Investigative Reporting

Power in the Dark: Behind the closed doors of data center deals in rural Virginia

In the Winter 2026 term, 12 senior journalism majors reported and wrote a six-part investigative project on the consequences of the advance of massive AI data centers into rural parts of Virginia. Students obtained key documents through Freedom of Information Act requests that showed how Big Tech companies used promises of riches to cash-starved rural counties in exchange for local officials’ signing non-disclosure agreements to keep secret the details. Students interviewed public officials, residents, and politicians at the local and state levels about how tech companies exert their power and influence in securing deals designed to meet data centers’ seemingly insatiable demands for more land, more electricity and more water. Students also talked to and wrote about people who cherish the peace and quiet of their rural communities but now find themselves with large data centers as their next-door neighbors.

• Power in the Dark Website

In Virginia’s Foster Care System, Parents are ‘Crawling Through Broken Glass’

In Winter 2025, six senior journalism majors spent 12 weeks examining Virginia’s foster care system, combing through documents and interviewing mothers, social workers, judges and lawyers. They built a database of more than 200 appeals filed by parents who contested the termination of legal rights to their children, discovering that all but two lost. The other major findings: The Department of Social Services is failing to meet its legally mandated goal of reuniting children with their biological parents. Parents also are receiving inadequate legal support and uneven access to resources they need to help them make their homes safe for their kids.

• In Virginia’s Foster Care System, Parents are ‘Crawling Through Broken Glass’ Article

Hemp retailers say a Virginia law is driving them out of business

Since July 2023, the state has imposed a stricter definition of hemp than what federal law requires. State inspectors issued $7.3 million in fines against nearly 200 shops in the law’s first 10 months because products contained too much tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the psychoactive chemical in hemp and marijuana products—or violated labeling rules.

• Virginia Hemp Website

NCAA transfer portal weakens athletics at VMI

The widespread use of the portal has exacerbated the small military school’s long-standing struggles to recruit student-athletes. Recruiting has never been easy for VMI because of the college’s military structure, its history of racism and sexism, and a lack of funding that has left its athletics programs in the red.

• VMI vs. The Transfer Portal Website

Natural Bridge Zoo: Who cares for the animals?

For 30 years, the zoo has been cited time and again for poor care of animals it displays for the public. But now, the zoo’s owners face what may be their toughest challenge ever as lawyers in the state attorney general’s office seek nearly $120,000 to cover costs of caring for animals that were seized during a state police raid.

• Nat Bridge Zoo Battle Website

Outdated Rockbridge area water systems

Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County are locked in a defensive and expensive posture as they plug leaks and fix aging water and sewer pipes one at a time because it would cost millions of dollars to replace them all at once. The band-aid approach means that water and sewage bills that are already high will continue to increase.

• Outdated Rockbridge Area Water Systems Website