To say that Virginia has a quirky local government structure is to put it mildly. No other state in the country has a system in which counties and cities are separate entities, with different and conflicting powers.

If Virginia’s prison system is crowded, why would the state be inviting the transfer of 300 inmates from Wyoming? If that’s the case — and it appears to be — someone in the state Department of Corrections needs to upgrade his calculator with special emphasis on the addition and subtraction functions.

In just a few days on April 16, the Virginia Tech community will mark the somber one-year anniversary of Seung-Hui Cho’s massacre of 32 people on the Blacksburg campus

If the federal Food and Drug Administration can regulate everything from toothpaste to the latest drugs designed to combat cancer, why shouldn’t it be allowed to monitor tobacco products?

Ten years ago, the cost of a gallon of regular gasoline in the Southeastern United States was slightly more than 98 cents. For those who keep stretching the family budget to pay for gasoline and independent truckers trying to make a living delivering freight, that was a long time ago.

Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, Virginia has executed 98 men, second only to Texas, with more than 400.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is all set to call a special session of the General Assembly to deal with the commonwealth’s growing transportation crisis. Whether it’s a success or an exercise in futility rests solely in the hands of Republican members of the House of Delegates.

Forty years ago today, on the balcony of a room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. died, struck down by an assassin’s bullets.

Throughout the history of America and of Virginia, individuals have come forward who believe that their authority is supreme over that of the government — government, in fact, at any level.

Police will be the first to tell you they don’t know everything. They can’t be everywhere all the time. There simply are not enough of them to go around.

For decades, the U.S. Forest Service has cautioned visitors to Crabtree Falls in Nelson County about the dangers of straying from the well-marked trail for a better glimpse of the majestic falls.

For the first time in decades, it’s looking as if one of the two major parties in America is going to have a presidential nominating fight that’s going all the way to the convention.

Sometimes, you learn from adversity; unfortunately, there are times when you don’t learn a thing.

In just a few short weeks, the one-year anniversary of that horrible day in Blacksburg will be upon us: April 16, the day a demented sociopath woke up and decided to go on a killing spree at Virginia Tech.

Could the International Olympic Committee be rethinking its decision to hold this year’s summer games in Beijing? If not, it should be.

Have politics diminished the will to clean up the polluted Chesapeake Bay? Or is it bureaucratic foot-dragging that results from not having enough money to make a difference?

One of the goals of the community college system in Virginia was to establish campuses in as many communities as possible. That would bring the hope of a college education to more Virginians throughout the state.

The so-called third rail of American politics isn’t Social Security, as many people used to think. It’s race and ethnicity. Touch that topic, even in a meaningful way, and you’re likely to be seriously burned.
That’s why last week, both nationally and locally, was so significant.

The Lynchburg budget draft unveiled earlier this month is a mammoth proposal, topping out at close to $375 million, if you include all the federal, state and local dollars flowing through the city’s ledger.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine mounted his bully pulpit Wednesday and pulled out his big stick, telling the leaders of the General Assembly they need to show a little political courage and confront the state’s growing transportation needs.

The news the Virginia Department of Transportation had for the Bedford County Board of Supervisors earlier this month was anything but good. It also puts an accent mark on Virginia’s critical need for a fresh infusion of money for the maintenance of roads and highways throughout the state.

A new life may be waiting in the wings of the old Phelps Road School in Madison Heights after all. It has dodged the wrecking ball several times since it was closed as an elementary school in the 1980s.

The dramatic increase in the city’s bus ridership by Liberty University students is one of those classic win-win situations.

With Lynchburg City Council gearing up for another round of appointments to the School Board, now is a good time to renew the call for opening up the process.

How do I despise you? Let me count the ways.