Rubicon Inc., a substance abuse and mental health treatment center that has served the Richmond community for more than 40 years, is trying to regain its financial footing after nearly having to close its doors last fall.

Virginia’s suicide rate is the highest it’s been in 13 years, according to the state’s chief medical examiner. Experts say the causes may include the poor economy and lack of mental health services.

This map and data set show the 2011 suicide rate for each Virginia locality. They also show the unemployment rate for that year.

Suicide rates are on the rise in Virginia — and higher than they’ve been in 13 years. Whites are far more likely than other racial and ethnic groups to commit suicide. And men commit suicide far more often than women.

The Virginia Board of Health voted Friday to require abortion clinics to meet hospital building-code standards – rules that abortion rights activists said would force many of the state’s 20 clinics to close.

The General Assembly on Wednesday narrowly approved an amendment by Gov. Bob McDonnell that will prohibit certain health insurance companies in Virginia from providing coverage for women seeking an abortion.

Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed into law legislation to expand the list of prohibited chemicals used in making synthetic marijuana and other designer drugs. McDonnell announced Wednesday that he had signed House Bill 1941, which included an emergency clause making it effective immediately.

Twenty-six years ago, then-President Ronald Reagan issued a national proclamation naming March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. This year, Gov. Bob McDonnell made a similar declaration in Virginia.

Last year around this time, Virginia was in the spotlight: Newspapers and talk show hosts, like comedian Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show,” ripped state legislators for passing a bundle of laws targeting abortion. But during the legislative session that ended last month, there was hardly a peep about the issue from members of the General Assembly.

Like a bicyclist who’s taken a tumble but stays in the race, Virginia bicycling advocates say they’ll push on despite disappointments they suffered during the 2013 legislative session.

Parents of Virginia public school students will be given educational information about eating disorders under a bill passed by the General Assembly.

The Virginia House of Delegates on Monday passed the Movable Soccer Goal Safety Act with an amendment so that it wouldn’t take effect unless re-enacted by the General Assembly next year.

A bill to ban minors 14 and younger from tanning at a tanning salon has been killed for this legislative session.

A Senate committee Thursday shot down the “Tebow bill” aimed at allowing home-schoolers to participate in public schools’ sports and other extracurricular activities.

State legislators and lobbyists battled it out on the basketball court Tuesday night to benefit Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center.

The House Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee will consider a proposal to approve, but delay implementation of, a bill seeking to prevent injury or death from falling soccer goals.

Gov. Bob McDonnell on Monday praised the findings of a new study that says clinical trials of new drugs and other medical treatments in Virginia have boosted the state’s economy and created 76,000 jobs over the past 13 years.

The Senate on Monday unanimously joined the House in passing a bill that requires women to be notified of dense breast tissue in mammogram results.

Virginians under age 15 would no longer be able to use indoor tanning salons under legislation moving through the General Assembly.

Virginians under age 15 would no longer be able to use indoor tanning salons under legislation moving through the General Assembly.

A Senate bill that would have banned smoking in cars carrying children under age 15 was tabled Friday by a House committee.

Experts locked horns Thursday over whether certain employers should be exempt from new required contraception insurance because of their religious convictions.

State budget language adopted by the House Appropriations Committee would delay the expansion of Medicaid and other benefits of the new federal health-care law in Virginia, a statewide group said Wednesday.

The First Freedom Center in Richmond is hosting a debate over the Affordable Care Act, including the requirement that religiously affiliated organizations and businesses must provide contraception insurance coverage for their employees. The panelists include Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and Kevin Walsh, associate professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.

The Senate is poised to pass a bill to revoke the liquor licenses of bars and restaurants that file false tax returns or other financial information with government regulators.

Virginia’s fight over reproductive rights usually happens during rallies and protests on the grounds of the Capitol or during intense debate on the floor of the House or Senate. But last week, the League of Women Voters of Virginia discussed the issue in a calmer setting – during a Wednesday morning tradition called the Women’s Roundtable.

The Senate today passed a bill to prohibit smoking in a vehicle when a child under 15 is present.

