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The Augusta County Sheriff’s office announced this week the conversion of eight Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers currently in their fleet to propane autogas. Conversions are being made through funding from the Virginia Department of Mines Minerals and Energy as well as the United States Department of Energy. Grant funding is managed by Virginia Clean…
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In a massive coordinated information-seeking campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and 33 other affiliates across the nation today are sending requests to more than 375 local law enforcement agencies large and small demanding to know when, why and how they are using cell phone location data to track Americans. The Virginia affiliate…
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As Congress and the president debate whether and on what conditions to raise the debt ceiling, America marks the tenth anniversary of the policy change that accounts for much of the federal budget gap: the Bush tax cuts. On July 7, 2001, George W. Bush signed into law a $1.35 trillion tax cut that primarily…
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The cable and satellite channel Investigation Discovery plans to air a special look at Morgan Harrington’s homicide case tonight at 9 p.m. The episode of “Heavy Metal Mystery” will feature the case of the murdered Virginia Tech student tonight at 9 p.m. The show reairs on Sunday, April 24, at 6 p.m. The program will…
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It is always winter in Richmond when the General Assembly meets. That’s the problem. It’s not autumn in New York. This past winter was again the season of political discontent. In the imperial city along the James hot air from the 140 delegates and senators go up against all that cold stuff down from God….
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Public employees and unions have been getting a bad rap lately. As tax revenues have declined along with the value of public pension funds, government workers have been getting stuck with part of the blame for our current financial crisis. Local and state budgets have to be reduced to be in balance with revenue, but…
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Virginia was one of the first states to use an electric voting machine as a way for legislators to cast their votes without the need to call the name of all 100 delegates and 40 senators and having them “voice vote.” Beginning in 1964 Virginia installed an electric voting board with member names and red…
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A legislative session is filled with tough choices. Allocating scarce resources in the budget presents difficult choices that have been discussed many times in this column. This legislative session has been presented the choice by the Governor of taking money from the general fund that supports public schools, police, and mental health programs and others…
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A House of Delegates subcommittee on Friday struck from its docket a bill to authorize Virginia’s secretive Fusion Center to expand its scope from collecting information on terrorist threats to also collecting data on ordinary crimes. The ACLU of Virginia had led an effort to publicly oppose the bill, saying that a heavily criticized 2009…
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A key part of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s plan to get Virginia transportation moving would rededicate a portion of sales-tax revenues from the pot of money used to fund schools and public safety to roads projects in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. McDonnell said today that he will back legislation to move about $140 million a…
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