Column: A New Session for New State Senator
With the 2012 General Assembly underway, this is my first report as from Richmond as your new senator for the 30th Senate District.
Column: Racing Against the Clock When Heart Attack Strikes
About every 34 seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack. On Nov. 18, 2011, that "someone" included Leesburg resident Richard Fleeman.
Column: Working To Improve Quality of Life
Working to create a better life for the next generation has always been a key component of our American values. There has always been a cost — whether in the form of laws or taxes, and today that is no different.
Column: Some Bills Move Forward, While Others Create a Stir
With the General Assembly session moving at its typical breakneck pace, several of my initiatives are moving forward, while others are creating a stir.
Column: In Service to Their Community
The Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Summit participant attendance numbers increased this year with families from the community stopping in to help make sure the service projects were accomplished.
Column: All in the Family
In 1957, William’s* parents gave each of their sons a plot of land on North Quaker Lane on which to build a home. "I think we only had $.25 but we got a house built somehow," remembers William’s widow, Arminta.
Column: Budget Plan Invests in Community’s Future
I am honored to present to you my FY 2013 Proposed Operating Budget which is dedicated to the amazing students who attend Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS).
Letter: Fair and Balanced
I want to compliment the Alexandria Gazette Packet for its fair and balanced reporting on the ongoing saga of the Waterfront Plan.
Letter: Appreciative Foundation
The Kelley Cares Foundation would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our friends, relatives, volunteers and sponsors who have continued to support Kelley Cares since our formation six years ago.
Letter: Council Could Have Compromised
Last Saturday, City Council passed the Waterfront Plan and the Rezoning of three waterfront parcels to encourage development.
Letter: Insufficient Evidence
H. Jay Spiegel and Martin Tillett wrote complementary letters on voter photo IDs and voter fraud, published in your Jan. 19 edition. Mr. Spiegel’s citations were nearly perfect examples of the slippery definitions of ‘voter fraud’ cited by Mr. Tillett.
Letter: Inappropriate Recommendation
There they go again. At their December 2011 Council meeting, the MVCCA passed a resolution (by a vote of 14-0, barely 1/4 of the 55 MVCCA member associations) urging the County to amend its laws to make the County, rather than the homeowner, responsible for sewer line repairs under a public street.
Letter: Voter Fraud and Partisan Politics
With each historical effort to protect and extend the right to vote, both political parties have argued that expanding the franchise, whether through federal protections for voting rights or by reducing barriers, would lead to more voter fraud.
Letter: Help Make A Difference
Thank you so much for your recent call to volunteerism in your editorial on Jan. 5. As the new volunteer & community relations coordinator at United Community Ministries (UCM) in Alexandria, your powerful message of volunteerism’s impact rings particularly true for me and my agency.
Letter: Mockery of Government
The Alexandria City Council has voted on and passed the waterfront plan that has been opposed by the majority of the residents this council supposedly represents. Why has this majority body of Democrats even gone through the motions of public hearings and spend unknown amounts of taxpayers’ money while all along they have known how they would vote on the issue.