The number of home-schoolers in Virginia has increased by more than 50 percent over the past decade, to more than 32,000 children. If they were a school district, it would be the ninth-largest in the state – with almost as many students as the Norfolk Public Schools.

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.

Here are statistics for the number of home-schoolers statewide and in each school division of Virginia.

These graphics show how home schooling has exploded in Virginia.

The Virginia Commission on Youth gathered at the Capitol this month to discuss how to prevent the “fragmentation of families” by encouraging parents to stay together in raising their children in Richmond and across the commonwealth.

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.

Starting July 1, parents in Virginia will have “a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care” of their children.

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.

For Gov. Bob McDonnell, the proposition for the Virginia Shakespeare Festival at the College of William and Mary is simple: To be or not to be the commonwealth’s official Shakespeare festival.

CNS reporter Katherine Johnson curated the social media stream to produce this report about Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s new book, “The Last Line of Defense.”

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.

CNS reporter Paige Baxter will live-blog a Senate Education and Health Committee on a bill to allow home-schoolers to play sports and participate in other extracurricular activities in local public schools.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The House has passed a bill requiring Virginia school boards to give students’ parents information about eating disorders.

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.

Here is Sam Isaac’s live-blog of the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Public Square community forum about gun issues.

A Virginia prison inmate seeking a sex-change operation won a legal victory Monday when a federal appeals panel ordered a lower court to hear the case.

Here’s our live-blog of Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to VCU.

Abortion rights supporters made their way to the state Capitol grounds on Tuesday to mark the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision and to look to the future of women’s rights in Virginia.

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.

This Saturday will be a day dedicated to community service across the United States, with 16 events in the Richmond area. The National Day of Service precedes the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and the presidential inauguration.

The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus is calling for higher taxes to boost funding for transportation, education and other services.

The Virginia House of Delegates voted 66-28 today to confirm the permanent appointment of Tracy Thorne-Begland as a judge of Richmond’s Manchester General District Court. He is the first openly gay judge to serve in Virginia.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court Appeals denied a request for an emergency stay filed Monday to prevent the execution of Robert C. Gleason Jr.

About two dozen anti-abortion groups from across the country joined the Virginia Society for Human Life at its “Stand Up for Life” gathering on the General Assembly’s opening day.

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.

Virginia Democrats slammed state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli on Tuesday for refusing to support reauthorization of the federal Violence Against Women Act.

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.

Virginia treats marijuana possession more harshly than many other states, handing down years-long prison sentences to people arrested with small amounts of the substance. Neighboring states have decriminalized marijuana or approved it for medicinal uses, but Virginia legislators this year hardly gave serious consideration to such ideas.

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.”

A Richmond man who spent nearly three decades wrongfully incarcerated in prison will receive more than $1 million in restitution under a bill signed into law Thursday by Gov. Bob McDonnell.

A national anti-abortion group assembled a graphic display to promote its cause Wednesday in VCU’s Commons Plaza.

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.

The Virginia Catholic Conference experienced both triumphs and failures during the General Assembly’s recently concluded regular session. As victories, VCC Executive Director Jeff Caruso cited the passage of a bill to require an ultrasound before a woman has an abortion – and the defeat of a bill to expand the death penalty in Virginia.

More than 200 men and women lined the sidewalk behind the Governor’s Mansion on Thursday night to protest Gov. Bob McDonnell’s signing of a bill requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion. The candlelight vigil was the fourth event in response to legislation that some demonstrators say is an attack on women’s reproductive rights.

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.