Keya Vakil

Attorney General Mark Herring (D-Va.) has joined 19 other attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its attempt to circumvent a longstanding rule designed to guarantee the safe and humane treatment of children in immigration custody. The 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement limits the detention of migrant children to 20 days, but…

The Virginia Department of Health announced Monday that there have been three confirmed cases of severe lung illnesses tied to the use of e-cigarettes, also known as vaping.  The issue is not isolated to Virginia; as of Aug. 22, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified 193 potential cases of severe lung illness associated with…

Welcome to today’s edition of the Dogwood Daily. We’ve got a round-up of all of today’s Virginia news coming right up. And if you’re a fan, please forward to three friends who need to know what’s going on in the Commonwealth and tell them to subscribe here.  But First… As Virginia commemorated the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans’…

While Virginia women have seen child care costs skyrocket over the last twenty years, wages have lagged behind and the gender wage gap has narrowed by only four cents, according to a new report from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC).  Child care costs in the Commonwealth have increased by nearly 40% over the last…

Angelica Felder’s dream of going to college were in jeopardy, and with them, so was her hope of becoming a nurse. But then she received a scholarship to George Mason University through the school’s Early Identification Program (EIP), an initiative that helps first-generation students become the first in their families to attend college in the…

Welcome to the latest edition of ‘Virginian of the week. This week, we interviewed Jordan Joseph, an Arlington-based activist with the Northern Virginia chapter of March for Our Lives. Tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Jordan Joseph and I am a recently turned 18-year-old from Arlington, Virginia. Soon, I will be…

State Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Midlothian) is no stranger to controversy and may find herself having to address another one after she held a fundraiser last night with retiring state Sen. Dick Black (R-Leesburg), who once argued against criminalizing spousal rape. Black made his position on spousal rape clear while serving in the House of Delegates…

If you’re reading this, it means you’re probably one of the few people who isn’t on summer vacation, which means you might be looking for fun things to do this week. Luckily for you, we’ve put together a calendar of upcoming events across the Commonwealth. No matter where you live or what you’re interested in,…

Del. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) spent years opposing Medicaid expansion in Virginia. Now, in a new advertisement, he is boasting that he “led the fight to expand Medicaid.” Jones, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, was one of the key opponents of Medicaid expansion, despite the fact that the Commonwealth Institute estimated it would extend healthcare coverage to…

Planned Parenthood said Monday that it would withdraw from the federal family planning program that provides birth control and reproductive health care to low-income patients around the country rather than comply with the Trump administration’s decision to ban clinics from providing abortion referrals. The organization’s decision means that it stands to lose $60 million in…