Ned Oliver | Virginia Mercury

Possessing small amounts of marijuana is still illegal in Virginia, but as of Wednesday, the maximum penalty for people caught with an ounce or less the drug has been reduced to a $25 civil fine.

Democrats in the Senate outlined an expansive criminal justice reform agenda Friday they say their 21-member majority has agreed to pursue during a coming special session of the General Assembly.

Virginia workplace safety regulators are proposing emergency COVID-19 rules for businesses that would make social distancing mandatory and require employers to notify their employees within 24 hours if a coworker tests positive for the virus.

A top Virginia Democrat is promising quick action on police reform when the General Assembly reconvenes this summer for a special legislative session.

After a week of demonstrations demanding police accountability, officials in Richmond aren’t saying how police are being held accountable for tear gassing a large crowd of peaceful protesters.

Virginia occupational safety inspectors have opened investigations into seven employee deaths related to COVID-19 and four hospitalizations, according to the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry.

A group of 27 inmates and the Virginia Department of Corrections agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing the state of cruel and unusual punishment for keeping medically vulnerable inmates in crowded facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evictions are frozen in Virginia until the state court system reopens, possibly as soon as the end of the month.

Demetrice Taylor works as a clerk at 7-Eleven in downtown Richmond, but with schools around the state closed for at least two weeks, she said that’s about to change.

For months, a handful of Virginia lawmakers had been pushing legislation that would grant access to paid sick time to thousands of workers.

Virginia will extend parole eligibility to people convicted of felonies they committed when they were under the age of 18, prompting convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to drop a resentencing request that had been pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Virginia lawmakers cleared residents to smoke industrial hemp Monday, though they say they didn’t really understand why anyone would want to.

Lawmakers in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly voted Tuesday to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driving privileges.

Virginia Democrats have made no secret that they planned to use their new majorities to decriminalize marijuana this year.

The General Assembly shut down proposals to legalize marijuana for the year, but lawmakers said this week they would study the issue and potentially move forward when they reconvene in 2021.

Legislation aimed at forcing student loan service companies to be more transparent and forthcoming in their dealings with borrowers cleared the House of Delegates with bipartisan support Monday.

If police pull you over in Virginia and say they smell marijuana, they have probable cause to search your car without a warrant.

A suite of LGBT-friendly legislation cleared the Virginia Senate on Tuesday.

Republicans imposed a 24-hour-waiting period and mandatory ultrasounds for women seeking abortions in 2012 when they last controlled both branches of the General Assembly and the Executive Mansion.

Activists are accusing the development team behind a major arena proposal of paying people who held signs supporting the controversial $1.5 billion plan at Richmond City Council meeting.

Virginia Republicans promised a “thoughtful and deliberative study” of gun legislation when they abruptly adjourned a special legislative session called by Gov. Ralph Northam following a May mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

The debate over so-called “skill games” in Virginia reached new heights Tuesday outside a strip mall in Chesterfield.

Presented with a generic ballot, 51 percent of likely voters said they plan to vote for a Democrat and 37 percent said they plan to vote for a Republican.

With candidates on both sides of the aisle campaigning on promises to ensure access to affordable care, it’s not always easy to discern exactly what’s at stake when voters head to the polls.

New signs went up last month along Interstate 95.

he number of Virginians who support legalized recreational marijuana spiked over the past two years to 61 percent.

Lawyers in Richmond’s public defender’s office, in the midst of a campaign to increase their salaries, say they’re paid so much less than the prosecutors they face in court that it raises questions about whether low-income defendants are getting a fair shake at justice.

With a pivotal General Assembly election just over a month away, he’s looking less and less like a problem for the party.

A survey of Virginia voters released by University of Mary Washington shows four top Democratic presidential candidates with double-digit leads over President Donald Trump.

State officials got their first look Monday at a fleet of modern new SUVs that will begin to replace the police cars that currently transport subjects of involuntary mental health detentions to psychiatric hospitals around the state.