WHRO Public Media • 24th June 2026

Opioid settlement funds support prevention, treatment and outreach programs in Hampton Roads

Virginia’s Opioid Abatement Authority announced more than $35.2 million in new grant awards this month to support opioid prevention, treatment and recovery programs across the state.In Hampton Roads, the funding includes jail-based medication-assisted treatment programs, youth prevention efforts, mobile outreach, peer recovery support and Operation STOP programs targeting communities with sharp increases in overdose deaths.OAA officials said the money is meant to help cities and counties address...

WHRO Public Media • 17th June 2026

Newport News to launch drone first responder program

Newport News will launch a drone first responder program next week, part of a broader move among Hampton Roads police, fire and rescue agencies to use drones during emergencies.Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said the program will allow trained pilots to launch drones from four locations across the city after high-priority 911 calls, such as a homicide, shooting, missing person case or medical call.The city will have eight drones total, with two at each launch site.Drew said the drones are...

WHRO Public Media • 12th June 2026

Indian Health Service payment delays are limiting dental care for Native patients

Larry Jefferson, a Native patient with the Chickahominy tribe, is looking for a dentist again.For years, Jefferson has relied on federal Indian Health Service-related coverage to get dental care near Richmond. But one clinic after another has stopped accepting the program, he said, because providers told him they were not getting paid.He said he first went to Seven Pines Dental. Then he switched to Sandston Comprehensive Dentistry. Then he tried Maidstone Dental. Each time, he said, care started...

WHRO Public Media • 4th June 2026

A Virginia Beach mom’s nonprofit helps families through pregnancy loss after her own stillbirth

When Heather Wilson was pregnant with her first child in 2009, she was expecting a baby girl.She planned to name her Kennedy.Then Wilson developed preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication that causes high blood pressure.At the time, Wilson did not fully understand how serious it could become.“The doctors didn’t let me know that it could cost me my life or cost my daughter her life, which is what ultimately happened,” Wilson said.One day, Kennedy stopped moving.Wilson and her husband rush...

WHRO Public Media • 1st June 2026

Another year, another veto for a retail cannabis market in Virginia, leaving businesses and the public with few options

Throughout her bid for governor, Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she would support a bill to set up a legal, adult-use cannabis market — which is why her veto on May 19 caught many rooting for such a market by surprise.“I thought it was a joke, honestly,” said Julian Redcross, a Hampton-based hemp grower. “When I saw it going around on fire on social media, I was like, ‘Oh, this is not real. This is AI.’”Spanberger said her decision was based on the need for stronger tools to enforce the law and re...

WHRO Public Media • 28th May 2026

National data shows fewer than half of adults exercise enough. Virtual weight loss programs aim to help in Hampton Roads.

Less than half of U.S. adults met federal guidelines for aerobic physical activity in 2024, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health. Providers said the trend reflects broader challenges around weight, chronic disease and access to preventive care.The report found 47.2% of adults met weekly aerobic activity recommendations: either 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity activity such as biking or swimming, 75 minutes of vigorous activity such as running,...

WHRO Public Media • 25th May 2026

Virginia faces mental health provider shortages as Hampton Roads residents struggle to navigate care

A new national report found Virginia is facing “catastrophic” shortages in community mental health. Providers in Norfolk say many patients still struggle to know where to turn during a mental health crisis.The report from mental health policy group Inseparable found Virginians go out of network for mental health care six and a half times more often than for physical health care, often leading to higher out-of-pocket costs. It also found Virginia meets only 22% of its psychiatrist workforce needs...

WHRO Public Media • 15th May 2026

UVA-led study suggests new way to identify heart patients at risk of sudden death

A new study led by UVA Health researchers could change how doctors identify a dangerous genetic heart disease, potentially helping prevent sudden cardiac death while reducing unnecessary treatments for lower-risk patients.Researchers found combining cardiac MRI scans with blood test data could better predict which patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, face the highest risk of serious complications such as heart failure.The genetic disease, which affects millions around the world, ca...

