Out with a whimper. After months of studying gun violence, the Virginia State Crime Commission issued a report with no recommendations on how to curb the deadly toll in Virginia. The report said crime commission staff “determined that inconclusive evidence exists to develop recommendations.” That pretty much sums up the final two years of Republican ascendancy in the General Assembly. The GOP legislature will be remembered for having had no new ideas and having accomplished nothing. Virginia now can look forward to a Democratic-controlled legislature with too many ideas, mostly bad ones, that will accomplish too much… of the wrong thing.
One man’s trash is another man’s… uh, trash. Virginians recycled 46% of their trash last year, up three percentage points from the previous year, according to data recently released by the Department of Environmental Quality data. The Central Virginia Waste Management Authority had the highest recycling rate in the state with 59%. The Virginia Peninsulas Public Service Authority had the lowest rate with 29%. So reports The Virginia Mercury.
And people wonder why there isn’t more support for mass transit. Nearly 40,000 Northern Virginia bus riders could lose their service as transit workers move closer to calling a second bus strike. A strike by Metrobus workers at the Lorton bus garage has shut down 15 routes for three weeks. Now workers with the Fairfax Connector have voted to authorize a strike, which could be called at any time, reports the Washington Post. For all the problems associated with private automobiles, at least the drivers don’t go out on strike!
The future of journalism. In a desperate bid to save The Fauquier Times, the only newspaper in Fauquier County, the owners have agreed to give the weekly to a journalism foundation based in the Plains. The Piedmont Journalism Foundation will pay $1,000 for the newspaper, specialty publications and websites. The nonprofit status will allow the community to support the newspaper with tax-deductible contributions.
Another one bites the dust. A McLean man who attended the infamous “Unite the Right Rally” pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegal possession of firearms. Twenty-one-year-old Andrew Thomasberg was a member of the Atomwaffen group, which advocates violent acts designed to start a race war in the United States. His conviction resulted from an FBI investigation, reports the Associated Press.
— JAB
