About 12 years ago, Michael Maupin lost his right to vote in Virginia because of a felony drug conviction. But Maupin has hope for the future because he just received a letter from Gov. Bob McDonnell restoring his civil rights.

A report and data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that African American and Hispanic students are vastly underrepresented among students identified as gifted by the state’s public schools.

Wrongly convicted felons could have an easier pathway to proving their innocence thanks to passage of a bill amending Virginia’s “21-day rule.”

As if waiting in hour-long lines at the polls this past November wasn’t bad enough, legislation before the General Assembly may make it even harder for some citizens to vote.

By Amber Galaviz Capital News Service RICHMOND – State officials joined gay rights activists at a press conference on Valentine’s Day to express their disappointment in the failure to repeal Virginia’s constitutional ban against same-sex marriage. “I believe that marriage is about loving, committed couples wanting to make lifelong promises to each other – take [...]

Dozens of supporters of same-sex marriage came together Thursday to rally support in Virginia for marriage equality. Gay couples from across the state traveled to Richmond to apply for marriage licenses at the John Marshall Courts Building in what has become a Valentine’s Day tradition.

Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, hoped to provide reparations for victims of the state’s eugenics program when he filed House Bill 1529 in January.

A divided House of Delegates this week passed a bill formally declaring that parents have “a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control” of their children.

Because of false information, Marvin Anderson spent 15 years in prison for a rape and other crimes that he did not commit. He recounted his ordeal Tuesday at a Black History Month lecture at VCU.

The country’s leading conservative grassroots organization is voicing its opposition to tax and fee increases before the General Assembly, including Gov. Bob McDonnell’s funding plan for transportation.

About 100 people, led by the Coalition for Virginians with Mental Disabilities, rallied at the Bell Tower on Capitol Square on Monday to encourage legislators to improve services for people with mental disabilities.

Democratic leaders are speaking out after a Republican-led Senate committee killed a bill that would allow for more convenient voting options, later hours at the polls and easier absentee voting.

A Senate subcommittee tied 3-3 Tuesday on proposed constitutional amendments to restore the voting rights of nonviolent felons who’ve completed their sentences.

It’s rare for students to vote in large numbers in state and local elections. Some student leaders say the reason isn’t just apathy: They say VCU students are discouraged from voting because they are divided among various election districts – and can’t flex their political muscles by voting as a bloc.

Calling it a “historic opportunity,” mental health advocates are awaiting a judge’s approval of a settlement agreement that would improve the lives of thousands of Virginia’s intellectually disabled citizens.

A Mechanicsville family faces uncertainty because of shortcomings in Virginia’s mental health care system. As they age, the parents of 22-year-old Justin Palmore worry what will happen to him – and whether he will be forced into an institution.

Thomas Haynesworth spent 27 years in prison for crimes he didn’t commit. He was exonerated last December, and the General Assembly voted to award him more than a $1 million in relief. Is that sufficient compensation for an innocent man locked up for nearly three decades?

Twenty-seven states and Washington D.C., have laws to compensate people who have been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated.

En la educación pública, la filosofía de hacer lo mejor para el número mayor de gente reina supremo. El programa de inglés como segunda lengua (ESL). del sistema de las escuelas públicas de Richmond es un ejemplo de esta filosofía.

Even for an immigrant community, the Richmond Mixtecs face many significant cultural obstacles. In the mostly Hispanic Sacred Heart congregation, Mixtecs are still a minority of sorts, considering many are fluent in neither English nor Spanish. Like many immigrant communities, religion plays a major role in the lives and culture of the Mixtecs.

Is the indigenous Mexican culture of La Mixteca marketable? A group of Mixtec women in the city’s Manchester district, seeking to assert themselves and make money for their families, is banking on it.

In terms of language and culture, the casual observer might not notice much difference between Richmond’s Mixtec community and any other Latin American immigrant group in the city. Neither would the average teacher, school counselor or education specialist. For both the Mixtecs and their allies, however, the distinction is all too evident.

Virginia politicians and women’s rights advocates gathered in Festival Park on Saturday for a rally called “Unite Against the War on Women.”

Richmond today celebrated its third annual Civil War and Emancipation Day to commemorate the end of slavery and Richmond’s role in the “War Between the States.” Here is CNS reporter Sherese Gore’s slideshow about the day’s events.

Proponents of a “castle doctrine” law for Virginia say it would not condone killings like the death of Trayvon Martin, the teenager gunned down by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida.

It was a pretty good session for advocates of open government, according to a meeting this week of the Virginia Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Undeterred by a surprise early vote from Gov. Bob McDonnell, about 30 reproductive rights activists gathered in front of Precinct 607 this morning to protest the governor’s support of anti-abortion legislation. The protest was scheduled to coincide with McDonnell’s vote in Virginia’s Republican presidential primary.

More than half of the protesters arrested during Saturday’s women’s rights rally at the Capitol will receive free legal representation from Wayne Powell; an attorney and Democrat who plans to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor. The first group of about 30 arrested activists were arraigned Monday and charged with trespassing and unlawful assembly.

