VISUALIZATION: ABSENTEE VOTES BY LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

As of Friday, more than 33,000 Virginians have cast absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 elections. VPAP has produced a map showing the rate of early votes so far in each state House and Senate district. The information, provided by the Virginia Department of Elections, will be updated each morning until Election Day.

OPEN SEAT PROFILE: HD 28 IN STAFFORD COUNTY

House District 28, which includes portions of Stafford County and Fredericksburg, became an open seat in June when Del. Bob Thomas was defeated in a Republican primary. VPAP provides maps and charts that explore the district's demographics, voter engagement and partisan tendencies shown in recent statewide elections.

VIRGINIA STRIKES DEAL TO PURCHASE RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR USE IN STATE FACILITIES

Virginia will purchase a significant amount of renewable energy for government offices under a contract with the state’s biggest utility announced Friday by Gov. Ralph Northam (D). Calling it the largest such contract negotiated by any state, Northam said the deal with Dominion Energy would ensure his goal of having state agencies get 30 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2022.

STATE TO BUY ENERGY FROM SOLAR, WIND PROJECTS TO POWER GOVERNMENT

Virginia is looking to the sun and wind to help power state government operations under a contract with Dominion Energy that Gov. Ralph Northam says will be good for the state’s environment, economy and taxpayers. The 20-year contract announced Friday commits the state to buying electricity from a proposed wind farm in Botetourt County — the first onshore in Virginia — and four solar power facilities under a purchased power agreement with Dominion, a Richmond-based energy company that operates Virginia’s largest electric utility.

PLANS FOR WIND FARM IN BOTETOURT COUNTY MOVE FORWARD

Plans for the first onshore wind farm in the state, high on a mountain ridge in Botetourt County, are finally getting off the ground. The Commonwealth of Virginia has reached an agreement to purchase electricity generated by up to 25 turbines, each one about 550 feet tall, to be built by Apex Clean Energy in a remote spot atop North Mountain.

ARLINGTON OFFICIALS: RENEWABLE ENERGY DEAL WITH DOMINION HELPS MAKE LOCAL GOALS A REALITY

Officials say a new statewide renewable energy commitment could help Arlington achieve its own green goals. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced today (Friday) that Virginia has struck an agreement with Dominion Energy to purchase 30% of the all energy used by the state government’s buildings from renewable sources. Local officials says the agreement to sustainability agreement also helps their own goals.

ALAN DIAMONSTEIN, POWER BROKER IN VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DIES AT 88

Alan Diamonstein, a power broker in the Virginia Democratic Party who represented Newport News in the House of Delegates for 34 years and championed greater state investment in higher education, died Oct. 17 at his home in Newport News. He was 88. The cause was a heart ailment, said a grandson, Ben Allen. A confidant of governors, senators and even a president, Mr. Diamonstein was described as understatedly savvy and enviably connected.

DEMOCRATS THOUGHT THEY COULD BEAT STURTEVANT FOUR YEARS AGO. IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT, THEY'RE TRYING AGAIN.

The district that Republican Sen. Glen Sturtevant holds was supposed to be a pickup for Democrats four years ago, or so they said at the time. Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, was retiring and Democrats thought the votes should have been there for a victory.

GUN POLICY GETS ITS BIGGEST POLITICAL TEST IN THE VIRGINIA BEACH DISTRICT THAT SUFFERED MASS SHOOTING

The ad begins with grainy footage of the municipal building, somber music and a woman’s voice: “May 31 started out like any other day,” Karen Havekost says, then describes walking out of the bathroom at work and seeing a gunman on a rampage that killed 12 people. She slams her state senator, Republican William R. DeSteph Jr., for failing to “make a difference” on gun violence. The campaign ad — sponsored by DeSteph’s Democratic opponent, Missy Cotter Smasal — has stirred raw feelings in Virginia Beach

THIS VA. HOUSE RACE SHOULD BE AN EASY PICKUP FOR DEMOCRATS. IT’S NOT SHAPING UP THAT WAY.

The path for Democrats to take control of the Virginia legislature runs through the Food Lion parking lot here and directly into Bennett’s Creek Pharmacy. Republican Chris Jones has owned the shop since he was a boy-wonder vice mayor who wore sneakers at Suffolk City Council meetings, rising to mayor and then state delegate. Today, at 61, he’s one of the most powerful lawmakers in Virginia.

