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Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Copperhead season is here: How to prepare and stay safe - By Gwyndolyn Mile...
06/08/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Copperhead season is here: How to prepare and stay safe - By Gwyndolyn Miles for Richmond Times-Dispatch

It's been nearly a year since John Hummel was bitten by a copperhead.

Now, as the slithering creatures begin to reappear in warmer weather, Hummel shares what's happened since he was bitten.

Hummel, 75, has arthritis in the same hand the snake bit last July, which he says complicated his healing process. It's also made it harder for him to manage his arthritis symptoms.

Read the full article at Richmond Times-Dispatch. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/msc9rf8b

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Researchers from around the world gather in Roanoke for exercise science co...
06/07/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Researchers from around the world gather in Roanoke for exercise science conference - By Tad Dickens and Emily Schabacker for Cardinal News

About 250 people will gather in Roanoke this week to discuss a topic that affects everyone: exercise.

The 20th International Biochemistry of Exercise Conference draws researchers from around the world to discuss recent advances in how and why exercise is as beneficial as it is, said Joshua Drake, assistant professor of molecular and cellular science in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise at Virginia Tech.

“This conference really is the genesis of a lot of conversations that lead to the discoveries that we so often take for granted,” Drake said.

Read the full article at Cardinal News. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/kcwt49fn

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: State bus line debuts new east-west route that connects 10 cities across Vi...
06/07/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: State bus line debuts new east-west route that connects 10 cities across Virginia - By Ian Stewart for Mercury

Travelers looking to traverse the commonwealth from east to west and vice versa have a new, daily option courtesy of the Virginia Breeze, the state’s city-linking bus service. The new line, dubbed the Tidewater Current, debuted Monday.

It “will connect 10 cities (and) five counties,” said Mariia Zimmerman, director of Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation. “You can jump on or off at Virginia Beach,” Zimmerman said, with the motorcoach service terminating in Harrisonburg.

This is the first time Virginia Breeze buses will run across the state in that direction. Past routes only ran south to north, from areas like Blacksburg, Danville or Bristol to Washington, D.C.

Read the full article at Martinsville Bulletin. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/37asx4zc

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Rappahannock Tribe Receives Governor’s Gold Environmental Excellence Award ...
06/06/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Rappahannock Tribe Receives Governor’s Gold Environmental Excellence Award - By Michelle Smith for Northern Neck News

The Rappahannock Tribe is one of seven gold medal recipients of the 2026 Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards.

The awards recognize significant contributions by environmental and conservation leaders in sustainability, land stewardship, environmental projects, greening of government, and implementation of the Virginia Outdoors Plan. The Rappahannock Tribe was honored for its Return to the River Restoration Initiative.

Read the full article at Northern Neck News. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/eu4zensf

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Chief makes history as first woman to head department - By Pilar Davis for...
06/05/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Chief makes history as first woman to head department - By Pilar Davis for fredericksburg.com

Chief Betsy Mason leads from the front.

Not one to sit back and watch others do the heavy lifting, Mason rides with officers, covers empty shifts, and makes sure even the K9 officers are supported. Maybe that’s why she was just named the first female chief of the Fredericksburg Police Department in the department's 200-year history.

Read the full article at The Free Lance-Star. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/mryz3bs3

Featured in the latest Virginia News ReaderFresh roasted, in a nutshell: Planters Peanut Center has old-fashioned charm ...
06/05/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader
Fresh roasted, in a nutshell: Planters Peanut Center has old-fashioned charm - By Bob Ruegsegger for The Virginian-Pilot

Walking into Planters Peanut Center at 308 W. Washington St. in downtown Suffolk is like stepping back in time. Customers are instantly greeted with a whiff of nostalgia and immediately embraced by the aroma of freshly roasted peanuts.

The center evokes the pleasant environment of an old-fashioned country store, with a focus on fresh roasted goobers from a vintage 1930’s era Planters Peanut roaster.

“I grew up in Suffolk and the peanut shop has been here forever — as long as I can remember,” said longtime customer Beatrice Kee Newsome. “It’s still the same. I’ve been coming here since childhood. Lately, I’ve just been coming by to get me some peanuts.”

Read the full article at The Virginian-Pilot. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/595vu4fu

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Northern Virginia dancers-turned-entrepreneurs are breaking the mold – one ...
06/04/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Northern Virginia dancers-turned-entrepreneurs are breaking the mold – one pair of pointe shoes at a time

By Emily Seymour for InsideNoVA.com

With 50,000 shoes in tow and 40 fittings a week, the ballet business is booming for Jennifer Fitzpatrick and Natalya Balatsenko.

The founders of pointe shoe company R-Class America, Fitzpatrick and Balatsenko are working to break through the at-times rigid world of ballet – and they’re doing it out of a 12,000-square-foot warehouse showroom in Manassas.

“We’ve grown pretty quickly to necessitate moving our warehouse … it’s a work in progress,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview with InsideNoVa.

Read the full article at InsideNova Prince William. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/563va9sc

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Region shifts from planning to pinpointing flood risks - By Bill Wyatt for...
06/01/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Region shifts from planning to pinpointing flood risks - By Bill Wyatt for Martinsville Bulletin

Five years after regional leaders mapped out their biggest disaster risks, West Piedmont officials are moving into a more detailed phase: identifying exactly where stormwater systems could fail — and what it will take to fix them.

Read the full article at Martinsville Bulletin. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/mwtp45mc

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Josiah Smothers has dance fever - By Chris Wadsworth for Ashburn Magazine F...
05/31/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Josiah Smothers has dance fever - By Chris Wadsworth for Ashburn Magazine

Four years may have passed, but Josiah Smothers is still dancing up a storm. We first introduced Ashburn Magazine readers to Josiah in January 2022. The then 13-year-old had performed with the national touring company of the Broadway hit “Finding Neverland,” not to mention appearing on stages in Boston, Baltimore, Washington and beyond.

Now, fast-forward four years and Josiah’s passion for performing is stronger than ever. The 17-year-old junior at Riverside High School appears regularly in school musicals while continuing to hone his skills at Ignite the Light, the Ashburn performing arts school founded by his mom, Tina Smothers. He’s also an instructor there.

Read the full article at Ashburn Magazine. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/42p7mku3

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Recognizing Rappahannock’s women farmers — Monira Rifaat: The outsider who ...
05/31/2026

Featured in the latest Virginia News Reader: Recognizing Rappahannock’s women farmers — Monira Rifaat: The outsider who became a trailblazer in local farming - By Bob Hurley for Rappahannock News

Monira Rifaat never expected to become a cattle farmer.

Trained as a pathologist under the British medical system in Egypt where she was born in 1938, she arrived in the United States in the 1960s, completed her medical internship in Boston, Mass., and later finished her residency in Alexandria, Va.

Farming was nowhere in the plan for Dr. Rifaat.

Read the full article at Rappahannock News. ➡ https://tinyurl.com/38ftwtrn

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