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During the third and fourth quarters of 2012, 36 Augusta Health employees earned national certifications in their areas of expertise, and two finished college degrees. Certifications require demonstration of extensive knowledge in a subject area, usually by examination, and degrees require a commitment of years of study and commitment.
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Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling issued a comprehensive letter to legislative leaders outlining his support for moving forward with the proposed expansion of Virginia’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, subject to the ability of the Commonwealth to negotiate acceptable waivers from the federal government to effectively reform Medicaid.
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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.
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President Barack Obama stepped out into the political crossfire on Wednesday, issuing a sweeping series of proposals aimed at limiting gun violence that includes criminal background checks on all gun sales and a ban on military-style assault weapons.
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Gov. Bob McDonnell delivers the 2013 State of the Commonwealth Address to the Virgnia General Assembly.
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With legislators and transportation leaders by his side, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced on Tuesday a plan that would provide more than $3.1 billion in transportation funding for the Commonwealth over the next five years, tying transportation funding to economic growth and replacing the state’s outdated gas tax revenue model with a 0.8 percent increase in the state’s sales tax dedicated to transportation.
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As you may know, on New Year’s Day, the House of Representatives received a proposal from the United States Senate regarding the actions it wished to take to address the fiscal cliff. While I was pleased that the Senate finally offered a proposal of its own to address this crisis, I was disappointed that our colleagues in the Senate waited until the last minute and sent us a proposal that does not address our spending problem.
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The House of Representatives voted 257-167 late Tuesday to approve a bipartisan compromise leaving in place tax cuts for individuals with incomes less than $400,000 and families with incomes less than $450,000 and delays automatic spending cuts for two months.
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The National Rifle Association pledged to offer “meaningful contributions” to make sure that school shootings like the one last week in Newtown, Conn., that took the lives of 26, including 20 first-graders, would never happen again. Those “contributions” took on a familiar form on Friday, with the gun-rights lobby attacking gun-control laws and unveiling a plan to placed armed guards in every school in America.
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Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed budget for the 2013 General Assembly session includes what the administration is terming “significant additional support” for veteran’s issues, including more than $2 million in funding.
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