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by noon each weekday by a student in Mass Comm 375 at Virginia Commonwealth
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today's editor :: |
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Laura Davis |
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"The
serious bitin', kickin', gougin' and scratchin' is just starting!"
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Delegate Clifton A. "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, after the General
Assembly reviewed Gov. Gilmore’s $48 billion biennial state budget
last week, killing Gilmore’s Office for Substance Abuse Prevention,
his Commonwealth of Knowledge Web site and his other proposals.
(Source: The Washington
Post)
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on deck :: |
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The
Hampton Roads Caucus meets today at 4 p.m. in the 6th Floor Conference
Room in the General Assembly Building.
The Senate Local Government Committee meets tomorrow at 2 p.m.
in Senate Room B of the General Assembly Building.
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mega-donors :: |
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During the 1999 elections, members of the General Assembly received
more than half their money from 150 groups and individuals.
Here
are the top donors,
and how they fared during the 2000 legislative session.
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General Assembly tackles
campaign finance reforms
Forrest Landon, executive
director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, has some discouraging
words about the state's campaign finance laws: "Nobody takes
them seriously."
But this session, the General
Assembly is considering several reforms, ranging from limiting donations
to publishing on the Web the names of violators. [Full
story by Laura Davis]
Legislators consider extending
dentists' reach
The General Assembly may
expand the definition of dentistry to help settle a dispute between
doctors and dentists who do re-constructive facial surgery. [Full
story by Kevin Crossett]
Legislators have special
vehicle license plates
There’s the butterfly heritage
license plate, the Chesapeake Bay plate, the horse enthusiast plate
and the National Air and Space Museum plate.
But
some types of license plates in Virginia aren’t available for just
anyone. Members of the state Senate and House of Delegates have their
own special plates. [Full story by Laura
Davis]
General Assembly outlaws
some human cloning
Any animal could legally
give birth to a "precise genetic copy" of a human being under an anti-cloning
traveling through the General Assembly this session, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch reported.
The bill, put together
by the Department of Health and Human Resources, almost unanimously
passed the Senate and House last week.
Delegate Robert F. McDonnell,
R-Virginia Beach, and Sen. Stephen D. Newman, R-Lynchburg introduced
the legislation, which makes it legal to implant a "precise genetic
copy" of a human being in a non-human mammal (which would give birth
to the clone).
It also makes it legal
to implant a human clone with genes from other species in a non-human
mammal and implant in a non-human mammal a human clone with certain
genes selected or turned off by scientists to give the clone certain
characteristics.
For example, scientists
could turn off genes in the clone to give it brown eyes instead of
green eyes of the original "parent."
Legislators hack away
at Gov. Gilmore’s budget
In reviewing Gov. James
S. Gilmore III’s $48 billion biennial state budget last week, the
Virginia General Assembly destroyed his initiatives and proposals,
threatening what civility remains between the two branches of government,
according to leaders on both sides.
While their quarrel about
car-tax relief is grabbing statewide attention, the assembly disposed
of Gilmore’s funding for additional teachers, an algebra readiness
program and nearly $6 million that would have created New Century
scholarships for all Virginia students, The
Washington Post reported.
The Legislature not only
stripped Gilmore of his power to grant severance packages to agency
heads leaving government and his discretion to set salaries for senior
managers but also obliterated almost all the operating money for the
Office for Substance Abuse Prevention.
"His lack of willingness
to work out some deal, some accommodation on the bigger issues - not
compromising at all - says to us he's not willing, so why should we?"
said Sen. John C. Watkins, R-Richmond.
Sen. Barry proposes raising
car inspection fee
The price of automobile
safety inspections may double, if a bill sponsored by Sen. Warren
E. Barry, R-Fairfax, makes its way through the General Assembly, according
to an Associated Press story in the Daily
Press of Newport News.
The legislation would increase
the car safety inspection fee to $20 this July 1, while inspection
fees for heavy trucks would go up to $30, then increase to $50 on
July 1, 2002.
Barry said the current
$10 fee causes service stations and garages to lose money. He proposed
legislation raising the fee last year, but the bill, which passed
out of both houses, was vetoed by Gov. Jim Gilmore.
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