Markey launched the congressional investigation after Bonner & Associates’ fake letters were revealed by The Daily Progress.

Five of the area’s six House races will be contested Nov. 3, the most contested seats since 1997.

Congressman Markey launched the congressional investigation after the fake letters were revealed by The Daily Progress.

The conservative organization Americans for Prosperity is launching a 15-stop “Hands Off My Health Care” bus tour of Virginia, starting this week in Charlottesville.

The race between Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, and Democrat Cynthia Neff is among the Charlottesville region’s most closely watched House of Delegates elections on Nov. 3.

Republican Bob McDonnell holds a comfortable lead for governor over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds, lifted by strong support in GOP-leaning regions of Virginia and growing appeal among independents, who in recent years have preferred Democrats, a new poll shows.

As director of the Virginia State Crime Commission, James O. Towey says he tried to blow the whistle on a member of the House of Delegates who he believes misused $200,000 of taxpayer money in 2006.

Five candidates for City Council offered sharply contrasting views during a Wednesday forum on how growth and subsequent investments in infrastructure and transportation should be managed and addressed in Charlottesville.

Deeds also wants to create a new service scholarship called Virginia Forward.

In the race for the Rio District seat on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, candidate Rodney S. Thomas and Supervisor David L. Slutzky both promise to make the county more business friendly.

If her department is hit with more state funding cuts, Lunsford said, she wants the county to fill those gaps, too.

Albemarle County staff could see more staff reductions and county teachers may not see any pay increases next year as the result of a gloomy financial forecast.

Mayor Dave Norris and City Council hopeful Kristin Szakos on Tuesday called for a variety of initiatives they said would strengthen the voice of city neighborhoods in local government.

Albemarle County Planning Commission members sent a clear message Tuesday: The county should allow wind turbines.

Hurt is the sixth Republican to jump into the race.

If Virginia’s economy is going to recover, it will be on the backs of small businesses, Republican candidate for governor Bob McDonnell said Monday morning at a Downtown Mall campaign stop.

Of the three School Board districts that will be on election ballots, only Rio has more than one candidate.

Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, has told organizers that he will appear. Bell’s challenger, Democrat Cynthia Neff, has also said she will attend.

They took different philosophical paths to get there, but the contenders for the Rio District seat on Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors supported similar goals at a Thursday forum, sounding off on topics from the area’s water supply to the strategic land use plan.

The four candidates for City Council on Wednesday sought to paint themselves as the most responsive official to neighborhood concerns instead of consultants and other parties.

Albemarle County Board of Supervisors candidates for the Samuel Miller District differed on everything from taxes to barking dogs at a forum Wednesday.

A fifth Republican has launched a bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, in next year’s mid-term congressional election.

“He’ll do a great job,” Phipps said.

The three Charlottesville School Board members up for re-election this year are the only residents seeking the positions, making them virtual shoo-ins on Nov. 3 for the board’s three open seats.

Kristin Szakos has plenty of wishes for Charlottesville should she be elected to the City Council, but she has one that is a bit unconventional for an election campaign.

Democratic candidates in Virginia have failed to win the attorney general’s office in every race since Mary Sue Terry in 1989.

On Thursday, Mayor Dave Norris and Kristin Szakos held a joint press conference in front of the IGA store on Cherry Avenue.

Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said the past few months have felt like a performance evaluation — one that is likely to continue over the next six weeks as the lone incumbent continues his City Council re-election campaign.

The event, sponsored by the Albemarle-Charlottesville branch of the NAACP, is scheduled to start at 5:45 p.m

“I think that for a city its size, Charlottesville has a remarkable transit system,” Long said.