WHRO Public Media • 12th May 2026

Bon Secours breaks ground on $200 million hospital expansion in Newport News

Bon Secours Mercy Health has started construction on an expansion at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News worth more than $200 million, a move hospital and city leaders said will expand access to emergency and maternity care across the Peninsula.The new four-story, 144,000 square-foot patient tower is expected to open in summer 2028. It will include a larger emergency department, expanded labor and delivery services, a neonatal intensive care unit, 14 ICU beds and 26 universal care beds that...

WHRO Public Media • 8th May 2026

Proposed WIC cuts could strain low-income Virginia families, advocates warn

Tens of thousands of Virginians facing food insecurity could lose out on more benefits if Congress approves proposed cuts to the federal Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, or WIC.Participation in the program is already low in Virginia and advocates say many of the families receiving aid are already grappling with cuts to other federal programs.WIC helps pregnant women, new mothers and their children buy foods such as milk, fruits, vegetables, cereal and infant formula.The proposed cu...

WHRO Public Media • 22nd April 2026

New website from Virginia Beach man puts hospital prices on display

Hospital prices are public under federal rules, but in practice, experts say the data often sits in large files that are difficult to search or interpret.Virginia Beach-based computer engineer Richard Callaghan built HospitalCost.com to help patients actually use that data to their advantage.The platform compiles data from 17 federal sources that includes 58 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina and the costs of 104 priced procedures.On this website, users can compare hospital prices, insuran...

WHRO Public Media • 21st April 2026

How one Virginia Beach company coordinates organ and tissue donations across the state

In a nondescript building next to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital in Virginia Beach, a middleman connects life-changing organ and tissue donations with recipients across the country.In glass-enclosed rooms, workers in protective gear handle donated tissue at tables. Another mops the floor while someone records information at a computer.In a larger room, more than 20 storage tanks stand side by side, filled with liquid nitrogen. The tanks keep tissue at extremely low temperatures to preserve it fo...

WHRO Public Media • 17th April 2026

A state survey found nearly a third of Virginians think using cannabis makes them better drivers, raising safety worries as legal market looms

As Virginia weighs whether to move forward with a legal retail cannabis market as early as 2027, officials and researchers said one question remains unsettled: how legalization may affect impaired driving — and whether current data can offer answers.A 2024 survey conducted by the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority found that roughly 30% of drivers believe they are safer behind the wheel after using cannabis.“That statistic is alarming,” said Jamie Patton, the agency’s chief administrative offic...

WHRO Public Media • 13th April 2026

Community groups raise transparency concerns as they’re left out of Virginia maternal health funding

Several organizations in Hampton Roads said they recently received rejection notices for funding from the state’s Perinatal Health Hubs Pilot Program, nearly a year after the funding was expected to roll out.$2.5 million was included in the state budget in 2025 after years of legislative efforts to expand community-based maternal care. It aims to improve outcomes for pregnant women, particularly Black women and those in underserved communities.Dozens of organizations applied. Many said they rece...

WHRO Public Media • 6th April 2026

Virginia hospitals filed more than 1 million medical debt lawsuits since 2010, a new report finds

Patients in Hampton Roads have previously told WHRO they’re often left in the dark when it comes to medical bills, with missing details, unexpected charges and little clarity on what they owe.Some said they never received itemized bills. Others said their accounts were sent to collections while they were still disputing charges.Now, a new report suggests those experiences are part of a broader system — one that can lead to lawsuits, wage garnishment and long-term financial strain for patients ac...

WHRO Public Media • 31st March 2026

As Virginia looks to expand reproductive rights, funding cuts may threaten access

Voters will decide whether to enshrine reproductive rights in Virginia’s constitution later this year. But there may be an even bigger obstacle for those seeking care.“Reproductive health care is about access, and whether Virginians have the right protected in the state constitution, but also whether they can actually access care — whether there are providers in their communities and whether they can afford it,” said Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia....

