"Congress has forgotten to serve the people they represent." -- Lisa Vedernikova Khanna I often ask myself, what is the American Dream? Is it the white picket fence and a two-and-a-half-kid household? Maybe you picture the Statue of Liberty welcoming new arrivals to a...
The commissioner of the Virginia Department of Health faces backlash after stating that most white people are unconsciously “pro-white” and “anti-black.” Dr. Norman Oliver’s remarks came through a weekly message last week sent to VDH employees. Oliver, who is African-American, was addressing the controversy over the discovery of a racist photo on...
"We have had it with the old Democratic Party. We're here for a new vision," declared activist Rebecca Keel during last week's public funeral vigil, held in front of the Capitol building. Late last week, at the foot of Virginia's Capitol building just before dusk, approximately 50 people gathered around a coffin. Members of the group held their...
The history of Guatemala's secret abductions reminds us how important the principle of universal equality really is -- and points out how far from that principle the United States has gone. On a recent trip to Guatemala with rabbinic colleagues from around the country, I learned the story of a boy named Marco Antonio Molina Theissen. Marco...
With another potential shutdown looming, concerns over tax refunds, food stamps, and adequate housing for the state's low-income residents are still significant. The federal government’s 34-day partial shutdown – the longest in US history – impacted more than 64,000 federal workers in Virginia, the sixth most affected state. Wage loss totaled...
The yearbook image of two young men, one dressed in blackface and the other in KKK robes, is searing and ugly, reminding us of our relatively-recent and openly-racist past. That one of the young men is -- or even just could be -- Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam makes that ugliness feel particularly low, taste particularly galling, and...
The combination of a failed run for school board, a casual post on the Nextdoor app, and an NAACP meeting may seem like the add up to an unlikely origin story for Richmond’s most talked about new radio show. However, taking the mundane machinations of city government and injecting them with personality and civic spirit could practically be the...
Virginians could see an additional $5 charge on their power bills after Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox and a bipartisan group of legislators announced an agreement Thursday to clean up large ponds of toxic coal ash throughout the state. The $3 billion plan is to remove coal ash -- the residue from power plants --...
In the wake of debates about the toxic byproducts of coal, local power plants are taking the heat -- and local government is taking a stand through legislation. Coal ash, the toxic byproduct of its namesake energy source, has been at the forefront of recent environmental debates, despite the deep roots of the problem. What historically served as...
RICHMOND — A House of Delegates subcommittee killed four bills to ratify the federal Equal Rights Amendment on a 4-2 party-line vote Tuesday amid verbal conflicts between the chairwoman and members of the audience. The decision to “pass by indefinitely” HJ 577, HJ 579, HJ 583 and SJ 284 marks the end for efforts to pass legislation ratifying the...