Virginia’s General Assembly is also focused on preventing campus shootings like the one at Virginia Tech, but gun control is only one segment of the issue.

While Virginia Commonwealth University isn’t the center of the gun debate triggered by December’s school shootings in Connecticut, Vice President Joe Biden got VCU’s help Friday in continuing the national dialogue on the matter.

A legislative panel has killed a bill designed to give Virginians suffering from Crohn’s disease or similar medical conditions immediate access to a toilet.

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.

A bill to forbid smoking in cars carrying children is dead in the House, but a similar proposal remains alive in the Senate.

Virginians suffering from Crohn’s disease or similar medical conditions would have the right to use a store’s employee restroom when they have an urgent need for a toilet, under a bill before the General Assembly.

About 30 abortion rights activists from the Cooch Watch protest group lined the streets outside of the 47th annual Commonwealth Prayer Breakfast at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Wednesday morning. Around the same time, about two dozen anti-abortion groups from across the country joined the Virginia Society for Human Life at its “Stand Up for Life” gathering.

A group of activists has founded Cooch Watch to monitor and poke fun at Ken Cuccinelli, the state’s conservative attorney general and tea party darling.

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.

Beginning July 1, women getting mammograms will learn whether they have dense breast tissue that could hide cancer. A new law addresses the test’s failure to detect certain cancers in women with dense breast tissue.

Gov. Bob McDonnell on Monday ceremonially signed six pieces of legislation that will further cancer-related research, treatment and education.

Fewer children are dying from accidents in Virginia and across the country, according to reports issued by state officials and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death rate from unintentional injuries for Virginians age 19 and younger fell 45 percent from 2000 to 2009, new figures showed.

To save children from potentially fatal reactions to food allergies, Virginia last week adopted a law requiring schools to carry epinephrine auto-injectors, such as EpiPens.

A Catholic lobbyist, a state legislator and other experts this week debated whether the federal law requiring employers to provide health insurance coverage for birth control violates the religious freedoms of faith-based institutions.

Two bills progressing through the General Assembly may give cancer patients greater access to lifesaving cancer treatments. House Bill 1273, sponsored by Delegate Christopher Peace, R-Mechanicsville, and Senate Bill 450, sponsored by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Winchester, seek to reduce the high cost of oral chemotherapy medications.

The Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that will require any woman seeking an abortion to undergo a mandatory ultrasound examination. House Bill 462 has been the focus of extensive debate during this year’s General Assembly. It even fell victim to national ridicule last week before being amended on the recommendation of Gov. Bob McDonnell.

The Virginia Senate has rejected a House-approved bill to repeal a law requiring girls to get a dose of the human papillomavirus vaccine before entering sixth grade. The Senate voted 22-17 to send House Bill 1112 back to the Senate Education and Health Committee, effectively killing it for this legislative session.

Opponents of drunken driving are applauding the Senate for passing a bill to require even first-time DUI offenders in Virginia to install a device to prevent them from operating their vehicle while intoxicated. The Senate approved House Bill 279 on a 26-13 vote Wednesday. It would require Virginia drivers to have an ignition interlock installed after their first DUI offense. Currently, the devices are required only after a second or subsequent DUI conviction.

Both chambers of the General Assembly started revising legislation forcing women to get a fetal ultrasound before an abortion after Gov. Bob McDonnell persuaded lawmakers not to require a vaginal probe as part of the procedure. That change was reflected in the revised version of House Bill 462 that the Senate Education and Health Committee approved Thursday on an 8-7 party-line vote.

While Virginia is moving to repeal its requirement that girls get vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, the federal government and a major medical association are urging just the opposite: that boys as well as girls receive the vaccine.

More than 1,000 people turned out at the Capitol on Monday to silently protest a wave of legislation that they claim undermines women’s reproductive rights. The demonstration focused largely on two measures: House Bill 1, which would give the legal status of a human being to a fertilized egg, and HB 462, which would require a trans-vaginal ultrasound before undergoing an abortion.

Legislators and medical experts are concerned about the rising use of synthetic drugs known as “bath salts,” which cause a cocaine-like high – and in rare instances can cause death.