HOW EACH LAWMAKER WOULD TWEAK STATE BUDGET

The details of the state's two-year spending plan that begins in July will be hammered out by a relatively small group of senior legislators. But all 140 legislators -- down to lowly freshmen -- have the right to put forward ideas of their own. This chart shows the fiscal impact of each legislator's amendments, with links to the details of their plans.

SHOULD VIRGINIA AWARD LUCRATIVE CASINO LICENSES WITHOUT COMPETITION?

The big gambling report Virginia lawmakers asked for to help them figure out how to start a casino industry didn’t say exactly what the General Assembly should do. But its recommendations were pretty clear on one point: No one should get a free pass at a lucrative casino license with no competition.

COLONIAL DOWNS SEEKS INCLUSION IN CASINO TALKS

A proposed Pamunkey Indian tribe casino in Richmond would directly compete with Rosie’s Gaming Emporium’s new Richmond location, and its operators want to be considered for casino status. The Virginia General Assembly is expected to debate a number of casino and gaming bills this session, including some that would permit one casino to operate in each of five cities — Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond.

5 CITIES, 5 PROJECTS: STATUS OF PROPOSED CASINOS IN LEGISLATION

For at least five Virginia cities, investments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, thousands of new jobs and millions in potential tax revenues are at stake this winter as the General Assembly determines if and how to legalize casino gaming. More than 20 gambling-related bills have been filed regarding casinos and their regulation, taxing games of skill, charitable gaming, pari-mutuel wagering, addressing problem gambling and the lottery.

AS SCHOOLS LOOK TO SOLAR, EXISTING STATE LAW SHUTS DOWN FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

When 2020 dawned, every school in rural Middlesex County on the Northern Neck was entirely powered by solar. ...But at virtually the same time that Middlesex was celebrating the conversion of its third and final school to solar, the door for other school districts around the commonwealth was quietly closing.

NEW BILLS SET TO PROTECT STATE'S LGBTQ CITIZENS

When Nyonna Byers was called “sir” several times by a KFC employee in front of her 6-year-old niece last year — even after she had corrected the person — she knew she couldn’t do anything about it. She was also powerless when management at an apartment complex found out she was transgender and didn’t give her the unit she wanted. Byers, who lives in Hampton, said she didn’t have any protections under state law

BILL WOULD REQUIRE VIRGINIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO PROVIDE PERIOD PRODUCTS IN BATHROOMS

In the first-floor women’s bathroom of Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School on Tuesday, Pooja Muthuraj and half a dozen other students placed tampons into a mailbox-like dispenser. The seven 6-by-8-inch containers, installed across the school’s bathrooms and filled with donated period products, ensure students won’t face the inconvenience or embarrassment of trekking to the nurse clinic for emergency situations or in case of an inability to afford their own pads or tampons.

A GROUNDWATER BILL WITH AN UNDERLYING MESSAGE ABOUT REAL — BUT NOT PARTISAN — POLITICAL DIFFERENCES

Two years ago, state Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, pulled off that rarest of General Assembly feats — an impassioned speech on the floor that derailed a bill by changing minds. This year, he’s not been as lucky — but his problem with a proposal by state Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, dealing with groundwater bespeaks a basic difference in political approach by two legislators who share a concern.

TETHERING BILL ADDS NEW PROTECTIONS FOR ANIMALS KEPT OUTSIDE

Animal rights advocates want lawmakers to advance legislation that expands on a tethering bill passed last year by the General Assembly. The new legislation would increase the minimum length of a tether and adds conditions that include temperature, severe weather and require the animal to be brought inside when the owner isn’t home.

PROPOSAL WOULD GIVE TEACHERS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PINTEREST TO FIND ONLINE CLASSROOM MATERIALS

With more teachers using social media, most notably Pinterest, to find curriculum, the Virginia Department of Education wants to create a new statewide system where teachers can find vetted classroom materials. The idea is part of Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed budget, which includes $1.2 billion in new education spending, that is in the hands of the General Assembly. Teachers from across the state are rallying Monday to ask for more.

VIRGINIA’S SOCIALIST DELEGATE GETS FIRST BILL OUT OF HOUSE

It's never easy for a freshman lawmaker to advance a bill in the tradition-bound Virginia State Capitol. There's the arcane language to learn, the procedural pitfalls and the preferences and peculiarities of more senior legislators who may seem to control a bill's destiny. It’s even worse if you’re in the minority party.

