Virginia

US elections: Women make history with wins in Virginia, Detroit, New Jersey

In landmark results, women won top races in the 2025 US elections - Abigail Spanberger became Virginia's first female governor, Mary Sheffield Detroit's first woman mayor, and Mikie Sherrill New Jers

Abigail Spanberger wins Virginia governor race, becomes first female leader

Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the Virginia governor's race on Tuesday, defeating Republican Lt Gov Winsome Earle-Sears to give Democrats a key victory heading into the 2026 midterm elections and make history as the first-ever woman to lead the commonwealth. Spanberger's victory will flip partisan control of the governor's office when the former congresswoman and CIA case officer succeeds outgoing Republican governor Glenn Youngkin. She won with a campaign emphasising economic issues, a strategy that may serve as a model for other Democrats in next year's elections as they try to break President Donald Trump's and Republicans' hold on power in Washington and gain ground in statehouses. Throughout the campaign, Spanberger made carefully crafted economic arguments against Trump's policies, while she spent considerable sums on ads tying Earle-Sears to the president. She campaigned across the state, including in Republican-leaning areas. Yet she also emphasised her support for abortio

US court releases Ashley Tellis on $1.5 mn bond in espionage case

A Virginia court ordered the release of India-US strategic affairs expert Ashley Tellis pending trial, with strict conditions including passport surrender and electronic monitoring

University of Virginia signs deal with Trump admin, secures federal funding

As part of the accord, the university agreed to provide the government with data on its admissions and hiring processes, as well as campus programming, through 2028

West Virginia shooting leaves 2 dead, including gunman; 3 others wounded

A shooting in southern West Virginia on Monday left two people dead including a suspected gunman, along with three others wounded, police said. Fayette County Sheriff Jess McMullen said the shooting happened in Mount Carbon. Police found the suspected gunman dead inside his residence of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, while another person was found dead in a neighboring carport. Three other people had minor gunshot wounds and were receiving medical care, McMullen told news outlets. The identities of the dead were not immediately released. An advisory for residents to remain indoors was later lifted. Additional details on the shooting weren't available. A telephone message left with the sheriff's department wasn't immediately returned Monday night.

University of Virginia president resigns under Trump admin pressure on DEI

The president of the University of Virginia is resigning his position under pressure from the Justice Department, which had pushed for his departure amid scrutiny of the school's diversity, equity and inclusion practices, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. The departure of James Ryan, who had led the school since 2018, represents a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration's effort to reshape higher education. Doing it at a public university marks a new frontier in a campaign that has almost exclusively targeted Ivy League schools. It also widens the rationale behind the government's aggressive tactics, focusing on DEI rather than alleged tolerance of antisemitism. Ryan had faced conservative criticism that he had failed to heed federal orders to eliminate DEI policies, and his removal was pushed by the Justice Department as a way to help resolve a department inquiry targeting the school, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the move by name a

3 dead, 3 injured in Virginia townhouse shooting; suspects at large

Three people were killed and as many others injured in a shooting in Virginia Tuesday evening, according to law enforcement. At about 5:30 pm, law enforcement received 911 calls about a shooting at a town house complex in Spotsylvania County, about 65 miles southwest of Washington, DC, said Major Elizabeth Scott, spokesperson for the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office. No arrests have been made. "There's dozens upon dozens of officers out actively looking for suspects and preserving the crime scene," Scott said. The people injured in the mass shooting have been taken to hospitals. Their condition is unknown. No additional information about the victims was immediately available. Scott said they are urging the public to stay clear of the area.

Top MS-13 gang leader held in Virginia during major Trump-backed operation

Law enforcement officials described Villatoro as one of the top leaders responsible for orchestrating MS-13's violent crimes along the East Coast.

Ex-US Attorney Jessica Aber, who quit after Trump took office, found dead

Jessica Aber, who was appointed US Attorney by former President Joe Biden, resigned in January 2025 when President Donald Trump began his second term

US govt drops legal case as firm scraps plans to salvage Titanic artifacts

The US government has scrapped its litigation against the company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic, noting that the firm no longer has expedition plans to the shipwreck that could break federal law. The scuttling of the government's latest legal battle isn't necessarily the end of RMS Titanic Inc.'s attempts to enter the rapidly deteriorating ocean liner or to fetch more historic objects. The company said last month that it's still considering the implications of future expeditions. But the US on Friday withdrew its motion to intervene in a federal admiralty court in Virginia, which oversees salvage matters for the world's most famous shipwreck. The withdrawal concluded the second of two legal battles in five years that the US has waged against RMS Titanic Inc, the company that has retrieved and exhibited the ship's artifacts. The US filed its latest legal challenge in 2023 when RMST was planning to take images inside the ship's hull and pluck items from the surrounding .

