Ben Paviour

Several circuit court judges set to be approved by the General Assembly this week received mediocre marks in recent evaluations by local attorneys. Their pending approval is drawing renewed attention to a process that critics say is opaque and subject to potential conflicts of interests.

A little-known Virginia program has given nearly $930,000 in state subsidies to defense contractors over the last three years in a bid to increase exports abroad and shore up a key industry in the commonwealth.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office has refused to hand over submissions to the “tipline” he created for parents to submit feedback on state schools. Now his administration is also blocking inquiries into who made public records requests, how they were handled and how many the governor’s office received.

In October, Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder spent $48 million in an all-cash deal for a house in Alexandria. Now, Virginia lawmakers are hoping to also lure the billionaire’s team across the river from Maryland by leveraging roughly $1 billion in tax subsidies to pay for a new stadium.

Last year, House Democrats cheered the passage of a bill that backers said would make it easier for employees who were denied their overtime wages to get relief in court. This year, the bill’s sponsor and a handful of other Democrats are joining Republicans in voting to scale back some of those rules. Labor advocates say the move would reduce protections for workers while backers of the changes say they’re necessary to clean up a bill that didn’t al

Gov. Glenn Youngkin is pressing the General Assembly to approve $150 million to help colleges and universities set up lab schools.

Starting March 1, parents can opt out of local mask mandates in a move that echoes an executive order pushed through by Youngkin on his first day in office.

Adults in Virginia will be able to legally buy cannabis on Sept. 15 if a 451-page bill passed by the state Senate on Tuesday becomes law. Its path remains uncertain in the House of Delegates, where Republican-controlled committees have so far avoided taking up the issue.

Lawmakers are advancing legislation that would allow medical dispensaries to sell directly to all adults for a year or so before allowing other businesses into the market. But critics ranging from the Minority Cannabis Business Association to the libertarian-leaning Americans for Prosperity warn that Virginia is giving big operators a blank check.

In a tweet that has since been deleted, the “Team Youngkin” Twitter account posted a photo of a Patrick Henry High School senior alongside former Gov. Ralph Northam juxtaposed with a racist photo from Northam’s yearbook.