City schools receive state green award

Chris Graham

Waynesboro Public Schools have been awarded first place in the 2010 Virginia School Board Association’s Green Public Schools Challenge, an honor presented by the Virginia Municipal League to local school systems who have been the most proactive in reducing energy consumption, implementing green initiatives and reducing their carbon footprint. In 2009, Waynesboro Public Schools partnered…

Dem legislator to RPV chair: ‘The people expect you to lead’

Ken Plum

A snarky letter sent by Republican Party of Virginia chair Pat Mullins to Democratic state legislators prompted a response in kind from Del. Ken Plum, D-Reston. “Your party controls two of the three bodies necessary to pass legislation, the House of Delegates and the governor. The people expect you to lead. I do not think…

VDOT back in the crosshairs

Chris Graham

The state’s transportation system could benefit from input from local and regional elected leaders and an overhaul in the way the central office of the Virginia Department of Transportation selects and manages projects. Those were key among the recommendations in an audit done by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission presented on Tuesday to…

The AFP on WREL: Another state title for Riverheads

Chris Graham

Editor Chris Graham talks sports with WREL’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan.” The segment begins with a wrap of the third state-title win in the past decade by the Riverheads football program. Red Pride is in full force in the Greenville area. Chris talks about the culture of winning that coach Bob Casto has built at…

The umpire strikes back

Chris Graham

It didn’t take me doing the quick bio check on Henry Hudson to figure out his political proclivities. (For the record, Hudson, the judge who ruled Monday that the purchase mandate that is key to the implementation of the health-care reform signed into law in March, was appointed to the federal bench by George W….

Judge: Purchase mandate in health-care reform is unconstitutional

Chris Graham

The mandate to taxpayers to purchase health insurance that is a key provision in the health-care reform signed into law in March is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Virginia ruled Monday. “On careful review, this Court must conclude that Section 1501 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – specifically the Minimum Essential Coverage…

Ken Plum: it will take more than magic

Ken Plum

A hobby I pursue infrequently is performing magic tricks. Recently I did a magic show for preschoolers to help the United Christian Parish Preschool that my wife Jane directs raise money to improve the preschool library. As I explained to my eager audience, magic can make the seemingly impossible take place. When the children were…

ACLU: Victims of human-rights violations denied access to U.S. courts

Contributors

Access to justice for victims of civil and human rights violations has been severely curbed over the last decade in Virginia and across the nation, according to a report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The report shows how indigent capital defendants, victims of torture, immigrants, and abused domestic workers, among others, are…

Court ruling blocks efforts to halt EPA greenhouse-gas limits

Chris Graham

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today denied requests from numerous industry groups and their allies that sought to halt regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency to control greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles and power plants and other large sources. The EPA rules include an “endangerment” finding, which confirmed that carbon dioxide and other pollutants contributing…