VIRGINIA TOP STORIES
Gas Creeps Back Up in Virginia — $4.11 a Gallon
Virginia drivers are paying a little more at the pump this week. The statewide average for regular gas hit $4.11 a gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA — up about two cents from the day before, and more than $1.20 above where it sat a year ago ($2.90).
The national average sits at $4.26. Diesel is the real gut punch: $6.29 in Virginia, nearly double last year’s $3.56.
One bright spot: a weekly look from WBTM in Danville shows the statewide average fell a dime over the past week to $4.06, with Danville ($4.02) the cheapest corner of Southside. Prices bounced a bit midweek as oil pushed past $111 a barrel on the Iran headlines.
27 Sick, 5 Hospitalized: Virginia Oysters Recalled in 12-State Salmonella Outbreak
If you bought raw oysters recently, check the tag. Federal health officials say a salmonella outbreak tied to Virginia-harvested oysters has sickened at least 27 people and hospitalized five across 12 states. No deaths have been reported.
The Little Wicomico Oyster Company issued a voluntary recall on October 9 for whole shellstock oysters pulled from the Little Wicomico River between September 18 and October 8. The company stopped harvesting there, and the Virginia Department of Health put an emergency closure on that stretch of the river through November 7.
Health officials stress the recall covers only those specific harvest areas — oysters from other Virginia waters are not affected. Symptoms usually show up between six hours and six days after eating contaminated food: diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps.
Amazon Walks Away from Ashburn Data Center — Hands Loudoun Land and $5 Million Instead
In a stunning reversal, Amazon has agreed to abandon its plans for a massive data center campus on the former George Washington University property in Ashburn — and the county got quite a deal out of it.
Amazon paid $427 million for the 122-acre campus earlier this year, aiming to build four data center buildings totaling more than 800,000 square feet. After months of pushback from residents and county officials, the company is withdrawing its application and giving up any legal fight over the site’s zoning.
Under the deal, dubbed “Project Potomac Promise,” Amazon will donate about 25 acres of land — valued at roughly $65 million — to Loudoun County for a future community arts center and indoor sports facility. The rest gets rezoned for mixed-use, mostly housing, and Amazon is kicking $5 million into the county’s housing fund. Loudoun is also weighing a year-long pause on new data center approvals, with a vote expected next month.
Ransomware Attack Knocks Richmond Public Schools Offline
Richmond Public Schools took its entire network offline Wednesday after ransom notes started appearing on staff laptops. The notes — reading “Critical Alert: Data Breach and Encryption Notice” — warned that hackers had stolen sensitive data and would leak it if the district didn’t pay.
Classes stayed open, but phones, email, Wi-Fi, security cameras, and the PowerSchool system were all knocked out. Superintendent Jason Kamras said student safety wasn’t affected, though one teacher told The Richmonder the outage was “a huge safety issue” since staff couldn’t reach parents or access medical databases.
Data on about 22,000 students across more than 50 schools is now at risk. The district has brought in outside cybersecurity experts and law enforcement. It has not confirmed whether data was actually stolen.
Immigration in the Headlines: House Report Targets Fairfax; Arlington Sues Over Armed Agents at Polls
A new House Judiciary Committee report says the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office ignored at least 1,670 federal immigration detainer requests between 2023 and 2025, releasing people back into the community instead of transferring them to ICE. The interim report, issued under Chairman Jim Jordan and Subcommittee Chair Tom McClintock, also accuses Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s office of treating noncitizen defendants differently from U.S. citizens to limit their immigration consequences, after reviewing about 1,100 criminal cases.
Separately, Arlington County sued the Trump administration Tuesday in federal court, asking a judge to keep armed ICE and FBI agents away from polling places, early voting sites, and ballot drop boxes ahead of Election Day on November 3. The county argues a Civil War-era law (18 U.S.C. § 592) bars armed federal personnel from election sites except to repel armed enemies of the United States.
And in a quieter move: Arlington set aside $50,000 in emergency grants for families whose main breadwinner was detained by immigration enforcement — up to $2,000 per family, paid through the nonprofit Arlington Thrive over the next 10 months. (Note: this item is single-sourced — reported via ARLnow.)
VIRGINIANS / GENTE DE VIRGINIA
Fairfax County’s Rescue Team Comes Home from Panama
Virginia Task Force-1 — Fairfax County’s elite urban search-and-rescue team — landed back home Wednesday after a 10-day mission in Panama. The team deployed October 9 after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake rattled the country’s southern provinces.
