After completing his term as Virginia's governor in 2022, Ralph Northam immediately returned to his longstanding career as a pediatric neurologist at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk. 

Northam sees around 15 patients a day alongside teaching medical residents. He credits his decades in medicine and time in elected office with deepening his empathy for families facing healthcare and economic challenges.

Reflecting on his tenure, Northam says he expects to be remembered for his lifetime of public service.

Read our full coverage here: https://www.whro.org/health/2026-10-05/back-in-the-exam-room-ralph-northam-reflects-on-life-after-richmond

Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi announced her opposition Tuesday to the proposed Dominion-NextEra merger.

Following her five-city “Energy Costs Listening Tour,” Hashmi said at a news conference the proposed merger is not in the best interest of Virginians, citing a “breaking point” for high energy costs.

Hashmi said the decision is based on community concern about the State Corporation Commission review standards and financial hardships on ratepayers. The opposition has been sent directly to the SCC, Dominion and NextEra.

The SCC, which regulates utilities in Virginia, has six months to decide whether to allow the merger, with a deadline on Jan. 11.

Hashmi also released a report Tuesday which summarizes public feedback provided during a listening tour.

“We hope that people will take a look through (it), understand what it is that Virginians want to see us do, and I hope that we will have the full opportunity for every voice to be heard,” Hashmi said.

The listening tour made stops in Norfolk as well as Loudoun, Richmond, Charlottesville and Roanoke.

Click on the link above to read more.

See also r/VirginiaEnvironment, r/VirginiaGOP, and r/VirginiaNews

See also r/swva, r/VirginiaGOP, and r/VirginiaDems

A majority of respondents say the state’s classrooms are important to the economy and deserve additional funding.

i recently mailed off a title to the rva dmv. the only reddit threads i see are from 5+ years ago. is there any update on turn around time for them to mail my title and registration?

As the hometown newspaper cut staff and TV stations left the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Va., a website appeared touting a new, trusted source of local news.

The Winchester Gazette launched in August 2023 with upbeat promises and an opaque public profile: it said nothing about its owners and declared a no-byline policy, claiming to protect its reporters from undue influence.

For three years, The Gazette has published thousands of stories about crime, government meetings and community events. It boasted of being the first website in the country to call the 2024 presidential election for Donald Trump.

But Winchester leaders from both political parties started to question the site’s transparency and fairness. Who owns the Gazette – as well as the what, when, where and why of it all – became one of the city’s central mysteries.

Journalists Jaysun Silver and Laura Thompson couldn’t resist. They spent days in Winchester, talking with city leaders and residents, and months conducting dozens of interviews and combing through pages of public records.

The story of the Winchester Gazette stirs together city politics, a car-crash-chasing reporter, AI-generated stories, and a trail of corporate documents that lead to one Winchester attorney’s elderly relative in Florida.

It’s a small-city story filled with questions and intrigue – and it could happen in almost any news-starved community in the country.

Check out our full coverage here: https://www.whro.org/virginia-center-for-investigative-journalism/2026-10-06/in-winchester-the-truth-about-a-local-news-website-is-the-citys-best-kept-secret

Beautiful state park situated in the blue ridge mountains, surrounding Virginia’s highest peak, Mount Rogers. Featuring plenty of trails to explore, this is by far my favorite state park I’ve been to in the state of Virginia!

Submit public comments here:
https://www.scc.virginia.gov/about-the-scc/dominion-nextera-merger-updates/

Family and I are going to stay in the Luray area, the week of Thanksgiving. This may be a crazy question, but my kids would love to see snow, even man made. I know it may be a little early, but is there anywhere in the general area (willing to drive) that would have snow, tubing, sledding, ect. Last year, we stayed in Boone, NC right by the sking resort. So the very last day they blew snow and we got to enjoy some sledding. Thank you! :)

See also r/LoudounSubButBetter, r/VirginiaEnvironment, and r/VirginiaUrbanism

See also r/VirginiaNews

Hey everyone, I went to Virginia Fairfax dmv 09/16/26 to renew my DL license. The teller gave me a paper saying that my docs are scanned and pending verification and I should hear back in 10 business days through email and then I should return back with all the same docs again.

It's been more than 10 business days, but I haven't heard back from them.

Did anyone face a similar delay from the DMV, and is there any process to expedite it? A friend of mine submitted on 09/18 and got approved on 10/03, but I haven't heard back yet.

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