Thirty-three demonstrators were arrested Saturday afternoon at the state Capitol during a protest against legislation they said would violate women’s reproductive rights. At 2:17 p.m., Capitol Police officers declared that the demonstration was unlawful because many of the protesters were on the Capitol steps without a permit.

“Remember, girls, you’re not just anyone; you’re Virginia Teamohs!” At home in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, that’s what Rafia Zafar’s Southern-born grandmother would say to keep her granddaughters in line. Years later, Zafar, a Harvard-educated English professor at Washington University in St. Louis, would come to realize the significance of those words. Zafar’s great-great-grandfather was George Teamoh, who was born a slave in Portsmouth in 1818 and became a state legislator after the Civil War. An accomplished orator and advocate of African-American self-help, Teamoh served in the Virginia Senate from 1869 to 1871. Teamoh was one of about 100 blacks elected to the General Assembly during Reconstruction – until racial discrimination and Jim Crow laws relegated African-Americans to second-class citizenship. Those history-making legislators are finally getting recognition: They’re being honored by the 2012 General Assembly.

Democrats hope the U.S. Justice Department will intervene if the Republican-controlled General Assembly passes laws imposing more stringent identification requirements on Virginia voters. Two measures moving through the General Assembly – House Bill 9 and Senate Bill 1 – would prohibit prospective voters from casting official ballots if they can’t show proper identification. Republicans say the bills would help prevent fraud at the polls, but Democrats say the legislation would discourage elderly, minority and low-income people from voting.

Local jails and regional prisons in Virginia can continue to shackle female inmates during childbirth – a practice that Delegate Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, says is appalling. Hope sponsored a bill this legislative session to prohibit the shackling of women prisoners while in labor or giving birth. However, the bill is dead for this session after failing to make it out of a subcommittee last week.

Several hundred citizens joined Democratic officials and civil rights leaders at the Capitol on Tuesday to rally against bills they say would suppress the voting rights of minorities, elderly people and low-income Virginians.

Leaders of the African-American religious communities have joined forces with the Occupy Wall Street movement in order to bring new focus and organization to the national movement protesting economic inequality.

This fall, the Virginia Historical Society will launch a free, searchable online database of Virginia slave names called “Unknown No Longer.” It will allow people, especially African-Americans, to trace their ancestry without compromising their privacy or paying fees.

The Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality want to give the African Burial Ground in Richmond the respect it deserves. First, that means persuading Virginia Commonwealth University to stop using the site as a parking lot.

American Sign Language courses may grow in popularity and attract more students from different majors under a new state law. It requires Virginia’s public colleges and universities to accept ASL, which is used by deaf people, as a foreign language credit.

Paige Berry is Virginia Commonwealth University’s sign language teacher in the Rehabilitation Counseling Department. She has worked for VCU for 29 years and dedicates her life to communicating with people who are deaf or deaf and blind.

Dawn Storrud was born with a male body, but from around age 3, she says, she felt that deep down, she was female. As a result, Storrud said, she faced discrimination, harassment and even violence as a child and later as a transgender woman. Today, she advocates in Virginia for equal rights regardless of sexual orientation.

Religious and social conservatives are squaring off with gay rights advocates over a proposed state-agency rule that would prohibit adoption agencies in Virginia from discriminating against prospective parents on the basis of sexual orientation.

Several hundred people gathered Sunday at the site of what was once a slave jail for the unveiling of 17 historical markers documenting Richmond’s harsh past as a center for the slave trade.

Public high schools, colleges and universities in Virginia must accept American Sign Language toward fulfillment of foreign language requirements under a bill that received final approval by the General Assembly last week.

The Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality held an Emancipation Day ceremony at the site of the African Burial Ground in Richmond. The group protested the decision to postpone for a week the unveiling of historical markers for the Richmond Slave Trail.

Several hundred Virginians rallied on the Capitol lawn in support of public employees in Wisconsin, who may lose their collective bargaining rights under legislation proposed by that state’s governor, Scott Walker.

Members of the Virginia General Assembly honored Henrietta Lacks’ memory and presented her family with a resolution highlighting “her amazing legacy, which has altered medical research and care and relieved the suffering of untold millions.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work in 2007, graduating magna cum laude. She accomplished that feat in just three and a half years while working 30 hours a week. Today, she is a waitress, babysitter and sometime interpreter. She also is an undocumented immigrant.

On party-line votes in a packed hearing room, a House subcommittee has endorsed a legislative package that Republicans said will curb illegal immigration but opponents said may unfairly punish undocumented residents and promote discrimination.

At least eight measures in this year’s General Assembly take aim against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The General Assembly has granted state recognition to three more Native American tribes in Virginia. This will allow the tribes to petition for return of their ancestral remains from the Smithsonian Institution. Moreover, it will help the Indians preserve their heritage and inform the public of the tribes’ importance in Virginia’s history.

David and Tony are among many gay couples across the nation who have traveled to another state to be married while their home state refuses to recognize their union. For couples in such situations, there are several medical and legal concerns.