Working alongside a Los Angeles County crew, the Virginians helped complete more than 383 structural safety inspections across seven provinces — checking hospitals, schools, churches, and government buildings to decide what was still safe to use. The U.S. Embassy says about 400 people were evacuated and American helicopters delivered more than 50,000 cases of water and nearly 40,000 cans of food.
These are the same Fairfax County firefighters who stand ready for disasters here at home — and this month, their neighbors got to watch them save lives abroad.
Loudoun County Public Library Named Virginia Library of the Year
Loudoun County’s library system just took home the state’s top honor. The Virginia Library Association named Loudoun County Public Library its 2026 Library of the Year at the association’s annual conference in Norfolk on October 19, with Director Chang Liu accepting the award.
The system runs 10 branches and has a long habit of being more than just books: it launched a traveling bookmobile in 1940, became the area’s first desegregated library in 1957, made personal protective equipment during the pandemic, opens its doors as cooling centers during heat waves, and serves as mail-in ballot collection sites during elections.
REST OF VIRGINIA / EL RESTO DE VIRGINIA
Newport News Shipbuilder HII Raises Its Dividend
HII, the Newport News-based military shipbuilder, bumped its quarterly dividend to $1.41 per share on October 21 — three cents above the $1.38 it had paid for the previous four quarters. (Note: single-sourced — company announcement.)
New Leaders for the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable
The Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable is getting new leadership for the first time since its 2023 formation. Bill Van Buren of the Norfolk law firm Kaufman & Canoles takes over as board chair, with Virginia Natural Gas CEO Shannon Pierce as vice chair, starting November 18 for two-year terms through 2028. Their stated priorities: transportation, industrial development, energy infrastructure, and workforce needs. (Note: single-sourced — Virginia Business.)
WORLD TENSIONS / TENSIONES MUNDIALES
Iran: The standoff is entering its ninth month, and the drumbeat is getting louder. NPR reports the U.S. and Israel are drafting plans for a possible attack on Iran in early November — after the November 3 midterms — according to a person briefed on the war planning. The New York Times reports the plans call for “short but intensive” strikes on energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and missile arsenals, with three U.S. aircraft carriers and thousands of Marines expected in position by early November. President Trump has reportedly objected to striking before the elections. Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran is as prepared for war as for diplomacy. Meanwhile, Reuters says Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy claims seven vessels were hit in the Gulf this week — that claim is unverified. Brent crude is above $111 a barrel, a five-month high.
Why it matters in Virginia: High oil prices are exactly why your gas and diesel cost what they do. Norfolk-area military families are watching deployment news closely, and freight costs keep rising for local businesses.
Ukraine: No major new development in the last 24 hours.
AROUND THE WORLD / POR EL MUNDO
- Middle East: Saudi Arabia blames Iran-backed Houthi militants for an attack on a civilian airport that killed one person and injured eight. (WSJ)
- Latin America: Brazil’s presidential runoff is Sunday, October 25 — polls have tightened between Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and President Lula. Meanwhile, Mexico’s peso hit an 11-month low as Iran tensions rattled markets. (Reuters via TradingView, Finimize)
- Europe: French government bonds are under heavy selling pressure, with the 10-year French–German yield spread at its widest since 2011, as authorities consider curfews amid unrest. (Morningstar, France 24)
- Asia: South Korea’s central bank held its policy rate steady after two straight hikes, pausing as inflation eased but stayed above target. (Morningstar)
Sources / Fuentes
AAA (gasprices.aaa.com); WBTM Danville; Stacker/AAA; Fox 5 DC; Fox 5 NY; CDC/FDA; Virginia Business; Fox 5 DC (Ashburn); Bisnow; Data Center Dynamics; Cybernews; The Richmonder; Fox News; American Almanac; Daily Caller; Democracy Docket; WSHnow/ABC7; Wisevoter; MyNewsLA; Rothman Report/U.S. Embassy Panama; Virginia Library Association; Loudoun County Public Library; GlobeNewswire/HII; NPR; The New York Times (via LiveMint); Reuters; New York Post (via Reuters); Morningstar/Dow Jones; Wall Street Journal; France 24; TradingView/Reuters; Finimize. Single-sourced items are noted above.
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