Four injured in shooting at Virginia state univ, 2 taken into custody

A shooting injured four people at Virginia State University early Wednesday, police said. Two men taken into custody at the shooting scene were charged with brandishing firearms, but they have not been charged in the shooting, police announced Wednesday afternoon. Officers responded to a report of a shooting that occurred in a large crowd at the university south of Richmond around 12:30 am and found two men and two women who had been shot, Chesterfield County Police said in a news release. All four were taken to hospitals with injuries not considered life-threatening, police said. The campus was placed on lockdown until it was deemed safe, the university said in a statement. None of the victims is enrolled for the fall semester, according to university spokesperson Gwen Williams Dandridge. Classes start next week, but freshmen and student leaders are already on campus this week, she said. The two 21-year-old men taken into custody were charged with brandishing a firearm, and one o

Virginia crash: Plane lost contact with air traffic controllers, say FAA

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 aviation officials. Despite being out of contact on its ascent Sunday afternoon, the jet that had just taken off from a Tennessee airport continued toward its intended destination on New York's Long Island, then turned to fly back to Virginia where it slammed into a mountain, killing the four people aboard. Family and friends identified two of the victims as an entrepreneur known in New York real-estate circles and her 2-year-old daughter. Outside aviation experts speculated the pilot likely lost consciousness from a lack of oxygen inside the jet when it climbed above 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), the altitude that typically requires cabin pressurization. The most likely scenario right now is a .

Ban on sales of handguns to young adults unconstitutional: Virginia judge

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional. The ruling Wednesday by US District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, if not overturned, would prevent dealers from selling handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds. In his 71-page ruling, Payne wrote that many of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are granted at the age of 18, including the right to vote, enlist in the military without parental permission and serve on a federal jury. If the Court were to exclude 18-to-20-year-olds from the Second Amendment's protection, it would impose limitations on the Second Amendment that do not exist with other constitutional guarantees, Payne wrote. Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our Nation's history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand. Payne's ruling is the latest decision striking down gun law

Indian pharma firm Granules opens packaging facility in US' Virginia

Indian pharmaceutical company Granules has opened a packaging facility in the Virginia State of the US to expand the packaging capacity of essential drugs in the state, thus strengthening the biopharma supply chain. The facility was inaugurated by India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu. Granules, which was one of the first Indian pharmaceutical companies that received FDA authorization to export to the United States, has invested more than USD 100 million in the country, said Dr Krishna Prasad Chigurupati, the founder, chairman and managing director of the firm. "We have nearly 200 employees in Virginia with a large majority of them first-generation Indians," he said, adding the company also has a team of 30 scientists for research and development. Granules India Ltd produces some of the most widely used drugs, including Paracetamol, that have been very useful to billions across the world, Chigurupati said. "Happy to see Made in India' medicines value added in the US b

Multiple people killed after shooting at Walmart store in Virginia

Multiple people were killed and injured in a shooting incident reported from the US state of Virginia, officials said adding the shooter is believed to be dead too

University students among 2 dead, 5 injured in Norfolk, Virginia shooting

Two people were killed and five others were injured in a shooting in Norfolk, Virginia, police said Sunday. Officers responded to a report of gunfire around midnight. When they arrived, they found four women and three men with gunshot wounds, police said. Zabre Miller, 25, and Angela McKnight, 19, later died at a hospital, police said. Several Norfolk State University students were victims of the shooting at an off-campus location, the university said on its Facebook page. Initial indications are that our students were innocent bystanders of a shooting at an evening house party, the university wrote in the post. NSU also said police secured the campus, and there was no present danger. Detectives were continuing to investigate Sunday, police said.

Gunfire erupts at graduation party in Virginia, leaving 1 dead, 7 hurt

Those injured ranged in age from 16 to 21 and were from Chesterfield or nearby localities

1 dead, multiple wounded in gunfire at party near Richmond, say police

One person was fatally shot and at least five other people were wounded by gunfire in a shooting at a house party Friday night near Richmond, authorities said

Boeing names Virginia office as global HQ; plans to start tech hub in area

The company said that its employees in the region support various corporate functions and specialise in advanced airplane development and autonomous systems, Xinhua news agency reported

Virginia lawmakers give final nod to bill for legalising marijuana in 2024

Several Democrats said they hoped Northam would send the legislation back to them with amendments, including speeding up the date for legalisation