Updated
by noon each weekday by a student in Mass Comm 375 at Virginia Commonwealth
University |
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today's editor :: |
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Chad Bernard |
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verbatim :: |
"I'm
not real religious, but when we took God out of the schools, we
saw moral decay and an increase in school violence."
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Sen. Warren E. Barry, R-Fairfax, on his bill to set aside a minute
a day for prayers or silence in schools.
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on deck :: |
The
House and Senate convene at noon. |
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Legislative Information
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provides bills and resolutions, member lists, committees, meetings,
searchable databases, past sessions and virtually everything you
want to know about what's going on at the General Assembly.
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::
recess :: |
Rearrange
the letters of Thomas Moss' name, and what've you got? "Stash
Mom So." Do the same for Jim Gilmore and get "Mile Jog
Rim." For more fun with anagrams, try the Internet
Anagram Service. |
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House speaker wants more
open space
House Speaker S. Vance
Wilkins Jr., R-Amherst, today plans to propose the state increase
the amount of money it spends to preserve open space, the Washington
Post reported. Wilkins will call for setting aside about 600,000
acres of land over the next seven years. He also wants to budget $40
million annually for the next two years to pay landowners who set
aside property for open space. The funding would be quite an increase
from the $1.75 million a year currently budgeted.
Citizens protest Gilmore's
budget
Many Virginians, some
coming by the busload, converged on the Capital yesterday to argue
against Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore's budget plan for 2000-2002. They
said funding was inadequate for programs ranging from education and
prisoner assistance to treatment of disabled people and clubs for
inner-city youths, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch reported. Gilmore's proposal is the starting point
for the budget that state lawmakers will iron out over the next eight
weeks.
Bills target sales taxes
House Majority Leader Morgan
Griffith, R-Salem, proposed a bill that would eliminate the tax on
out-of-state catalog and Internet purchases of $500 or less, and Gov.
Jim Gilmore is more or less in agreement. But House Minority Leader
Richard Cranwell of Vinton filed a bill that could virtually abolish
all sales taxes in Virginia and that could have major implications
if passed. The state budget would suffer a titanic hit with the loss
of some $4.8 million in tax revenue over the next two years, according
to The Roanoke
Times.
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