Richmond Reports

Chris Graham

Featured: Sen. Creigh Deeds, Sen. Mark Obenshain Creigh Deeds: Weekly Update www.creighdeeds.com The third full week of the General Assembly session ended in unusual fashion. For the first time in recent memory, the General Assembly took a snow day. Granted we have had difficult weather this winter, beginning with the snow storm in the middle…

Gone with the wind

AFP

The budget, voter ID and, yes, clotheslines, in the Senate of Virginia  Column by Mark Obenshain www.markobenshain.com Another week of session is behind us, and although actual budget negotiations still lie ahead, producing a balanced budget remains the matter on everyones mind. The budget will be balanced, of course; the law requires it. The real…

Legislating in troubled times

Ken Plum

   Column by State Del. Ken Plum www.kenplum.com Thomas Jefferson referred to the orderly transfer of power in government as a “bloodless revolution.” Such a revolution occurred in Mr. Jefferson’s Virginia last week as Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine ended his constitutionally-limited one term, and former delegate and Attorney General Robert McDonnell took the oath…

Democrat takes Cuccinelli Senate seat

AFP

   Staff Report News Tips: [email protected] Democrats achieved an important split in the two State Senate elections contested on Tuesday, balancing the expected victory by Republican Jeff McWaters in the Eighth District with a narrow win by Dave Marsden in the race for the 37th District seat held by Republican Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli. Marsden…

Heard of the First Amendment?

Chris Graham

ACLU backs Gloucester residents in removal case Staff Report News Tips: [email protected] The ACLU of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression today filed an amicus brief in the Virginia Supreme Court on behalf of 40 Gloucester residents who were ordered to pay a total of $80,000 in fees after…

Focus | A move toward equity

Chris Graham

Kaine proposes employee-benefits policy change Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The Kaine administration, in a sort of last act as its final days count down, has proposed a change in state policy that would allow state employees to choose between covering a spouse or an “otherwise qualfied adult” on their employee plus one health-care policies….

Task force offers ideas to governor

AFP

Proposals for dealing with nonviolent offenders using alternative punishments Staff Report News Tips: [email protected] Gov. Tim Kaine today received recommendations on ways the Commonwealth can most effectively and efficiently utilize its public-safety resources from the Alternatives for Non-Violent Offenders Task Force. The Task Force has provided more than a dozen recommendations to protect public safety…

The First Hot Dog Night

Chris Graham

Excerpted from Mad About U: Four Decades of Basketball at University Hall, by Chris Graham and Patrick Hite In an effort to set a new Virginia women’s basketball single-game attendance record, the promotion that helped set the current mark 22 years ago is back on Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee – Hot Dog Night. All Cavalier…

Focus | Tensions over social policy take center stage

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Bob McDonnell led the GOP sweep in the 2009 state races and a six-seat Republican Party pickup in the House of Delegates with his move early in the ’09 election cycle to stake his campaign and by extension the campaigns of Republican candidates across Virginia on the economy and jobs to…