Elizabeth Geris | Smoked out

Contributors

“Thank you for not breathing while I smoke,” read a ceramic plaque that hung conspicuously on a childhood friend’s kitchen wall. Even to this day, I can’t help but chuckle when I close my eyes and see this quip, not so much because of what it says, but because of who posted her message for…

Ivy Main | Protecting the vote

Contributors

Two years ago the Virginia legislature took a major first step towards verifiable voting by passing a law banning localities from buying any more of the paperless electronic voting machines known as DREs — the computers that most of us have been voting on, but which have been shown nationwide to be prone to failure,…

David Cox | Thinking strategically

David Cox

Our legislators are back at it in Richmond. A couple of weeks into a session that, everyone knows, has got to tackle some excruciating budgetary problems, they seem — as so often — to have produced more heat than light. I often wonder what they’re thinking. Especially when someone comes up with a good, if…

Veronica Gutierrez | Predators, indeed

Contributors

Recently, the term “predatory lending” has taken on a new meaning for me. I’ve always thought that predatory lenders were bad businesses. They plant themselves in low-income communities, offer fast cash, and then charge ridiculous interest rates, inevitably trapping people in a cycle of debt. Last Saturday, I joined in the Virginia Organizing Project’s door-to-door…

The AFP Blog – Weekend of Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2009

Chris Graham

– Singletary’s #44 to be retired, Saturday, 7:10 p.m. – President Obama’s weekly address, Saturday, 8:04 a.m. – Gannett, Media General slump deepens, Friday, 12:55 p.m. – Free-speech organizations offer support to Gloucester 40, Friday, 12:55 p.m. – Statement from Council of Economic Advisors chair Christina Romer on the fourth quarter 2008 advance GDP estimate,…

The AFP Blog – Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Chris Graham

– Unemployment in Waynesboro at 7.9 percent, 8:05 p.m. – Moran releases Green Virginia plan, 12:50 p.m. – ACLU says bills would violate religious freedoms, 12:50 p.m. – President Obama on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act bill signing, 10:37 a.m. – More feel good about direction of country, 9:08 a.m. – State issues…