For a new WMRA series called My World , earlier this year we asked local science students to submit their questions about the environment. We received a lot of great questions, and selected one from Olivia Gardner, who just graduated in June. She asked about the environmental health of Interstate 81. WMRA’s Bridget Manley produced a two-part report. Here’s Part One.

It’s official – incumbent Culpeper Republican Delegate Nick Freitas will not be on the ballot this November… Prosecutors say officers were justified in their use of deadly force while responding to an assault near Timberville last month… Virginia declares it’s Farmers Market Week, so we’ll explore how farmer’s markets around the state are helping keep smaller farming communities alive….

Those suing the organizers of Unite the Right in 2017 say recent massacres only strengthen their resolve to break up online hate networks… The fate of Charlottesville’s police Civilian Review Board now goes to City Council… Governor Northam says voters should reject gun violence when they vote on November 5 th ….

Virginia’s top mental health official is dead from injuries he suffered in a three-car crash in Augusta County… Former Governor Terry McAuliffe's account of the deadly Unite the Right rally is receiving criticism from some who were in Charlottesville that weekend in August 2017… The vast majority of teachers in Virginia are white, a cause of concern for some who say more diversity is needed in the classroom….

Portraits from the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program will be on display starting August 2 at 292 North Gallery in Harrisonburg. The fifty-six portraits were made between 2012 and 2018 by VA Folklife Digital Media Specialist Pat Jarrett. Pat stopped by the WMRA studios to discuss the program and the photographs with WMRA's Chris Boros.

Culpeper-area Delegate Nick Freitas says he will remove his fight to get back on the ballot if state officials will allow another Republican to run for his seat… An 18-year-old Staunton woman is dead, and Virginia’s top mental health official is in critical condition after a crash in Augusta County… Senator Tim Kaine co-sponsors a bill to ban the use of the death penalty by the federal government….

In its first year of Medicaid expansion, Virginia has enrolled about three-quarters of its targeted population… Charlottesville officials anticipate a calm anniversary of the deadly Unite the Right rally in a couple of weeks… The Port of Virginia pushes back against President Trump’s tariffs on imports from China....

President Trump says four centuries of democracy in America have been [quote] “incredible”… One protester disagrees, interrupting Trump’s speech… And, other state legislators boycott the speech entirely, instead holding their own ceremony to commemorate the arrival of the first enslaved Africans – we have reports from Jamestown and Richmond….

According to one report, nearly four in 10 Harrisonburg residents above the federal poverty line still have trouble making ends meet. That leads to difficult choices -- pay the rent, or buy groceries? Fix the car, or pay for prescriptions? As the number of people facing these questions increases, so does the demand for more affordable housing. In the second part in an occasional WMRA series on living costs, Randi B. Hagi reports.

A federal judge dismisses what remained of a lawsuit against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center… We take a look back at 1619, the year of the first General Assembly, and a time when the first Africans were brought here in slavery… President Trump will visit Jamestown to mark the 400 th anniversary celebrations, but most black lawmakers in Virginia will boycott, citing Trump’s attacks on a number of lawmakers of color…