Author: Bob Rayner
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Grrrrrrrr… Pit Bulls. AGAIN.
by Kerry Dougherty As soon as I saw the headline in Sunday’s New York Post I knew the breed of the culprit: “Girl, 6, Needs 1,000 Stitches, ”Won’t be able to smile again’ After Vicious Dog Attack.” Was this a case of a poodle gone wild? A dachshund? A beagle? Of course not. Only one…
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The Amazing Shrinking Times-Dispatch
by Jon Baliles You might recall a story from last summer in Style Weekly entitled The Incredibly Shrinking Times-Dispatch about the decline of our local newspaper and the print news business in general. It has been a precipitous and rapid descent. Now, according to Axios, it seems that shrinking is not only ongoing but might…
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Tragedies in Charlottesville
by Loren Lomasky Poor University of Virginia, the bad luck just kept coming. In 2014 the campus was rocked by the story of a vicious gang rape perpetrated at one of the fraternities. “Story” is the operative word; it transpired that the Rolling Stone exposé was entirely fabricated. Three years later the alt right came…
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Times-Dispatch Omits Facts Instead of Including Them
by Jon Baliles Public safety is one of every locality’s largest and most important responsibilities. If the sidewalks, streets, and neighborhoods are not safe, people go to places where they are. Walkers, joggers, businesses, customers, and everyone else won’t go to places where they feel their safety in in jeopardy. At the same time, that…
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Petersburg Casino: Is Youngkin Channeling Wilder and Should Biden, Warner, or Trump Care?
by Paul Goldman Race has too long defined Virginia politics. Several efforts to change this dynamic are discussed in my book Remaking Virginia Politics. My gut senses 2023 may feature another noteworthy moment on the road to Dr. King’s dream. The fight between Petersburg and Richmond over a casino license is currently not seen in…
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Top Three Financial Takeaways from RVA
by Jon Baliles Last week Richmond’s Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) reported to City Council that the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) was completed and had been turned in to the Virginia Auditor of Accounts. The report was due in mid-December, but better late than never I guess (and still it was way earlier…
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The Confederate Statue Compromise of Dalton, Ga.
by Donald Smith There are good ways and bad ways to handle controversial statues and memorials. These excerpts from a press release demonstrate one of the good ways. The press release describes how Dalton, Georgia, relocated a statue of a Confederate general, and did it in a way that fostered cooperation within the community. (All emphasis…
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Virginians Deserve Better
by Kerry Dougherty Word of warning to Virginia State Senate Democrats: paybacks are hell. Your gleeful construction of a “brick wall of resistance” to the governor who was elected by the majority of Virginians may come back to crush you. Maybe not this year. Or next. But eventually you’ll be back where you belong —…
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Ranked Choice Voting Bills Die in General Assembly
by Ken Reid All bills in the Virginia General Assembly to allow ranked choice voting (RCV) for town council, school board and constitutional officer elections, plus presidential primaries, were passed by indefinitely Feb. 7 by House and Senate committees, essentially being killed for this legislative session. Even in the Democrat Senate, the RCV bill was…
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Calls Increase for Judge Bennett’s Resignation
by Scott Dreyer As reported here, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) recently released a scathing report on the former Virginia Parole Board scandal from early 2020. As documented in 69 pages, the former board repeatedly broke both laws and the board’s own procedures to illegally release many prisoners convicted of violent crimes, and…
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Suparna Dutta: Ilhan Omar is ‘Completely Unaware’
by Asra Q. Nomani Awakening in the darkness of the predawn, brave Virginia mother Suparna Dutta spoke out on Fox and Friends First, challenging not only the hegemony of Democratic power over parents in Virginia but also the nation, as she fired back on not only Virginia Democrats who attacked her with the “white supremacist”…
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Del. Chris Head Calls for Controversial Judge Adrianne Bennett to Resign
by Scott Dreyer In a bold move, Valley legislator Del. Chris Head (R-Botetourt/Roanoke) has called on controversial judge Adrianne Bennett to resign her position. Bennett was formerly the Chair of the Virginia State Parole Board. During March and April 2020, when most people were distracted if not paralyzed by fear from the new Covid pandemic,…
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Woke Army Puts American Hindu Mom in its Crosshairs
Fairfax journalist Asra Q. Normani continues her remarkable reporting on the Virginia Senate’s refusal to endorse Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s nomination of Suparna Dutta to the state Board of Education. Dutta is a brave immigrant mother who has advocated for the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, democracy and meritocracy. Read all about it at Asra…
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IEPs Are Not a License for Violent Behavior at School
by Kerry Dougherty It may be time to rethink the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was signed into law in 1990 by then-President George H. W. Bush. If the late president had known that some school officials would use a wrinkle in this law to keep psychopaths in the classroom I wonder if…
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Virginia Senate Approves Early-Release Bill for Many Inmates
by Hans Bader The Virginia Senate has voted 24 to 15 to approve SB 842, the so-called “second look” bill. If it becomes law, inmates who have been in prison for 15 years or more could ask to be released, or ask for a reduction in their sentences. Originally, the bill applied to inmates of…