FOSTER CHALLENGES INCUMBENT COLE FOR 88TH HOUSE OF DELEGATES DISTRICT

Republican Del. Mark Cole is being challenged in his bid for a 10th term representing the 88th District by first-time candidate Jessica Foster. Cole, 61, of Spotsylvania County, has been a conservative stalwart for the House of Delegates district covering parts of Fredericksburg and Fauquier, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties since 2002.

THE CAMPAIGN SPENDING THAT WASN’T THERE

If money talks, so, too, does its absence. A look into the campaign finance reports filed by General Assembly candidates this week, especially two GOP leaders who have been major bank-rollers of Republican House hopefuls in the past, includes these numbers: Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, raised nearly $303,000 just in September and spent more than $531,000, including more than $316,000 on various ad and media buys and more than $30,000 on various campaign materials and postage.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ELIZABETH WARREN DREW THOUSANDS TO TOWN HALL IN NORFOLK

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren promised to root out corruption in Washington during a campaign event Friday night at Old Dominion University. It was Warren’s first town hall since Tuesday’s Democratic debate in Ohio, and her second visit to Virginia this campaign season.

STATE LAWMAKERS SET ASIDE $24.2 MILLION TO COMMEMORATE THE YEAR 1619. HERE’S HOW IT WAS SPENT.

Commemorating the events of 1619 in Virginia was an expensive endeavor for the Virginia taxpayer. State lawmakers put up more than $24.2 million over five years to mark 400 years since the first meeting of representative government, the arrival of the first enslaved Africans and other key historical markers for English North America that took place in Virginia that year.

AMID VAPING-RELATED ILLNESSES, A CALL FOR HIGHER TAXES AND PRICES

Amid a national reckoning following more than two dozen vaping-related deaths, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on Friday raised the possibility of increasing state taxes on e-cigarettes. Kaine and about two dozen students and local leaders discussed the idea at a roundtable discussion in Arlington, Va. The senator came looking for policy ideas that lawmakers can use to curb a new generation of nicotine addicts.

REP. MCEACHIN HASN’T RETURNED TO CAPITOL HILL SINCE AUGUST SURGERIES

Virginia Democratic Rep. Don McEachin is still recovering from an August medical procedure, and hasn’t returned to Capitol Hill since then, his office told the Mercury on Friday. McEachin, who represents the 4th District, is “currently recovering from a non-life threatening surgery,” his spokeswoman Ariana Valderrama said in an email. “He is in constant communication with his staff and eager to be back once the doctor discharges him.”

REP. GRIFFITH INTRODUCES BILL TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO NURSES PROVIDING SEXUAL ASSAULT EXAMS

Rep. Morgan Griffith introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday that would provide sexual assault victims improved access to specially trained medical workers known as sexual assault forensic nurses.

WING MAKES FIRST COMMERCIAL DRONE DELIVERY IN CHRISTIANSBURG; SERVICE UNDERWAY

Susie Sensmeier received the first commercial drone delivery in the U.S. and said it wouldn’t be her last, either. Sensmeier, 81, and her husband Paul watched a FedEx package deliver a winter vest to their home at The Villas in Peppers Ferry as part of Wing Aviation’s grand opening Friday afternoon. The drone hovered 23 feet above the ground and dispensed the package from a tether onto the ground.

GOOGLE AFFILIATE BEGINS DRONE DELIVERIES IN VIRGINIA TOWN

A Google affiliate started using drones Friday to deliver customers' Walgreens and FedEx purchases in a test being run in a Virginia town. Wing, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, received federal approval earlier this year to make commercial deliveries by drone. It was the first drone company to receive the approval in the U.S., beating out Amazon's Prime Air, which revealed its drone plans in 2013.

AMAZON OFFICIALS TO MEET WITH STATE LEADERS IN SOUTHWEST VA.

Officials from Amazon are visiting Southwest Virginia to meet with state leaders. The California-based global online retailer broke ground this summer on HQ2, its new second headquarters in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Crystal City, after announcing last November that Virginia won out over a host of other locations. On Friday, Gov. Ralph Northam’s office announced the governor would participate in a Monday roundtable discussion “with officials from Amazon’s second headquarters.”