ELKTON WOMAN PUSHES FOR 'CALEB'S LAW'

Shortly after becoming pregnant, Jacob and Taylor Shifflett sat down to a family dinner. As they ate, the couple contemplated baby names. “We were spitting out names, and I said ‘Caleb,’” Taylor Shifflett said. “I really fell in love with it.” But six months into her pregnancy, she lost the baby. A Shenandoah man who was fleeing police struck the car Shifflett was riding in.

VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH INVESTIGATING 3 POSSIBLE CASES OF CORONAVIRUS

The state department of health is investigating three potential cases of the new coronavirus in central and northern Virginia. These patients “meet both clinical and epidemiologic criteria” for the novel virus, which was first detected in Wuhan, China, and has quickly spread to more than 2,000 people, leaving 56 dead — all in China.

TWO CASES OF CORONAVIRUS UNDER INVESTIGATION IN CENTRAL REGION OF VIRGINIA

The Virginia Department of Health and local health officials are investigating three cases that seem to meet the criteria for the coronavirus, the respiratory outbreak first detected in Wuhan, China. Two of the case under investigation are in the central region and one stems from the northern region of the state, according to a VDH news release.

VIRGINIA'S FIRST DIRECTOR OF DIVERSITY URGES LYNCHBURG TO 'OPENLY TALK ABOUT RACE'

Janice Underwood, the director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Commonwealth of Virginia, urged Lynchburg residents Saturday to have difficult conversations about the influence of race in American life. “Don’t underestimate the power of conversation. Openly talk about race and racism,” Underwood said. “Racism is the adult disease that we ask our children to spread. It is truly a weapon of mass destruction that no one wants to talk about. So, we must learn from our past.”

MWH SAYS LAWSUITS OVER UNPAID BILLS 'SHOULD BE INCREDIBLY RARE' UNDER NEW POLICIES

After a study released last summer revealed Mary Washington Healthcare sued more patients for unpaid bills than any other hospital in Virginia in 2017, MWH officials spent the last six months looking at ways to revamp practices to avoid taking people to court. Changes include focusing on qualifying more patients for financial assistance or reduced rates or setting up payment plans they can afford rather than sending them exorbitant bills month after month.

HOW VIRGINIA’S $3.7 BILLION RAIL PLAN FITS AMTRAK’S LONG-TERM VISION

Amtrak trains in Virginia carried nearly a million passengers last year, a record in the state’s decade-long rail program. Virginia’s pledge to invest $3.7 billion in rail over the next decade promises even more growth for the passenger railroad. With new routes and faster and more efficient service, the number of Amtrak trains operating in Virginia is expected to double by 2030.

VDOT'S I-95 PLAN EYES UP TO $1.7B IN ROAD IMPROVEMENTS, INCLUDING NEW RUSH-HOUR LANE

The Virginia Department of Transportation is recommending nearly $1.7 billion in road improvements and up to $444 million in other projects to provide relief to travelers on Interstate 95, particularly supporting those drivers stuck in traffic jams in Northern Virginia.

METRO’S NEXT-GENERATION RAIL CARS WILL NOT BE MADE IN CHINA

Metro is no longer considering China’s state-owned rail-car manufacturer to build its next series of rail cars after Congress, concerned about cybersecurity risks, passed legislation prohibiting transit agencies from making such purchases. President Trump signed the legislation into law just before Christmas.

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SLAMS NORTHAM’S PROPOSED CUT TO ONLINE TUITION AID

Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposal to cut Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant (VTAG) aid for online students would negatively impact more than 2,000 students per year at Liberty University alone, the state’s largest university by enrollment stated in a news release issued Friday.

PHCC GETS APPROVAL FOR $14 MILLION EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT CENTER

Patrick Henry Community College may see an influx of pint-sized Patriots on campus starting in 2022. State officials recently gave PHCC the green light to move forward with plans to build a 32,000-square-foot early childhood development center.

‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND WORTHLESS’: EMAILS SHOW OFFICIALS DOUBTING GUN SANCTUARIES

Tighter gun laws aren't the only thing rural Virginia counties have resisted as they've declared themselves Second Amendment "sanctuaries." They’ve also defied legal advice in some cases, ignoring warnings from county attorneys and administrators that the sanctuary resolutions are legally meaningless and dangerously confusing.

