'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
By a single Senate vote, Virginia's General Assembly on Wednesday approved Gov. Bob McDonnell's amendment to ban abortion coverage from being sold through a new federally run health insurance exchange.

Virginia's Republican House speaker on Wednesday ruled against a measure muscled through by Senate Republicans to redraw all 40 state Senate districts, defusing a partisan dispute that had threatened to stymie progress on major legislation.

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation-funding package won a Senate committee’s endorsement Thursday despite the reservations of some of his fellow Republicans and outright opposition from Democrats.
State Senate Republicans muscled a surreptitious redraft of Virginia's 40 Senate districts to passage Monday by a single vote over bitter objections from Democrats who were blindsided by the surprise move.

Dozens of Southside Virginia proponents of uranium mining arrived by bus at the Capitol on Thursday as lawmakers provided more details on proposed legislation that would end a 1980s state moratorium on mining the ore used in nuclear power reactors.

Democratic leaders in the Virginia Senate on Tuesday again urged Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell to call a special session to discuss how the state will address the federal health care overhaul.
Democratic leaders in the Virginia Senate on Tuesday once again urged Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell to call a special session to discuss how the state will address the federal health care overhaul.

Local leaders appear at odds on how to proceed with implementing health insurance exchanges as part of President Obama's health care overhaul. A deadline looms next week for officials to send outlines of their proposals to the federal government.

Gov. Bob McDonnell met privately Tuesday with Charles J. Colgan, the longtime Democratic senator who had the power to break a 38-day impasse over the state's two-year $85 billion budget. He had a simple question. What do you want from me? Mr. McDonnell asked.

The Virginia Senate, with little warning and no debate, abruptly reversed course and approved a two-year, $85 billion budget bill Wednesday afternoon by a 21-19 vote — a day after Democrats in the chamber blocked one for the third time this year.

Senate Democrats in Virginia for the third time this year voted down a two-year, $85 billion spending plan on Tuesday, leaving money for local governments, school systems and transportation projects across the state in limbo and portending the possibility of a partial government shutdown if the stalemate cannot be resolved.

More than 40 transportation projects across Virginia would be endangered if the legislature accedes to Democrats' demands for $300 million more for the Dulles rail project, the McDonnell administration says.

More than 40 transportation projects across Virginia would be endangered if the legislature accedes to Democrats' demands for $300 million more for the Dulles rail project, the McDonnell administration says.

The indestructible force met the immovable object last week: Grover Norquist, the anti-tax advocate who presides over Americans for Tax Reform, dared to take on Virginia Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, Fairfax Democrat.
"If I were to get up and say the things that this man has said to the general population at some meeting that didn't involve party functionaries, those people would look at me like I'd either had a stroke and something had gone terribly wrong or I was just plain totally crazy," Mr. Saslaw, of Fairfax, said on "The John Fredericks Show."
Va. GOP lieutenant governor nominee under fire for comments on abortion, gay rights →
Richard L. Saslaw, the Democratic leader in the Senate who would stand to benefit if his party wins the lieutenant governor's race, said Monday he'd be surprised if Mr. Jackson "makes it to November."
Va. GOP lieutenant governor nominee under fire for comments on abortion, gay rights →