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It took Virginia 400 years to end the death penalty. It’s not a switch we can flip on and off.
Of all the things policymakers can be indecisive about, the death penalty shouldn’t be one of them. It is, after all, about the most profound and irreversible thing a government can do. Yet this year, not three years after Virginia banned capital punishment, freshman Del. Tim Griffin, R-Bedford, submitted a bill to reinstate it. Mercifully, […]
A court fight to hold Richmond Public Schools to account shows strong journalism lives
It was astonishing governmental arrogance by any measure. What legitimate grounds could Richmond Public Schools assert for withholding a report on an independent, third-party review of a deadly shooting at commencement ceremonies for Huguenot High School graduates last summer? The only reason I could imagine for denying public access to the findings of a probe […]
Again, Virginia looks to land major pro sports, but at what cost?
If Virginia is ever to make good on its long, fruitless quest to host a major professional sports franchise, I suppose the latest proposed deal to land a two-fer is as likely as any. Gov. Glenn Youngkin and billionaire Ted Leonsis earlier this month announced a nonbinding handshake deal to move two sibling franchises — […]
Thought-policing Va.’s schools: Youngkin consolidates his grip on education’s ruling boards
It’s understandable that a former hedge fund executive who had never held elective office just a few years ago might enter office demanding that his word shall be dictum over all he surveys, especially those whom he appoints. We saw it just hours after Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2022 inauguration when he signed executive directives, some […]
We celebrate one 1619 moment in history; another, we try to bury
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. It’s a day that popular culture is quick to ascribe to early settlers who landed in Massachusetts sometime in the autumn or early winter of 1621. We see it in perennial promotions for the Black Friday shopping orgy manifest in cliché, cartoonish representations of pilgrim hats, square-toed shoes with big buckles and […]
A divided government is Virginia’s natural condition. Has been for 50 years.
Ever notice that neither party tends to stay in power very long in Virginia? It’s become our natural condition. Cable TV politicos tend to get all breathless from time to time and dye Virginia cardinal red or cobalt blue, depending on which way the pendulum swings from one election cycle to the next. The truth […]
The quiet resolve of election eve: a remembrance
This time tomorrow, Virginia voters will be busy electing a new General Assembly in another of the elections we hold every November. Here, we never take a year off. This evening, before the polls open, take a stroll if you can through your neighborhood. Maybe even drive around your community — roll the window down, […]
A Democratic conundrum as Spanberger aims at the Executive Mansion’s glass ceiling
Is it selfish for Democrats in Congress to want Abigail Spanberger to stay put in her hard-won seat representing Virginia’s notoriously purple 7th U.S. House district? Is it selfish for Democrats on Capitol Square to want her to leave Capitol Hill and proclaim her candidacy for governor in 2025? News reports say Spanberger has told […]
Felons’ suffrage in Virginia shouldn’t rely on one person, even if he is the governor
Stop me if you’ve heard this: How many Virginia policymakers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: five. One to put in a new bulb, but only after a protracted, emotional debate with the other four about the painful necessity of parting with the old one. Yep, change comes mighty slow here in […]
‘Dear Kevin’: What Youngkin might say to ex-Speaker McCarthy after a huge yet costly favor
Things looked pretty bleak for Virginia Republicans rounding the final turn into the stretch run of the Nov. 7 election for all 140 General Assembly seats. Just days after early and absentee voting began statewide, it looked for all the world that a cabal of tinfoil hat-wearing right-wingers in the U.S. House of Representatives would […]
Appreciation: ‘Sin lobbyist’ Charlie Davis
It’s hard to imagine the ecosystem of Virginia’s General Assembly in the late decades of the 1900s and the first couple of the 21st century without Charlie Davis, known and universally celebrated as “the sin lobbyist.” He animated the place. Charlie, a smooth urbanite who never strayed too far from his Rocky Mount, Virginia roots, […]
Violence benights another shared treasure of our communities: Friday night’s lights
Remember the thrill of getting ready for Friday night’s football game against your archrival? The pep rallies. A bonfire. Players wear their jerseys to school on game day. Storefronts in small towns are festooned in school colors. Occasionally, even a parade! Then it’s almost game time. As the setting sun bathes the field in a […]