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.

Almost all of the statues at the state Capitol depict men. No wonder there’s a movement to install a monument honoring achievements by Virginia women.

To curb the sale of stolen property, pawnshops soon will keep a photo of people who sell the stores items. And pawnbrokers will be prohibited from receiving or re-selling goods if the original serial number has been altered or changed in some way.

Virginia schools must provide extra help to students in kindergarten and first and second grades who do poorly on diagnostic reading tests, under legislation that Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law in recent weeks.

A tourist train soon could be chugging its way through historic and scenic Tazewell County and across the state line to Bramwell, W.Va.

Army Staff Sgt. Guy “Stan” Hagy, a native of the community of Thompson Valley in Southwest Virginia, will be remembered not only as a tough soldier but also as a jokester who always tried to make people smile.

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.

Northern Virginia would get a bigger share of the state’s highway maintenance funds under legislation being sponsored by Delegate Jim LeMunyon, R-Oak Hill. House Bill 1884 would allocate the funds “on the basis of vehicle miles traveled in each highway construction district compared to vehicle miles traveled in the Commonwealth as a whole.”

As the General Assembly convened for its 2013 session, Sen. Phillip Puckett, D-Tazewell, said his top priorities are to increase funding for K-12 education in southwestern Virginia and authorize local governments to levy a severance tax on coal.