Virginia Focus

Being elected to a local political office does not mean you never need to leave home in order to serve your community. Last week many elected city officials met in Washington DC during the National League of Cities convention. Harrisonburg's Vice Mayor, Laura Dent, was one of the elected officials from Virginia who attended. She tells us about her experience and why it's important to her and the c...

Oral history stems from the tradition of passing information of importance to the family or tribe from one generation to the next. Before the majority of people knew how to read and write, this was how everyone learned about the past. Since Frederick Murphy was a youngster, he always enjoyed talking to his elders and hearing stories of family history. In 2016, he founded History Before Us, a proje...

Americans lose billions of dollars to scams. Today's scammers use AI to mimic your loved ones voice or they pretend to be a familiar business or government agency to entice you to trust them and turn over your personal information. To learn more about how to spot scams, we talk to Emma Fletcher, Senior Data Researcher with the FTC.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck according to a new survey from Lending Club. While a high median household income and expenses that are lower than in many other East Coast states help Virginia residents hang onto at least 40% of their paychecks. However, a GOBankingRates study found that it’s one of the worst states for the middle class. When people find themselves i...

If you were not already familiar with Hospice Care or even if you were, the recent announcement that former President Jimmy Carter was entering hospice care probably caught your interest. The concept of providing specialized care for dying patients, linking pain and symptom control with compassionate care, began in England in the 1950’s. In 1982, the Medicare Hospice Benefit was created in the Uni...

Nonprofit hospitals operate as charities and are designed to deliver affordable and quality health care to everyone in their communities. However, despite their tax-exempt status, many nonprofit hospitals are praticing disturbing trends that put profits over patients - like ignoring a low-income patient's qualifications for financial assistance and pursuing predatory collection practices. Former C...

The commonwealth could boast a new symbol soon. House Bill 1951 actually began during last year's Virginia Model General Assembly and proposed making the Chincoteague Ponies the state's official pony. We're talking to Salt Water Cowboy and Chincoteague Volunteer Firefighter Hunter Leonard to learn more about these wild horses and their history in Virginia.

Axios reports the small business boom after the pandemic comes after one of the least entrepreneurial decades in U.S. history, the 2010s. Forbes experts predict 2023 will be a year of small business owners betting on themselves and focusing on the elements of business ownership within their control. On today's show we're getting some business advice from Virginia entrepreneur John Filipiak - co-ow...

Every two years AmeriCorps, an independent agency of the U.S. government, releases a Civic Engagement and Volunteering Survey. The report ranks all 50 states and the nation's largest cities and metropolitan areas for their volunteering and engagement rates. This year’s research highlights which states volunteered the most during the Global Pandemic. AmeriCorps found that Americans continued to vol...

Addiction is a topic that affects everyone. What was once regarded as poor judgement or a moral failure, research has lead experts to now say there are four levels of addiction: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual and each one plays a role in both falling into or getting out of addiction. As well, the term addiction is no longer limited to the use of illegal, mind-altering chemicals. There...

Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein spoke words of wisdom when he said, “The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” Libraries are community hubs – where people find information and connect people to people. They are safe havens for kids, providing after-school homework help, games, and book clubs. They offer computer classes, allowing older adults to stay e...

Whether your hosting a party or going out with friends, many choose to celebrate the start of a New Year with an alcoholic drink.. or drinks. Experts say New Years Eve can be a particularly dangerous time to be driving because it's the holiday with the highest DUI rates in the United States. In Virginia, the consequences of getting caught driving intoxicated can be not only jail time but also up t...

Celebrating means many things to many people of all faiths, but almost unviversaly, observing the holidays means allowing Chris Kringle to come into our lives. For more than a few years now, in North Georgia, litteraly thousands of children, of course young an old, have come across Derek Dugan. Effectionately known to many as Santa Derek. We visited Santa Derek in his home and learned that a man l...

If you have traveled nearly any of the highways and byways of the south and beyond, at some point you have seen a Stuckeys. Most often associated with a blue roof. At some point the popularity of the Stuckey's tapered off, but now granddaughter of the founder of Stuckey's and career litigator Stephanie Stuckey was able to buy the company from ruin. She aims to not only bring back the company to be...

The good news is that in the United States, child poverty fell by 59% from 1993 – 2019, according to a comprehensive new analysis. The study was a joint effort between The New York Times and a nonpartisan research group with an expertise in statistical analysis called Child Trends. A broad overview of the results show multiple forces reduced child poverty, including lower unemployment, increased l...

The American Lung Association released the 2022 State of the Air Report including new information on Virgina's air quality and its impact on resident's health. It spotlights changes to the state's air quality in couties and metro areas since last year's report.

As we approach the winter months and the temperature drops, Virginians want to know what to expect when it comes to their electricity bills. We are going to discover a variety of ways you can keep your energy usage down now and through the holiday season. Those tips come from a spokesman from Virginia Energy Sense – and some of them won’t cost you a dime. Additionally, we will get the truth about...

We’re diving in to the history and beauty of river view farms – now known as Ivy Creek Foundation in Charlottesville. River View Farm is a rare surviving example of the Union Ridge/Hydraulic Mills community of African American farmers, pastors, craftspeople, and businessmen that flourished in the region beginning in the final quarter of the nineteenth century. Let’s learn more about this valuable...

The Department of Heath and Human Services says the national uninsured rate reached an all-time low in 2022. That means 92% of Americans do have some form of health coverage. Reports also show that changes in uninsured rates from 2020 to 2022 were largest among individuals with incomes below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and incomes between 200% and 400% FPL. Open Enrollment for people u...

Fisher House Foundation builds comfort homes where military & veterans families can stay free of charge, while a loved one is in the hospital. These homes are located at military and VA medical centers around the world.

On this episode, John Clark speaks to Gil Harrington, the founder of Help Save the Next Girl. Help Save the Next Girl is a national non-profit organization formed in honor of her daughter, Morgan Dana Harrington - a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who was abducted and murdered in 2009. Let's learn more about the case and the determined mother behind it all who volunteers to help the next girl.

If you received a diagnosis tomorrow that threatened your ability to work, do you know how to navigate the disability system? This topic is critical to many patients and their families who are also frequently confused about the eligibility criteria and application process for disability benefits. On this episode of Virginia Focus, Beth Moore with Patient Advocate Foundation tells us how her organi...

As the population increases and developers buy up more and more land for housing and infrastructure, farmers find themselves trying to find new ways to expand their production. During the show, we’ll learn more about what vertical farming means, how it’s flourishing in Virginia, and how vertical agriculture can be used in the future to address food security from Virginia Secretary of Agriculture a...

If you pay insurance premiums‚ you’re already a victim of insurance fraud. The FBI says because of the number of people committing Insurance Fraud, the result is it costs the average U.S. family hundreds, if not thousands per year in the form of increased premiums. The Virginia State Police believe that together, through education and accountability, we can reduce the number of insurance fraud cas...

Today on the show we’re talking about environmental policies in Virginia. In June of 1988, climate change became front page news and since then technology has created renewable energy options that have come to the forefront of the global energy transition with nearly every country adopting a renewable energy target. Today we’re going to discuss policies in Virginia surrounding renewable energy, th...