Cuccinelli names AG leadership team

Chris Graham

Former aide to Del. Lohr among those tapped Staff Report News Tips: [email protected] Attorney General-elect Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II announced his leadership team for the Office of the Attorney General today. In making his appointments, Cuccinelli commented “I, and the citizens of the Commonwealth, are fortunate to have such a talented group of people who…

McDonnell makes three Cabinet appointments

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  Staff Report www.bobmcdonnell.com Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell announced three additional appointments to his administration this morning in a press conference at the State Capitol. McDonnell announced that Jim Duffey will serve as the Commonwealth’s next Secretary of Technology. Duffey worked for Electric Data Systems Corporation for 24 years, serving as Vice President and General Manager…

Constituent service

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   Column by Tom Perriello www.perriello.house.gov One of the most important parts of my job is to assist constituents with any issues or problems they are facing when dealing with federal government agencies. The caseworkers in my offices in Charlottesville, Danville, Farmville, and Martinsville helped nearly 800 Fifth District residents in 2009 cut through government…

Government Inc. leads to red ink for small business

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   Column by Bob Goodlatte www.goodlatte.house.gov Four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the now-notorious case of Kelo v. City of New London, which authorized the government to take private property from individuals for nearly any reason under the guise of eminent domain, even to give to other private individuals…

For New Year 2010, resolve to be a smarter consumer

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   Column by Todd Haymore Submit guest columns: [email protected] As you’re kicking off your New Year’s resolutions, here’s something to put at the top of your list: remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. In my two-and-a-half years as Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services,…

Focus | Webb, Warner back health-care reform

Chris Graham

Virginia Dems join 60-39 majority to move legislation forward Story by Chris Graham [email protected] U.S. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner joined the 60-39 party-line Democratic majority that voted on Christmas Eve to move health-care reform forward in the Senate. Neither seemed to be jumping-up-and-down happy about it. “I voted today in favor of health…

Webb: Status quo of health-care system ‘unacceptable’

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Senator explains vote to move forward with legislation Statement from U.S. Sen. Jim Webb www.webb.senate.gov I have decided to vote in favor of moving forward on health care reform legislation. I do so despite my disappointment with some sections of the bill, which I will continue to address in the future. But the final package…

Howell, Putney address concerns over health-care reform

Chris Graham

Pair cite state Medicaid-funding issue in letter to Webb, Warner Staff Report News Tips: [email protected] House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Lacey E. Putney, I-Bedford, today announced that they have written U.S. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner to voice their “significant concern” about the impact that health-care reform bill making…

A hidden truth about climate change

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   Column by Riane Eisler Submit guest columns, letters: [email protected] The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference makes evident potential catastrophic effects of climate change, including its enormous economic and human tolls. It also clearly shows how poor nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and island states will suffer most from the inevitable floods, droughts and…

Webb joins bipartisan group in prescription-drug plan

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   Staff Report www.webb.senate.gov Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) today joined a bipartisan group of 19 senators in proposing an amendment to the health care reform bill to lower prescription drug costs and save the federal government nearly $20 billion over the next ten years. Originally introduced earlier this year as the Pharmaceutical Market Access and…