The House of Delegates voted 74-22 on Thursday to pass an amended state budget that fails to expand Medicaid, while the State Senate in a separate 36-4 vote approved an amendment to the budget that expands Medicaid to more than 400,000 poor Virginians.
After a multi-year battle that included intensive industry lobbying, multiple scientific and economic studies, and fierce opposition from a uniquely diverse coalition, a legislative effort to lift Virginia’s longstanding ban on uranium mining has failed.
The Shenandoah Valley Partnership is unveiling a new training database, the Shenandoah Valley Education and Training Database, that will list training and educational programs available from Valley colleges, universities and technical schools.
Believe it or not, our pets may be exposed to more harsh chemicals through the course of their day than we are. Researchers at the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that pet dogs and cats were contaminated with 48 of 70 industrial chemicals tested, including 43 chemicals at levels higher than those typically found in people.
One of my mentors in my earliest years in the General Assembly was Delegate Dorothy McDiarmid who served off and on from 1960 to 1989. First elected on a platform of keeping the public schools open during racial desegregation, the Gentlelady from Fairfax Mrs. McDiarmid went on to successfully add kindergarten to the public school system of the state and to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Her supporters gave her the campaign slogan, “The Lady Has Clout.” Delegate McDiarmid taught me to look carefully at political proposals, many of which lacked substance and were simply “smoke and mirrors.”
The definition of “energy independence” is evolving. Up to recently, it has meant the U.S. producing enough of our own oil so that we were not dependent on other nations for our energy needs. But now we’re in a world of oil interdependence. Oil markets know no national allegiance. Globalization and profit motive are altering a once patriotic concept into this: Producing enough oil and gas so that we export more to our trading partners than we import. While this new energy independence framework may help some companies’ profits, it stands to hurt many Americans’ pocketbooks, water supply, and overall health.
A group of Democratic members of the Virginia General Assembly requested by leter on Friday that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli resign his office in order to ensure that Virginians have a full-time attorney general as he ramps up his campaign for governor.
Yes, anyone can do it—and the benefits can be significant, especially for those in warmer climates who expend a lot of energy keeping cool. But most of the world’s roofs, including on some 90 percent of buildings in the U.S., are dark-colored.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli released his legislative agenda for the 2013 General Assembly session on Thursday.
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