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…

Webb tired of being in Warner’s shadow

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Count me as being among those in the Virginia punditry who thinks that the main reason the Commonwealth is in play politically these days is because of Mark Warner. That having been established as a baseline, I’ve been interested, to say the least, at the thought of what people like…

Rob Bell reports on General Assembly session

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report by Rob Bell On Wednesday, part-time legislators from across Virginia gathered for the new session of the General Assembly. After moving in to our motels and apartments, we all came back to Thomas Jefferson’s historic State Capitol to be sworn in and to hear Gov. Tim Kaine’s State of the Commonwealth address.

Social conservatives aiming high with legislative goals

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Divorce reform, restrictions on abortion and continued funding for abstinence-only sex education. The Family Foundation of Virginia and the Valley Family Forum have a healthy appetite – but whether they can fill their plate in the 2008 Virginia General Assembly remains to be seen given the changes in the composition…

Breaking ground on the Silicon Shenandoah

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] It took a year to get from the first public announcement to the groundbreaking. The question now is, how long does it take to go from groundbreaking at the new SRI International Center for Advanced Drug Research in Rockingham County to the point where we start referring to the Valley…

New ag lab, office in Harrisonburg a prototype?

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] OK, so they have a bigger building – a much, much bigger building. But the fanfare over the formal opening of the new Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Harrisonburg Regional Laboratory and Office is about more than additional space. “There have been a lot of concerns that people…