A bill to count fetuses as passengers in HOV lanes and more Va. headlines

The State Capitol. (Ned Oliver/ Virginia Mercury)

• Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, filed a bill allowing pregnant women to count their fetuses as a passenger for the purpose of driving in HOV lanes. Reproductive rights groups say its a thinly veiled attempt to curtail abortion rights by inserting personhood laws into state code.—NBC 4

• Metal detectors are being installed in every school in Newport News following the shooting of a teacher by a 6-year-old last week. Metal detectors previously weren’t used at elementary schools.—Associated Press

• Unlike other Republican presidential hopefuls, Gov. Glenn Youngkin “faces home state political dynamics that make it harder to notch clean, conservative victories.” The election of a Democrat to fill a previously Republican-held state Senate seat Tuesday further complicates his situation.—New York Times, Axios

• The average temperature in Virginia has risen about 1.5°F over the past century, and “with the exception of 2014, every year in the last quarter-century in Virginia has been warmer than the full 20th-century average.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

• The Virginia Aquarium “needs major renovations — and a place to put the animals during the work.”—Virginian-Pilot

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