In a poll released this morning, Quinnipiac found support among Virginia voters for medical marijuana to be 84%, although that support does not extend to recreational use: Support for legalizing marijuana for personal use is 46 percent, with 48 percent opposed. Democrats support the measure 58 - 35 percent, with Republicans opposed 68 - 27 … Continue reading Q’Pac: 6-1 support medical marijuana, 50% marriage equality
Courtesy of VA News, check out Charting the years-long decline of local news reporting from The Washington Post. The slow deterioration of local-news reporting has been a source of alarm in some quarters for years, especially the retreat from state- and local-government accountability reporting. In 2009, a blue-ribbon panel backed by the nonprofit Knight Foundation … Continue reading The Friday read: decline of local news reporting
A Quinnipiac poll released today has current U.S. Senator Mark Warner up 46% to 31% over presumed Republican nominee Ed Gillespie. Lots of talk about Warner being below 50% - and while that is something to consider, another number jumped out at me: Wait - who are the 18% of Dems who haven't heard enough … Continue reading Warner has work to do
My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot last Thursday. The topic is, of course, the upcoming May local elections, the candidates for which I posted here. As I mentioned in the article, there are two upcoming candidate forums in Norfolk: Tuesday, April 15, Granby High School Auditorium, 7pm to 8:30pm - Mayoral candidates … Continue reading ICYMI: Big choices ahead in May
The election season has started. I was surprised at the number of forums as well as the number of candidates this year. Last night I went to the Sierra Club forum for Hampton City Council. I like going to subject-specific forums because the questions get more in depth on that subject and you can see … Continue reading Hampton forums for City Council & School Board
The superintendent of Norfolk Public Schools, Dr. Samuel King, revealed yet another plan yesterday to improve the system. I have no idea if this one is the one they are really going to move forward on or if it will end up in the trash can. I know it's difficult to get schools on the … Continue reading NPS: Another plan
Ronald Reagan paraphrased John Adams when he said, "Facts are stubborn things." Adams had continued: "whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot last Thursday. In it, I discuss something that has … Continue reading ICYMI: Facts aren’t optional
The filing deadline for this May's local elections was last week. In Hampton Roads, we have elections in Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton and Newport News. The elections will be held May 6. As I compiled the list (below) of the candidates, I was pleased to see that only a few races are uncontested (although there are … Continue reading 2014 May elections
From the AFER press release yesterday: Richmond, VA – On Monday, March 10, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted AFER’s proposed motion for an expedited briefing schedule in Virginia’s marriage equality case, Bostic v. Schaefer (formerly Bostic v. Rainey). On February 13, 2014, the Federal District Court for the Eastern … Continue reading Marriage equality case fast-tracked in 4th Circuit
My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot last Thursday. Although I no longer maintain a legislative wishlist, also known as an agenda, I still watch a bunch of bills. One of them was House Bill 333, which would have allowed local school boards to set their own calendars and not be bound by … Continue reading ICYMI: Let local schools set their own calendars
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 