.....Advertisement.....
.....Advertisement.....

Opinion

  • State needs to keep people out of...

    Of the many government systems that need overhaul, the federal criminal code ranks among the most bloated.

  • Expand Medicaid; save money, lives

    The folly of failing to expand Medicaid, as outlined in the federal Affordable Care Act, was underscored again last week with the publication of yet another study of the consequences.

  • Leaving high school and moving...

    An excited class of high school seniors received their diplomas from local and area high schools recently. Family and friends nearby and far away experienced the rush and whirlwind of graduation ceremonies, congratulatory gatherings and celebratory parties that accompanies this busy time of the year. Through it all, the hard work and accomplishment these diplomas and degrees represent for their soon-to-be-graduates will be applauded.

  • Discretion is not a dirty word

    Zero-tolerance policies remove discretion from the decision-making that leads to discipline. Everybody gets the same punishment.

    The problem is that such policies remove judgment - and sometimes common sense - from the equation.

  • Buckle up before you start the car

    Taking two seconds to strap on a seat belt indisputably saves lives.

    Yet researchers from Old Dominion University found that more than a fifth of drivers still refuse to make that life-saving click.

  • Road money debacle part of a pattern

    Local transportation planners found out recently that some of the cash they were counting on to build roads had disappeared.

    Almost $60 million worth.

  • Congress destroys postal service

    The U.S. Postal Service has bled cash for so long, and on such a massive scale, that drastic action is required immediately to move it back onto solid financial ground.

    All that is really necessary is for Congress to let the postal service’s leaders steer the organization without politicians micromanaging business decisions.

  • Texting ban should be law

    After years of unsuccessful efforts, safe-driving advocates finally secured a victory in this year’s General Assembly session when lawmakers approved a measure to impose steep fines on drivers caught texting while behind the wheel.

  • Public workers, tax delinquents

    Nobody enjoys paying taxes. But there is something especially irksome about federal workers and retirees who’ve been paid for their work with tax dollars but failed to pay their own taxes.

  • Playing politics with healthcare

    In the final hours of this year’s legislative session, Gov. Bob McDonnell gave his written support for a plan giving a commission authority to sign off on a Medicaid expansion to cover uninsured adults.

  • Check your credit reports

    A study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission underscores the importance of keeping track of your credit report to ensure that it does not contain errors.

  • Tribute honors farmers

    Americans admire the farmer. You might even call it love.

    Fighting the elements to produce the world’s richest yield only to be paid pennies compared to the retail dollar value of his goods, the American farmer is part scientist, part conservationist, part businessman and all laborer.

  • Mail may still go through

    While the U.S. Postal Service has announced that it plans to eliminate Saturday mail delivery beginning in August, whether it actually gets to move forward with that plan will depend on what, if any, budget plans are adopted by Congress in the coming months.

  • Transportation plan needs repairs

    For weeks, Gov. Bob McDonnell has insisted that his plan is the answer to the commonwealth’s transportation-funding crisis.

    It has received nearly all the attention, high marks in an initial public-opinion poll and glowing praise from an array of special-interest, business and union groups.

  • Stop the hate

    No one likes a bully.

    It’s an old expression, but a campaign at Central Hardin High School (Ky.) is delivering it in new ways.

  • National temperature increases...

    The jump in average U.S. temperature in 2012 should serve a wakeup call to those who deny pollution has an impact on the environment, as well as those who claim environmental conservation efforts are unneeded or too costly.

  • Horoscope, Jan. 16

    WEEK OF JAN. 14, 2013

    ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might be hurt by a colleague’s harsh criticism. But don’t let it shake your confidence in what you’re trying to do. A more positive aspect starts to appear by week’s end.

  • Six weeks to make Virginia better

    When lawmakers gathered last Wednesday at the Capitol for the start of the General Assembly, they’ll have fewer days to finish their work - 46 instead of 60 - than last year.

  • Country's chaos merely...

    The only deal worse than the fiscal bargain Congress approved over the New Year's holiday would have been no deal at all.

    Nevertheless, the hardened partisanship that substitutes for statesmanship in D.C. these days left no deal at all a possibility right up until last Tuesday's vote concluded.

  • Schools need to assess and improve...

    Protecting students’ safety comes first, even when that means Friday night football and basketball games and the accompanying rituals move to another time.

    The Dec. 14 massacre in Connecticut brought that tenet into sharp relief.