Michael Lee Pope is an award-winning journalist who lives in Old Town Alexandria. He has reported for NPR, the New York Daily News and Northern Virginia Magazine. He has a master's degree in American Studies from Florida State University, and he is a former adjunct professor at Tallahassee Community College. Pope is the author of four books.
Recent Stories

'Fauci Should Be Jailed'
Republican candidate for Congress in the 8th calls for incarceration of medical advisor.
The Republican candidate for Congress in the 8th Congressional District is calling for President...

Taking on Beyer
Five Republican candidates seek nomination in convention to challenge incumbent congressman.
Usually Republicans have to recruit candidates to run against four-term U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8). Not this year. Five Republicans are seeking the Republican nomination for the 8th Congressional District in a convention later this month.

Privacy Advocates Urge Veto
Opponents of facial recognition technology call on governor to reject social-media dragnet.
Police departments across Virginia may soon have the ability to use billions of images scraped from social-media sites like Facebook and Instagram to track down suspects, a development that is concerning to critics who say the technology is invasive and a violation of privacy. The governor is now considering the bill, and critics are urging him to veto it or amend it to require a warrant.
Oops! They Did it Again
Lawmakers ‘accidentally’ gave overtime protections to farmworkers and domestic workers, now taking it back.
Farmers and work hours
Green Rollback May Hit Blue Wall
Republican efforts to undo environmental laws to face opposition in Democratic-led Senate.
Environmental laws

Reconsidering Marijuana
Pot is still legal, but the plan to regulate its sale is in jeopardy.
Marijuana

Republican Sweep
Democrats lose statewide for the first time since 2009.
Virginia has a long tradition of offering a counterpoint to presidential elections starting after the election of Democrat Jimmy Carter for president in 1976.

Virginia at a Crossroads
Voters to determine direction of state government.
Two years ago, Democrats seized control of the General Assembly for the first time in a generation. Now Republicans are hoping this is their moment to "Take Back Virginia," the name of a recent rally in support of the GOP statewide ticket that featured a call-in appearance from former President Donald Trump, who used the opportunity to repeat baseless claims about widespread election fraud.