In The News

Roses and thorns Each week, the Daily Press Editorial Board offers a list of area citizens or institutions deserving of "roses" or "thorns." This week's roses go to: • U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine for his proposal to make this year's Veteran's Day — on Nov. 11 — a national "welcome home" event for all service men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan in the years since the 9/11 attacks. • The Mathews County Historical Society, for its plans to establish a museum dedicated to ...Continue Reading

Last week, both the Obama administration and certain members of Congress said that no congressional authorization is needed for U.S. military action in Iraq. I deeply disagree. The framers of the Constitution gave Congress the power to authorize war. As James Madison wrote, “The constitution supposes, what the History of all Governments demonstrates, that the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the quest...Continue Reading

Yes, it's another forum on sea level rise. But, this time, the organizer is a U.S. senator. That could be a good sign for regional efforts to attract federal attention - and money - for solving what might be Hampton Roads' trickiest problem. A combination of rising water and sinking land make the region one of the most vulnerable areas in the country to sea level rise. The public forum, called Meeting the Challenge, is being put on by U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and other federal officials, Democrats an...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine wants Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to have an official welcome home. “The president has said combat operations [in Afghanistan] will end in 2014, and we can’t allow these kind of milestones to go unrecognized,” the Virginia Democrat said. “We need to have that moment. We need to mark the end of that chapter.” On Thursday, Kaine will introduce a resolution to mark this Veterans Day as an formal celebration for the youngest generation of war fighters. ...Continue Reading

The Mother of Presidents is hosting some of Africa’s next generations of leaders. The 25 men and women gathered at the University of Virginia on Monday are a part of the Young African Leaders Initiative, a larger national group of 500 Africans who are in a six-week leadership, academic and mentoring program. It is President Barack Obama’s “signature effort to invest in the next generation of African leaders,” according to the program’s main website, which also notes...Continue Reading

Senator Tim Kaine was in the Charlottesville area Monday to attend several events, including a meeting with the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. One issue was transportation. While Kaine says he’s more than familiar with the possibility of a Route 29 bypass, he says any plan won’t be on his plate until the localities decide how to address traffic on Route 29. Kaine says his job is to wait for the localities to come up with a consensus and then do his best to support that consensus. Ka...Continue Reading

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has co-sponsored a bill that will give students and families a better estimate of college costs before they apply to schools. The Net Price Improvement Act would improve the effectiveness of and access to net price calculators (NPCs) — tools that provide students estimates of higher education costs  – by requiring schools to put calculators on webpages where students and families are likely to look for cost and admissions information. ###

A bipartisan delegation of Virginia lawmakers are correctly calling for the creation of a statewide task force to address the growing heroin epidemic in the Commonwealth. Heroine abuse — once a crime associated just with big cities — is now becoming prevalent in smaller towns, cities and neighborhoods. That’s why we welcome and strongly encourage the efforts of these 12 Virginia lawmakers to address this problem. The bipartisan group of legislators, including U.S. Rep. Morgan G...Continue Reading

I met the former field marshal in February during my first trip to Egypt. On that trip I discovered that Egypt’s citizens are locked in a debate over whether last summer’s events were a move forward on the path to democracy or a step back to authoritarianism. As a US senator who understands the value of a strong US-Egypt partnership, I view the current chapter in Egypt’s history as an opportunity to put the country on a positive trajectory, and a chance to mend the relationship...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON (WAVY) – Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined WAVY News 10 Today Thursday to talk about the Veterans bill passed by the Senate and what it means for the future of the VA. The bill tackles several issues involving waiting times at the VA and leadership issues. Kaine said the bill not only gives significant funding for the training of more medical professionals, but also gives funding for additional facilities to make them more convenient for Veterans. “But probably the core of the ...Continue Reading

Both Senator Warner and Senator Tim Kaine have recommendations to replace a retiring Roanoke federal judge. Judge Samuel Wilson is retiring August 1. Warner and Kaine sent a letter to President Obama yesterday recommending two people from our area for the job. Ward Armstrong served in the House of Delegates from Henry County for 20 years. Elizabeth Dillon is an attorney in Salem. Warner and Kaine say the Virginia State Bar rated both of them as highly qualified. ###

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., has joined a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation aimed at improving veterans’ access to health care and address the challenges facing the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 would allow veterans to see private doctors outside the VA system if they experience long wait times or live more than 40 miles from a VA facility for a two year period. The measure...Continue Reading

Northside High School senior Tyler Langhorn recently became the first from his school to earn a certificate of general studies while also getting his high school diploma. He's also on track to be getting an associate degree later this spring or summer, another first. Part of how he accomplished such a feat was dual enrollment. More and more high school students are taking college courses before they even head off to college campuses. With the number of students taking the courses increasing (bot...Continue Reading

Sen. Tim Kaine said Friday he’s encouraged by the bipartisan push Congress is making to bring about much-needed reform at the scandal-rocked U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “I’m very strongly supportive of it and look forward to working with them to make it happen,” he said. Kaine, D-Va., was a co-sponsor on a bill submitted this week that seeks to expand VA facilities, reduce wait times for medical care and make it easier to axe poorly performing department higher-u...Continue Reading

(Reuters) - Seventy years after D-Day, Carl Proffitt Jr. can still remember the bodies of soldiers washing up on France's Omaha Beach in the Allied invasion that helped turn the tide against Nazi Germany in World War Two. One of the dwindling band of World War Two veterans who gathered on Friday at the National D-Day Memorial to mark the anniversary, Proffitt was in the first wave of infantry put ashore on Normandy's Omaha Beach in the teeth of German gunfire. "If there was such a thing as hell ...Continue Reading

One of the headaches many families have with the Affordable Care Act is the way it figures when an employer's health plan is affordable, Sen. Tim Kaine told his fellow Senators today. Obamacare says people can buy their own insurance with the help of federal subsidies if the cost of coverage otherwise exceeds 9.5 percent of family income. The problem is that employer coverage is deemed affordable when the employee-only coverage comes in at less than 9.5 percent. Family coverage which usually cos...Continue Reading

Expressing alarm at increased reports of heroin use in Virginia, a dozen members of the state’s congressional delegation are asking Gov. Terry McAuliffe to set up a task force to address the problem. “Not a week goes by without a local newspaper or TV news program in Virginia reporting on the death of yet another heroin addict. Many localities are on track to see double the number of heroin overdose deaths over last year,” the lawmakers wrote in the June 4 letter. “Unlike...Continue Reading

When Senators talk, Washington officials listen -- or so some heavy hints from Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia and John Cornyn of Texas suggest.  The two, one a Democrat, the other a Republican, teamed up last month to call on the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission to survey service men and woman about their preferences about compensation. Now, the commission says a survey sounds like a good idea. It will ask 68,000 active duty servicemembers, 60,000 reservists, an...Continue Reading

WASHINGTON (WAVY) – Sen. Tim Kaine has joined 13 senators to introduce the Restoring Veterans’ Trust Act of 2014, a bill that would fix problems at the VA. Kaine (D-VA) introduced the bill with senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Mark Begich (D-AK), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Martin Henrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jack Reed (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jon Tester (D-MT), John Walsh (D-MT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR). Th...Continue Reading