Pat Robertson, broadcaster who helped make religion central to GOP politics, dies at 93

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was...

North Carolina lawmakers approve sports and horse-race gambling, bill now heading to governor

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina General Assembly finalized legislation Wednesday to authorize statewide and regulate sports and horse-race wagering, a decision poised to open the nation's ninth-largest state to more legal gambling options. The House voted 69-44 for changes...

Grand jury indicts 2 Bureau of Prisons employees in inmate's death

PETERSBURG, Va. (AP) — A grand jury has indicted two federal Bureau of Prisons employees for allegedly failing to provide medical care for an inmate in Virginia who had a serious medical emergency and later died, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Lt. Shronda Covington,...

Virginia regulators advance Youngkin plan to leave climate initiative he calls ineffective

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia regulators voted on Wednesday to advance Gov. Glenn Youngkin's plan to withdraw from a multistate carbon cap-and-trade program. Virginia spent years under Democratic administrations moving toward participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,...

The story behind Juneteenth and how it became a federal holiday

Americans will soon celebrate Juneteenth, marking the day when the last enslaved people in the United States learned they were free. For generations, Black Americans have recognized the end of one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history with joy, in the form of parades, street...

2 dead in shooting after high school graduation ceremony in Virginia capital

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Seven people were shot, two fatally, when gunfire rang out Tuesday outside a downtown theater in Richmond, Virginia, where a high school graduation ceremony had just ended, causing hundreds of attendees to flee in panic, weep and clutch their children, authorities and...

Police: 2 killed in shooting after high school graduation ceremony in Virginia capital

Plane that crashed in Virginia lost contact with air traffic controllers during ascent, feds say

Only minutes into a doomed journey that ended on a remote Virginia mountain, the pilot of a business jet was not responding to air traffic control instructions and the situation was soon reported to a network that includes military, security and law enforcement agencies, according to federal...

LGBTQ+ pride flags at VA facilities in Mississippi draw GOP criticism, protests

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — All the Republicans in Mississippi's congressional delegation are demanding that the Veterans Administration remove an LGBTQ+ pride flag from the Biloxi National Cemetery, and some residents on the Mississippi Gulf Coast are protesting a pride flag that's flying at a VA...

Chesapeake Bay report cites environmental justice disparities

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A report on the Chesapeake Bay released Tuesday found strong disparities between communities in different parts of the bay's watershed in terms of health, economics and social justice concerns. The findings show a larger context for the challenges of improving...