By David Frisk | Virginia Statehouse News   RICHMOND — Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to spur job growth by pumping up funding for biological and medical research, movie making and high-tech development.

  By Kathryn Watson | Virginia Statehouse News   ALEXANDRIA — Taxpayers in some Virginia counties and cities are paying for raises going to public employees.

  By Carten Cordell | Virginia Statehouse News   ALEXANDRIA — The Silver Line Metro extension is a miracle of modern urban planning.   It’ll transport thousands of people per day from West Falls Church to Loudoun County.   It’ll generate hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity, producing hundreds of thousands of jobs.

  By Kathryn Watson | Virginia Statehouse News ALEXANDRIA — More Virginians have an opinion of Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinellithan of his likely rivals in the 2013 race for governor, according to a recent Washington Post poll.

By Carten Cordell | Virginia Statehouse News   ALEXANDRIA — Abbott Laboratories Inc. is expected to pony up $1.5 billion to settle a claim that it marketed a drug for improper use, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office said on Monday.

By Carten Cordell | Virginia Statehouse News   ALEXANDRIA — Petersburg-based Virginia State University ordered the school’s fifth consecutive tuition hike last week, ratcheting up the cost to attend by $1,435 per student since 2008.

By Kathryn Watson | Virginia Statehouse News ALEXANDRIA — Gov. Bob McDonnell, who kicked off his weeklong, statewide “Virginia: Growing Strong” tour on Monday, is less popular now than he was a year ago, a new Washington Post poll finds.

By Kathryn Watson | Virginia Statehouse News CHANTILLY — Virginia is at the center of the upcoming presidential election, one delegate says.

By Kathryn Watson | Virginia Statehouse News   ALEXANDRIA — The grades are out for the state’s 140 legislators in the first Legislative Report Card issued by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.