In The News

Back in March, the Pentagon said it wanted a stronger signal from Congress on refueling the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. If not, the Navy would move to retire the ship. Based on what happened Tuesday, consider the signal sent, Virginia's two senators said. A Senate panel set aside $848 million in the 2015 defense budget bill so Newport News Shipbuilding can proceed with the project, which will eventually mean billions of dollars in shipyard work and thousands of sailors coming to down...Continue Reading

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., is one of more than 30 senators backing legislation to counter the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision on contraception. The court dealt a setback to President Barack Obama’s health care law June 30, ruling that business owners with religious objections to certain forms of birth control may refuse to provide their employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives. The Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act “would rest...Continue Reading

Manassas schools superintendent Catherine Magouyrk said she’s talked to many students who aren’t aware of the value of career and technical education. “I have a real problem with students thinking that if they’re not going to a four-year college, they’re not going anywhere,” Magouyrk said. ”I feel like career and technical education has to be a window for kids to look through to see what they want to do.” At a forum at George Mason University&rsquo...Continue Reading

Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman introduced legislation Thursday to raise the quality of career and technical education programs across the country. The Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce Act amends the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. The new legislation offers credit-transfer agreement opportunities, professional development for teachers, principals, administrators and counselors, and career and technical education curriculum alignment with local, reg...Continue Reading

While the climate change debate continues in some quarters in Washington, the impact of sea-level rise cut across political divides at the "Rising to the Challenge" conference last week in Norfolk, Va.. Members of Congress and Virginia mayors from both political parties joined military and state and local officials to discuss the challenges sea level rise presents to the Hampton Roads area, as well as how to promote federal, state and local action. Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Rep...Continue Reading

PETERSBURG — U.S. Senator Tim Kaine met with Petersburg officials on Thursday morning to discuss an ongoing, multi-million dollar dredging and economic redevelopment project along the Appomattox River and to get a firsthand view of the area’s geography. “It’s a regional concept, and we’ve seen the value of it in what we’ve done up in Richmond. So many cities, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Petersburg, D.C., kind of turned their backs on the river, and now realized ...Continue Reading

During a visit to Valley Career and Technical Center in Fishersville, VA, on July 1, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced a new CTE bill he is introducing soon with Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), the Educating Tomorrow's Workforce Act. The legislation builds on the effectiveness of the programs of study model by including a more rigorous definition requiring alignment with state-identified standards, progression in content specificity, multiple entry and exit points for students and the culmination in the ...Continue Reading

Observant folks in Hampton Roads can't help but notice the creeping waters. The eroding yards along our waterfront. The flooding streets every time it rains more than a little. All that is a fact of life here, as surely as snarly traffic and lost tourists. Over time, it's also getting worse. As rivers rise, they take back creeks filled long ago. They imperil neighborhoods and installations. They overwhelm stormwater and sewer systems designed when the waters were lower. Global warming is undoubt...Continue Reading

PETERSBURG - The city is seeking help from U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va, to realize the dream to develop a harbor right on the edge of downtown, which would bolster economic development and tourism. But the endeavour requires the dredging of an unnavigable section of the Appomattox River, a long delayed project with a $15 million price tag. Kaine met with city officials Thursday to review the work that remains and the city's plans for the area. But mainly he came with a promise to advocate for fede...Continue Reading

Local service members candidly shared their personal experiences, both good and bad, with seeking medical treatment through the belabored U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs during an insightful discussion Wednesday morning with U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, at the Culpeper VFW Post 2524. The former Virginia governor engaged about a dozen veterans during the 90-minute talk that also covered the topics of veterans' unemployment and a special day of recognition. Father of a young Marine prep...Continue Reading

On his first visit to George Mason University’s Prince William Campus on Wednesday, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., led a roundtable discussion with George Mason President Ángel Cabrera and Prince William Campus Chief Executive Officer Annie Hunt Burriss. Sen. Kaine touted a new education bill he will co-sponsor next week on Capitol Hill. The media was on hand as the senator met with Mason staff, faculty, students and alumni from the College of Science, College of Education and Human Develop...Continue Reading

Legal scholars, political leaders and witnesses of the Jim Crow era painted a dark picture Wednesday of what life was like in racially segregated Richmond between the 1930s and early 1960s. “During those times, the blacks were treated as second-class citizens; there were two worlds in Richmond — black and white, and the two worlds never did meet,” said Dr. William Ferguson Reid, the first black member of the Virginia House of Delegates in the 20th Century. Reid, who is 89 and r...Continue Reading

While the climate change debate continues in some quarters in Washington, the impact of sea-level rise cut across political divides at the “Rising to the Challenge” conference in Norfolk, Virginia, earlier this week. Members of Congress and Virginia mayors from both political parties joined military and state and local officials to discuss the challenges sea level rise presents to the Hampton Roads area, as well as how to promote federal, state and local action. Democratic U.S. Senat...Continue Reading

In his first visit to Rivanna Station, Sen. Timothy M. Kaine said maintaining congressional and community support for Virginia’s military facilities is a legislative priority. Kaine spoke to reporters outside the Albemarle County base’s Col. James N. Rowe Building, which is home to the Defense Intelligence Agency, which employs about 800 civilian and military personnel locally. In addition to supporting national security interests, the base’s presence is “increasingly imp...Continue Reading

FISHERSVILLE -- Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine is a Harvard-trained lawyer who has served both as a U.S. senator and governor of Virginia. But as a young man growing up in the Midwest, he watched his father run a welding and ironworking shop in the stockyards of Kansas City. “I learned what artistry good welders perform,’’ said Kaine, D-Va., during a Tuesday visit to the Valley Career and Technical Center in Fishersville. Now, Kaine wants to be among those in the U.S. Senate championi...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine Tuesday applauded the U.S. Navy for moving forward to begin work on the refueling and complex overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS  George Washington. Navy sources confirm that a 182 million contract could soon be awarded to Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding, according to Defense News.  The Navy had previously decided to decommission the George Washington, but decided against it following push back from con...Continue Reading

Last week, we examined North Carolina's efforts to plan for sea-level rise. A few weeks ago, we did the same in Norfolk, Va., where the tides are rising faster than anywhere on the East Coast. On Monday, we got a glimpse into how federal Washington is approaching the issue via a conference on climate change at Old Dominion University. Organizers said the event in Norfolk was probably the first in the nation to bring together Republican and Democratic members of Congress to discuss the topic, whi...Continue Reading

NORFOLK The often shrill political debate over climate change yielded Monday to consensus about the threat facing Hampton Roads – and its critical military installations – from rising sea levels on a sinking coastal plain. Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., and three members of the state’s congressional delegation – two Republicans and a Democrat – joined local and regional officials in what Virginia Beach Mayor William D. Sessoms Jr. called a “call for action&rdqu...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine came away from his swing through Hampton Roads on his latest in-state working week with a shopping list of veterans issues to watch. After a 90 minute sit-down with two dozen Hampton Roads vets, Kaine said he's going to dig into concerns that private physicians may be loathe to accept TRICARE patients. It's a particular concern now, Kaine said, because proposed reforms meant to carve away at the Veterans Administration's huge waiting lists include allowing the VA to pay private ph...Continue Reading

Sometimes, senators come to town to campaign; sometimes, as with Sen. Tim Kaine’s stop Saturday at a healthcare forum at Hampton’s Zion Baptist Church, just to listen. One key thing he heard, he said later, was that folks in town, like those calling his D.C. office these days, are feeling more positive than not about the Affordable Care Act. But one other key thing he heard Saturday was that there may be a problem when people with insurance leave their jobs to start their own busines...Continue Reading