Talk:Virginia

"List of Virginia state agencies" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect List of Virginia state agencies has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 January 21 § List of US state agencies until a consensus is reached. Squawk7700 (talk) 20:09, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

Gerrymandering Subsection

Gerrymandering in Virginia is in the news of late, and I'm considering collecting the sentences about Byrd malapportionment, the 2011 Republican-led gerrymander, the Supreme Court decisions against it, the 2020 referendum, and the latest Democratic-led efforts into their own subsection, perhaps below "Federal elections." Thoughts? North Carolina is the only other U.S. state with a gerrymandering subsection, where they do give it six paragraphs. I guess my questions would be whether it is warranted here now, whether it should wait to see the outcome of the potential referendum on April 21, or whether something like that belongs on a subarticle like Politics of Virginia instead. I'll say my idea is mostly to just reorganize the existing sentences, I wouldn't want to add too much new info, though I'd perhaps start a section like that by mentioning the first gerrymander where it was Patrick Henry's party against James Madison.-- Patrick Neil, _oѺ^∞/Talk 13:46, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

The ads have been obnoxious online, but yes, I think it should be in there maybe with federal court cases? I think elections would be more appropriate. It should only be added after the elections, though. C3PHAL0BR0P0D (talk) 20:53, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

So the referendum has now passed, though there is still the potential for courts to intervene. In the meantime, I have cobbled together what the politics section might look like with a Gerrymandering subsection in my sandbox here, if other editors wish to see how that could change things. Thoughts? I'm still not convinced myself.-- Patrick Neil, _oѺ^∞/Talk 15:14, 22 April 2026 (UTC)

Holy cow, it PASSED?! I'm not gonna get political here, but DANG the fact I found out through Wiki is a bit funny. About your section, I really like it. It is clean, concise, and easy to understand. I'd say with "voters allowed," since you put that after "across the country," just put "voters in Virginia" since it helps refocus the paragraph back onto the state. Over 10/10. Lookin' good C3PHAL0BR0P0D (talk) 15:52, 22 April 2026 (UTC)

So I feel vindicated in my hesitation about posting this section given the potential for the court to strike down the referendum. But what now? It all stills seems pretty notable, so I have updated my sandbox option with today's news and could still drop it in today. I do expect the "10-1" maps (or similar) will get used in 2028, so I could still see waiting for a plan for how the assembly will make that happen. Thanks for the feedback!-- Patrick Neil, _oѺ^∞/Talk 16:42, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

I came here planning to oppose adding info about the recent gerrymandering kerfuffle. However, I your proposed language about historic gerrymandering changed my mind by providing more historical context. So, I support the addition, though I think it may be a two paragraph topic in the grand scheme of Virginia. That said, I'm not sure what to cut or restructure, so I'm OK with three paragraphs.--Mojo Hand (talk) 22:47, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

Well, since it has just gotten shot down... What do you propose you write now-? C3PHAL0BR0P0D (talk) 19:34, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

I added the section 10 days ago, so it's live on the page, feel free to tweak as needed. It seemed notable enough, and I don't think this is the end of the gerrymandering battle, I tend to think Virginia will be getting the "10-1" or similar maps in 2028.-- Patrick Neil, _oѺ^∞/Talk 14:22, 19 May 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 25 May 2026

Cities and incorporated towns in Virginia are responsible for their local roads. The state (VA Dept of Transportation - VDOT) handles local roads only for counties. ~2026-31266-21 (talk) 15:35, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please detail the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Day Creature (talk) 17:02, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

 Done: Just noticing this, the commenter is referring to the sentence in the final paragraph of the introduction, where it says "Unlike other states, cities and counties in Virginia function as approximate equals, but the state government manages most local roads." And yes, I think the issue comes from how this sentence used to be two, but got smushed into one, and now the point about VDOT managing county roads modifies both "cities and counties." My understanding is that independent cities are exempt from the 1932 Byrd Road Act, and Arlington, Henrico, and Smithfield counties have opted out as well. So I've updated the sentence to read instead "but the state government manages local roads in most counties." Sound good?-- Patrick Neil, _oѺ^∞/Talk 13:37, 8 July 2026 (UTC)

Capitalization of the words referring to race: inconsistency or edit war?

It's probably best that I not enforce any particular point of view, but rather refer to our handy style guide: MOS:RACECAPS. 1101 (talk) 05:33, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

Hi friend, that sounds good. I went through this article back in 2020 and did intentionally capitalize "black" to "Black" while leaving "white" lowercase based on MOS discussions that were on-going back then. That specific discussion led to no consensus regarding capitalizing "white", however. And I might say that the MOS remains an ambiguous authority, saying that "[Black and White] may be given capitalized... or lowercase", just advising that they probably be capitalized in demographics sentences. I would add that this article is in many ways a subarticle of United States, and should follow its conventions there, and likewise the Demographics section is a subsection of Demographics of the United States, which, I note, chooses not to capitalize "White." I'm also fine with deferring to a specific sentence's source material.

My own understanding regarding what is and isn't a proper name gives me a baseline that neither should probably be capitalized, but I can see the argument that, by process of othering, Black has become a tribe and if we're going to capitalize Iroquois or Irish, we do so for Black as well. That process, as I see it, has not happened to white people. The AP style guide gives a more coherent argument here. Even then, I'm not sure every instance on this article should get the uppercase B, such as the term "free blacks", which carries its own historic grammatical legacy. One cheat code I'm also fine with is to just reword sentences to start with the word in question. Thoughts?-- Patrick Neil, _oѺ^∞/Talk 14:30, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 July 2026

Hello Wikipedia, So The Locomotive Of Virginia Is Norfolk And Western 611 Class J And You Forgot 611. ~2026-39452-46 (talk) 15:49, 13 July 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please detail the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. meamemg (talk) 16:00, 13 July 2026 (UTC)