POLLUTED, DAMAGED STREAMS AT CENTER OF DEBATE OVER CHESAPEAKE BAY

The two streams trickling through the Hollin Hills neighborhood in Northern Virginia have long been part of the charm of the woodsy community, where homes were built without fences in what was meant to be a shared sense of harmony with nature. But after years of polluted storm water runoff rushing in from nearby gutters, the streams are eroding — and so is the feeling of togetherness in an enclave of $1 million houses that has become part of a larger debate over how to fix damaged streams in the Chesapeake Bay region.

VA., MD. CONSIDER SUING EPA OVER BAY PROTECTIONS

The Trump administration’s crusade to dismantle environmental protections has advanced to the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. In the past month, the Environmental Protection Agency has signaled it will not force Pennsylvania to abide by a regional anti-pollution program for the bay adopted under President Barack Obama.

ARLINGTON CO. BOARD APPROVES ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY EXPANSION

The Arlington County Board has approved a Memorandum of Agreement to expand the acreage of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The move provides more burial space for U.S. service members.

$5.6M IN PAY RAISES BEGIN FOR PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY STAFF

The first round of sweeping pay increases for more than 1,700 Prince William County employees will be reflected on Jan. 31 paychecks. It’s the first phase of salary adjustments approved by supervisors in November that will mean raises for 896 full-time employees, 245 part-time employees and 569 provisional employees (employees who don’t qualify for benefits). That represents about 25 percent of the county’s workforce.

NEW REFORMS FOR FOSTER CARE MAKE PROGRESS

Just over a year ago, Virginians were stunned by a “devastating report” detailing serious flaws in the state’s foster care system. Overburdened social workers weren’t visiting children often enough to check on them adequately; weren’t ensuring they got the health services they needed; weren’t working to find them permanent homes or reunite them with families, among other failings.

SOME PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS ABOUT VIRGINIA'S GUN DEBATE

Democrats like to talk a lot about diversity, and with good reason. We live in a large, complicated country where many of our fellow citizens come from different races, ethnicities, faiths, sexual orientations and backgrounds quite different from our own. And yet the genius of America — the beauty of America — is that we are able to count them all as part of the same people.

BATTLE OF THE STATUES WILL NOT END WELL

Threatening to remove statues of historical figures erected in the past, including those of Confederate leaders and slave-holding Founding Fathers, has become something of a political sport in the Old Dominion, allowing Democrats to score points with their base while virtue signaling their opposition to slavery, which was abolished in the United States 157 years ago this month by Republican President Abraham Lincoln.

PRESERVING MEMORIES OF THOSE FOUGHT TO END JIM CROW

When John Lewis, the long-time representative of Georgia’s 5th Congressional District and an icon of the civil rights movement, announced in December that he was battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, journalist Adam Serwer posed something to consider. “I don’t think we are prepared as a society for what happens to public memory when the generations that lived through Jim Crow leave us,” the Atlantic magazine writer tweeted.

BUSINESS CAN ALSO BE A FORCE FOR GOOD

The corporate/political/philanthropic elite decamped to Davos, Switzerland this past week for the World Economic Forum and, you know, it’s not getting any easier out there — not when it comes to the great, global challenges that range from poverty to climate change to disease.

SHOULD FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA JOIN WEST VIRGINIA?

Trump wants to give part of Virginia to West Virginia! That’s true, but not the one you likely think. The Trump in question is not Donald Trump the president but rather Charles Trump, a state senator in West Virginia. That latter Trump has opened a curious historical door: He’s persuaded the West Virginia state Senate to invite Frederick County, Virginia — that’s the one around Winchester —to change states.

LIVINGSTON AND CASHWELL: ADDRESSING THE GLARING SHORTFALLS IN OUR SCHOOLS

The middle schoolers Katina Harris teaches in Richmond are savvy kids. “They were born into technology,” she says. “It’s a way of life for them. They use it constantly.” They don’t, however, use it all that much in the classroom as they prepare for life beyond school. “Every classroom should have a computer cart,” says Harris, president of the Richmond Education Association. “Our lack of technology is a big deal.”

Jim Livingston is president of the Virginia Education Association. Amy Cashwell is superintendent of Henrico County Public Schools.

FRIEDMAN: VIRGINIA NEEDS THE EDUCATION BOOST OF G3

According to Anthony Carnevale of Georgetown University, our nation’s foremost expert on education and the workforce, 28% of the jobs in this country in 1973 required some postsecondary education. Today it is 65% of the jobs. Half of those jobs will require a bachelor’s degree or higher; the other half will require a postsecondary industry certification or a college certificate or associate degree. Unfortunately, only 45% of adult Virginians have completed a postsecondary credential.

