Virginia’s governor has become a close ally of Trump and defended his plan to freeze federal spending as other officials reeled from changing guidance.

As Gov. Glenn Youngkin was assuring Virginians on Tuesday that direct federal aid would not be suspended as part of the Trump administration funding freeze, an internal memo obtained by The Mercury shows that his office was aware of potential problems.

Veterans Affairs officials issued guidance Thursday exempting more than 300,000 department health care posts from the White House’s federal hiring freeze, labeling them as essen

Agencies are starting to take action against DEI-tasked employees and pass lists of those workers on to OPM and the White House.

VA hires about 40,000 new workers every year to maintain operations at VA medical sites. It's unclear if that can continue under Trump's hiring halt.

At least 60 Veterans Affairs employees have been placed on administrative leave following the closure of multiple diversity, equity and inclusion offices across the department, pa

The top watchdogs for the Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs were among the individuals dismissed by Trump.

The VA memo exempts roughly three-quarters of the Veterans Health Administration's roughly 400,000-employee workforce.

Officials said the staff changes are not part of larger efforts to eliminate diversity and inclusion programs from the department.

Sometimes more talking doesn’t produce more clarity. One afternoon, Trump told reporters that there were “no surprises” when Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski decided to oppose Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon. The next morning, Trump said he was “very surprised” by their votes.

There has not yet been a large-scale sweep by agents in any of those public spaces locally, but that hasn’t quieted fears. Rumors ricocheting across the region have for many begun to feel like a promise of what’s to come.