McDonnell signs legislation extending disability benefits for State Police
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Gov. Bob McDonnell today signed legislation which will extend short-term disability benefits for Virginia State Police officers injured in the line of duty.
SB95, sponsored by Sen. Fred Quayle, R-Suffolk, extends the length of time that a State Police officer subject to a work-related injury in the line of duty will receive supplemental short-term disability coverage equal to 100 percent of their compensation. Currently, officers are only eligible for coverage for 125 days of work. SB95 expands the coverage to six months. Read more
Groups critical of McDonnell action on voting rights
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Gov. Bob McDonnell announced today a new procedure for restoring the voting rights of former felons that voting-rights advocacy groups feel falls short of the goal of making it easier for people who have paid their debt to society to get back on the voting rolls.
“These changes hardly equal reform. Virginia is one of only two states remaining that permanently deny access to the franchise for people with felony convictions and when/if a person right’s are restored it is still up to the discretion of the governor. Restoration of voting rights should not be handled on a case by case basis,” said Sabrina Williams of The Advancement Project in a press statement. Read more
Economy: State posts consecutive months of revenue growth
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Virginia has posted back to back months of revenue growth, marking the first time in two years the Commonwealth has achieved this result. The last time the state had back-to-back increases in monthly revenue collection was March-April 2008. Read more
Animal-welfare group praises McDonnell
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
The Harrisonburg-based Citizens for Animal Welfare today praised Gov. Bob McDonnell for his move last week to propose an amendment to a House of Delegates bill that would prohibit the practice of breed discrimination in animal shelters. Read more
Letter requirement for restoration of voting rights dropped
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Gov. Bob McDonnell is reportedly pulling back from a proposal that would have required nonviolent offenders in Virginia seeking to have their voting rights restored to write a letter describing the nature of their crime, community services, church activities, improvement made to their educational status, and an explanation as to why they deserve to be able to vote again. Read more
Four perspectives on Confederate History Month
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Gov. Bob McDonnell has declared April to be Confederate History Month, but if you’ve read a newspaper or turned on the TV news anytime in the past few days, you knew that already.
You also know that plenty of people are plenty mad that he did this, that plenty of people are plenty pleased that he did it, and that not surprisingly the ensuing back-and-forth resulted in a media firestorm that pushed McDonnell into backtracking mode and even caught President Barack Obama in some crossfire on the fringe of the controversy.
We wanted to go beyond the press releases and the yelling matches on TV and virtual yelling matches online to the heart of whatever the matter is here. To do so, we engaged four people – Brag Bowling, the commander of the Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans; Chanda McGuffin, the president of the Staunton branch of the NAACP; Emmett Hanger, a Republican Virginia state senator; and Mark Rozell, a George Mason University political-science professor whose scholarship focuses on Republican Party politics.
If sense can be made of the Confederate History Month proclamation and the fracas that followed, it will come from talking with people with this diversity of viewpoints to bring to bear to the discussion. Read more
Ken Plum: A Gordian knot
Posted by afp on April 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment
www.kenplum.com
According to an ancient Greek legend, oracles told the people of Phrygia that the next person who came into town riding in an ox cart would be their king. When a poor peasant named Gordius arrived with his wife in an ox cart, the lucky man was named king. Read more
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