Christina Bobb, right, speaking with then Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, left, at a "Save America" rally in 2022 in Florence, Arizona. (Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0) Less than a week after the Republican National Committee unveiled a “historic” new program to monitor the polls for fraud, a top lawyer with the committee was among those indicted for an alleged scheme to use false fraud claims to overturn the results of Arizona’s presidential election. Indeed, the lawyer, RNC senior counsel for election integrity Christina Bobb, was scheduled to appear April 25 at an ..read more

AES Indiana’s Petersburg Generating Station in Petersburg, Indiana, has been burning coal since the 1960s but will shutter all of its coal-firing units over the next few years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. (Robert Zullo/States Newsroom) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Environmental and clean energy groups celebrated th ..read more

File cabinets. (Getty) One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth’s leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise. In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials aroun ..read more

The state Capitol. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) “ACLU of Virginia demands Department of Corrections ‘recalculate’ prison sentences after court ruling.” — WRIC “Pulaski town councilman charged with ethics and conflict of interest violations.” — Cardinal News “Charlottesville socialite pleads guilty to child sex crimes.”—Daily Progress “General Assembly updates relationships with federal Virginia Indian tribes.” — VPM “Girl Scout who created banned book nooks thanks Hanover for ‘censored’ Gold Award.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch The post ACLU wants prison sentences recalculated and more Virgin ..read more

An anti-Trump "kangaroo court" posed outside the Supreme Court while Trump v. United States was argued inside. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical Thursday of former President Donald Trump’s argument he is immune from criminal charges that he tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. But conservatives who dominate the court appeared open to returning key questions to a trial court, possibly delaying Trump’s prosecution beyond the November election — and essentially assisting the former president as he fights legal challenges on ..read more

A rendering shows the casino project Bally's envisioned for Petersburg. (Image courtesy of Bally's) A week before the Petersburg City Council voted unanimously to pick Cordish Companies to potentially build a casino, City Manager John Altman Jr. signed a letter saying the city council intended to pick a competing company, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Virginia Mercury. The April 17 letter of intent addressed to Bally’s, a national casino company that was one of five finalists for the Petersburg project, said the pending deal would still depend on outside factors. However ..read more

USDA will require certain dairy cattle to be tested for avian influenza before they can be transported to a different state. (Photo by Scott Bauer/USDA Agricultural Research Service) Starting next week, certain dairy cattle must be tested for avian influenza before they can be transported to a different state, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The requirement is among several that will expand the testing, reporting and monitoring of the cattle to reduce the spread of bird flu among the animals. The new rules follow evidence that highly pathogenic avian influenza — which ..read more

The state Capitol. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) Youngkin will visit Europe for his third international trade mission as Virginia governor.” —Associated Press “Fired executive to sue Alexandria-based United Way, claims retaliation after reporting sexual harassment.” —WTOP “Justices’ $1 billion suit against Carter Bank transferred to Virginia court.” —Cardinal News “‘Unpaid toll’ scam texts spreading throughout Virginia.” —WAVY “The Peedmont, Virginia’s satirical news site, is shutting down.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch The post Youngkin heading to Europe again and more Virginia headlines appea ..read more

A rendering of the casino development Cordish Companies has proposed for Petersburg. (Image courtesy of Cordish Companies) PETERSBURG – After a closed meeting that lasted more than an hour and a half, the Petersburg City Council abruptly voted Wednesday to pick Baltimore-based Cordish Companies as the developer that will have a chance to build a casino in the economically struggling city. There was nothing on the council’s meeting agenda indicating such a monumental decision could be happening on Wednesday afternoon, and council members quickly left the mostly empty auditorium without explain ..read more

Protesters gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, while justices hear oral arguments about whether federal law protects emergency abortion care. (Sofia Resnick/States Newsroom) U.S. Supreme Court justices spent two hours Wednesday morning debating whether a federal law about emergency treatment encompasses abortion care even in states with strict abortion bans, with no clear indication of how they may ultimately rule. A decision could come as soon as the end of June whether Idaho’s near-total abortion ban means doctors who might need to terminate a pregnancy durin ..read more