Frank Friedman is president of Piedmont Virginia Community College.

REEVES: REPUBLICANS IN RICHMOND WILL HOLD DEMOCRAT MAJORITY TO ACCOUNT

When the General Assembly convened its regular session on Jan. 8, Democrats comprised majorities in both chambers for the first time this century. With a Democrat simultaneously occupying the Executive Mansion, they have complete control of state government for the first time in 26 years. What’s a Republican to do? Quite a lot, actually.

Bryce Reeves, R–Spotsylvania, represents the 17th District in the Virginia Senate.

BEITZ: VITAL SIGNS: LEGISLATIVE ISSUES THAT CAN AFFECT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

The Virginia Association of Community Services Boards represents the 40 Community Services Boards in state and federal public policy matters, funding, legislation and regulation. The VACSB has a number of legislative priorities for the upcoming year to support individuals with behavioral health needs and concerns. Two of those priorities are connected to STEP Virginia and Medicaid expansion.

Lisa Beitz is Region Ten's executive director.

EARLEY: A MENTALLY ILL MAN IS WRONGFULLY INCARCERATED IN VIRGINIA

If Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and the General Assembly are serious about criminal-justice reform, they need to do something this session about the continued imprisonment of Christopher Sharikas. Sharikas was 15 years old and living in Northern Virginia when he began exhibiting signs of having a serious mental illness. He began hearing voices, became disruptive at school and armed himself with a baseball bat. He was ultimately diagnosed with untreated paranoid schizophrenia.

Pete Earley is a local mental health advocate and author of “Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness,” a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.

HINCKER: COULD RANKED CHOICE VOTING BE COMING TO VIRGINIA?

Hats off to Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, and several other members of the Virginia General Assembly who have introduced bills in the current session supporting various versions of ranked choice voting. Rasoul’s bill, HB 360, is a bit complicated – it calls for open primaries (he dubs them “voter nominated primaries”) where all candidates compete for nomination, not in separate party-endorsed primaries, and the top four proceed to the general election.

Hincker is a retired public relations executive living in Blacksburg. He recently joined the board of Fair Vote Virginia, which seeks to allow ranked choice voting in Virginia.

BARBOSA AND NIVAR: INVESTING IN ENGLISH LEARNERS ENRICHES ALL STUDENTS

In 1931, the historian James Truslow Adams first publicly defined the American dream as “a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” For more than 1 million Virginians, namely those from immigrant communities, life here represents the pursuit of the American dream.

Cecilia E. Barbosa is a community advocate and chair of the Virginia Latino Advisory Board. May Nivar is a community advocate, chair of the Virginia Asian Advisory Board, chair of the Asian & Latino Solidarity Alliance,

MORSE: NORTHERN VIRGINIA’S GROWTH CHANGED THE COMMONWEALTH

Once upon a time (or 60 years ago this past Wednesday), Virginia sponsored an official outing to the great unknown: Northern Virginia. Gov. J. Lindsay Almond, Lt. Gov. A.E.S. Stephens and Attorney General Albertis Harrison, along with nearly 100 legislators, all piled onto buses — took a plane ride, too — and spent the weekend touring Fairfax, Falls Church, Arlington and Alexandria. I suppose they heard that something was going on up there near the Potomac River.

Gordon C. Morse began his writing career with the Daily Press editorial page in 1983, then moved across the water to write opinion for The Virginian-Pilot. He later joined the administration of Gerald L. Baliles as the governor's speechwriter

EDMONDS: LOCAL SIT-INS HELPED FURTHER CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Sixty years ago, on Feb 1, four black college freshmen ignited the sit-in movement that would result in a major civil rights victory and propel student activism to unprecedented heights. Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, David Richmond, and Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan) entered F.W. Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C., bought items, then sat at the “white-only” lunch counter and ordered food.

Kelton Edmonds, a native of Portsmouth and I.C. Norcom High School graduate, is a professor of history at California University of Pennsylvania.

LIPFORD & BYRD: ACT NOW TO SAVE WATERFOWL DISPLACED BY HRBT WORK

For 40 years, the South Island of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel has held the commonwealth’s largest seabird colony. Expansion of HRBT threatens its future. We can do the right thing for this important colony of seabirds, but only if state officials act quickly to provide them a new home.

Michael Lipford is the former Virginia executive director of The Nature Conservancy. Mitchell Byrd is a professor emeritus of Biology and founder of the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary.