Environmental group challenges Cuccinelli on emissions rule

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Edited by Chris Graham [email protected]   Following a 2007 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation today jointly issued a final rule on curbing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from light-duty vehicles, which contribute about one-fourth of America’s share of the world’s climate-change pollution.

J.R. Tolbert: Keeping the faith on Earth Day

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Column by J.R. Tolbert Submit guest columns: [email protected]   Forty years ago, nearly 20 million Americans participated in what was the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Inspired by Sen. Gaylord Nelson after witnessing an oil spill off California’s coast, Earth Day was started to spotlight issues related to environmental degradation and the need to…

Why consolidate now?

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Column by Chris Graham [email protected]   I applaud the Staunton Public School system and the Staunton community for the orderly process that surrounded the move to consolidate its four elementary schools into three to help meet a projected big budget shortfall for the upcoming 2010-2011 school system. The puzzled look on my face as I…

The new, new conventional wisdom on health care

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Report by Chris Graham [email protected]    Jody Grogan thought, like a lot of hardcore health-care reform advocates, that Congress was thisclose to passing … something. “I’m one of these real cynics about Congress now,” said Grogan, a retired teacher who lives in Staunton, and worked locally last summer as an organizer on the reform effort,…

Time to ban this health threat: Leaf blowers

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   Column by Shepherd Bliss Submit guest columns: [email protected] ‘‘Avoid using leaf blowers and other dust-producing equipment to cut down particulate matter,” recommends the California Air Resources Board. Why? Simply put, leaf blowers kill. “Approximately 65,000 premature deaths from cardiopulmonary causes may be attributable to particulate air pollution each year,” according to the Natural Resources…

Lawmaker Dispatches

Chris Graham

Featuring: Randy Forbes, Tom Perriello, Robert Hurt, Kaye Kory Randy Forbes: National Dialogue www.forbes.house.gov Ask a teacher, and they will most likely tell you that one of the quickest ways to kill classroom discussion is for one strong-willed student to monopolize the conversation. A long-winded or uncomfortably impassioned monologue inevitably polarizes viewpoints. Conversation shuts down,…

New nuclear energy is old news

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And new projects are already under way, benefitting economies and creating jobs Column by Jarret Adams Submit guest columns: [email protected] Right now, nuclear energy is expanding around the world. According to the World Nuclear Association, there are 50 reactors under construction across the globe and another 130 (and counting) scheduled to come online over the…