Bill would restrict legal
aid groups
State-funded legal aid groups are outraged over
a Senate proposal to prevent them from filing class actions, representing
illegal aliens and challenging welfare reforms.
[Full
story by Sarah Hearney]
House says midwives are
history
The House Health, Welfare
and Institutions Committee killed a measure yesterday that would have
legalized home births attended by midwives.
According to The
Daily Press of Newport News, the panel defeated the bill by an
11-7 vote after a Virginia doctor testified against it.
Training for midwives is
"grossly inadequate," said
Dr. John Partridge, a Richmond-area gynecologist and obstetrician.
He said letting midwives deliver babies is like driving a car without
brakes. "You may do OK ... on level ground with no turns, but when
the road starts going downhill, and you start taking some turns, it
gets very dicey."
Abortion waiting period
passes House
New abortion regulations
won approval of almost two-thirds of the House on Tuesday and will
soon move to the Senate, where The
Virginian-Pilot reported that a showdown is expected.
Termed "informed
consent" by supporters and a "24-hour waiting period"
by opponents, the measure would require that women receive detailed
information about the risks and alternatives to abortion a full day
before the procedure is performed.
The bill was approved 66-32,
gathering the support of five more lawmakers than it did last year.
"It's going to the Senate with a lot of momentum,'' said Delegate
Robert F. McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, who has sponsored the bill
for four years.
State, not local governments
would have
final say on cellular tower placements
The Senate is proposing
to take control over cellular phone towers away from local governments,
reported The
Virginian-Pilot.
Currently, local governments
have the final say in whether towers are placed along roads and highways.
The Legislature is mulling a bill that would give private telecommunications
companies and the Virginia Department of Transportation almost unbridled
discretion to place towers anywhere they want along state thoroughfares.
Cellular firms say giving
cities and counties the ability to deny these towers that stretch
as high as 20-story buildings would impair their ability to provide
adequate – and federally mandated – wireless coverage to Virginia's
roughly 1.5 million cell-phone users.
"Everyone wants the
service,'' GTE Corp. lobbyist Rick Cornwell told a Senate committee
last week. "No one wants the tower.''
Richmond Council elections
in November?
Richmond City Council elections
could be held in November, when the voter turnout is likely to be
much higher, under a bill adopted yesterday by the House Privileges
and Elections Committee, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch reported.
Richmond Mayor Timothy
M. Kaine said he has been trying to persuade his fellow council members
for several years to switch from the early May date, according to
the Times-Dispatch.
Delegate Anne G. Rhodes,
R-Richmond, sponsored the bill. She said May turnout is "pathetic,"
usually less than 30 percent of registered voters.
Kaine saw another benefit:
By combining the city elections with the state elections, the city
would save about $70,000.
