A Virginia special prosecutor has requested that state police investigate Richmond’s $1.8 million contract for the removal of the city’s Confederate statues. The statues were taken down over the summer, and an inquiry into the contract between the city and a Richmond-area construction company owner was initiated after a political rival of Mayor Levar Stoney's raised concerns about the deal. A Richmond judge appointed Timothy Martin, the commonwealth's attorney for Augusta County, to handle the matter in September.