General Assembly 2011

Among the major issues: The state's continuing efforts to provide services with fewer dollars and Gov. McDonnell's plan to privatize liquor stores. Session ends Feb. 26.

The latest

Follow the Blue Ridge Caucus blog and @BlueRidgeCaucus on Twitter.

• Va. Senate votes to restrict local government land grabs
• House advances “personhood” and abortion ultrasound bills

From today's paper

• 'Personhood' bill set for vote today
• Eminent domain bill passes in Virginia Senate
• General Assembly Notebook: House advances capital punishment bill
• Follow state and local political coverage from The Roanoke Times

Watch live video

• Live video and audio streams broadcast from each chamber every day of this year's session

Who's your legislator?

• Find out who represents you (and how to contact your legislators).

More resources

• How to track a bill
• How bills become laws

Three days into his campaign, a new Democratic challenger for the House of Delegates picked up a prominent endorsement from a longtime friend.

Carter Turner, the candidate for the 8th District seat, landed the support of Salem Mayor Randy Foley on Thursday.

Turner is running against the incumbent, Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, for a district that includes Salem and the majority of Roanoke County.

In part, the endorsement was easy to predict.

Turner and Foley have been friends since childhood and were teammates on the 1986 Salem High School football team.

"Just a great friend," said Foley, who participated in Turner's wedding. He added, "I want to stress he's very well-qualified, he's articulate, he's intelligent."

But the late-day announcement may have also had an element of surprise.

The Salem mayor has eschewed party partisanship in his own political career. Foley ran for the city council as an independent. And this spring, when asked about partisanship in city politics, said that they had no place.

"It's not anti-Morgan, it's pro-Carter," Foley said Thursday. "It's more about the personal relationship than it is about the politics."

Turner could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday evening.

The Glenvar resident and Radford University assistant professor announced his candidacy for the state House in downtown Salem on Monday.

-- Pete Dybdahl