House releases conservative budget

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report by Rob Bell With the worsening budget numbers, the House of Delegates released its biennial budget. Unlike the governor’s budget, the House budget does not cut $220 million in school construction and lottery money that was going to local schools. These cuts would have cost my four local school divisions over $3…

Budget Sunday

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report column by Del. Ben Cline This past Sunday was “Budget Sunday,” the day that the House and Senate appropriations committees released their amendments to the two-year budget that the governor introduced last December. Legislators, lobbyists and other groups with a stake in the budget waited in line for hours to get copies…

Our sixth week

Chris Graham

Column by Steve Landes We have now passed the midway point of the 2008 General Assembly session, commonly referred to as “crossover.” The House passed 616 of the 1,576 bills filed by delegates and the Senate approved 433 of the 795 bills filed by senators. Now, the House will spend the bulk of its time…

TV Alert! Don’t miss ‘The History Boys’ on HBO

Carl Larsen

Carly at the Movies column by Carl Larsen Am I the last movie fan in the universe to discover “The History Boys?” No matter – it’s one of those movies you just stumble across by accident, and suddenly remember why you love cinema. And if you are enamored of character development, crazy about the clever…

Crossover

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report column by Del. Ben Cline Crossover week is the midpoint of this year’s 60-day General Assembly session when all House bills must “crossover” to the Senate, and vice versa. The week culminated in crossover day on Monday, which was the longest floor day of the session. While we have grown more efficient…

Bell’s public-safety bills pass committees

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report by Rob Bell As we near the midpoint of session, the committees are deciding which bills to endorse and send on to the entire House. Last week, three of my bills passed important hurdles. No Bond After Conviction for Violent Felons Earlier this year, a jury convicted a Culpeper defendant of abduction…

EMU magazine wins prestigious award

Jim Bishop

Story by Jim Bishop Crossroads magazine at Eastern Mennonite University won a major award this year from the southeast district of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Competing against dozens of magazines produced by larger institutions, Crossroads received a “special merit award” in the category of “magazine publishing improvement.” The other winners…