Julie Braley found comfort in the “VB Strong” stickers that showed up in business and car windows around Virginia Beach in the wake of the coastal city’s tragic mass shooting last year.

Since the Virginia Department of Health began reporting the ethnic breakdown of coronavirus cases, data has shown a consistently disproportionate hit in Latinx communities.

But there’s more to the impact than what the numbers show.

Unemployment in Virginia hit a new record this week.

For 33 years, Diane Woolard headed the Virginia Department of Health team that watched for emerging diseases and suspected outbreaks, recommending ways to prevent them from spreading.

Now, after a year of retirement, she's back  lending a hand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the Jim Crow era, when public schools in Virginia refused to educate African Americans, a prominent black educator – Booker T. Washington -- joined a northern philanthropist -- Julius Rosenwald -- to help build more than 5,000 schools in 15 southern states. 

In Virginia’s Cumberland County – west of Richmond – a rural community called Pine Grove provided land, money and labor for one so-called Rosenwald school that is now threatened by plans for a massive garbage dump.

The election for governor is still 18 months away. But, candidates are already coming out of the woodwork.

When the school year ends, many teachers and staff take a break, but at the University of Mary Washington But three librarians are busier than ever – creating an archive that will tell the story of COVID-19 on campus. 

Experts agree widespread testing for coronavirus is key to prevent future surges of the virus. In Virginia an effort is underway to make sure testing is reaching all parts of the state, including communities that may be harder hit by the virus.