WHRO Public Media • 26th March 2026

NIH funding shifts cut number of grants, but economic impact remains strong in Virginia

A new analysis shows federal biomedical research funding continues to drive billions of dollars in economic activity, even as fewer projects are being funded nationwide.In Virginia, more than $600 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health supported 6,843 jobs and generated roughly $1.7 billion in economic activity in 2025, according to a report from United for Medical Research, a national nonprofit research organization.But the report also found a sharp drop in the number of gran...

WHRO Public Media • 25th March 2026

New steam blasting option for prostate cancer treatment aims to reduce side effects

For the first time, local doctors are providing a new prostate cancer treatment using water vapor that is expected to minimize side effects typically associated with treatment.But doctors said it will likely be usable for a small group of patients and is still evolving.Robert Given, an oncologist at Urology of Virginia and a professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, performed the first water vapor ablation procedure for prostate cancer outside of a clinical trial on the East Coast in Virgini...

WHRO Public Media • 25th March 2026

Medicaid payment halt leaves thousands without care as Fishing Point, state clash over fraud probe

Weeks after Fishing Point Healthcare paused services, Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones said the city is working with state agencies to ensure patients continue receiving care.Fishing Point Healthcare had been serving more than 4,000 Medicaid patients before suspending operations as a result of an ongoing fraud investigation by Virginia’s Department of Medical Assistance Services. Jones said they are trying to stabilize access by working with Newport News Fire Department and community pharmacy bu...

WHRO Public Media • 12th March 2026

FBI confirms ODU shooter's identity, will investigate fatal campus shooting as a terrorist attack

One person is dead and two more were injured in a shooting at Old Dominion University that is being investigated as a terrorist attack, FBI officials confirmed Thursday.Dominique Evans, the special agent in charge of the Norfolk FBI field office, confirmed the shooter was Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guardsman who pleaded guilty to plotting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and was sentenced to prison in 2017.Officials have not formally released information about the victims' iden...

WHRO Public Media • 10th March 2026

She thought it was a rash. Years later, doctors diagnosed her with a rare, life-threatening disease.

When Kaniah Gunter first developed an itchy rash in 2007, she thought maybe it was because of a different detergent or soap.Later, her eyelids began swelling so severely, she said, that her face looked unrecognizable in the mirror.Then came the weakness.The Norfolk mother said she struggled to get out of bed, climb stairs, tie her shoes and even turn a doorknob. She began tripping and falling. Breathing felt harder. Swallowing became painful. Her hair started falling out.“I always been an athlet...

WHRO Public Media • 6th March 2026

Virginia bill would limit medical insurers’ control over lab referrals

When a patient undergoes a biopsy, the small tissue sample is often sent to a pathologist for analysis, a step that determines whether the patient has cancer or another serious disease.Sometimes, where that specimen goes can make a difference in how quickly a diagnosis is made.A bill now awaiting Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s signature aims to keep that decision with physicians and their patients, ensuring patients receive lab results more quickly.“Currently, there are practices where the insurance...

WHRO Public Media • 5th March 2026

ODU, Virginia Beach police partner to train counselors working with first responders

Old Dominion University and the Virginia Beach Police Department are launching an effort to train student mental health counselors by embedding them directly inside police departments and other first responder agencies.Starting in fall 2026, selected graduate students in ODU’s counseling program will continue taking classes while completing a yearlong internship counselling police officers.The program, called Frontline, aims to address a common barrier first responders say they face when seeking...

WHRO Public Media • 5th March 2026

After cancer and hair loss, a Virginia Beach veteran found confidence — and a resource she didn’t know existed

When Rosalyn Francis began losing her hair during cancer treatment, she tried to stay strong.But watching her hair fall out was different.“Wisdom is in the crown of a woman,” said Francis, a Virginia Beach resident, veteran and three-time cancer survivor. “Not having any hair makes you feel unworthy. It makes you feel like you’re not beautiful.”Francis has survived lymphoma twice as well as breast cancer. Cancer runs in her family, she said, though she believes the stress of military service may...