Rental scooters provide a new transportation alternative but if riders get careless they could finish their trip in an ambulance.

And the University of Virginia is working to memorialize the contributions of enslaved people.

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

More from Fred Echols.

Governor Ralph Northam greets workers at a mobile DMV office in Roanoke. (Credit David Seidel)

Just under 35,000 people in Virginia have gotten their driver’s license back. That’s since July 1st, when a new policy stopped the practice of suspending licenses as a punishment for not paying court fines.

As Mallory Noe-Payne reports, the next push is reaching the hundreds of thousands who are eligible, but just need to apply.

New campaign finance disclosures are revealing the contours of Election 2019.

Michael Pope explains how.

Organic chicken farming and industrial chicken production have been polar opposites up until now. But a Virginia man is looking to change that.

And newly released numbers show how some Virginia communities have been inundated by opioids. 

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.

  Experts say new crash dummies and computer models may help design safer cars for women and people over 65.  (Credit UVA)

A team of engineers at the University of Virginia reviewed data from nearly 23,000 crashes and concluded there are some big problems with car safety systems.

Sandy Hausman reports that women and people over 65 are at extra risk.

Gov. Ralph Northam

It’s been five months since Democratic Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal upended Virginia politics.

Now, as Michael Pope reports, new campaign finance disclosures show the governor’s political action committee is up and running.

Grande Dixence is the tallest gravity dam in the world. (Credit: Sandy Hausman)

Faced with worrisome warnings of climate change, Virginia is weighing green options for producing energy.

Solar and wind are sources favored by this state’s two largest utilities, but what about water power?  Virginia is blessed with mountains and rivers.

Sandy Hausman traveled to a place where dams provide 60-percent of the power to report on the prospects for hydro in Virginia.

  Alex Wehring and educational outreach possum Posey enjoy an eclectic lunch at the Wildlife Center of Virginia. (Credit Sandy Hausman)

This month the Wildlife Center of Virginia marked a milestone: Caring for its 800,000 patient – a possum.

In years past, rabbits have been the most common animals cared for at the clinic in Waynesboro, but today it’s possums that claims the title.

Sandy Hausman reports on why those animals are vulnerable to injury and why you might want to protect them.

Virginia students who might not be all that interested in traditional sports now have a chance to represent their high schools in a new kind of competition. And a storm has taken down much of what remained of a 1930’s “segregation wall.”

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.

The number of shark attacks on the east coast has increased, but experts say we shouldn’t blame them.

The problem, they claim, is the human population keeps growing, and more people are going to the beach.

And sharks are themselves under attack.  Sandy Hausman reports on why, and on what Virginia scientists are doing to protect them.

Credit: Chris Dlugosz via Flickr/CC

Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott is using his position as chairman of the Education and Labor Committee to push for a 15-dollar an hour minimum wage.

Michael Pope reports a new analysis is a mixed bag for that effort.

House Democratic Leader Eileen Filler-Corn asks Republican Speaker Kirk Cox to bring all eight of the governor’s gun-control bills to the House floor for an up or down vote. (Credit: Michael Pope)

Lawmakers are leaving the Capitol empty handed after a brief special session on gun control.

Michael Pope has this report from the Capitol.

Virginia is growing. But a new report says it may not be growing at the rate that was expected.

Michael Pope reports.

Spilled coal in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. (Credit: Chris Lowie/Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge)

Last week, 36 Norfolk-Southern train cars derailed, spilling thousands of tons of sand-like coal into a section of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

Pamela D’Angelo spoke with the Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the cleanup.

  Governor Ralph Northam greets workers and customers at a mobile DMV office in Roanoke Tuesday. (Credit David Seidel)

Thousands of Virginians have already applied to have their drivers licenses reinstated.  And the program’s only days-old.

David Seidel explains.

After a mass shooting in Virginia Beach last month, Governor Ralph Northam said he would call state lawmakers back to Richmond to discuss gun violence and common sense ways to prevent it.

He had offered several bills them during the last legislative session, but none was approved.

Now, however, Sandy Hausman reports that Northam might actually succeed.

Lawmakers are about to return to Richmond for a special session focused on guns, a move prompted by the recent mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

Michael Pope has this preview of some of the options they’ll be considering.

And a note to listeners, this story contains the sound of gunfire.

The view from Fones Cliffs
(Credit: Pamela D’Angelo)

Environmentalists have been fighting for more than a decade to preserve Fones Cliffs, a pristine, historic, miles-long section of orange-yellow bluffs towering nearly 100 feet over the Rappahannock River in the eastern part of Virginia.

On Saturday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife celebrated their new ownership of a section of the cliffs that will now be part of the Rappahannock River Valley Wildlife Refuge.

Pamela D’Angelo reports.

One of Virginia’s oldest family-owned companies is being sold… and another statue is causing a stir in Charlottesville. 

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.