Walk the hallways of the General Assembly Building, and you’re sure to run into lobbyists stopping by a state senator’s or delegate’s office. And although the more spacious hallways seem less crowded with lobbyists than the narrow, twisting passages in the Pocahontas Building that housed legislative offices before 2024, there are more of them — just over 1,100 — as clients spend more money than ever. Spending on lobbying is up 72% over the past three gubernatorial and House election cycles, from the 2017 to 2025 cycles, a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis of state Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commission data found. The total reached a record $24.3 million, with the number growing roughly twice as fast as the inflation rate.

Virginia is one of six states that have no limits on the money that anyone, any company or organization can give a political candidate. Seven other states put no limits on political action committees, even as three of them ban any corporate giving, a Richmond Times-Dispatch review found. States that put caps on campaign donations do so to make sure that the money doesn’t sway officials’ decisions. Virginia’s approach is that the amount of money isn’t the issue — disclosure of donations, elected officials have long argued, is the best protection.

More than 10 months after video appeared to show a Richmond deputy pepper-spraying a 15-year-old boy at a concert, Sheriff Antionette Irving has not said what, if anything, she did about it. The incident happened in September 2025 at a Turnstile show on Brown’s Island. Witnesses say the band was inviting people on stage when the officer deployed pepper spray toward the teen’s face. … Irving said at the time she opened an internal investigation. In the months that followed, I continued to ask for the results but was told the matter was under review. This week, I submitted another Freedom of Information Act request for the report. Irving’s office said it was withholding 14 pages of records, with a spokesperson citing a FOIA exemption that allows the government to keep secret information pertaining to allegations of wrongdoing by law enforcement officers and personnel. Those exemptions are discretionary, meaning the sheriff’s office could choose to release the records. I asked why they are not opting to do so and have not received an answer. I also asked Irving’s office to at least confirm the findings of the investigation — whether the officer violated policy, whether any actions were taken against him, and whether the sheriff implemented any changes moving forward. I have not heard back.

Just minutes after the Greene County Board of Supervisors were assembled, a man in the gallery stood up and objected to the board violating his constitutional rights. Multiple people stood up in support before Chairman Steve Catalano told the man he was out of order and moved on to the first item on the night’s agenda. The agenda item that prompted the disruption was a proposal to limit future public comment at board meetings to Greene County residents who can prove their residency. … But it was a member of the board who stepped in Tuesday night and successfully convinced his fellow supervisors to table the proposal to limit public comment in a 3-2 vote. Midway District Supervisor Matt Hartung did not object to changing the county’s bylaws to limit who can and cannot speak during periods of public comment. What he objected to was rushing the process.

Yorktown High School is getting a new principal after six and a half years. Bridget Loft, formerly the Swanson Middle School principal, will be taking the helm at Yorktown from Principal Kevin Clark. She is returning to a position that she previously held from 2017 to January 2020, when Clark took over. APS administrators did not say where Clark is going or why he is leaving. His name was not mentioned in a statement to families about Loft’s arrival yesterday (Thursday). “Because this is a confidential personnel matter, APS cannot comment further on the circumstances surrounding this leadership change,” Christina Arpante, interim assistant superintendent of school and community relations, told ARLnow. … Arpante said that School Board members approved the changes as part of their consent agenda last night (Thursday). “Personnel actions on the consent agenda were approved as part of a single motion and were not discussed individually in public session,” she said.

On May 5, Kyle Brown was taken into the custody of an Isle of Wight County sheriff’s deputy while experiencing a mental health crisis. Five hours later, the 28-year-old was dead at the hospital. For months, the circumstances of that night have been shrouded in secrecy. Now, we have a definitive answer from the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner: Brown’s death was a homicide caused by mechanical and positional asphyxia. This ruling is not merely a technical finding; it is an indictment of the events that occurred within a mental health system intended for care, not punishment. Yet, in the wake of this revelation, the response from authorities has been to retreat further behind a wall of silence. Isle of Wight officials and the Virginia State Police continue to cite the “active investigation” as justification for withholding information. They refuse to identify the deputy involved and they refuse to release body camera footage — even as Brown’s family and the public are left to grapple with the horrific conclusion by the state medical examiner that a man died at the hands of those sworn to protect him. The mantra of an “active investigation” is often used as a shield against accountability, a way to stifle public scrutiny until the urgency of the moment fades.