In The News

Vladimir Putin recently had a birthday. To celebrate, the Russian president played hockey. Unlike with other sports, this time Putin kept his shirt on. In a game televised live on Russian television, Putin took to the ice in the Olympic city of Sochi — and proceeded to score seven goals. If you don’t know hockey, well, that’s a lot. On Putin’s team were two Russian-born legends from the National Hockey League — Vyacheslav Fetisov won back-to-back Stanley Cups with ...Continue Reading

The management of the D.C. region’s transit authority has felt an avalanche of criticism in a year of commuting calamities and safety lapses, but until now, relatively little anger had reached Metro’s governing body — its 16-member board of directors. Demands for reform are now shifting to the board in the form of legislation making its way through the U.S. Senate, co-sponsored by the Washington, D.C., region’s Senate delegation. The legislation would remove the authority...Continue Reading

The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford stands tall at Newport News Shipbuilding, its construction nearly complete and more sailors arriving every week. But in other ways, things are far from settled. The first-in-class ship faces significant challenges before it becomes combat ready and can deploy from its future home of Naval Station Norfolk, experts say. At a recent Senate hearing, the Defense Department's top weapons tester cited "significant risks" for the Ford when it comes...Continue Reading

This week, America welcomes Pope Francis to Washington, New York and Philadelphia. Amid all the excitement and anxiety over what he will say, one thing is clear already. He arrives to a church and American population that are being rejuvenated by our Hispanic population. The first Latin American pope’s first visit to the United States coincides with another important event: the 450th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine, Fla. Forty-two years before Jamestown and 55 years before Ply...Continue Reading

One of the hot, technological trends in law enforcement these days is provisioning officers with body cameras. Supporters and critics of police departments across the country are calling for the body cams as a way to obtain objective records of police interactions with the general public, in much the same way dashboard cameras record traffic stops, and as a way to protect both police officers and the public. Civil rights organizations and police associations are increasingly finding themselves o...Continue Reading

The Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2015, an important measure aimed at ensuring coal miners receive the benefits they’ve earned and deserve, merits prompt approval and passage by lawmakers in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure was introduced in the U.S. Senate last week by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Companion legislation...Continue Reading

Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Hampton Roads' congressional delegation sent letters Thursday to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus voicing concern about layoffs in local private shipyards and the need to stabilize their workload. "Hampton Roads is once again facing a period of change to its workload, only this time, we are in jeopardy of losing our highly skilled workforce because the Navy's demand is dipping temporarily until 2018," Kaine and Warner wrote. The senators' letter and another from U.S. ...Continue Reading

On August 3rd, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the Clean Power Plan, to reduce the pollution responsible for climate change. For all its complexity, its goal is simple—power plants should generate 32% less carbon pollution by the year 2030 than they do today. In 1962, President Kennedy challenged our nation to go the moon by 1969. If America can get to the moon in 7 years, emitting one-third less air pollution in 15 years is surely within our grasp. From the overwhelmin...Continue Reading

The city of Bristol, Virginia, will receive $228,418 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. On Wednesday, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced that seven Virginia localities and organizations will receive nearly $7 million in grants. The funding will help local governments fight housing discrimination, improve economic conditions and increase access to affordable housing. “These funds will strengthen Virginia communities and improve the ...Continue Reading

Fourteen months into the American-led coalition’s airstrikes on the Islamic State in Syria, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) still wants Congress to weigh in. Not even halfway through his first term, the junior senator from Virginia is making a name for himself in Washington as the leading advocate for Congressional authorization of military operations. The former Richmond mayor, Virginia governor and Democratic National Committee chairman was once on Barack Obama’s vice presidential shortlist...Continue Reading

Career and technical education got a welcome boost this week when U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, R-Va., announced his effort to make federal funds available for students loans for adults seeking post-high school certificates. Adult wanting to earn certificates at Valley Career and Technical Center in Fishersville and other schools often find the short-term classes cost-prohibitive, Kaine noted in press release about the well-named Career & Technical Education Opportunity Act. We applaud this use of...Continue Reading

Speaker John Boehner wasn’t the only one fighting back tears Thursday morning when Pope Francis walked into the U.S. House chamber — the first pontiff ever to address a joint meeting of Congress. “It was a very emotional experience for me,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., adding he couldn’t help but cry when the pope arrived. “Man, I’m a complete sap,” he added later, tearing up again as he described the event. For Kaine — a Catholic ...Continue Reading

Federal transit officials said Thursday they have approved a plan by Metro to correct numerous safety­management problems in its subway and bus operations, including poor training of employees, outdated information technology and inadequate staffing and procedures at the rail system’s central control facility. Metro “must demonstrate a renewed commitment to set a higher standard of safety for its riders and employees,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a stateme...Continue Reading

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a practicing Catholic and former missionary, had a clear message Wednesday for Pope Francis: Allow women to become priests. Kaine said ending the church's centuries-old rule that only men can be ordained would be the most significant thing the pope could do. "If women are not accorded equal place in the leadership of the Catholic Church and the other great world religions, they will always be treated as inferiors in earthly matters as well," Kaine said in a statement. "There...Continue Reading

When Pope Francis stands before Congress on Thursday, he will not only be addressing the world's most powerful legislature, but he will also be addressing 165 members of his church flock. Nearly one-third of Congress is Catholic, and they are almost evenly divided between Republicans (82) and Democrats (83). But that shared faith has not meant much in the way of common political ground, with Catholic lawmakers split along much the same partisan and ideological lines as the public at la...Continue Reading

Traffic on Interstate 95 — the subject of an Aug. 23 editorial — is all-too-familiar to me as a U.S. senator, a former governor, and as an I–95 commuter who lives in Richmond and works in D.C. Northern Virginia’s rapid growth is good because it means the corridor has jobs and economic development, but it also means populations are growing faster than infrastructure can handle them. Last month, a U.S. Department of Transportation report found that traffic costs ...Continue Reading

Esta semana, Estados Unidos recibe al Papa Francisco en Washington, Nueva York y Filadelfia. Entre toda la emoción y la ansiedad por lo que dirá en su discurso, una cosa ya quedó clara. Él llega a una iglesia y un pueblo estadounidense que están siendo rejuvenecidas por nuestra población hispana. La primera visita a los Estados Unidos del primer papa latinoamericano coincide con otro evento importante: el 450º aniversario de la f...Continue Reading

With an international bike race as a backdrop, Richmond celebrated another milestone Wednesday with the grand opening of Gateway Plaza, the city’s first new downtown Richmond office tower in two decades.A bevy of elected officials, led by U. S. Sen. Tim Kaine, offered congratulations to the city, the law firm of McGuireWoods LLP and the developer, Chicago-based Clayco, who worked together to build the 18-story, glass-walled skyscraper.  More than 200 people turned out for the ribbon-c...Continue Reading

This week, America welcomes Pope Francis to Washington, New York and Philadelphia. Amid all the excitement and anxiety over what he will say, one thing is clear already. He arrives to a church and American population that are being rejuvenated by our Hispanic population. The first Latin American pope’s first visit to the United States coincides with another important event: the 450th anniversary of the founding of Saint Augustine, Fla. Forty-two years before Jamestown and 55 years before P...Continue Reading

Flowers, candles and cards were placed at the statue of Bob Simon at Lake Anne Plaza to honor the Reston founder who passed away yesterday. Simon died peacefully at his home in Reston. He was 101. An outpouring of support and condolences flooded RestonNow comments, Twitter and Facebook, with news of his passing picked up on Facebook’s national trends. Multiple people stopped by his statue on Tuesday morning to take pictures of the statue, say their goodbyes and share me...Continue Reading