A pile of mining waste that’s been part of the southwestern Virginia landscape for half a century may finally be on its way out.  And a Richmond hotel that helps nearly a dozen people avoid homelessness may be breaking federal law.

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link.

More now from Fred Echols.

Credit dhendrix73/Flickr

A state legislative committee on school safety, formed in response to the shooting at a Florida high school, is getting to work.

Members will take a look at school security and mental health issues, but not gun control.

Mallory Noe-Payne was at the first meeting and has this report.

Credit Howard Lake / Creative Commons

Hurricane season begins in about a month, and state leaders are urging Virginia residents to start planning now.

Michael Pope has the story.

Click here for information about flooding and the Virginia Flood Risk Information System

Click here for information on flood insurance options

Creative Commons/flickr

The family of an infant who died two years ago while under watch of Rockbridge County Child Protective Services is suing the county and state Department of Social Services.

Jessie Knadler has more.

Inmates at the Virginia Beach jail can’t have visitors now because old technology has
failed. And a new study shows the state will at some point have reroute the highway that has crosses Natural Bridge.

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia
Public Access Project’s Va. News link.

More on that from Fred Echols.

Credit: Creative Commons / Flickr

For elected officials, getting into office is not the only goal on the agenda.

There’s also the issue of getting key committee assignments.

And, as Michael Pope reports, that is likely to influence how much money they’re able to raise.

Diana Parkhouse/flickr (Creative Commons)

Is buying a home always better than renting a home? Experts say it depends on how long you’re staying.

Michael Pope has this look at the numbers.

Students rally in Richmond. (Credit: Mallory Noe-Payne)

Hundreds of young people marched on the capitol in Richmon Friday to protest gun violence.

As Mallory Noe-Payne reports, it was part of a nationwide event on the anniversary of the Columbine shooting.

Credit: Rog Cogswell / Creative Commons

Three Republicans vying to get the nomination to run for the Senate have drastically different approaches to politics.

This week, Nick Freitas, Corey Stewart and EW Jackson met for a debate at Liberty University in Lynchburg.

Michael Pope has the story.

Lee and Art Beltrone share one of about 400 works of graffiti on canvas, left by U.S. servicemen en route to Vietnam. (Credit: Sandy Hausman)

More than 50 years ago a troop ship in Oakland, California sailed for Vietnam, carrying over 3,000 men.

They slept in very tight quarters on canvas hammocks – one just a few inches above the man who slept below.  That canvas was a tempting target for graffiti – lots of it, and a Virginia couple has saved much of it as a tribute to those who fought in Southeast Asia.

Sandy Hausman reports on the Vietnam Graffiti Project, which will visit Blacksburg this month and Charlottesville in June.

Like a labyrinth, a stone pathway spirals in to a small fountain.  Inscribed under the water are the names of many of Virginia’s rivers. (Credit: Mallory Noe-Payne)

Virginia has a new memorial at Capitol Square in Richmond. The spiral stone footpath with a fountain in the center is a tribute to Virginia’s native tribes.

Mallory Noe-Payne was at the dedication ceremony and has this report.

  A sign during a rally at the capitol in Richmond to support Medicaid expansion.
Credit Mallory Noe-Payne / RADIO IQ

State lawmakers are back in Richmond for a special session.

They didn’t finish their work during the regular legislative session because they couldn’t agree on Medicaid expansion and the coverage gap.

Those phrases are used a lot in the news.

Mallory Noe-Payne breaks down what they mean.

Medicaid is expensive. It’s a huge chunk of the state budget, and growing quickly.

Even still, an expansion of the program to about 400,000 poor Virginians is projected to save the state money— if lawmakers make an agreement during a special legislative session.

Mallory Noe-Payne explains that part of the story.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which recently released its bipartisan findings that Russia did try to interfere in the 2016 elections.

Correspondent Matt Laslo recently sat down with him to discuss everything from the ongoing investigation of potential collusion by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to the Facebook hacks that have garnered international attention. Here’s a slightly edited version of their conversation.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:

What’s the most important takeaway from the Russia investigation to date?

“Russia massively intervened in our elections. They hacked both political parties. They released information to help Mr. Trump and hurt Clinton. They scanned or hacked into 21 states’ electoral systems, and they found ways to use social media in an unprecedented way in terms of not just political advertising, but more specifically creation of fake accounts that spread misinformation and disinformation.”

What do you think of President Trump’s continued insistence that nothing happened?

“I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but for someone who says there’s no there there, he continually tries to interfere in the Mueller investigation. His failure to acknowledge this threat means we are not as secure as we should be in terms of election security. That’s why the Congress and our Senate Intelligence Community acted in a bipartisan way to say that every vote in 2018 should have a paper ballot or a paper trail.”

Facebook has been under fire for this most recent leak. What role does Congress have in this to protect people’s data?

“I first called out Facebook and some of the social media platforms in December of 2016. For the first six months, the companies just kind of blew off these allegations, but these proved to be true; that Russia used their social media platforms with fake accounts to spread false information, they paid for political advertising on their platforms. Facebook says those tactics are no longer allowed — that they’ve kicked this firm off their site, but I think they’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

What’s next for the Senate Intelligence Committee on the Russia investigation?

“We hope we can keep putting pressure on the Department of Homeland Security to work with state electoral boards so that people have the appropriate security clearances. We also need to now move into the realm of how we grapple with the question around social media and what our recommendations are there. And then, we will still have a lot of questions about what level of collusion or collaboration might have taken place between Russians and individuals connected with the Trump campaign.”

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorors (from left) Dorothy R. Smith, Maria Crenshaw, Tamara Johnson and Sada’ Hill (Credit: Jason Fuller)

Enclaves are comfortable spaces where people convene, laugh and sometimes even cry. There are enclaves for sports fans, foodies, college alumni. During the early 20th Century, though, it wasn’t easy for African-Americans to build enclaves in the Commonwealth.

Jason Fuller has been exploring the significance black enclaves across Virginia and starts in Alexandria.