Ken Plum: Unraveling the mysteries of redistricting

Ken Plum

In the very near future Virginia will receive its official population numbers from the 2010 census. Our numbers are among the first to be issued because our off-year elections require us to redraw our legislative district lines in time for the 2011 fall elections. Follow the progress of the census results being made available at…

Chris Graham: Repealing 50 years of advances in basic civil rights

Chris Graham

“The federal government,” says Bill Howell, the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, “has long ago usurped the power reserved to the states and the people via our Constitution.” Here we go again. Looks like we’re about to refight the Civil War. Howell is in Washington today to talk up something called the Repeal…

Conservation rollout

Contributors

“Voluntary Stream Fencing Options to Keep Regulations at Bay” will be the theme for this year’s Conservation Programs Rollout Meeting, which will be held Dec. 9 at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona. The meeting will be in the Smith West Room at 7 p.m. Farmers and landowners will learn from conservation agency representatives…

Moss print benefits Children’s Choir

Jim Bishop

Renowned artist P. Buckley Moss of Waynesboro has created a new painting titled “Making a Joyful Noise,” which was released during the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir Spring concert weekend last April as a fundraiser for the choir. Prints are available from the SVCC office at $80 each, with half the profit going toward the choir’s…

David Brodwin: The business case for fair elections

Contributors

This year, the United States Supreme Court reversed years of precedent limiting how corporations may spend money to influence elections. This decision will substantially increase the importance of corporate influence in politics—both in determining who gets elected and how they decide once they are in office. As executives, owners, investors, and business professionals involved in…

Michael Mariotte: Foreign bailouts on the horizon?

Contributors

American taxpayers bailed out the banks. They bailed out auto manufacturers. But at least they were our banks and automakers. Now, taxpayers are once again being asked to lend a hand. This time it’s to subsidize multi-billion-dollar foreign companies with names like Toshiba, Hitachi and Areva. If the going gets rough for them, taxpayers will…

Susan Shaer: Partisan politics should not get in the way of new START

Contributors

The partisan split in politics is getting old and stale. Real people want real solutions to real issues, and one of the gravest is within our grasp to solve. For decades, we have been under a nuclear cloud, but world and U.S. leaders have risen to the occasion to provide safeguards. The United States and…