Virginia legislator was allowed to use campaign funds for her defense. So she did.

State Sen. Louise Lucas, the powerful Portsmouth Democrat, used $300,000 in campaign funds to contribute to her legal defense fund and hire a law firm following an FBI raid in May on her businesses in Portsmouth. That’s a sizable amount.

 What The Virginian-Pilot article should have noted higher in the story was that Lucas was allowed to do this — since the payments occurred before July 1. That’s when a new state law prohibiting personal use of campaign funds took effect.

 The feds haven’t charged Lucas with any crime, though she remains under a cloud. The senator must pay to defend herself during the ongoing probe. She didn’t respond to my email and voicemail questions.

 A spokesperson with the Norfolk FBI office told me this week that, following U.S. Department of Justice policy, “the FBI does not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation, nor does it provide updates.”

 The lack of details, however, increases speculation the investigation is politically motivated, even though it reportedly began during the Biden administration. The former president is a Democrat, too.

 Virginia officials finally released a report on data centers last week, something they had withheld for more than six months. The Associated Press noted declines are likely to occur in an aquifer in the eastern region because of population growth and industrial use. Environmental scientists produced the report.

The commonwealth deserves the condemnation and scrutiny it’s getting over the issue of data centers, especially because of their impact on water and other resources. 

Are state leaders favoring the industry at the expense of residents? Many Virginians think so, in part since Northern Virginia is home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers. My commentary colleague Ivy Main has covered the controversy closely over the past several years.

As more details are released about a fatal car crash in Chesapeake, it’s amazing other people weren’t injured — or worse. Synclair Tyrone Mayes, 19, a Navy sailor, faces involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of landscaper Guadalupe Rivera, 60, who was working along the sidewalk on May 29 when the accident happened.

 Authorities say Mayes is now free on bond and can’t drive; the city’s top prosecutor, Matthew Hamel, told me his office opposed bond. Law enforcement officials say Mayes was traveling faster than 90 mph when his car first collided with an SUV and then struck and killed Rivera. The speed limit along that four-lane road is just 35 mph. No one else was seriously injured.

The initial collision dislodged the engine of the SUV and hurled it dozens of feet. I travel through that section of the city frequently, and I wrote about the case in June.

 Mayes’ attorney didn’t respond to my questions about his client. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Sept. 16.

 Who knew the state was home to such preferred, inexpensive lodging when parents spirit away their children for some fun? USA Today just ranked the Rochambeau Roadside Inn in Williamsburg as the No. 1 affordable family vacation stay. It topped the list of nine preferred places around the country to hit the pillows, relax and save a few bucks.

 The inn has 22 rooms and dates to 1954. The 6,000-acre Massanutten Resort in the Shenandoah Valley came in third on the list.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner says if he wins in November, it will be his last term in the Senate. He’s been in the office since 2009 and is currently serving his third term in the chamber. The Democrat is 71 now and would be 78 by the end of a fourth, six-year term.

 Warner recently told a crowd in Staunton it’s time for younger people to have a chance for the office, but “I sure as hell was not going to quit while Donald Trump was sitting down the street,” The Virginian-Pilot reported. I wrote a few weeks ago that too many politicians at the local, state and federal levels don’t know when to quit. Was Warner heeding my advice?

“The senator assures me that the decision was based on a variety of factors, not a single well-timed column,” Warner spokeswoman Ruthanne Thongkai responded by email. “Though he appreciates you giving yourself that much credit!”

 President Donald Trump seems determined for Republicans to take it on the chin during the midterm elections this fall (except for touting his disingenuous SAVE America Act legislation, making it harder for people, including Republicans, to vote). 

You might not care a whit about the country’s war in Iran, or whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu snookered Trump into joining this war of choice.

 You do care about $4-a-gallon gas. Prices have risen dramatically since the war started Feb. 28. Virginia households have paid $573 more for gas since the war began, a recent congressional report found. It said Virginians have paid $1.8 billion more for gas since February.

 If you’re like me, you cringe every time you go to the pumps, and you think seriously whether you really need to get behind the wheel. 

The situation is especially galling since Trump, during the 2024 election campaign against Kamala Harris, had the temerity to say she would get the United States into World War III if she were elected president. 

The irony is probably lost on the current chief executive.