Chris Graham: Danville just got itself a better deal

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected]   A hundred sixty jobs paying an average wage of $50,000 a year. And they cost Danville and the state $590,000. The quick math on that – we’re talking less than $4,000 a job. Which puts the $110,000 a job that Waynesboro paid to get the PGI expansion that some…

Letters to the Editor

AFP

– Guns, guns, guns! – Transparency     Guns, guns, guns! Letter from Linda Bartlett, Farnham     Have Virginia lawmakers gone crazy? Where were they when Virginia Tech students were slaughtered? Guns, guns, guns! I am so tired of being in a state that approves gun laws that were prevalent in the old west. We took…

Health Desk: Wednesday, Feb. 10

AFP

– RMH lifts visitor restrictions – Home Instead announces CAREGiver of the Year – Free, not fee, the way to go in obesity, smoking cessation counseling – Study reveals a need to evaluate and regulate ‘electronic cigarettes’ – Nutrition initiative Edited by Chris Graham [email protected] RMH lifts restrictions on visitors under age 18: Due to…

Richmond Reports

Chris Graham

Featured: Del. Bob Marshall, Sen. Robert Hurt, Sen. Walter Stosch Bob Marshall: Virginia, the president and Congress www.delegatebob.com Congress is attempting to make Virginia and other states mere administrative agents for dubious public policies that the Congress either lack the money to enforce or the authority to enact. Congress has seen states pay for the…

Fifth District Report

AFP

  Column by Tom Perriello www.perriello.house.gov As we close out 2009, here is a summary of all that we have accomplished during my first year in office. When I was sworn in almost a year ago, our economy was on the brink of collapse. While we still have a long way to go toward complete…

Waterpipe smoking dangers noted in VCU study

AFP

   Staff Report VCU news: www.vcu.edu Smoking tobacco through a waterpipe exposes the user to the same toxicants – carbon monoxide and nicotine – as puffing on a cigarette, which could lead to nicotine addiction and heart disease, according to a study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the December issue of…

Focus | Kaine marks beginning of smoking ban

Chris Graham

Three-year effort leads to statewide ban Story by Chris Graham [email protected] With AFP Video A multiyear effort that began with Gov. Tim Kaine signing in 2006 an executive order banning smoking in state buildings was realized today with the implementation of a statewide ban on smoking in most restaurants and bars. Kaine said today in…

Earth Talk | Butt, seriously

Roddy Scheer

Dear EarthTalk: Has anyone ever studied the environmental impact of discarded cigarettes? I’m constantly appalled at the number of drivers I see pitching their butts out their car windows? – Ned Jordan, via e-mail It’s true that littered cigarette butts are a public nuisance, and not just for aesthetic reasons. The filters on cigarettes—four fifths…

Restaurants are going smoke-free Dec. 1

AFP

With just about 50 days to go before the Commonwealth’s landmark smoking ban goes into effect, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is joining dining patrons and community leaders across Virginia today to highlight restaurants that have already gone smoke-free. The new law—called “monumental” in one of the nation’s biggest tobacco-producing states—takes effect Dec. 1 and will…