been told to practice “social distancing” to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but that hasn’t prevented people across the country from lifting the spirits of those in need and saying thanks to those on the front lines of the crisis.

The Maryland General Assembly has given final approval to a far-reaching education measure

Eva Siakam’s choice to campaign for Ralph Northam in 2017 was a simple one: He was a Democrat and endorsed by Barack Obama, America’s first black president.

The General Assembly’s self-described socialist member is sponsoring legislation to repeal the state’s right-to-work law, which says employees can’t be forced to join a labor union.

Tobacco-friendly Virginia is preparing to raise the age limit on buying traditional and electric cigarettes from 18 to 21. GOP leaders in the majority-Republican General Assembly announced Thursday they were backing legislation to raise the limit for all tobacco products, citing the rapid growth of teenage vaping. Virginia-based tobacco giant Altria announced support for the legislation. The surprise announcement by…

The disgraced former mayor of Baltimore pleaded guilty Thursday to federal conspiracy and tax evasion charges in a case involving sales of her self-published children’s books.

A growing number of rural Virginia counties are declaring they will not implement any gun reforms passed by the newly elected Democratic majority.

An army of Confederate monuments dots Virginia’s landscape but some of those statues could soon start coming down after Election Day gave Democrats control of the General Assembly for the first time in decades.

Democrats from Virginia’s House of Delegates have nominated Eileen Filler-Corn to be the first female Speaker of the House in state history.

The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday to condemn the American economic embargo of Cuba for the 28th year, rejecting U.S. criticism of human rights violations there and criticizing the Trump administration’s increasingly tough enforcement measures. The vote in the 193-member world body was 187-3 with the U.S., Israel and Brazil voting “no,” and Colombia and Ukraine abstaining. Last year,...

Democrats are riding high after unseating GOP Gov. Matt Bevin in Kentucky and winning back majorities in both chambers of Virginia’s General Assembly in Tuesday’s elections. Much as was the case in 2018, when Democrats took back the majority in the House, Democrats’ gains were concentrated in largely white, middle-to-upper income suburbs, NBC News reported. However, the results weren’t as...

The election of a Democratic majority in Virginia changes everything, Lori Haas of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence said. Her daughter was shot and wounded in the Virginia Tech massacre. “The voters got fed up and sent a message loud and clear,” Haas told News4’s Julie Carey. Here’s what legislation on guns is on the agenda when the...