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It didn’t have to be this way, Wegmans
A massive regional distribution center for the Wegmans supermarket chain aspires to open soon in the midst of a Hanover County community of special Black historical significance. Even though legal proceedings challenging the behemoth facility that will eventually encompass up to 1.7 million square feet are in the news, the facility is already largely built, […]
A meritorious bill to curb kids’ access to online porn has limitations, downsides
It’s a good bet that an election-year bill to crack down on juvenile access to online pornography, which elected legislators of both parties passed overwhelmingly, will become law in Virginia. Penalizing smut purveyors plays well on campaign brochures, ads and websites. Political cynicism aside, however, there is meritorious intent behind Sen. Bill Stanley’s bill to […]
Farewell and adieu: Possible pitfalls and historical context of pending legislative retirements
I was something of a young pup in the Virginia Capitol press corps, at least in terms of tenure on the beat if not age, in 2001 when an astonishing number of exits from the Senate and House of Delegates shook Capitol Square. Almost all of the 12 delegates who announced their exits ahead of […]
Another session with vital work left undone: Virginia outgrows its part-time legislature
It’s been a long time since the biggest business in Virginia was tobacco. Or since people hunted rabbits where rail mass transit and office towers now stand in Tysons. And since a drive from Bristol to Winchester consumed a whole day on looping two-lane roads. One constant during that span is the amount of time […]
Why Sen. Chap Petersen is right: Va. shouldn’t build Dan Snyder a stadium
Thirty years ago, Washington’s pro football team commanded unparalleled loyalty in the Old Dominion and commensurate deference from its elected officials, its mascot named for a slur against Native Americans notwithstanding. That was then. That was when the team was a perennial in the NFL postseason and won Super Bowls – something that hasn’t happened […]
In Virginia, people suffering mental health crises too often become felons when police intervene
Life has never been easy for Johnny, but each May and June are an ordeal. It was in June two years ago when Johnny spiraled into a mental health crisis, this one requiring police intervention. Violence isn’t Johnny’s nature in spite of abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of his birth parents before he […]
Legislation forcing adults to keep guns out of kids’ hands is no threat to responsible gun owners
Raised, as I was, in deeply rural America, I grew up around guns. I treasured them for the same reason I loved fishing poles: they meant time spent hunting or fishing with my dad, granddad or uncle. Guns didn’t scare me because I respected them. I was taught early that they are not toys and […]
The strange case of the pastor, the prosecutor, the police chief and the legislator
Mixing politics, law enforcement and religion is a difficult high-wire act under the best of circumstances. Add in a sex sting operation and you’re toeing the wire over the Grand Canyon without a net or safety harness in the middle of a blizzard. Chesterfield County’s commonwealth’s attorney, Stacey Davenport, should know that. A lurid, real-life […]
As legislature mulls aid for problem gamblers, consider sweetening the pot
I’m not a betting man. I have little faith that the fates will bless me. I could put $10 on the sun setting in the west and somehow lose. But if I were, I’d wager that one of the easiest bills to pass in the 2023 General Assembly will be bipartisan legislation to create and […]
So this was 2022, for better and for worse
Wasn’t it just the other day that Virginians were shaking our heads in dismay at a motionless cordon of traffic tens of miles long stranded overnight in brutal, subfreezing temperatures on a stretch of Interstate 95 north and south of Fredericksburg? That was the first head-turning news event of 2022, when the year was still […]
A murderous pedophile got a badge and gun in Virginia. How was that possible?
A Virginia man drove the width of the United States, kidnapped a 15-year-old girl, shot her mother and grandparents dead in cold blood, torched their home and then killed himself in a shootout with California police. The gun he used came with the badge he wore back in Virginia. So many questions. And to date, […]
Dumping Trump? Personal liberty? That’s no way to win a GOP primary, Del. Anderson.
With all due respect, Del. Tim Anderson, have you lost your mind? You’re a first-term Republican member of the House of Delegates running for a second. Yet in the span of less than one month, your clear-eyed candor has put your credentials as a fire-breathing conservative in serious jeopardy, not once but twice, sir! First, […]