NORFOLK’S NEW PRO-CASINO GROUP LOOKS LIKE IT’S CITIZEN LED. IT’S ACTUALLY BACKED BY THE TRIBE’S P.R. FIRM.

Last week, a slick-looking website went live, calling for supporters of Norfolk’s proposed Pamunkey casino resort to make their voices heard to counter those who are trying to stop the development. “All In for Norfolk Casino” looks and sounds like concerned citizens banding together as petition organizers on the other side gather signatures in an effort to overturn the City Council’s approval of a land deal for the casino.

VIRGINIA'S UNEMPLOYMENT RATE WAS DOWN SLIGHTLY TO 2.7% IN SEPTEMBER, BUT EMPLOYERS REPORT PAYROLL DROP

Virginia’s unemployment rate edged down in September to 2.7%, even though payroll numbers reported by employers in the state dropped during the month. The state’s jobless rate in September was down from 2.8% in both August and a year ago, as the number of people counted as unemployed declined by 3,555.

THE SMITHFIELD TIMES IS SOLD TO FORMER SUFFOLK NEWS-HERALD PUBLISHER

The Smithfield Times, first published in 1920, will soon have a new owner. The former publisher of the Suffolk News-Herald has offered to buy it for an undisclosed price and make it an affiliate of Alabama-based Boone Newspapers Inc., among the ten largest newspaper chains in the country based on the number of publications it owns.

WITH LITERACY RATES DROPPING IN VIRGINIA, CHARLES CITY COUNTY BUCKS THE TREND

A small conference room tucked behind the librarian’s desk in the Charles City County Elementary School library holds the key to the school’s success. There, on index cards representing the school's roughly 330-student population, teachers and administrators pore over data and figure out how to make sure every student is reading on grade level

PORTSMOUTH GENERAL DISTRICT COURT CLERK RESIGNS SUDDENLY FOLLOWING OFFICE REVIEW

The clerk of the Portsmouth General District Court abruptly resigned last week, days after officials with the Virginia Supreme Court’s Office of the Executive Secretary wrapped up a review of his office. James Verschueren offered no reason for quitting the job he’d held for almost three years, but in a letter of resignation addressed to the court’s chief judge he referenced some unspecified “tension" among his staff.

PLASTIC RECYCLING SQUEEZE REACHES COUNTY

The ripple effects of decisions on recycling in China have now hit home here. Effective Oct. 14, Wise County no longer accepts plastic for recycling at any of its convenience centers. Norton partners with the county on its service and will likely follow suit, while surrounding counties also are ending their plastic recycling.

CONFINEMENT QUESTIONED AT VA. PRISONS

Virginia’s prisons are holding only 43 inmates in long-term “restrictive housing” — or “solitary confinement,” depending on your point of view — according to a new report. But the ACLU of Virginia thinks those numbers are low. At issue is whether inmates are being treated fairly — even humanely — under prison policy.

WILL VIRGINIA'S FIRST WIND FARM BE A BREEZE?

If today is like most other days, the wind will blow at a leisurely pace over North Mountain in Botetourt County, although perhaps not as leisurely as down in the valley. Things are always a bit brisker up on the mountain. Economically speaking, these winds are of no consequence. They are, as Shakespeare wrote, “sound and fury, signifying nothing.” That may be about to change.

CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE

We were delighted with the unveiling and dedication this week of “Voices from the Garden: The Virginia Women’s Monument” in Capitol Square. Roughly 10 years in the making, the monument features life-size bronze statues of seven women whose contributions have helped shape the Commonwealth during the past 400 years.

SCHAPIRO: THINNING RANKS OF OLD TIMERS IS REMINDER OF CHANGE

Alan Diamonstein, who died this past Thursday at 88, could be the life of the party — political and social. The longtime delegate from Newport News was fidgety yet focused. Hungry for gossip and a nosh, Diamonstein would prowl the perimeter of the House chamber when everyone else was in their seat. A pioneer in housing, he wrote the legislation that created the agency that supplies mortgages to first-time home buyers.