Good morning, Virginia. Here is what your neighbors are talking about today, Monday, October 12, 2026.
VIRGINIA TOP STORIES
The $67 billion Dominion–NextEra merger is hitting a new wall in Virginia. Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi came out against the deal last week, after a five-city listening tour that stopped in Loudoun County, Norfolk, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Roanoke. She is the first statewide elected official to formally oppose it. Her reason, in plain terms: Virginians already pay too much for electricity, and the tour made clear people fear this merger would push bills higher. The Florida-based NextEra wants to buy Dominion Energy, which serves about 2.7 million Virginia customers. The companies answered with a bigger sweetener: about $2.2 billion in shareholder-funded bill credits spread over four years. Critics say a promise on a press release is not the same as a protected bill. Governor Abigail Spanberger has also intervened in the State Corporation Commission’s review of the deal, and the SCC is holding local public hearings in Virginia this week. Data centers keep driving the whole fight — surging demand from the data center corridor is a big reason bills have climbed in the first place.
Gas prices keep easing across Virginia. The latest regional snapshot shows pump prices falling in nearly every market. Richmond had the biggest drop in the state, falling to $3.66 a gallon. Lynchburg dropped to $3.76, Roanoke to $3.84, and Virginia Beach to $3.87. Alexandria sits at $4.05, while Amherst and Rustburg remain the priciest spots in the region at $4.25 and $4.17. Prices are still well above last year’s levels — the war with Iran and global supply worries have kept crude expensive for months — but the recent slide is real relief for commuters. Fuel-tax relief isn’t coming from Richmond: Virginia’s motor fuel taxes ticked up slightly this summer.
ICE arrested a Salvadoran man in Manassas facing four sex-crime charges. Federal immigration officers took Luis Alfonso Garcia-Jimenez into custody on September 2, the agency announced last week. He is charged with four counts of aggravated sexual battery in Prince William County, plus a prior DWI conviction from 2017. He entered the country without inspection, according to ICE, and is now in removal proceedings. The field office director said the arrest is part of the agency’s push to prioritize people with criminal charges. Three outlets confirmed the details of the federal announcement, including ICE’s own newsroom.
An MS-13 gang member got 30 years for a Sterling double murder. A Loudoun County judge sentenced Marlyn Samuel Medrano Ortiz, 20, on Thursday for killing Diego Woollett and Mijal Conejero, both 22, in August 2024. Deputies found the couple with gunshot wounds near the 21000 block of Huntington Square in Sterling after an early-morning confrontation in an apartment complex parking lot. Medrano Ortiz was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder. He must also pay restitution to the Virginia Victims Fund and is barred from any contact with gang members. The Loudoun County government confirmed the sentencing in its own official announcement.
A judge’s gavel (illustration photo)
VIRGINIANS / GENTE DE VIRGINIA
Henrico Fire is keeping a fallen firefighter’s memory alive. Firefighter Ashtain Davis, 28, died September 25 in a late-night hit-and-run motorcycle crash on the I-64/I-95 ramp in Richmond. He had finished the fire academy just months earlier and was assigned to Fire Station 7. At the station, crews marked the spot where he parked his motorcycle with cones and set his helmet on the dash of a fire engine next to a sign that reads “Do it for Davis.” Virginia State Police are still looking for the driver of a dark-colored SUV that fled the scene. Anyone with information can call VSP Division 1 dispatch at (804) 750-8758.
Norfolk’s Wards Corner just got a big new Target. The new store opened Sunday, October 11, at 201 E. Little Creek Road on the site of the former Kroger. The roughly 100,000-square-foot store brings more than 140 jobs to the neighborhood, plus a CVS Pharmacy, a Starbucks, and fresh groceries — something neighbors had asked for. The city and Keep Norfolk Beautiful even held a community cleanup at the site Friday to welcome the store. It is Norfolk’s second Target; the first one, on N. Military Highway, just turned 30.
REST OF VIRGINIA / EL RESTO DE VIRGINIA
The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel wrapped up a full weekend of westbound closures. VDOT shut the westbound HRBT toward Hampton from Friday night through this morning for the second round of repaving. Drivers heading between Norfolk and Hampton should brace for more: full eastbound closures toward Norfolk are planned for the weekends of October 16–19, weather permitting. Check VDOT’s HRBT closures page before you go.
A fifth suspect was charged in the August shooting at Virginia State University. Chesterfield Police announced last Thursday that Amari Morris, 18, of Richmond, faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless handling of a firearm. He is being held without bond and is not a VSU student. Five people were wounded in the August 15 shooting outside campus dormitories near Petersburg. Four other suspects are already facing charges, including one accused of hiding a suspect in a dorm-room closet.
“Forever chemicals” are showing up in Hampton Roads drinking water. State sampling by Virginia’s environmental and health agencies has flagged about 26 water systems across Virginia with potential PFAS contamination, and three Hampton Roads spots are high priority for more testing: Lee Hall and Harwoods Mill in Newport News, and the Moore’s Bridges water treatment plant in Norfolk. PFAS have also turned up near the Poquoson River, the Great Dismal Swamp, and the Pungo area of Virginia Beach. These chemicals stick around in the environment and in the body — that is why they earned the “forever” nickname. If you are served by one of these systems, your water utility’s annual quality report is the best place to check what is in your water.
WORLD TENSIONS / TENSIONES MUNDIALES
The war with Iran, now in its eighth month, has two real developments this week. The Pentagon corrected its official casualty count: 21 U.S. service members have died since the war began February 28, and 865 have been wounded. The two added names were noncombat deaths. And President Trump ruled out new U.S. strikes on Iran before the November 3 midterms, saying talks with Tehran are productive. An AP-NORC poll found 69% of Americans say the war has not been worth fighting.
What it means for Virginia: fuel prices are still running high partly because of this war, and military families across Hampton Roads carry the heaviest load. The Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is back in local headlines too — two aviators ejected during a landing mishap off the Virginia coast last month, and sailors were hurt. The Navy is still investigating.
The Norfolk-based USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (U.S. Navy photo, public domain)
AROUND THE WORLD / POR EL MUNDO
- Africa: At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, died after a boat carrying 305 people capsized off the coast of Djibouti on Saturday, the International Organization for Migration said.
- Latin America: A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Panama on Friday morning; officials said there is no tsunami threat to the U.S. West Coast.
- Europe: Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic resigned the presidency to run for prime minister in an early parliamentary election.
- Asia: Leaders of India’s youth protest movement were freed from detention on Sunday and vowed to keep demonstrating.
Sources / Fuentes
Dominion–NextEra merger: WHRO / Virginia Mercury, The Cool Down, Utility Dive, ad-hoc-news (citing WTOP).
Gas prices: GasBuddy data via Lynchburg Agenda (Oct. 5, 2026).
ICE Manassas arrest: ICE.gov, Law Enforcement Today, CrweWorld.
MS-13 sentencing: FOX 5 DC, Loudoun County government press release.
Henrico firefighter: Daily Dispatch (citing WWBT-TV NBC 12 Richmond), The Progress-Index.
Target Norfolk: The Sun, City of Norfolk (norfolk.gov), Target via Nexstar.
HRBT closures: VDOT via EIN Presswire.
VSU shooting: The Progress-Index, WTKR.
PFAS in water: WHRO News (single-sourced via aggregator).
Iran war: USA Today, Washington Examiner, NewsLooks.
International briefs: Associated Press wire feeds.
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