
Rev. Joseph A. Darby: Building bridges, not walls
My home state of South Carolina has imposed a tough new law to address “illegal” immigration

My home state of South Carolina has imposed a tough new law to address “illegal” immigration

The Virginia Department of Health today announced that the tuberculosis (TB) rate in Virginia continues to decline. Between 2010 and 2011, the rate decreased 17.5 percent. This equates to 47 fewer cases of TB reported in Virginia. “The steady decline in TB cases in Virginia is welcome news and represents the success of concerted TB…

Plucking obese children from their parents is the ultimate in “nanny-statism.” Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston and Lindsey Murtagh, an attorney and researcher with Harvard’s School of Public Health, want to extract obese children from their homes and away from their parents for a government intervention. Ludwig and Murtagh want…

Two young boys were playing marbles near the village green. Watching the boys play was a tired soldier in a red coat. He was captivated by their dog-eat-dog competitiveness. Both boys wanted to win their game very badly. Being kids they had nicknames. One was called Peace. The other was known to his friends as…

Gov. Bob McDonnell and a team of Virginia economic development officials embarked on Friday on an 11-day job creation and economic development marketing mission that will take the group to Japan, China and South Korea before concluding on May 17th. The marketing mission provides the Governor and other state officials a unique opportunity to strengthen…

Anyone who has ever been several time zones away for a period of time knows the feeling of exhaustion that can come with returning home. The tired feeling that can last for a couple of days is known as “jet lag.” Even though I had only been in Richmond since early January, I have the…

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…

Anti-immigrant bills that had passed the Virginia House of Delegates failed to advance in the Senate on Wednesday when a special subcommittee on immigration of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee killed 10 of the 12 bills it addressed. Jorge Figueredo, the ACLU of Virginia’s director of racial justice and immigrants’ rights, was one of…

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…

On Sept. 17, 1787, a group of visionaries and leaders signed our Constitution. They were intent on creating a functioning government based on universal truths and extraordinary principles in an environment complicated by disparate regional economies and wildly divergent parochial interests. Back then, differing proposals for the shape of our government divided our country into…
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